R. Garcia y Robertson

Garcia y Robertson, R. The Virgin and the Dinosaur. The Virgin and the Dinosaur No. 1. Avon, 1996.
R. Garcia y Robertson gave up an academic career in history to write historical fantasies and science fiction. When Jurassic Park made a splash in the early 1990s, he must have said to himself, well, why not have a little fun with it. The result is a time travel adventure story that is a little bit of Jurassic Park and a little Indiana Jones. Jake is a veteran time travel guide, a good friend of Sitting Bull, and a guy who can fly an airship. Peg is a sexy young dinosaur expert who wants to see them in the flesh. It is hot Mesozoic Montana, so Jake has plenty of opportunity to see her in the flesh. But she is not afraid to tell him to control his testosterone and get on with finding some large saurian critters for her to watch. Adventure, romance, and corporate skullduggery ensue. The pacing is good and the tone is always a little tongue in cheek. Fun. 4 Stars.… (mais)

I initially started reading this book over ten years ago when I was still in high school. At the time, I hadn't gotten very far into it when I had to return it to the library and soon lost the name of the book. Recently the storyline was on my mind quite a bit but I still could not remember the name of the book which is when I searched Google and was able to find it. Now that I'm older, I think this particular book is something that I can appreciate because I don't need a book to be purely about romance in order to old my interest though I still do very much enjoy books that are mostly about romance.

This book was a fascinating mix of magic, time travel, love, history, and adventure. It is about a young woman from California at the turn of 2000 named Robyn who finds herself jilted by a man named Collin who was leading a double life in Wales when she visited him as a surprise. She soon finds herself taken under the wing of the man's sister Joanna and her young daughter Joy. While out hiking one morning, Robyn comes across a young man named Edward dressed as a knight on horseback and she wonders if he's either from a local Ren Faire or has completely lost his mind from the way that he talks. She soon finds herself needing his help when black riders on horses appear seemingly out of nowhere. Then after coming to her rescue, he rides off and disappears, leaving Robyn wondering if she dreamed it all up.

When she learns that Edward is under a displacement spell, she wants to help him find his way home though the plan doesn't go as she had hoped and is thrown back into the 1460's around the time of the War of the Roses. At first she just wants to get back to her own time but over time, she makes friends in unlikely places, an Irish ladies' maid who is an interesting mix of servant and friend and tossed into a world where people can be killed for even a hint of witchcraft or treason.

Robyn soon finds her way in this strange world and with the help of those she has come to care for, she finds her way to Edward and trying to protect the Mad King Henry while also trying to help out the ancestors of Jo and Joy.

Will she succeed in helping those that she cares for and get back to her time or will she fail? You'll have to read the book to find out.… (mais)

Aria, the mischievous foster-daughter of the Bone Witch, comes across a French knight wandering in her forest. They fall in love, but have no time to luxuriate in it. Numerous armies are massed against them, for the knight has stolen the Firebird's Egg, the curse and luck of Russia's rulers. Aria and Sir Roye go on a quest to dispose of the egg, but are separated almost immediately. They each have their own adventures, but are finally reunited and manage to throw the egg into a pit of fire.

It's not a good book. The author regularly jumps from one character's perspective to another's within the space of two sentences. Whenever he gets bored with a plot, he inserts a randomly chosen deus ex machina to sweep the characters off to the next bit. In the first few chapters, Robertson y Garcia writes detailed characterizations for Aria and Sir Roye. As the chapters go on, however, he loses interest in their particulars and focuses on their sex lives instead. There is a lot of sex, and it's written in a rather prurient way...it felt gratuitous and a bit exploitive.
… (mais)