Book Review: Isabella Unashamed by Helen R. Davis and Carolina Casas

Isabella Unashamed: An Alternative History by Helen R. Davis and Carolina Casas
ARC, e-Book, 147 pages
Editorial Caliope
September 7, 2017
★★★½☆☆

Genre: Alternate Historical Fiction

Source: Received for tour with HFVBT

Isabella of Castile is known as Europe's first great queen. Renowned for her marriage to Ferdinand of Aragon and birthing of modern day Spain, Isabella is also known as the queen who launched the Inquisition, completed the Reconquista and expelled the Jews from her nation. Not long after her triumph in 1492, her dynasty came apart and unraveled, and it was whispered by many that the Trastamara line was cursed.

But, What if Isabella had been wiser and not expelled the Jews, some of the very people who ironically helped put her on the throne of Castile? What if Isabella had had more foresight and had her successor be Catalina, who, although the youngest, was the most like her and the wisest of her children? How would the power balance of 15th and 16th century Europe shifted if Catalina had been the powerful queen regnant of Spain and not one of the 'merry wives' of Windsor?

A joint effort, Isabella Unashamed is written by two authors from very different cultural backgrounds who have nonetheless joined together to create a haunting portrait of Spain's most famous queen, as well as a glimpse of what might have been had Isabella been wiser.

I can count on one hand how many alternative fiction novels I have read. I am extremely selective when it comes to this subgenre of historical fiction because I find them to be more believable when small, but important changes occur rather than sweeping historical changes. I was drawn to Isabella Unashamed because of just these reasons. The changes to the historical timeline include Isabella’s choice to not expel the Jews and to not leave the dynasty in the hands of her daughter Juana (la loca), but instead chose Catalina. I feel that the choices here made complete sense to these historical characters. The rationale that is used for the decisions Isabella makes could have absolutely been considerations that she would have contemplated. My favorite change was watching Catalina grow into a future Spanish queen rather than a fated English queen. It wasn’t a huge leap to have to make to get on board with this new, revised timeline. For those reasons, I really appreciated this piece within the genre.

I did have some struggles with this novel. The writing felt dense and heavy. When this is combined with how the majority of the events that occur are sad/complex/or less than positive, it slowed down the narrative and it took me longer to read this novel that the page length would suggest. There were not any lighter notes to lift the narrative. I also feel that there was an expectation that the reader is already familiar with the actual history as it occurred, which I can sort of understand as why would a reader be interested in the alternative if they don’t know what actually occurred. That being said, I am familiar with the actual history and I found myself being lost in the context sometimes.

I did enjoy this novel and I still look at this genre in the same light in which I did before, I think it just needed a little tightening up of the narrative.

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• A Chick Who Reads

Buy the Book: Amazon

Also by Helen R. Davis:

Evita: My Argentina

Cleopatra Unconquered

The Most Happy

This is Carolina Casas’ debut novel.

Find Helen R. Davis: Website | Facebook | Twitter

Find Carolina Casas: Blog | Twitter | Goodreads

Giveaway!

As part of the blog tour there is a tour-wide giveaway of an eBook of Isabella Unashamed! To enter, please enter via the Gleam form below.  If you have questions, please contact the tour coordinator.  Good luck!

Giveaway Rules

• Giveaway ends at 11:59pm EST on December 7th. You must be 18 or older to enter.
• Giveaway is open INTERNATIONALLY.
• Only one entry per household.
• All giveaway entrants agree to be honest and not cheat the systems; any suspect of fraud is decided upon by blog/site owner and the sponsor, and entrants may be disqualified at our discretion.
• Winner has 48 hours to claim prize or new winner is chosen.

Isabella Unashamed

Follow the Tour!

On the HFVBT website or on Twitter: #IsabellaUnashamedBlogTour

Monday, November 27
Kick Off at Passages to the Past

Tuesday, November 28
Feature at Myths, Legends, Books & Coffee Pots

Wednesday, November 29
Review at A Chick Who Reads
Feature at Just One More Chapter

Thursday, November 30
Excerpt at What Is That Book About

Friday, December 1
Review at The Maiden’s Court
Interview at Author Dianne Ascroft’s Blog

Saturday, December 2
Feature at WS Momma Readers Nook

Monday, December 4
Review at Locks, Hooks and Books

Tuesday, December 5
Review at So Many Books, So Little Time
Feature at The Hungry Bookworm

Wednesday, December 6
Feature at Mello & June, It’s a Book Thang!

Thursday, December 7
Review at History From a Woman’s Perspective

Copyright © 2017 by The Maiden’s Court

Wishlist 5: Alternate History Novels

Once a month I am planning on sharing with you all 5 of my biggest wish list books broken up by theme.  I know that you all need more on your TBR!!!  I have never read an alternate history novel, but I have been intrigued by them for awhile.  I think it would be cool to explore certain historical possibilities, but at the same time (at least for me) the author needs to walk a fine line of believability in order for me to want to buy into it.  Here are a few that have piqued by interest.

Lincoln’s Bodyguard by T.J. Turner

In "Lincoln s Bodyguard," an alternative version of American history, President Lincoln is saved from assassination. Though he prophesied his own death the only way he believed the South would truly surrender Lincoln never accounted for the heroics of his bodyguard, Joseph Foster. A biracial mix of white and Miami Indian, Joseph makes an enemy of the South by killing John Wilkes Booth and preventing the death of the president. His wife is murdered and his daughter kidnapped, sending Joseph on a revenge-fueled rampage to recover his daughter. When his search fails, he disappears as the nation falls into a simmering insurgency instead of an end to the War. Years later, Joseph is still running from his past when he receives a letter from Lincoln pleading for help. The President has a secret mission. Pursued from the outset, Joseph turns to the only person who might help, the woman he abandoned years earlier. If he can win Molly over, he might just fulfill the President s urgent request, find his daughter, and maybe even hasten the end of the War."

