‘What would you do if you suddenly found yourself in Tudor England?’ - teaser

My thanks to Sapere Books for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Anne Boleyn Cypher’ by Phillipa Vincent-Connolly. My apologies for the late feedback.

This is the first in her four book Timeless Falcon series. It was published in October 2022.

This time slip novel opens with 20-year-old history student Beth Wickers starting her second year of university. She has no idea that her whole world is about to be turned upside down. Beth’s favourite lecturer, Professor Marshall, lends her a collection of books on Tudor history and nestled among them she finds an ornate cypher ring with the letters ‘AB’ inscribed onto it.

Beth tries on the ring, then discovers a lever on a bookcase that reveals a mysterious door. She walks through and soon finds herself in the bedroom of Lady Anne Boleyn at Hever Castle in 1521. At first, she thinks that she’s wandered into a film production. Then Beth realises that she’s traveled in time and place. Beth is dressed in jeans and has her iPhone with her along with the bag of books on Tudor history. Oops!

Beth quickly becomes captivated by Anne and her world. Weirdly Anne accepts Beth’s claim that she is from the future with remarkable calm and arranges for her to join the Boleyn household, claiming that they met in France. Beth ends up joining Anne at King Henry’s court.

Given she feels a growing attachment to Anne and her family, Beth is worried that she might be tempted to intervene in Anne’s life and rewrite the future … then there’s those history books and the iPhone. After a while Beth finds a way to return to her present, discovering that hardly any time has passed. Then she discovers a way to move more easily between the present and past and finds it hard to let the past be. What about that the bag of books and your iPhone Beth? I would think returning these would be a priority.

While I enjoy time-slip novels and historical fiction set during the Tudor period, this was just odd. Beth slipped so easily into the past and then seemed to attract the attentions of both George Boleyn and the King! Of course she does. This reminded me of the kind of self-insertion that happens in some fan fiction: the Mary-Sue effect. It was increasingly hard for me to take the story seriously.

There was one scene in particular where Beth, a male friend, and the Professor all end up in modern dress with Anne at Hever Sorry, that just had me rolling my eyes. It might have been a good opportunity to send the bag of books and iPhone back to the future but …

In the closing Notes to the Reader, Phillipa Vincent-Connolly writes: “I wish to stress that although the historical aspects of this book are loosely based on original sources, digital archives, and academic accounts, Beth’s character and her experiences in the Tudor period were used as an entertaining device to creatively retell Anne’s story, and is written purely for the readers’ enjoyment, and to entertain.”

Reading this disclaimer, which might have been better at the opening, I thought fair enough and looking at the glowing reviews, it appears that other readers didn’t have any problem with suspending their disbelief. Yet for me this just didn’t work.

Will I read on? As the series is available via Kindle Unlimited, I might; especially to find out if the issue of the 21st Century artefacts are ever addressed and whether Beth can resist the urge to intervene. I expect given her behaviour to date that she will meddle, perhaps inadvertently. What on earth made Professor Marshall think this was a good idea? Where are the Time Police when you need them?

A brilliant read and one I really enjoyed. The characters are loveable and varied, the plot is one that is engaging and medium paced. I found myself completely drawn into the story and enjoyed the writing style.

I absolutely loved this book and couldn’t put it down. I’ve read a lot of books about Anne Boleyn and this was an amazing take on her story and journey. Thank you to NetGalley and Phillipa Vincent-Connolly for a chance to read this book!

