The Wild Princess: A Novel of Queen Victoria's Daughters by Mary Hart Perry

Summary:

The astronomical success of the historical novels of Phillipa Gregory and Christine Trent prove that readers simply can't get enough of the British royals--and now Mary Hart Perry enters the fray with an exciting, deliciously sensual novel of Queen Victoria's "wild child" daughter, the Princess Louise. The Wild Princess transports us back to Victorian England and plunges us into the intrigues of the royal court, where the impetuous Louise brazenly followed no one's rules but her own--even marrying a commoner, which no one of royal blood had done in the previous three centuries. Filled with rich period deal, The Wild Princess is an exciting, enthralling read. The Tudors have gotten the lion's share of attention in historical fiction; it's high time Queen Victoria and her family got their due.

Summary and Photo taken from Goodreads.com

Length: 384 pages

Source: Blog tour copy

Expected Publication Date: July 31st 2012 by William Morrow & Company

I was so excited when I got the e-mail from Vickie at Innovative Online Book Tours that I could hardly wait to start reading it. What struck me right off the bat was that I could just tell that this book was a real labour of love for the author, her passion for the story really came through the writing and for me that was probably one of the most enjoyable thing about the book.

As someone who loves historical fiction this novel was right up my alley. This was my first time reading about Princess Louise because I tend to stay away from historical fiction that deals with the royals, not sure why I do it but I do. However, after reading this novel I think I may have to reconsider that and look for other novels like this.

I really enjoyed the way the author wove her story as it really seemed to come alive on the pages or in my case on my kindle. There was a lot going on in the novel as it dealt with the Fenians (an organization fighting for the establishment of an independent Irish Republic) as well as the happenings in Louise's life including her love life as she gets involved with Stephen Byrne, and American who is working for her mother.

I really became quite intrigued with Princess Louise because unlike most royals she was a bit of a bohemian in her time. She often mingled well with the common folk and thanks to an indiscretion as a young girl she was married to a man who later turned out to be gay. This dashed any plans she had for children and the fact that she was the first royal in 300 years to marry out of the royal families of Europe made her an interesting person to me.

All in all the novel was an enjoyable read. As a lot of other bloggers have said it was a mix of thriller, historical fiction and romance. An interesting combination in my opinion and one that worked out so successfully that the author Mary Hart Perry just got herself a fan for life. I think I'll read anything this woman writes because somewhere along the way I fell in love with her writing style. Since this novel is set to be the first in the series I'm eagerly anticipating the next, until then though I think I may have to re-read this one since I enjoyed it so much.

I would recommend this book to everyone, it's a great read because it's so dynamic, the writing, characters, plot and setting were superb. I think I may just have to buy myself a hardcover version of it I loved so much.

* I recieved a copy of this book in exchange for my FREE and HONEST review as part of a blog tour.

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Awesome, I loved it!
★ ★ ★ ★ ★

 

A Treasury of Royal Scandals: The Shocking True Stories of History's Wickedest, Weirdest, Most Wanton Kings, Queens, Tsars, Popes, and Emperors by Michael Farquhar

 

Summary:

From Nero's nagging mother (whom he found especially annoying after taking her as his lover) to Catherine's stable of studs (not of the equine variety), here is a wickedly delightful look at the most scandalous royal doings you never learned about in history class.

Gleeful, naughty, sometimes perverted-like so many of the crowned heads themselves-A Treasury of Royal Scandals presents the best (the worst?) of royal misbehavior through the ages. From ancient Rome to Edwardian England, from the lavish rooms of Versailles to the dankest corners of the Bastille, the great royals of Europe have excelled at savage parenting, deadly rivalry, pathological lust, and meeting death with the utmost indignity-or just very bad luck.

Summary taken from Goodreads.com

Length: 324 pages (Hardcover)

Source: Personal Library

Publication Date: May 1st 2001 by Penguin (Non-Classics)         

What an intriguing read this turned out to be. Sometime last year while I was going to college I skipped a day (one of many days when I skipped) and I went to Goodwill on a Friday for their weekly 50% off sale to see if I could score any good reads and I found this one on the top shelf.

Unfortunately I'm still trying to figure out why it took me over a year to read it, I mean I love the cover, the title and the summary both hold promises of a delightful read but no. I picked it up many times with the intentions to start it but it wasn't until last month that I actually got around to reading it.

What I liked most about the book apart from it offering up some very interesting and some very perverted details about the royal families was that the book didn't just center on the royal families of England and France it encompassed all the European royal families and let me tell you they're a rather colourful bunch of families and talk about inbreeding!

Since this is my first time reading anything by the author I was pleasantly surprised by how much I ended up liking the way he used historical facts while making the book entertaining for the reading to make it easy to read. I think the reason that a lot of people stay away from non-fiction titles about the aristocracy and history in general because the books tend to be written in such a dry, heavy manner that doesn't allow for the casual reader to enjoy the words on the pages.

Luckily, this one is full of puns an some very inappropriate comments about the kings and queens of old. Honestly they weren't the type of people whom you would want to call a friend let alone family in those days since there were assassinations, be headings and forced marriages to deal with at every twist and turn. Truly some of the kings and queens were completely off their rockers.

Fortunately the inbreeding, assassinations, be-headings and all the other ugly stuff are no longer a facet of modern royalty (for the most part) because, if we had to deal with some of the royals from the past we'd be screwed worse than we are now. 

While I read the book I learned a lot and I had fun doing it too. Then again I'm a history buff so I find this stuff entertaining all the time but for those unfamiliar with this type of book, and the book can be picked up an put down easily and it made me feel like I would be lost if I had to set it down because of how it was written and I had a lot of laugh out loud moments while I read it.

Overall, I highly recommend this to those with a penchant for history and those with a sense of humour as well as those just wanting to read about the royal scandals. Kim Kardashian, Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears have nothing on the scandals in this book. I'm looking forward to reading the other books that the author has written that follow this same topic as this one.

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Really Liked it!
★ ★ ★ ★