Untied Kingdom by Kate Johnson

I bought this book because I loved the title.  I was expecting a light read. I was wrong.

Eve Carpenter falls through a hole in the world and ends up in London in a parallel universe where England is a war torn, third world country. No one knows what a mobile phone is. Shakespeare never existed and computers are a bit of a mystery.

Will Harker is a major in the British Army. He’s a tough, battle scarred military man who is devoted to his country. He thinks Eve is a spy, or mad, or both.

The story follows Eve, Harker and the rest of the group on their mission. The romance between Eve and Harker unfolds slowly as they make their way into enemy territory. The story is unmistakably a romance, but the background is a brutal war. The story takes in battles, bullet wounds, amputations, blood (lots of blood), torture, treachery and singing. The dialogue is good and the characters are fabulously rude to each other.

I really enjoyed this book. It’s action packed, vivid and funny. I was so gripped by the story that I ended up doing silly things like trying to read whilst cooking and staying up far too late into the night. You might call this book chick lit, but you definitely can’t accuse it of being light or frothy.