Elizabeth (Beth) Wickers is a 2nd year history student, with a passion for Tudor England, and specifically with Anne Boleyn. When Professor Marshall gives Beth a box of books on Tudor history, she never imagines that things will never be the same again. Amongst the books is a ring with the letters ‘AB’ inscribed – the ring is the key to a time-travel portal that transports her to Hever Castle in 1522 and specifically to Anne Boleyn’s bedroom!
Beth quickly becomes enchanted by Tudor England and becomes good friends with Anne, who has just returned from France, but she must remain careful – her knowledge of what happens a few years later is ever-present and I liked the way that the author portrayed Beth’s struggles with how much she could tell in the past, and how she had to be so careful not to change the course of history. The book is set in the early 1520s, before Anne’s relationship with Henry VIII began, but includes reference to her secret betrothal to Henry Percy, her sister Mary’s relationship with King Henry and the “Chateau Vert” pageant.
When Beth is in the past, we get insights into Tudor life, from the clothes to the food, and into the places she went including some of the royal residences that no longer exist. Beth also interacts with some key Tudor figures including George Boleyn, Cardinal Wolsey, Queen Katharine (of Aragon), and King Henry VIII himself.
I didn’t feel the inclusion of Beth’s not-exactly-boyfriend was necessary & the way he pressured her at the end of the book didn’t really sit well for me with Beth’s previous character. I felt that she would have at least discussed it with her professor!

The book has intrigue, secret passages, illicit relationships and there are some lovely moments such as the inclusion of Tudor historian Suzannah Lipscomb giving a guest lecture at Beth's university, but the quality of writing is quite poor, and there is nothing that gives a new or different viewpoint from the well-known story, so this is not a book I would recommend as a piece of great historic fiction but it does have a charm.
Like many time-travel books, the reader needs to suspend belief on numerous occasions! I struggle to acknowledge that Anne would just accept a time traveller appearing, or that the Boleyn family would not dig deeply into her background. We are never told what happens to Beth’s belongings between time shifts – are we really meant to believe they remain undetected under Anne’s bed forever? However, I can see this as a “made for TV” miniseries - and of course it makes you wonder again “what if we *could* go back and live in the past?”

The book ends before Anne becomes romantically involved with Henry VIII – if the second book in the series is on offer I think I would pick it up to see what the author chooses to portray next, and hope that her writing style has evolved, but I’m afraid I wouldn’t pay full price for it.

I really enjoyed this storyline, it was well researched and such an interesting and entertaining read.. I'm looking forward to reading more in this style. Overall four stars

I did enjoy reading this novel. I like main character, Beth has this something in her to make me read further and further. I like idea of history student time-travelling to Tudors time. I hope for book number 2 sometimes soon.

Thank you NetGalley for this book.

I've always been interested in Anne Boleyn, and I really wanted to like this book, but it really fell flat for me. I kept trying to go back to it, and just couldn't finish it. The concept is great, but it read like a book report to me. Lots of narration from the main character telling you everything instead of, I don't know... helping you experience what it was like? I felt like I was reading a history book. However, it might be a great read for a younger audience learning about the era and historical figures, just not a great novelization in my opinion.

I read this ARC for an honest review
All thoughts and opinions are mine

Really enjoyed this
A new author to me and I will defintely be looking out for more from them

A MUST read fantasy mixed with reality telling of historical fiction amped up to a whole new level!

Imagine if you could time travel. Really go and experience a time period as it’s happening while retaining the ability to jump forward back into your time without ever being missed. Imagine still if the time you spent in this time gone by could be experienced in weeks, months, or even years, again with no consequences to you in the present. Would you jump at the chance? Who would you meet? Would you change the events, this altering history forever, or stand idly by and watch things play out, even when you know how it ends?

This is exactly what happens to Beth Wickers, a second year history student that is in love with the events in Tudor, England, and more specifically with Anne Boleyn.

A beautiful story line interwoven with historical facts will have you breathless and contemplating the possibility of having just this kind of chance yourself.

Perfect for all fans of historical fiction, time travel, and anyone who just wishes they could go back in time and witness for themselves the lives of those long ago. This is definitely one to put on your radar as it will sweep you away, off your feet, and into a story so good it will haunt you.

Thank you so much to #NetGalley, the publishers and author for allowing me to experience life in Tudor, England through this amazing ARC. I can’t give this one enough praise!

This was an enjoyable read and spin on the Anne Boleyn mythology. Yes, she was a real person with a monumental impact on history, but her legacy is more legend and fiction these days. I enjoyed this take.

