Book Review & Giveaway: Enchantress of Paris by Marci Jefferson

Enchantress of Paris by Marci Jefferson
ARC, Hardcover, 336 pages
Thomas Dunne Books
August 4, 2015
★★★★ ½☆

Genre: Historical Fiction

Source: Received from the publisher for review

Fraught with conspiracy and passion, the Sun King's opulent court is brought to vivid life in this captivating tale about a woman whose love was more powerful than magic.
The alignment of the stars at Marie Mancini's birth warned that although she would be gifted at divination, she was destined to disgrace her family. Ignoring the dark warnings of his sister and astrologers, Cardinal Mazarin brings his niece to the French court, where the forbidden occult arts thrive in secret. In France, Marie learns her uncle has become the power behind the throne by using her sister Olympia to hold the Sun King, Louis XIV, in thrall.

Desperate to avoid her mother's dying wish that she spend her life in a convent, Marie burns her grimoire, trading Italian superstitions for polite sophistication. But as her star rises, King Louis becomes enchanted by Marie's charm. Sensing a chance to grasp even greater glory, Cardinal Mazarin pits the sisters against each other, showering Marie with diamonds and silks in exchange for bending King Louis to his will.

Disgusted by Mazarin's ruthlessness, Marie rebels. She sacrifices everything, but exposing Mazarin's deepest secret threatens to tear France apart. When even King Louis's love fails to protect Marie, she must summon her forbidden powers of divination to shield her family, protect France, and help the Sun King fulfill his destiny.

I was a HUGE fan of Marci Jefferson’s first novel, Girl on the Golden Coin, and I could not wait to get my hands on Enchantress of Paris. I can tell you that I was not at all disappointed!

One of the aspects of Golden Coin that I loved was how Jefferson can create characters that pull at the heartstrings, and she doesn’t miss that beat in Enchantress either! There were two or three moments when I had tears in my eyes. I had become invested in the characters and their relationships with each other and to see those relationships bend and break was painful. I think this is because the author crafts characters who are people that I could see standing in front of me and their actions and emotions are entirely believable. Despite the fact that they live in the 17^th century, some things just don’t change over time! I loved Marie Mancini – in Jefferson’s hands she is passionate, charming, smart, and strong willed – someone I would love to be friends with. The relationships between the Mancini sisters were sometimes contentious and stormy, while at other times they pulled together for solidarity; sounds just like real sisters to me! I can honestly say that Cardinal Mazarin had pretty much no redeeming qualities; I was all too happy to see him go. And then there is King Louis – I loved him, while at the same time was angry and disappointed with him too.

There are SO many novels set in the royal courts of Europe, and the court of the Sun King is a frequent stop. For me this was a refreshing iteration. Some court novels can drag because of the confines of the life in the court, but Enchantress never encounters that problem. Marie’s life takes her across France, Italy, and Spain and she is not always within the court – so she does have a little more freedom at times. There was always something exciting happening, whether it was court drama, Mancini family drama, or the elements of astrology and belief in magic. Even with all of this excitement, Jefferson balances that with excellent character building.

I could have read so much more about the Mancini’s; those sisters certainly had their share of adventures and excitement. I hope that the author chooses to write more about their stories! Honestly, I would read anything Marci Jefferson writes.

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• Le Padre Ver Livre
• Let Them Read Books

 

Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | RJ Julia

 

Also by Marci Jefferson:

Girl on the Golden Coin [My Review]

Find Marci Jefferson: Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest

 

Giveaway!!!

