Customer Reviews

Timeless Love

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When Sam is thrust back in time by a magical charm after wrecking her dad's precious BMW, she finds herself in the middle of the court of the Tudors. She herself is a close "advisor" of Edward VI! The book documents her trip through time and its effect on the world.

I love history and romance, so I thought I would love this book. But it wasn't the greatest I'd ever read. The beginning of her stay in 1553 was dragging by halfway through the book and her emotions were not really shown. One minute she would be hysterical and want to go home, and then the next minute she didn't seem to care. Some parts were detailed while others were vague. Her character was not consistent. Then she only met the guy she was to fall in love with (and my did they fall in love pretty fast) near the end of the book. I guess the idea of how her meddling changed history was interesting, but the end was just plain weird. This book could have been a lot better.

This really could have been a good book but to tell you the truth i was quite a dissapointed. The love story was sort of nice but also really predictable. The main character was annoying and some times just a complete idiot. The only reason i gave this 2 stars is that i like books that mix history with fiction and the auther did a good job at that. Read this book if you would like to but if you enjoy to have a character that you can relate to and a story that is surprising find another book.

Sixteen-year-old Samantha McKenna has just wrecked her dad's precious new BMW, and she's desperate to escape. Clutching her birthday present, an antique locket, she wishes desperately to escape, and finds herself thrown back in time to England in 1553, to the castle of fifteen-year-old King Edward VI. The sickly Edward thinks Sam is his angel, come to take him to heaven. But with her modern knowledge, Sam brings Edward back from the brink of death. As months go by, Sam begins to adjust to life in the past, although she still longs for a way to return home. Then she meets Barnaby, a handsome nobleman, and falls in love with him. But court life in the sixteenth-century is dangerous, and Sam finds her life, and that of her newfound love, in danger.

I really though I'd love this book, since I enjoy stories with romance, time travel, and history, and this book has all three. However, the romance between Samantha and Barnaby developed too quickly to be very believable, and the ending was unrealistically happy. The book was enjoyable while reading it, but it just needed something more - at the end all I could think was, that's it??I don't think I'd recommend buying it, but it might be worth a read if you can get it at the library.

When I heard of this book, I immediately went to the nearest book store to buy it. It was a story about love in a different era, my favorite kind of book. However upon reading it, I found it dull, and rushed. The book was extremly short to have developed a true romance, especially since the pair don't meet until well into the book. I found the characters to be boring... I couldn't relate to anything with them, I couldn't feel what they were feeling. Even in a moment of peril, my mind was wondering. Another thing is that Edward, believing that she is an angel, reports it to several others, including Jane Grey. Upon questioning she reveals that she came from the future, a different time era. These people accept the fact too willingly. Sure, there is the two paragraphs where Jane is frightened of her, but she accepts her unbelievable story nonetheless. It was completely irrational for someone to do then, even today. The idea is just too preposterous to take lightly. Especially for someone as educated and somber as Jane Grey. The reason I even gave it two stars, is because it accurately tells about the fashion, foods, and hygene standards that existed back in the sixteenth century... even though it takes a minimal amount of research... something a fifth grader could do. The storyline sounds wonderful, but unfortunately, it was written quite poorly.

I'd reccomend it for ages 10 and under. Sure, it may be a romance novel, but as far as I'm concerned, the book is too easy to comprehend, and there isn't that much romance at all.

Thoughts on Timeless Love

Timeless Love is a book about a teenage girl name Samantha who runs into a bad situation and ends up wishing for an easy way out. This interesting story written by Judith O'Brien is a teen fiction that incorporates both the subjects of history and romance in it. The story starts out with Samantha, also known as Sam, accidentally crashing her father's new BMW. Sam ends up making a wish that she was anywhere else but home because she didn't want to face the consequences her father was going to give her. Incidentally, she was holding the strange charm necklace that her mother gave her while she was making the wish. All of a sudden, Sam ends up feeling dizzy and opens her eyes to realize that she is in England, in the bedchamber of Edward VI, the young king of England in 1553. Edward, who is about her age, looked very ill because he was sick and was going to die at the age of sixteen. Sam knows about Edward's early death from her history book and so she tries to save King Edward from it. She helps to restore the king's health to normal. She may have thought she performed a good deed, but actually she ended up making the lives of thousands of people who Edward ruled, worse. It is not until later that she realized that she isn't in a dream and that she might not ever get to go back home. She then starts to appreciate and value the objects, possessions, and people she took for granted in her life. The experience of being trapped in a different time era and place makes you really think and be grateful for what you have. Sam even misses her annoying brother and even said that she would give p anything just to be back home. In the 1500s, they didn't have television, or running water, or even electricity. But the whole situation wasn't all that horrible. Sam ended up meeting a very handsome guy and even ended up having a crush on him, but this infatuation they had with each other leads to problems later on in the novel. Both jealousy and conspiracy plays a role in aiding the problems to occur. There is also a character named Duke of Northumberland who greatly despises Sam because of all the changes she has brought about in the kingdom. Due to the drastic changes she helped to bring about, while she was by Edward's side, the future ended up changing with it. Sam's interference with the past changed the entire future. When Sam finally returned back home, by making a wish on her necklace, she realized that her home wasn't right. The changed she made while she was in England changed the whole course of history that was suppose to happen. Many of the great inventions and even didn't occur. She then finds a way to fix the problem so that the course of history turns out the way it should and for the greater good of the whole world.

