Rating: 3 out of 5.

This was an interesting historical fiction set during the reign of King Henry II. It focuses on a young French princess, Alys, who arrived in King Henry’s court at the age of 8 years old betrothed to Henry’s son, Prince Richard. Alys suffered constant cruelty from Richard and was ignored by Henry and his wife, Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine. Alys made it through Eleanor and Henry’s son’s rebellion unscathed, becoming Henry’s mistress shortly thereafter.

It was clear the author conducted a lot of research for the book, and I enjoyed learning more about the politics of the time period. The book had a surprising amount of dialogue, with the author creating possible conversations the characters could have had based on what occurred in history. This surprised me, and was a little off-putting. Rather than talking and interacting with each other, the characters gave what seemed like a serious of speeches at each other. The book was also very choppy and didn’t flow smoothly like a work of fiction. I felt like I was reading a history book rather than a novel.

The content of the information provided in the book was interesting, but the execution of it wasn’t a style I enjoyed and did not resonate with me. That’s not to say that it won’t be other people’s style. So, if this subject interests you, I recommend you pick the book up and give it a try.

I was provided a complimentary e-copy of this book from Breys Book Tours. All opinions are my own.