I have 1 copy of Enchantress of Paris to giveaway to one lucky reader in the USA courtesy of the publisher.  Giveaway is open until August 23rd.  Entries are made through the Rafflecopter application below. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

Copyright © 2015 by The Maiden’s Court

Book Review: Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth

Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth
ARC, Kindle, 496 pages
Thomas Dunne Books
September 23, 2014
★★★★☆

Genre: Historical Fiction, Fairytale Retold

Source: Received from publisher for review with HFVBT Tour

“An utterly captivating reinvention of the Rapunzel fairytale weaved together with the scandalous life of one of the tale's first tellers, Charlotte-Rose de la Force.
Charlotte-Rose de la Force has been banished from the court of Versailles by the Sun King, Louis XIV, after a series of scandalous love affairs. She is comforted by an old nun, Sœur Seraphina, who tells her the tale of a young girl who, a hundred years earlier, is sold by her parents for a handful of bitter greens...

Selena is the famous red-haired muse of the artist Tiziano, first painted by him in 1512 and still inspiring him at the time of his death, sixty-four years later. Called La Strega Bella, Selena is at the centre of Renaissance life in Venice, a world of beauty and danger, seduction and betrayal, love and superstition, retaining her youth and beauty by the blood of young red-haired girls.

After Margherita's father steals a handful of parsley, wintercress and rapunzel from the walled garden of the courtesan Selena Leonelli, he is threatened with having both hands cut off unless he and his wife give away their little red-haired girl. And so, when she turns seven, Margherita is locked away in a tower, her hair woven together with the locks of all the girls before her, growing to womanhood under the shadow of La Strega Bella, and dreaming of being rescued...

Three women, three lives, three stories, braided together to create a compelling story of desire, obsession, black magic and the redemptive power of love.”

I remembered hearing about Bitter Greens when it first came out in Australia a year or so ago. I was super excited to read this book when it came out to US release merely for the fact of the retelling of Rapunzel within a real historical setting. I honestly had not read the book blurb so I didn’t realize until I was well into the book, that Charlotte-Rose de La Force was the writer of one of the Rapunzel versions – leave it to me to completely miss the obvious! The pieces did appear to come together though, so even if you had no idea, you would end up getting the idea. In some ways I got what I was expecting of this novel, and in other ways I didn’t.

I consider the story as three threads composing two stories – that of Rapunzel (to include the back story behind the witch) and the story of Charlotte-Rose (the writer). I liked each of these stories separately, but didn’t love them told together – although I did like the idea of intertwining them together to show how the fairytale writer may have arrived at the concept for the story.

I loved Charlotte-Rose’s story – her saga among the court of the Sun King and even her life at the convent (and longtime readers of this blog know that I haven’t historically been a huge fan of novels set in convents). It was compelling and absolutely oozed the French court.

At the same time, I thought Forsyth did a FANTASTIC job retelling Rapunzel in a realistic historical setting (whether her name is Rapunzel, Margherita, Persinette or Petrosinella). The characters were fully fleshed out – especially Rapunzel’s savior/lover who you never quite know much about in the fairytale. I truly felt her desolation and loneliness being shut away in the tower. I acutally even felt bad for La Strega (the witch) upon being given a compelling backstory.

The stretch for me was in the way the revelation of the story of Rapunzel came to Charlotte-Rose. Even though I arrived at the conclusion before the character did (and remember, I didn’t know she was the writer of the tale), it didn’t feel satisfying or natural to me. It was a little too much of a stretch of make the story of Rapunzel fit into her life experiences.

My only other critique was how dense the novel felt while reading it. No matter how long I read, I never seemed to make any forward progress. This almost 500 page novel took me a hell of a lot longer to read than it should have. I learned a lot about the time, experienced a lot of story, but could only read a few pages at a time without feeling overwhelmed and ready to put the book down. While the atmospheric nature was one of the things I loved about this book, I think its extent made it one of the more difficult aspects as well.

Kate Forsyth has written many other novels, including The Wild Girl. You can visit Forsyth’s website or blog for additional information about the book. If you would like to preview the story before reading it, why not try out this excerpt of the book?

You can also watch the book trailer below.

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• The Book Smugglers
• Alys in Underland

Here are some choices for purchasing the book: Amazon, B&N, RJ Julia (my fav indie bookstore).