While reading this book, I kept feeling like I had read it before. Turns out I was right because I read this exact same book a couple years ago, on Kindle Unlimited, but it was under a different title. So disappointed. The plot is also very hard to believe and the characters are not very well thought out. I think the author should have gone back and made it better, before releasing it again under a different name.

Time travel into Tudor England is not a new concept but The Anne Boleyn Cypher offers a different viewpoint into the life of Anne Boleyn, a young woman who became the second wife of Henry VIII, Queen of England between 1553 to 1536, gave birth to the child who would become Queen Elizabeth I, and was tried and later beheaded on trumped up charges on 19 May 1536.
Elizabeth Wickers is a second year student studying for her BA in Early British History. Amongst her friends there is much chatter about time travel, Cardinal Wolseley and holiday gossip. At the end of her first lecture she is offered a box of books by Professor Marshall. All she needs to do is collect them from his office.
Looking through the box she finds a ring with the initials AB on it; putting it on she is about to leave the room when she notices a book The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn by Eric Ives. She decides she would like to borrow that but it will not move off the shelf. The wall does move though, and she finds herself in a long, musty corridor which eventually leads her to a bedroom, which to her modern day mind reminds her of a film set or stage play. Except it is not. It is the real thing: Anne Boleyn’s bedroom and it is around the year 1526.
And so begins a time travel into Historic Fiction that makes interesting reading as Elizabeth (Beth) Vickers realises that she is caught in History and has to be very careful what she tells Anne, as Anne is still an impressionable young woman with her future in front of her. Some of the fiction is a little implausible, but then that is the art of poetic license; the facts are correct.
Slow moving in parts, the work could be tighter to help hold the narrative together, but overall the storyline is attractive. The final chapter is intriguing as it leaves the door wide open for further time travel intrigue from the Courts of Tudor England or later, as the case may be.
The Anne Boleyn Cypher is book one in the Timeless Falcon Series.

I really wanted to love this book but it fell flat and was very confusing. The dialogue is not how people of that era would have spoken. The disconnect between the characters made this a difficult and unenjoyable read.

I have to say that this type/genre/period is one of my favourites so I was excited to have the opportunity to read this one. But this was something just a little bit different and once I started reading it drew me in (although it was a bit sow to do so)..

It is filled with time travel, Tudor history, a bit of suspense, intrigue. It had it all and was just the perfect length for a book like this. It is a very interesting take on past and present and the differences of these two worlds so far apart.

It is interesting, entertaining, historical, enjoyable and very readable. I really enjoyed it and will be keeping an eye out for the next installment.

I really liked the premise of this book, but somehow never really got into it. Not for me, which is actually surprising as this is my preferred genre. Thank you netgalley and publisher for this arc in exchange of an honest review

I wanted to love this one as I love all things Anne Boleyn. However the mystery aspect of this book fell flat. And that was the whole reason why I actually picked this one up.

Suspenseful, descriptive and immersive from start to finish. A gorgeous well-written inviting novel.

Trying on a cypher ring, Beth Wickers finds herself in Hever Castle, 1521, in Tudor England. Encountering Anne Boleyn, Beth is not sure if she should divulge Anne's horrific end to her, or keep it to herself and concentrate on her return to her home and friends. Well written historical fiction.

First off, the premise of the book is clever and I really liked how it started. However, I must say, there are many glaring typographical errors throughout this book and I am not certain that one should be speaking in the current English language when one is in Tudor England at the time. You don't use slang - er, eh, etc. as the court was so very formal. What I did like was the comparison from the current day items (ie: toothbrush/toothpaste/headache pills, clothing) to what was non-existent at the time. I also love the time "jumping" - what a treat that would be! I will read the next books in the series just to see how it all ends. All in all, a very entertaining read.

I want Sapere Books and Netgalley for allowing me to read this book!!!

I really wanted to enjoy this book; however, I felt disconnected with the story and characters. At times it was really confusing. I do think the concept of the story is interesting. Overall it is worth checking out.