TO BE QUEEN by Christy English: REVIEW

This is the second novel that I have read by Christy English, and I can honestly say I was even more into this one than I was THE QUEEN'S PAWN. It took me around four days to finish, and if I hadn't been working at Applebee's so much, I would have finished in two! I loved it!

I was completely drawn into the book by the end of the first chapter. As a reader you are able to glimpse into Eleanor's childhood, and learn where her inner strength came from. She was left without her father or mother, and was still able to bargain for a marriage to the future King of France, Louis VII. She moves on to the Parisian Court, and when her father-in-law dies she becomes Queen of France along with Louis. Their marriage starts out with great hope, but Eleanor soon begins to see that Louis is much too pious for their marriage to ever be a love match. She is disappointed, but she is also strong. I actually felt sad for Louis at points in the novel, because he loves Eleanor so much, but he sees that great love as a sin, so he is unable to consummate their marriage on a regular basis, which after eight  years of marriage leads only to one daughter. Eleanor is faithful to Louis for years, even though there is barely any physical relationship between them. They go on a crusade shortly after their daughter is born, and Louis wants to make it to Jeruselum to pray for a son. During this crusade King Louis' troops are slaughtered when they are taken from behind by the Emperor Manuel of Constantinople's men. Eleanor had gone ahead with her men, so she escaped the attack as did her people. Of course the blame of the slaughter falls on Eleanor's shoulders, because the Parisians despised her already. While the battle was raging Eleanor gets her first taste of true physical pleasure in a very hot, but tasteful love scene between her and her countryman, Baron Rancon. Now that Eleanor has tasted true pleasure, she knows her marriage to Louis is over, and it is just a matter of paying the Pope enough to get the annullment or divorce. The crusade goes on, but they are no longer looking for a war, they are basically on a pilgrimage. They end up at her Uncle Raymond's Kingdom of Antioch, and there is an immediate connection between the two of the, and they eventually consummate their relationship, and she knows the feeling of 'true love.' Of course, they are both married, so there is nothing to do but move on, and he stays in her heart, until later in the novel when she learns of his death and is devestated. By this time they are settled back in the Parisian Court, and she has her first meeting with Henry of Anjou, the future King Henry II, and her future husband. There is an immediate attraction, and Eleanor succombs to his love, and believes he is the perfect match for her because he is the opposite of King Louis. Henry and Eleanor make many promises, and when he leaves to go to win the Kingdom of England back from the usurper, the reader is left with so much hope for their love.

Of course, we all know how Henry and Eleanor end up, but it's nice to believe for a minute that their love lasts a lifetime, and that there is no Rosamund, and that Henry is a fair father, and doesn't hold all power from his sons, but it's not to be.

I was completely drawn to Eleanor. I loved the tone of the novel and Eleanor's voice. Christy English was able to bring Eleanor of Aquitaine to life for me, and it was fascinating to get lost in her world for awhile. As a reader you can truly see how strong Eleanor was mentally and emotionally. She needs only to raise her hand to command the people around her, and she may have had many enemies, but they knew better than to go against her openly, because not only was she powerful, but she also had the love of the King of France.

Once Eleanor's annullment goes through, there is so  much hope for her future. She plans to rule Aquitaine in her own right, and to live her life as a free Duchess. The passionate love she feels for Henry of Anjou during their brief encounter completely changes the path she thought her life would take.

I would recommend both TO BE QUEEN and THE QUEEN'S PAWN to any lover of historical fiction or any lover of reading in general. Eleanor is such a fascinating figure in history to read about, and Christy English knows her facts, and is able to turn historical facts about this time period, into a beautiful and exciting story about Eleanor of Aquitaine's early life.

Of course I suggest you read her first novel (THE QUEEN'S PAWN) as well, because you can't just read about half of her life, as her entire life is full of excitement, intrigue, and of course, scandal. Both books will most definitely become a part of my permanent library collection!

Finished on Friday & Starting Fresh

I just finished the novel TO BE QUEEN by Christy English. I'm subbing for 7th and 8th grade English right now, so I can't do my review at the moment, plus I want to get the notes I took throughout the novel together before I put my thoughts down in here. I will say though, that it is one of the best novel's I've read in a long time. I really liked Alison Weir's CAPTIVE QUEEN, but TO BE QUEEN eclipses it by far. I honestly felt like I was inside Eleanor of Aquitaine's mind during her early reign with Louis of France. Her enemies became my enemies, her loves mine, and her sorrows my sorrows. It was intense. At times I teared up for her pain, or for Louis' inability to get past his religious fervor to love Eleanor both body and soul. There were also times I found myself laughing out loud at Eleanor's witicisms. Of course this was all due to the  imagination and flowing writing style of Christy English, but to me, it could have been an account of exactly what was going through her head during the time she was alive.