You can follow along with the rest of the tour by visiting the HFVBT site or on Twitter with the following hashtag: #BitterGreensBlogTour

 

Copyright © 2014 by The Maiden’s Court

Book Review: Girl on the Golden Coin by Marci Jefferson

Girl on the Golden Coin by Marci Jefferson
ARC, Kindle, 336 pages
Thomas Dunne Books
February 11, 2014
★★★★★

Genre: Historical Fiction

Source: Received from publisher for review

“Impoverished and exiled to the French countryside after the overthrow of the English Crown, Frances Stuart survives merely by her blood-relation to the Stuart Royals. But in 1660, the Restoration of Stuart Monarchy in England returns her family to favor. Frances discards threadbare gowns and springs to gilded Fontainebleau Palace, where she soon catches King Louis XIV’s eye. But Frances is no ordinary court beauty, she has Stuart secrets to keep and people to protect. The king turns vengeful when she rejects his offer to become his Official Mistress. He banishes her to England with orders to seduce King Charles II and stop a war.

Armed in pearls and silk, Frances maneuvers through the political turbulence of Whitehall Palace, but still can’t afford to stir a scandal. Her tactic to inspire King Charles to greatness captivates him. He believes her love can make him an honest man and even chooses Frances to pose as Britannia for England’s coins. Frances survives the Great Fire, the Great Plague, and the debauchery of the Restoration Court, yet loses her heart to the very king she must control. Until she is forced to choose between love or war.

On the eve of England’s Glorious Revolution, James II forces Frances to decide whether to remain loyal to her Stuart heritage or, like England, make her stand for Liberty. Her portrait as Britannia is minted on every copper coin. There she remains for generations, an enduring symbol of Britain’s independent spirit and her own struggle for freedom.”

I have read several books about Charles II and his women and somehow I have never heard of Frances Stuart! She was involved in two of the great courts of the time: Charles II of England and Louis XIV of France – so we are treated to peeking in on both of those courts and people. Frances was a different sort of character in this indulgent world – she was a woman with a conscience! She had standards, respect, and cared about what others thought about her and those around her. She was a breath of fresh air in this world; she wasn’t always grasping for something from someone.

In this novel, we also meet Charles’ significant mistress, Barbara Castlemaine, as well as his wife, Catherine of Braganza. Barbara freaked me out a little bit – she was overtly sexual and her attitude toward Frances was a little different than what I expected. I really liked the relationship between Frances and Catherine – there was respect between the two. I expected to see the rest of Charles’ mistresses waltz through the pages, but the others only get a few words or a quick reference at most.

There was also an exploration of the continuing religious upheaval of the time with regard to Catholics. We see how the Dowager Queen tried to turn Charles’ head back toward the Catholic cause and all of the legislative/religious issues.

In my opinion, Marci Jefferson’s greatest strength was her ability to create characters and situations that would really pull at your heart strings. There were two scenes that really stood out for me – the scene between Frances and Louis XIV where she turns him down and the scene between Frances and Charles II after her illness. There is such a sad sweetness to these scenes that you can’t help but be emotional while reading.

I highly recommend this novel if you are looking for a slightly different take on the Restoration court. Great debut for Marci Jefferson and I look forward to what she will write in the future!

This is author Marci Jefferson’s debut novel. You can visit the author’s website or blog for additional information about the book. If you would like to preview the story before reading it, why not try out this excerpt of the book?

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• A Bookish Libraria
• Reading the Past

Here are some choices for purchasing the book: Amazon, B&N, RJ Julia (my fav indie bookstore).

