The Untied Kingdom by Kate Johnson

When Eve Carpenter lands with a splash in the Thames, it's not the London or England she's used to. No one has a telephone or knows what a computer is. England's a third world country and Princess Di is still alive. But worst of all, everyone thinks Eve's a spy. Including Major Harker who has his own problems. His sworn enemy is looking for a promotion. The general wants him to undertake some ridiculous mission to capture a computer, which Harker vaguely envisions running wild somewhere in Yorkshire. Turns out the best person to help him is Eve. She claims to be a popstar. Harker doesn't know what a popstar is, although he suspects it's a fancy foreign word for 'spy'. Eve knows all about computers, and electricity. Eve is dangerous. There's every possibility she's mad. And Harker is falling in love with her.

This is a paranormal romance, a genre I have never tried before.
The Untied Kingdom starts with Eve, a former pop queen who is involved in a paragliding accident, while filming a television programme and ended up crashing into the Thames. However after the accident, Eve found herself in an alternative England, where a Civil War was in progress. An England where people were poor, there was food rationing, a third world country. Eve was rescued from The Thames by Harker, an army major, fighting in the Civil War.

As I orginially said, this was my first paranormal romance read and I am unsure that this is a genre I will actively be choosing to read. However, putting that aside, I thought the book was well written, Kate Johnson had a great writing style, which kept you wanting to read more. I enjoyed reading how England could be in another world, a country affected by a Civil War and with a lack of technology. I thought Johnson had really thought about this alternative England and her vision of how life would be was very realistic and scary to think of how life would be if real. There were great battle scenes throughout the book. I thought that Johnson had a great and orginal storyline.

I would recommend this book to other readers, those who enjoy a good romance but also have a liking for paranormal storylines.

Thank you to Choclit Publishers for sending me this book to review.