BOOK REVIEW: The Summer Queen by Elizabeth Chadwick

Blurb:

Young Eleanor has everything to look forward to as the heiress to the wealthy Aquitaine. But when her beloved father dies suddenly, childhood is over. Forced to marry Prince Louis of France, she barely adjusts before another death catapults them to King and Queen. Leaving everything behind, Eleanor must face the complex and vivacious French court. She is only 13. Barely out of childhood and forced to deal with great scandals, fraught relationships, and forbidden love at every turn, Eleanor finally sees what her future could hold if she could just seize the moment.

My Review:

“The Summer Queen” by Elizabeth Chadwick was absolutely fantastic. I might be a little biased, since I love anything to do with Eleanor of Aquitaine, but I really can’t say enough good things about this book! The great use of descriptions grabbed me from the beginning, and I was really able to picture what was going on through the use of great imagery. Also, the writing style flowed smoothly, so my interest was kept from beginning until end. I like how the focus was mainly on her first marriage, because had the author tried to fit the adventures of both marriages into one book, I think a lot would have been lost in the telling. I was surprised that the author described Louis and Eleanor’s marriage as somewhat passionate at the beginning. Other books I have read have shown that the marriage was pretty much doomed from the beginning, this novel showed that there possibly was the chance at love between them at first, but through different events in their lives, that chance was ruined. It’s sad that their marriage fell apart due to Louis’ poor advisors and overzealous religious beliefs. However, it is definitely easy to hate Louis in this novel due to the way he treats Eleanor! The adventures that Eleanor had during her lifetime are astounding, and it’s hard not to like someone with as much strength of character as Eleanor of Aquitaine! To think, this novel is only covering the FIRST half of her crazy life! I really like that the author ended the novel (the first in a trilogy!) at a positive point in Eleanor’s life. There are so many ups and downs throughout her life, with one of the major ‘downs’ happening during her marriage to Henry II, so it’s nice to end this first book with a little hope towards her future.

I would 100% recommend this novel to any lover of historical fiction. It has it all, romance, adventure, and intrigue! I give this novel a solid FIVE out of FIVE stars!

Praise for Elizabeth Chadwick:

“Like a fine wine Chadwick is to be savored all the way down to the last drop...”—Historically Obsessed

“I swear, each Elizabeth Chadwick book I read is even better than the last.”—Devourer of Books

“An author who makes historical fiction come gloriously alive.” —Times of London

“A star back in Britain, Elizabeth Chadwick is finally getting the attention she deserves here.” ―Deirdre Donahue, USA Today

Biography

Elizabeth Chadwick is a best selling, award winning author of historical fiction. A born storyteller, her first novel The Wild Hunt won a Betty Trask Award in 1990. She has been four times shortlisted for the RNA Award in the UK for the best mainstream romantic novel. Her book The Scarlet Lion was selected as one of the top ten works of historical fiction of the decade by Richard Lee, founder of The Historical Novel Society.

Available for PRE order at Amazon.com!

Captive Queen by Alison Weir

I really enjoyed reading this novel by Alison Weir. Weir's novels are usually non fiction, but when she does right a fictional novel they are good!

This was the first book I've read about Eleanor of Aquitaine's life and family. Reading about her life has definitely piqued my interest regarding her life, and I've been looking for other books about her. I have to say that her life fascinates me as much, if not more, than Anne Boleyn's, and I've been an avid reader of Anne for years!

Anways! This book details her life from her marriage and eventual divorce to King Louis VII of France, to her scandalous marriage and eventual estrangement to King Henry II of England. It was extremely interesting to read about what a strong woman she was, especially during a time period when the opinion of women was neither listened to nor respected. She caused a huge scandal by divorcing King Louis VII and going on to marry King Henry II shortly after. She was the most powerful woman in Europe during this time, and was very well-known, for good and for bad. Reading about the love affair she initially had with King Henry II and the birth of her children, as well as her great love for her children, and then the great betrayal she felt when King Henry II fell in love with "Fair Rosamund", was enough to make it impossible to put this book down. Not only did this book tell a great story about a powerful woman, but it was written in such a smoothly flowing way, that as a reader you became completely engrossed in the novel. It had enough of a love story, drama, and betrayal to forget that you were reading a novel that was based of historical facts. I knew very little about Eleanor of Aquitaine to begin with, so this novel was even more interesting to me, because I didn't know what was going to happen next! However, by the end of the novel I had a pretty solid understanding of who she was, her life, marriage, children, and also how things ended up for her. Reading about her also helped me to become interested in the lives of her children, especially Richard the Lionheart. Weir's writing style is fantastic, and her descriptions and dialogue are effortless. I try to read every every book that Weir puts out, because I know that I'll love it!

I must say that I enjoyed Gortner's novel on Queen Juana, "The Last Queen" a little more than this novel, but I think that is because he portrayed Queen Juana in a light that I had never seen before, so it made it that much more interesting. However, reading this novel definitely interested me in Eleanor of Aquitaine, and I will be keeping my eyes open for more books that have to do with her fascinating life!