I also have the opportunity to offer a giveaway to you thanks to the publisher.  Entries through the Rafflecopter below.  Last day to enter is March 2nd.  Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

You can follow along with the rest of the blog tour at the following blogs (I’m one of the last stops):

1/29 – giveaway, Devourer of Books
1/31 – interview/giveaway, Literary, etc
2/1 – review, A Bookish Libraria
2/3 – review, The Bookish Owl
2/4 – review/giveaway, Writing the Renaissance
2/5 – interview, Writing the Renaissance
2/6 – interview, Between the Sheets/Heather Webb
2/7 – interview, Spann of Time
2/8 – review/giveaway, Passages to the Past
2/9 – review, Royal Reviews
2/10 – Picture This, SheReads
2/10 – review/giveaway, The Lit Bitch
2/11 – review, Reading the Past
2/11 – interview/on-sale announcement, Enchanted by Josephine
2/11 – Three Favorite Things, USA TODAY’S Happy Ever After
2/12 – review/giveaway, Enchanted by Josephine
2/12 – review, Muse/Erika Robuck
2/13 – review, Unabridged Chick
2/13 – interview/giveaway/excerpt, Harlequin Junkie
2/14 – interview, Unabridged Chick
2/15 – review, Historical Fiction Obsession
2/16 – review, Lesa’s Book Critiques
2/17 – review/interview, A Bookish Affair
2/18 – review, Let Them Read Books
2/19 – interview, Let Them Read Books
2/20 – review/giveaway, The Maiden’s Court
2/21 – review/giveaway, No More Grumpy Bookseller

 

Copyright © 2014 by The Maiden’s Court

Movie Review: The Iron Mask

The Iron Mask

Elton Corporation

95 mins.

February 21, 1929

Not Rated

This film has the interesting distinction of occurring at the very end of the silent movie era and the dawn of the “talkie”. In this way, you have a silent movie – where you don’t actually hear what the characters are saying – but you still have sound effects and a voice over narration. It gave it sort of a news report feel – where you see what’s happening in the background of the narration. The story is based on part of the novel The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Alexandre Dumas. You get a little bit of the Four Musketeers story and a little bit of the Man in the Iron Mask legend.

I thought that this movie’s take on the legend was very interesting and slightly different than any of the other versions I have read about. In this film Queen Anne gave birth to twins (only one of which most people knew about) – one was the future King Louis XIV and the other was only know as “the other one”. The interesting twist in this storyline is that “the other one” took over the King’s place and King Louis XIV became the Man in the Iron Mask. After d’Artagnan rescued him from his prison and they proved the false King, “the other one” was put in the iron mask and sent off to prison. So in this story, both of the twins had been the Man in the Iron Mask.

I also thought that the producers were at least slightly successful in attempting to give a little bit of the political reason for hiding the twin. I had not watched any of the musketeer movies and I enjoyed the “all for one, one for all” aspect of it, but this movie primarily focused on d’Artagnan.

Overall, while this may not have been the most detailed and plausible Man in the Iron Mask movie, I very much enjoyed the medium in was presented in. It was a fun, swashbuckling, old-school adventure. Douglas Fairbanks was a good narrator and I enjoyed his portrayal of d’Artagnan and I loved his short lived relationship with Constance (played by Marguerite de la Motte) – that was a fun romance!

This movie is available in its entirety on YouTube OpenFlix or on demand on Netflix.






Copyright © 2011 by The Maiden’s Court

Book Review: Before Versailles by Karleen Koen

Before Versailles by Karleen Koen

ARC, Hardcover, 480 pages

Crown Publishing

June 28, 2011

★★★★☆

Genre: Historical Fiction

Source: Received from publisher for TLC Book Tour

“Louis XIV is one of the best-known monarchs ever to grace the French throne. But what was he like as a young man—the man before Versailles? 

After the death of his prime minister, Cardinal Mazarin, twenty-two-year-old Louis steps into governing France. He’s still a young man, but one who, as king, willfully takes everything he can get—including his brother’s wife. As the love affair between Louis and Princess Henriette burns, it sets the kingdom on the road toward unmistakable scandal and conflict with the Vatican. Every woman wants him. He must face what he is willing to sacrifice for love. 

But there are other problems lurking outside the chateau of Fontainebleau: a boy in an iron mask has been seen in the woods, and the king’s finance minister, Nicolas Fouquet, has proven to be more powerful than Louis ever thought—a man who could make a great ally or become a dangerous foe . . . 

