As war and treachery loom, an ambitious man’s mission threatens to topple two dazzling realms and their formidable rulers: Catherine de Medici, the Dark Queen, and Ariane, the Lady of Faire Isle.

It is 1588, and as the Spanish Armada prepares to besiege England, Paris balances on the brink of revolution. To maintain her grip on the throne and on the dark magic that has become her obsession, Catherine de Medici turns to Louis Xavier, a ruthless corsair who was schooled in the dark arts and has mastered piracy along the Spanish main. But Louis’s basest instincts are held in check by the kindness of Lady Jane Danvers, a British exile whose innate sense of honor is but one facet of her complex and passionate nature.

On Faire Isle, Ariane Cheney, unaware of the escalating threat from the Dark Queen, struggles with the task of protecting the daughters of the earth and their vast store of ancient magical wisdom. Weak and desperate for an advantage, the ailing Catherine makes a devil’s bargain that will cast a shadow over all.

The story changes perspectives between many of the characters, good and bad alike. I sometimes don’t like that style, but actually enjoyed it in the case of this novel. The characters have many dimensions and this is part of what makes this novel so great. It is so often that you read a book with poor development in this area that it was nice to have some realistic characters.

It is also very suspenseful, but not wickedly so. You will feel good after the ending, and appreciate the way the characters grew throughout. Susan Carroll creates an exciting and realistic world with this novel, and I would highly recommend it. It kept me very engaged, but despite reading it quickly, the length felt satisfactory.

One more note; I absolutely loved the female characters in this book. They were very independent and courageous, which was refreshing.

My Gemstone Rating:

Beautiful. Seductive. Innocent. Jane Popyncourt was brought to the court as a child to be ward of the king and a companion to his daughters — the princesses Margaret and Mary. With no money of her own, Jane could not hope for a powerful marriage, or perhaps even marriage at all. But as she grows into a lovely young woman, she still receives flattering attention from the virile young men flocking to serve the handsome new king, Henry VIII, who has recently married Catherine of Aragon. Then a dashing French prisoner of war, cousin to the king of France, is brought to London, and Jane finds she cannot help giving some of her heart — and more — to a man she can never marry. But the Tudor court is filled with dangers as well as seductions, and there are mysteries surrounding Jane’s birth that have made her deadly enemies. Can she cultivate her beauty and her amorous wiles to guide her along a perilous path and bring her at last to happiness? Basing her gripping tale on the life of the real Jane Popyncourt, gifted author Kate Emerson brings the Tudor monarchs, their family, and their courtiers to brilliant life in this vibrant new novel.

This first book of a trilogy follows a minor character, Jane Popyncourt, throughout her life and her dealings with both King Henry VII and VIII as well as the rest of the royal clan. The circumstances surrounding her arrival in English court plague Jane as an adult. She soon becomes determined to discover why her mother so abruptly fled France and then mysteriously died shortly after being warmly received in England.

I really enjoyed this one. It was an entertaining glimpse of royal court without the usual bodice ripping that comes with the territory. Emerson did a great job at making Tudor England come alive with all of the political intrigue, dangerous secrets and frivolity that comes with court life. It also gives the reader an outsider’s view of the comings and goings in court. So many historical fiction novels are written from the point of view of the key players (kings, queens and mistresses) that one often forgets the minor characters that make these lavish lives possible. It is these minor characters that often see and interpret factual events from a very different perspective and they are often the ones with the most to lose should things go awry. Emerson’s handle on the various characters both major and minor was wonderfully depicted.

I will definitely be continuing on with these highly entertaining series.

My Gemstone Rating:

West Virginia, 1924: Alma works in a hosiery mill where the percussive roar of machinery has far too long muffled the engine that is her heart. When Alma’s husband decides that they should set out to find their fortune in Florida, Alma has little choice but to leave her three children and ailing mother behind. But when Alma is then abandoned at a Miami dock, she is suddenly forced to make her own way in the world. With the help of a gentle giantess and an opium-addicted prostitute, Alma reclaims her children from the orphanage and forges ahead with an altogether new sort of family. As an act of survival, she chooses to run a house of prostitution, a harvest that relies on lust and weakness in men, of which “the world has a generous, unending supply.”The Madam is the story of a house of sin. It is here where Alma’s children will learn everything there is to know about “love and loss, sex and betrayal.” Based on the real life of the author’s grandmother, The Madam is a tale of epic proportions, one that will haunt readers long after its stunning conclusion.

