4.5 stars
This was my first historical fiction book going back that far. The farthest I've read was the late 1800's. I wouldn't wanted to have lived then and I definitely wouldn't have wanted to live during this era either.
While I realize a lot of this was made up, it seems all the men did was fight over territory and all the women did was have babies. What a life, NOT! Anyway, the author is responsible for their lifestyles. But the author is responsible for the story and she did a wonderful job. I was really into this story. What a horrible, horrible man this Henry II was. Fighting anyone who threatened his kingdom, even his sons? He had some serious issues.
But that's not all the book was about. There were friendships, every day lives, tragedies, miracles, laughter, tears and the struggles of being an intelligent woman who was queen with a stupid man as a husband who was king.
I really found the story interesting an sped threw the pages. It's not easy to do so as it is about 500 pages and for it to keep my interest for that long, I'd say it was a pretty daggone good book. I know that I did not want to put it down last night to go to bed as I only had like 1 1/2 hours to go.
This was definitely not my genre, but I would definitely recommend it. While I did not read the first one in this series, I had no problem with the second one. There were references made to Alienor's previous life, but they were explained and I felt I missed out on nothing. Now I have to wait for the next one. Ugh! But, I've found a new author to follow, one I highly recommend!
I would like to thank Sourcebooks and Net Galley for providing me this free e-galley in exchange for an honest review. I loved this book!
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