Meticulously researched and vividly brought to life by the gorgeous prose of Karleen Koen, Before Versailles dares to explore the forces that shaped an iconic king and determined the fate of an empire.”

Prior to reading this novel I had no idea that this book was about the king who would be known as The Sun King – and to that end, I didn’t know anything about that man either! I had no idea what story I was walking in to, but I loved Dark Angels by Karleen Koen so I did not hesitate to jump on this one! The author made it easy for me to connect into this world because there were frequent references to King Charles II of England (the brother of one of the main characters) who I have read a lot about and always enjoy. This world of Louis XIV is just as interesting as the court of Charles II! All of the intrigue and romance and craziness!

The book started off a little slow for me and I think part of this was due to the frequent pauses to explain things that I didn’t feel needed to be elaborated on. For example:

“And our little French dauphin” – the first son of the king was called the dauphin because three hundred years earlier a king of France had purchased huge territories that carried a hereditary title, taken from the dolphin on the coat of arms – “is going to teach you French” (pg. 32 of ARC).

In the above scenario, while the information was interesting, it added nothing to the story and really broke up the flow. This stylistic feature appeared to die out after the first quarter or so of the book and the narrative really picked up from there. A stylistic choice that I didn’t mind as much but still felt was a little unnecessary, was the occasional reference of things that would happen in the future, beyond the scope of the book:

“He couldn’t yet know the difference ten years would make, even five, couldn’t yet know the temptations that would be thrown at him...He could not know that one day this girl, turned to woman, would weep before him, and he wouldn’t feel a thing. But such was years away…” (pg 349 of ARC).

While some of the writing style bothered me, I felt that the content of the story was wonderful. There was a large cast of characters but they were all well developed. Even the periphery characters were developed enough that you had a solid feeling about who they were and substantiated their motives. I also loved that there was a great character list at the beginning of the book because I certainly needed it from time to time – especially given my unfamiliarity with the French court. Koen also brings the mystery of the Man in the Iron Mask into play – and creates/supports a very believable scenario of who he may have been. Even this unknown character was well developed. I particularly enjoyed this plot line.

I very much enjoyed this book and can’t wait to get the chance to read her other works that are on my shelf. The author has stated that Dark Angels is a sequel to Before Versailles and knowing this, I was hoping to see Alice (main character in Dark Angels) pop into the novel before its end, as she was part of Madame’s household. But alas, this was not to be – that would have made the ending more perfect for me.

If you would like to preview the story before reading it, why not try out this excerpt of the book?

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• Burton Book Review
• Royal Reviews

Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | RJ Julia 

Also by Karleen Koen

Dark Angels (Tamworth Saga #1)
[My Review]

Through a Glass Darkly (Tamworth Saga #2)

Now Face to Face (Tamworth Saga #3)

Find Karleen Koen: Website | Facebook | Twitter
 

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You can visit the other stops on this tour to see what other's thought of this book as well!

Tuesday, July 5th: 2 Kids and Tired Book Reviews
Wednesday, July 6th: Broken Teepee
Thursday, July 7th: The Bookworm
Friday, July 8th: Historical-Fiction.com
Monday, July 11th: In the Hammock
Tuesday, July 12th: Living Outside the Stacks
Wednesday, July 13th: The Maiden’s Court (here!)
Thursday, July 14th: Royal Reviews
Monday, July 18th: Unabridged Chick
Tuesday, July 19th: Enchanted by Josephine
Wednesday, July 20th: Laura’s Reviews
Thursday, July 21st: Historical Tapestry AND Adventures of an Intrepid Reader
Friday, July 22nd: Books Like Breathing
Monday, July 25th: Stiletto Storytime
Tuesday, July 26th: Hist-Fic Chick
Wednesday, July 27th: Life in Review
Thursday, July 28th: Reading, Reading & Life

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Copyright © 2011 by The Maiden’s Court