Anyways, as I said I will do a full review this weekend.

I started a new novel today. I'm switching it up a little bit. I've read a lot of historical fiction which takes place during the Tudor's time or before, so I've chosen a novel that takes place during the Civil War to read. I just started ENEMY WOMEN by Paulette Jiles. I was once a huge Civil War buff, and read and watched everything I could get my hands on about the Civil War. Then came the Tudors, followed by Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Borgias. So, I feel it's time to give my old favorite historical fiction era a little of my time! Hopefully it will be completely engrossing, so that I can get through it at a decent rate. THE SINS OF THE HOUSE OF BORGIA slowed me down, because I had a little trouble getting through it, but I think I made up time with TO BE QUEEN, because I flew through it due to the amazing writing skill of Christy English.

Oh, and I will be choosing a winner for my FIRST book giveaway later on today, so you still have a little time to enter if you have yet to do so!



ONE more day to enter my FIRST BOOK GIVEAWAY!

That's right! One more day before I choose the winner (via random.org) for my first book giveaway, THE LAST WIFE OF HENRY VIII. So, tell your blogger friends or your real life friends, lol, and make sure to sign up! I will announce the winner on my blog tomorrow, and I will also email the winner in order to get their snail mail address.
In other book news, I have about 50 pages left in TO BE QUEEN by Christy English. When I say I can't put the book down, I'm not lying. The only reason I haven't finished yet is because I worked doubles between substitute teaching and serving at applebees all last week. I have a good feeling I'll finish it by tomorrow and get my review up asap. Reading the book honestly takes me back to the time Eleanor of Aquitaine was alive, and put me right inside her head. While reading the book I get completely lost in Eleanor's thoughts and plans. I get anxious when she's anxious, and feel her excitement at times. It's easy to become completely immersed in this novel, so much so that the world around you ceases to exist...and THAT is the type of book I like! So, as soon as I finish it, the review will be up!

OHHH...and P.S. I asked for a KINDLE 4G for my birthday (April 16th I'll be 30!) And as a first time Kindle user, I hope I can figure it all out. I also hope I'm not disappointed with it, and miss my paperback books, but it's the "new" thing, and moving back an forth across the country means losing books along the way and that I cannot do! 

What's in My Mailbox: Monday!

Ok, so it's time to start something a little bit new. I enjoy doing updates now and then on my life, and of course I love reviewing books that I've read or am currently reading in this blog, but in other's blogs I've noticed that many of them do a little post about what's in their mailbox, so being the copycat that I am, here's what's in MY mailbox!
At any given time there are two to three books on their way to my home. Some may call it an addiction, but whatever, at least it's a healthy addiction! Recently I've had even more books arriving at my house, because of the contests I've entered on other blogs and won, so those don't count towards my book addiction!
Anyways, enough with the rambling!

To be Queen SHOULD be on it's way to my home. I'm hoping, wishing, praying that it's on the way! Christy English, who is an amazing author of historical fiction, was kind enough to offer to send me a review copy of this book to read and review! Obviously I was completely honored at the offer, and took her up on it immediately. Now I am excitedly awaiting its arrival in my mailbox, so that I can put any other book I'm reading at the time down, and begin reading this one! Christy English's novel deals with one of her great "loves," Eleanor of Aquitaine. I've had the pleasure of exchanging messages with Christy, and she absolutely adores writing about Eleanor, and learning everything possible about Eleanor's life. The passion she feels for Eleanor of Aquitaine is evident in her writing, and as a reader it was impossible to put her book down! I read her first book, The Queen's Pawn, around six months ago, and I've been hooked on novel's about Eleanor of Aquitaine ever since!

In the Hope of Rising Again by Helen Scully is the second book that should be making it's way through snail mail to my humble abode. Years ago I went through a phase where I read everything I could find that had to do with the Civil War. Keep in mind, this was prior to half.com or paperbackswap.com, so it wasn't easy to just jump online and order a cheap book. I had to go to Borders or Barnes and Noble, and shell out $15 for a book to read, and as a teen I wasn't exactly rolling in the money. After joining goodreads.com I was reintroduced to back into historical fiction dealing with the Civil War. Through recommendations from that site, as well as paperbackswap.com, I came across historical fiction that brought back memories of books I had read and loved; such as Killer Angels by Michael Shaara or The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All by Allan Gurganus. I decided to break free (slightly) from my "To Read" list of books that deal with the time period 1100-1600, and choose a few books that were reminiscent of ten years ago, and the books I loved to read then. In the Hope of Rising Again the reader is taken back to the war between the states, and the magnitude of loss that so many people suffered, as well as the time and strength it took to rebuild their lives. I am looking forward to getting drawn back into a Civil War era historical fiction novel in the near future.