11/23/63 by Stephen King

Life can turn on a dime—or stumble into the extraordinary, as it does for Jake Epping, a high school English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine. While grading essays by his GED students, Jake reads a gruesome, enthralling piece penned by janitor Harry Dunning: fifty years ago, Harry somehow survived his father’s sledgehammer slaughter of his entire family. Jake is blown away...but an even more bizarre secret comes to light when Jake’s friend Al, owner of the local diner, enlists Jake to take over the mission that has become his obsession—to prevent the Kennedy assassination. How? By stepping through a portal in the diner’s storeroom, and into the era of Ike and Elvis, of big American cars, sock hops, and cigarette smoke... Finding himself in warmhearted Jodie, Texas, Jake begins a new life. But all turns in the road lead to a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald. The course of history is about to be rewritten...and become heart-stoppingly suspenseful.

Dominion by C.J. Sansom

The Great Smog. London. A dense, choking fog engulfs the city and beneath it, history is re-written . . .

1952. Twelve years have passed since Churchill lost to the appeasers and Britain surrendered to Nazi Germany after Dunkirk. As the long German war against Russia rages on in the east, the British people find themselves under dark authoritarian rule: the press, radio and television are controlled; the streets patrolled by violent auxiliary police and British Jews face ever greater constraints. There are terrible rumours too about what is happening in the basement of the German Embassy at Senate House. Defiance, though, is growing. In Britain, Winston Churchill's Resistance organization is increasingly a thorn in the government's side. And in a Birmingham mental hospital an incarcerated scientist, Frank Muncaster, may hold a secret that could change the balance of the world struggle for ever.

Civil Servant David Fitzgerald, secretly acting as a spy for the Resistance, is given the mission to rescue his old friend Frank and get him out of the country. Before long he, together with a disparate group of Resistance activists, will find themselves fugitives in the midst of London's Great Smog; as David's wife Sarah finds herself drawn into a world more terrifying than she ever could have imagined. And hard on their heels is Gestapo Sturmbannfuhrer Gunther Hoth, brilliant, implacable hunter of men . . .

At once a vivid, haunting reimagining of 1950s Britain, a gripping, humane spy thriller and a poignant love story, with Dominion C. J. Sansom once again asserts himself as the master of the historical novel.

1812: The Rivers of War by Eric Flint

Eric Flint's acclaimed 1634: The Galileo Affair was a national bestseller from one of the most talked-about voices in his field. Now, in this extraordinary new alternate history, Flint begins a dramatic saga of the North American continent at a dire turning point, forging its identity and its future in the face of revolt from within, and attack from without.

In the War of 1812, U.S. troops are battling the British on the Canadian border, even as a fierce fight is being waged against the Creek followers of the Indian leader Tecumseh and his brother, known as The Prophet. In Europe, Napoleon Bonaparte's war has become a losing proposition, and the British are only months away from unleashing a frightening assault on Washington itself. Fateful choices are being made in the corridors of power and on the American frontier. As Andrew Jackson, backed by Cherokee warriors, leads a fierce attack on the Creek tribes, his young republic will soon need every citizen soldier it can find.

What if-at this critical moment-bonds were forged between men of different races and tribes? What if the Cherokee clans were able to muster an integrated front, and the U.S. government faced a united Indian nation bolstered by escaping slaves, freed men of color, and even influential white allies?

Through the remarkable adventures of men who were really there-men of mixed race, mixed emotions, and a singular purpose-The Rivers of War carries us in this new direction, brilliantly transforming an extraordinary chapter of American history.

With a cast of unforgettable characters-from James Monroe and James Madison to Sam Houston, Francis Scott Key, and Cherokee chiefs John Ross and Major Ridge-The Rivers of War travels from the battle of Horseshoe Bend to the battle of New Orleans, and brings every explosive moment to life. With exquisite attention to detail, an extraordinary grasp of history, and a storyteller's gift for the dramatic, Flint delivers a bold, thought-provoking epic of enemies and allies, traitors and revolutionaries, and illuminates who we are as a nation, how we got here, and how history itself is made-and remade.

The Virgin’s Daughter by Laura Andersen

Since the death of her brother, William, Elizabeth I has ruled England. She’s made the necessary alliances, married Philip of Spain, and produced a successor: her only daughter, Anne Isabella, Princess of Wales. Elizabeth knows that her beloved Anabel will be a political pawn across Europe unless she can convince Philip to grant her a divorce, freeing him to remarry and give Spain its own heir. But the enemies of England have even greater plans for the princess, a plot that will put Anabel’s very life and the security of the nation in peril. Only those closest to Elizabeth—her longtime confidante Minuette, her advisor and friend Dominic, and the couple’s grown children—can be trusted to carry forth a most delicate and dangerous mission. Yet, all of the queen’s maneuverings may ultimately prove her undoing.

If you are looking to add more books to your list, here are some of the wishlists from a few of my friends this month: (to be updated as they go live)

• Magdalena @ A Bookaholic Swede – Books Most Wanted
• Colleen @ A Literary Vacation – Books Made Into Movies
• Erin @ Flashlight Commentary – Discoveries At HNS Conference 2017
• Holly @ 2 Kids and Tired Books – History of Food
• Stephanie @ Layered Pages – WWII History/Sea Bound

Copyright © 2017 by The Maiden’s Court