Timeless Love is a very enjoyable book to read that anyone would like. This book has many intriguing twists and will keep the readers attention throughout the entire book. The diction and style Judith O'Brien uses is very effective. All of the descriptive words she uses make it possible for the readers to clearly visualize the time period in the 1500s. The reader can actually visualize the clothing and atmosphere back in that time period. This novel is great for teenagers to read on their free time and I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes to enjoy reading books about adventure, fantasy, romance, or a little about history.

I bought this book after reading a review somewhere. When i picked it up i was like ok it is good but it did get better. It is definetly for kids 15 or younger just becuase of the way it is written. However i am 21 and i liked it.
After wrecking her dad's brand new BMW, she wishs (while holding her necklace) that she was anywhere else only to transported back in time. She soon finds herself in love and wanting some soap. She eventually gets back only to find that everthing has changed because she went back in time, so she goes back again to fix what she did. She even just might get the guy she loves from when she went back in time :)......

Timeless Love, at first glance, seems like a cool book with an interesting premise. That's the reason I bought it. But unfortunately, it was extremely disappointing. It was chock full of lame ideas and not very well written. The cliches and sadly overused plot points were insufferable. It bored me half to death and I barely finished it. That's too bad, because in the hands of someone else, the book might have been really great. I don't recommend it.

T.S. Eliot once famously said, "Some editors are failed writers, but so are most writers." This saying is very ably demonstrated here.

I found this book painful to read, not only because it was dull and tedious, but also because it was implausible, illogical, grammatically flawed and just plain badly written. The writer didn't seem to know how to write properly, and I'm convinced that she didn't actually understand the meaning of many of the words she was using, judging by the way she used them. She just sort of threw them together, and made pretty sentences that weren't entirely right. Moreover, she didn't just fail in a grammatical sense, she also failed to create a compelling, interesting storyline, which in my view is a far, far bigger sin. I can overlook grammatical flaws in a plot, so long as there's some great ideas behind it (as in the case of 'Lady Knight' by Evangelynn Stratton, or 'The Rose and the Beast' by Francesca Lia Block, which are both amazing books.) But there was no forgiving this. I almost got the feeling that this writer was a history teacher trying to make a history lesson more 'interesting' by turning it into a novel...and failing. There was loads of historical fact here--most of it dry, a little of it highly interesting. But it stood out from the plot rather than blending in. A good writer would have blended history and fiction until they became indistinguishable, like melting together chocolate and cream to make a delectable, tasty truffle. But this was more like blending tripe and lentils...the blend was obviously a mismatch, and an unpalatable one at that.

I lost count of how many times I put this book down, thinking, 'I can't go on, this is more painful than getting a leg wax!' And yet, I did persevere, because I paid retail plus shipping costs for this book (which, when you factor in the exchange rate of my humble Aussie dollars to your American ones, is quite a bit of dosh!) and thus thought, gosh-darn it, I'm going to get my money's worth out of it! So I finished the damned thing. But frankly, in retrospect, I would rather have had the leg wax.

If you're a hopeless romantic like I am, my guess is that you are going to be disappointed with this book too. In spite of the book's title literally promising 'Timeless Love', the reader doesn't even glimpse the hero for the first time until TWO THIRDS of the way through the book. And even then, the romance between him and the heroine is as underdone as a rare steak. This writer seemed VERY afraid of writing anything remotely mushy. One wonders if she shouldn't be writing non-fiction history books, as she seems to know her stuff much better when it comes to that.