Finally, the third novel that is on it's way is, Isabel the Fair by Margaret Campbell Barnes. I've read at least one of her novel's before, although the name escapes me at the moment, it did have to do with Anne Boleyn. Anyways, I had a credit to use on paperbackswap.com, and every book that I wanted to order wasn't available, so I ended up searching different lists and recommedations on the site, and came across this novel. I have never read a historical fiction novel on Edward II's wife Isabel of France. I read a novel about Edward II, and know a little bit about her through that novel, as well as mentions of her in a few others novels. However, I think this novel will allow me to learn a great deal more about her, and I am looking forward to that. She seems to have been a very strong woman in history, who may have been misrepresented at times. In the novel's I've read about her in, she's always portrayed as an evil woman, who wanted to invade England in order to dethrone her husband. In hindsight, it was actually for the best, because Edward II was a poor ruler, and rather than go to war, he seceded his throne to his heir, Edward III, who ended up being an excellent ruler that put England back in order. I can see why she was maligned looking at the relationship she had with Mortimer. She basically let him rule her, and in turn he ruled England through her son until Edward III came of age and had Mortimer assassinated, because he became aware of Mortimer's ulterior motives. This book was written quite awhile ago, but it received excellent reviews, so I am looking forward to reading it. The scandal during that time period, between Isabel, Mortimer, Edward II, and Piers Gaveston interests me greatly, and I'm looking forward to reading a different author's point of view about this time in history.

I'm not sure that I will update my "mailbox" every Monday. It honestly depends on if I have any books coming in the mail! I have so many books at home that I need to read, so I should probably take a break from ordering new ones until I get some of the ones I have read! It's so hard though, it feels like Christmas every time a book comes in the mail!

Happy Monday to everyone!!

The Queen's Pawn by Christy English

I absolutely loved this book. Christy English effortlessly tells the story of Alais, Princess of France and Eleanor of Aquitaine. It was such an enjoyable read, because the story was told from both sides. Not only are both Alais' and Eleanor's sides told, but the book is also written in first person, so the reader is able to get inside the character's heads in a way that one never could if the novel had been written in third person. Also, the way Christy English is able to bring the reader into the story, they are really able to understand Eleanor's feelings towards Alais. The reader is able to understand Eleanor's love for Alais, how it was much like the love one would have for a daughter, and how things changed when Alais became involved with Eleanor's husband King Henry II. This obviously created jealousy, not only because Eleanor and the King had once been deeply in love, but also because Alais was meant to be married to Eleanor and King Henry II's son, Richard.
Everything that I have read about Eleanor has pointed to the great love, ambitions, and protectiveness she had for her sons, so for her son's future wife to become her husband's (the King's) mistress was not only hurtful to Eleanor, but also to Richard. Eleanor may have been able to deal with the betrayal if she were the only one effected, but Richard was also betrayed, and so the betrayal went even deeper for Eleanor.
This was the first book that I had read about Eleanor of Aquitaine. I consider myself lucky to have read Christy English's novel about Eleanor or Aquitaine prior to any other book based on Eleanor's life. I have read novel's about Eleanor since Christy's, and none have made me feel as connected to her as this one.  After reading this book I searched all over the place for more novel's about Eleanor, and I also did some research on her life, and her son's lives. I've always loved reading novel's revolving around Anne Boleyn, but now I'm reading everything I can get my hands on about Eleanor!
I also really enjoyed learning about Alais, who was a Princess of France. I have to admit I was much more interested in Eleanor, but it was intriguing to learn about a person in history who I had only come across maybe one time prior to reading The Queen's Pawn, and the mention of her was no more than a sentence or two. I adore history, so anytime I learn something new I am excited. This novel not only introduced me to Alais as an important woman in history, but also gave me insight into her side of the story during the scandal between her and King Henry II.
I would definitely recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys historical fiction, or adores Eleanor of Aquitaine. I came across this book by chance when a website I belong to suggested it to me, and I couldn't have been happier with it. It only took me two days to read because it was impossible to put down!
I cannot wait to read To Be Queen by Christy English! Once I find an author I love, I tend to read everything I can get my hands on by them, and it will be no different with Christy's novels!