Alma is married and has three children. She is suffocating from her daily life, from her children’s needs, from her work in a loud and dusty hosiery factory in a loud and dusty mining town, and from poverty. When her husband Henry learns that there are abandoned trunks full of valuables for sale at a reasonable price in Florida, they decide to take a trip. That trip is the catalyst for change in almost all aspects of Alma’s life.

I liked this book. Well, more specifically, I liked the writing. It’s just so evocative of time and weather and place and change. Here’s a sample from the beginning of the book:

But Alma can feel things shifting. She knows nothing of atoms. She can’t. She’s a woman in a hosiery factor in Marrowtown, West Virgina. It’s 1924, nearly summer. Atoms are still the matter of physicist’s dreams, dim stars with the skies just beginning to ink. But if she did know of atoms, she would say she could feel the restlessness of them, like schoolchildren at the end of a long spring day. She’s aware of the vibration of everything – not just the factory’s thrumming hive, but in some minute invisibility all around her, inside of herself, a small electric charge.

In addition to excellent writing, the story was interesting. However, about halfway through, it kind of lost me. It took some unexpected turns, and left me a little unsatisfied. The characters are so good. At least, their potential is good. There’s Delphine, the opium-addicted whore. There’s Roxy, the homeless lesbian. There’s Sister Margaret, the good-hearted and practical nun. And there’s Alma herself. But each of these characters, for me, failed to live up to her potential. In fact, I felt like this whole book failed to live up to its potential.

While I can’t wholeheartedly love this book, I am curious as to Baggott’s other, more critically acclaimed works. Perhaps I’ll read one of those someday.

My Gemstone Rating:

In this “energetic” (Kirkus Reviews) re-creation of Anne Boleyn’s tragic life — and death — Robin Maxwell offers a pitch-perfect version of a bawdy and exuberant time filled with lust, betrayal, love, and murder.

When the young Queen Elizabeth I is entrusted with Anne Boleyn’s secret diary, she discovers a great deal about the much-maligned mother she never knew. And on learning the truth about her lascivious and despotic father, Henry VIII, she vows never to relinquish control to any man. But this avowal doesn’t prevent Elizabeth from pursuing a torrid love affair with her horse master, Robin Dudley — described with near-shocking candor — as too are Anne’s graphic trysts with a very persistent and lustful Henry. Blending a historian’s attention to accuracy with a novelist’s artful rendering, Maxwell weaves compelling descriptions of court life and devastating portraits of actual people into her naughty, page-turning tale. The result is a masterpiece of historical fiction — so prophetic of our time that one would think it were ripped from today’s headlines.

Although this book took me longer than it should to finish, I quite enjoyed the journey through the infamous Anne Boleyn’s life. This “Secret Diary” took us through Anne’s ascent to the throne, her tumultuous marriage to King Henry and finally, her downfall. She also left a touching message to her daughter, the currently reining Queen Elizabeth to always be true to herself and never allow anyone to come between her ambitions and true nature. From one dead mother to her daughter, Anne left a priceless gift that no one else could: the gift of truth.

Maxwell does a phenomenal job at humanizing Anne and allows the reader, as well as Elizabeth, to realize what Anne really was: an ambitions girl with hopes, dreams and a determined resolve which is the exact opposite of the usual cunning, calculating and bewitching woman she is usually portrayed as.

Even though this novel was a little slow at times, I would definitely recommend it to those who are looking for a different (and maybe perhaps a more accurate?) portrait of the woman who changed all of Christendom. Historical buffs will enjoy this novel and Tudor fans will love it.

My Gemstone Rating: