Victoria Alexander is a best-selling romance novelist with roughly 50 books under her belt. She writes primarily in the historical romance sub-genre, Victoria Alexander is a best-selling romance novelist with roughly 50 books under her belt. She writes primarily in the historical romance sub-genre, but occasionally she travels out into otherworldly romance sub-genres.
“Believe” (first published in 1998 under a pseudonym) is a historical romance with a supernatural fairy tale twist.
Tessa St. James is a college professor of mythology at a midwestern university. After one of her lectures, she meets an older gentleman who gives her an extremely old book, entitled “My Life and Times: The Story of Merlin, Wizard Extraordinaire and Counselor to Kings”.
With very little preamble, Tessa finds herself magically transported back in time to Camelot, and she soon finds herself on a quest. Well, not just any quest, of course: The Quest. For the Holy Grail. And she’s partnered with Sir Galahad, Sir Lancelot’s son.
The problem is, she doesn’t believe it. At first, she thinks she has been hit by a bus and is in a coma somewhere, and this is all some kind of subconscious delusion. Eventually, though, she realizes that she is actually in Camelot, and it’s real.
As to be expected, romance ensues between Tessa and Galahad. But Tessa’s 21st-century independence and irreverence may not mesh well with Galahad’s well-intentioned if somewhat outdated and sexist chivalry.
Merlin’s hope in bringing Tessa back in time is two-fold: He wants to change the world’s view of Camelot from a forgotten legend-turned-fairy-tale into actual history, but he also wants Galahad to finish his quest. (If you know your Arthurian legends, Galahad fails in his search for the grail, and he dies depressed and disappointed.) Meanwhile, Merlin’s girlfriend, the sorceress Vivianne, is hatching up her own scheme. To what end remains a mystery.
“Believe” is a book that I struggled to not like, but its silliness and humor won me over eventually. In my mind, I immediately cast the movie version, with Reese Witherspoon perfectly playing Tessa, James Marsden as Galahad, Bill Nighy as Merlin, and Helen Mirren as Vivianne.
I have come to find that romance novels’ greatest appeal is working on the universal need to find happiness and love in one’s life. Despite its ridiculous plot, “Believe” managed to succeed in even making me, a natural cynic and pessimist, smile at times....more
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