The French Mistress by Susan Holloway Scott

From the author's website: 1668: The daughter of a poor nobleman, Louise leaves the French countryside for the glittering court of the legendary King Louis XIV. As a baby-faced maid of honor, the innocent Louise attracts little notice––until she catches the eye of the visiting English king, Charles II. Before long, she is sent by the scheming Louis to London as a royal “gift” for Charles. There she is expected not only to please the tastes of the jaded English king, but to serve as a spy for France.

Meh. It was alright. Take my opinion with a grain of salt because I do believe I am suffering from Historical Fiction exhaustion. I would say "Tudor exhaustion" but I am not sure of that is the correct term for this time period - I'm still fairly HF illiterate. This one was set in the court of Charles II and told the story of one of the important women in his life - you know, the important women in addition to the wife. There are two other "important women" and I saw in the back of the book that Susan Holloway Scott has written their stories as well. So she essentially tells the same tale from three different angles; I find that intriguing. Unfortunately, this viewpoint didn't enthrall me. Neither the romance nor the history were very memorable. I'll probably recollect the more sordid imagery from the first few chapters when she was still in the French court longer than I'd like and the rest not as long!

This book counts toward the Year of the Historical 2010 Reading Challenge hosted by lurv a la mode. Click on the button to see my progress.

This was the Facebook Historical Fiction book club selection for February. Next month we are reading Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran.




This book is my "F" book for the 2010 A-Z Reading Challenge. Click on the button to see my progress.