Giannine Bellisario is the heroine of Vivian Vande Velde's Heir Apparent. It's her fourteenth birthday and she's in a bad mood. Sure, the gift certificate for Rasmussen Gaming Centers is what she wanted, but her father had his secretary handle it. It sounds as if her father doesn't take much notice of her. This is obviously set either in the future or on an alternate Earth where technology is more advanced than on ours. The setting is Rochester, New York. The bus Giannine takes to the center has artificial intelligence and doesn't want to let her off because CPOC {pronounced See-Pock, and standing for 'Citizens to Protect Our Children') is holding a protest there. Giannine's description of CPOC is quite unflattering. I would also have detested them when I was a teen. Luckily, as an official little old lady (65), I get to figuratively thumb my nose at such overprotective twits.

The bus was correct to not want to leave Giannine there. The benighted CPOC members break into the gaming center and break some of its equipment. The stakes are raised for Giannine. I chuckled at her reaction when a hologram of o=CEO Nigel Rasmussen appeared to explain what happened. I chuckle a lot at Giannine's reaction. It's one of the reasons I keep rereading this book.

I enjoyed the description of the Rasmussen center in the first chapter, especially the receptionist's little genetically engineered dragon. We're told a little about games Giannine could choose to play before she settles on "Heir Apparent".

These total immersion games are supposed to seem real to all five senses. I chuckled at Giannine's comments about the smells as she finds herself to be a shepherdess named Janine de St. Jehan, daughter of lowly village peat cutter. She has artificial memories of a loving family before she meets Sir Deming, who tells her about her biological parents. Giannine is impatient to get the show on the road, so she screws up. In fact, she screws up a lot. How she keeps getting killed is quite entertaining.

I can't help but wonder if the ghosts of Fairfield were named in honor of "The Ghost-Ship" by Richard Middleton. Anyway, The entire book is entertaining and funny. I've even bought a copy for my best friend's birthday gift.

Cat lovers are out of luck.
Dog lovers get brief scenes with Dusty, a sheep dog.
Dragon lovers get one enormous one and one hamster-sized one. ( )

Cheesy, fun, and entertaining. This book was a quick and enjoyable read. The romance with the director was weirdly tacked on in the end, but overall the story kept me engaged. ( )

'Bound-to-stay-bound' ( )

Mediocre. ( )

A fun spoof of medieval fantasy and gaming, about a girl who gets trapped in a "total immersion" virtual reality game--she's a peasant who inherits the throne of a kingdom, but the other royal siblins want her dead, as does the barbarian king, and she has to make all sorts of decisions and fight for her life, literally: if she doesn't win the game, it'll fry her brain and she'll be dead in *real* life! very silly but fun. I loved the "Groundhog Day" aspect, where she makes the wrong choice and 'dies' in the game, having to start all over again with the same scenario. There are clever jokes about being anachronistic in medieval times, and the heroine Giannine is spunky and has a droll sense of humor which I liked. ( )