Book Review: Mistress of the Court by Laura Purcell & Giveaway

Mistress of the Court by Laura Purcell
Book 2 of the Georgian Queens series

ARC, E-Book, 448 pages
Myrmidon Books Ltd
September 25, 2015
★★★★ ½☆

Genre: Historical Fiction

Source: Received from the publisher for TLC book tour

Orphaned and trapped in an abusive marriage, Henrietta Howard has little left to lose. She stakes everything on a new life in Hanover with its royal family,

the heirs to the British throne. Henrietta’s beauty and intelligence soon win her the friendship of clever Princess Caroline and her mercurial husband, Prince George. But, as time passes, it becomes clear that friendship is the last thing on the hot-blooded young prince’s mind. Dare Henrietta give into his advances and anger her violent husband? Dare she refuse?
Whatever George’s shortcomings, Princess Caroline is determined to make the family a success. Yet the feud between her husband and his obstinate father threatens all she has worked for. As England erupts in Jacobite riots, her family falls apart. She vows to save the country for her children to inherit – even if it costs her pride and her marriage. Set in the turbulent years of the Hanoverian accession, Mistress of the Court tells the story of two remarkable women at the center of George II’s reign.

The Georgian period is not one that I am all that familiar with. I have a vague understanding of George III from my American history classes and Queen of Bedlam also by Purcell. Beyond that, I am a blank slate. So everything in Mistress of the Court was entirely new to me.

From my perspective, I think Purcell did an excellent job of creating the feel of this time period - from personalities to politics to ways of life. I had a clear vision of George I and George II as well as Queen Caroline and Henrietta Howard. Even the secondary characters were well defined and stood on their own.

The novel covers time spent at the court in Hanover prior to George I taking the English throne (as well as after the ascension) and it was interesting to be able to compare the two ways of life and what it meant to the characters. Caroline and Henrietta had definitive ideas of what the move to England would bring to them…and as life goes, nothing turns out quite like they expect. Additionally, we see life for the poor (where Caroline begins the novel) as well as life in the court (which wasn’t always the glitz and glamour). Some great foiling of characters and settings here draws some great visualizations for the reader. I really enjoyed the back and forth between Caroline and Henrietta. They always seemed to need each other for something and it was clearly a love/hate relationship.

The narrative here raced right along and I found myself being drawn back to read at every chance I got. The characters were well written and I enjoyed reading about a new time/place. I found this to be excellent reading that I would highly recommend to others.

As a tidbit, the author has some great miscellaneous material related to this book on her website and even a scene that was cut from the novel if you need more to fill your appetite (I already checked them all out).

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• Living In The Kitchen with Puppies
• Unabridged Chick

Buy the Book: Amazon | Amazon UK

Also by Laura Purcell:

Queen of Bedlam [My Review]

 

Find Laura Purcell: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest

Follow the Tour!

Monday, September 14th: Romantic Historical Reviews

Wednesday, September 16th: Raven Haired Girl

Monday, September 21st: Ace and Hoser Blog

Tuesday, September 22nd: BookBub – author guest post

Wednesday, September 23rd: Living in the Kitchen with Puppies

Thursday, September 24th: Bibliophilia, Please

Monday, September 28th: Unabridged Chick

Wednesday, September 30th: Books Without Any Pictures

Thursday, October 1st: The Maiden’s Court

Monday, October 5th: Broken Teepee

Monday, October 5th: Patricia’s Wisdom

Tuesday, October 6th: A Chick Who Reads

Wednesday, October 7th: A Literary Vacation

Thursday, October 8th: Just One More Chapter

Friday, October 9th: A Bookish Affair

Monday, October 12th: Luxury Reading

Tuesday, October 13th: Open Book Society

Wednesday, October 14th: #redhead.with.book

Tuesday, October 27th: Reading Lark

Giveaway!!

As part of the TLC Book Tour I have a copy of Mistress of the Court by Laura Purcell up for grabs for one lucky reader and the giveaway is open WORLDWIDE!!! Yay!  Entries will be made through the Rafflecopter application below and the giveaway will remain open until October 17th.  Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

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