The characters are two dimensional and unlikeable (actually, the bad guy was almost more interesting than the good guys), the heroine 'Sam' is often as dumb as a box of hammers but with less charisma, the dialogue is almost worse than a kiss from a scorpion with haliotosis, and the plotline is so full of holes I could use it as a collander. The worst thing, though, the thing that I found most implausible about the plot (other than the way the future changed when Sam went back and forward through time which was so fraught with paradox I began to yell "That couldn't happen!!") was the fact that Sam could cure King Edward VI's terminal illness simply by making a few changes to his diet, and taking a dog and a bit of fur out of his room. Now, I should have found this plot twist compelling, since I myself suffer from food and environmental allergies, and know what a huge impact they can have on your life. But no way are allergies that easy to diagnose and fix, and no way can they be cured in the space of A FEW HOURS, especially without cleaning any extra animal hairs and dander out of the bed linen or environment! Call me pedantic, but that was just too unrealistic for me.

The front cover is the nicest thing about this book. But of course, even this is flawed. The girl on the front cover has beautiful, straight blonde hair, whereas the heroine in the book has frizzy, over-permed, damaged hair with ugly streaks through it.

I gave this book two stars because it's not completely without merit. The author does do things right from time to time, and you'll even find the occasional touch of brilliance here and there. But otherwise, I don't think this was worth the sacrifice of chopping down the trees needed to make the paper it was printed on. The nine to twelve year olds will probably find this okay, so long as they're history buffs. But for anyone older, they may find they've already outgrown it.

If you're interested in love stories set in this exact period of time that involve Lady Jane and King Edward VI then get hold of the dvd 'Lady Jane' starring Helena Bonham Carter and Cary Elwes. It's touching, it's poignant, it's sweet and it's a damned sight better written than this book.

I read this book when I was 12 or 13 and it wasn't too bad. I remember it being witty and entertaining, don't expect anything too thought provoking though.

I wouldn't suggest this for anyone over 14 since it's a bit of an easy read and rather fluffy. (And not good fluffy like Old Magic, just boring fluffy.)

I read the book Timeless Love by Judith O'Brien. It is about a girl named Samantha who is magically whisked back in time to England in 1553. While she is there, she is known as Lady Sam. Lady Sam comes to know the procedures of the court. She helps King Edward grow stronger, but he starts becoming a tyrant. In the midst of all this, Sam meets a stunningly handsome stranger who steals her heart away. Timeless Love has great description, a superb plot, and several surprising turns of events.
One example of the description in this book is when Sam first meets Edward. "...Wrapped in what appeared to be a very thick bathrobe with fur on the collar. On his head was an embroidered cap tied under his chin." This description gave me a very clear mental picture of how Samantha saw King Edward. The entire book had as much description as this passage. Furthermore, Judith O'Brien described people's feelings, looks, and behavior. Another example of description is when Edward thinks of himself as a vibrant prince full of robust vigor. He was no longer a pious youth with red-rimmed eyes and otherworldly air.
Not only did this book have great details, but it also had a strong plot. All the events of this book came together and fit. The content of this book was part historical and part romantical. For instance, when Sam's eyes meet Sir Barnaby's eyes, the mysterious young man's expression changed. He bowed to her from across the room, and the smile on his face left. This young man steals her heart at once, and she comes to know him well in a short time. Lady Sam feels that she is in love, and it is more than just a crush. One other potent element of this book is the historical part. King Edward the sixth is in the novel along with Lady Jane Grey, the duke of Northumberland, Barnaby Fitzpatrick, etc. All those people actually existed in the 1500s. Every piece of clothing mentioned in this novel was actually what the woman had to wear in the 1500s. Lastly, the ways of life in this novel are very similar to what life was like then. Bowing and curtsying was a way of life.
The last thing I really liked about this book was the interesting twists. Some very unusual things occurred. Sam's friend Lori tried to give her a perm and highlights. But, everything went wrong. Her hair ended up very frizzy, and it resembled straw. Many other twists and turns played themselves out in this novel. A final example of interesting things that occurred in this novel is when Sam first meets King Edward. He thinks that she is an angel sent to him by his mother. These are both very small details in the story, but I never expected them to occur.
The description, plot, and interesting twists of Timeless Love were dazzling. I would recommend this book to girls who enjoy books with historic elements and lots of adventure. Girls who like small romantic details and science fiction would enjoy this too. This novel gives a twist on history, and was very fun to read. Miss O'Brien did a wonderful job of combining history and fiction to create an awesome book.