The Perfect Royal Mistress

The book I recently finished is called The Perfect Royal Mistress.  The main character in it is a teenaged girl named Nell Gwyn.  She is very poor, and living above a pub in London with her mother and sister.  Nell was born around 1657, during the reign of King Charles II.  Nell sells oranges in the pit of the King's Theatre to try to scrape some money together, but she doesn't make hardly anything.  She is very witty, and is very good at using quick comments and remarks to make people laugh.  Because of this, Nell quickly becomes the best orange seller in the pit.  She befriends Richard Bell, an actor, and he realizes that she would be great in the comedy plays the theatre puts on.  The manager and head actor, Charles Hart, doesn't want to give Nell the part, because it was kind of a major part, but he decides to give Nell a chance.  She is absolutely wonderful, and quickly advances to the head comedy actress.  

King Charles loves the theatre, and often goes to watch the plays.  Nell catches his eye, and he falls in love with her.  You have to understand that King Charles has many mistresses, so this was not uncommon for him.  Nell became Charles's mistress, and they fell in love.  The three most important differences between Nell and Charles's other mistresses is 1: she actually loved Charles, and didn't just love his title. 2: Nell understood that he had, and would always have, other mistresses, and made her peace with it.  3: Nell was a commoner, and she didn't come with the problems about rank, money, and position in the court that all Charles's other mistresses have.  Charles loved Nell, and gave her houses, clothes, and jewels.  Nell had two sons in the 11 years Nell and Charles were together, named Charles and James.  When Charles died in 1685, Nell never married. 

This book is absolutely wonderful, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a great history novel.  By the way, The Perfect Royal Mistress was written by Diane Haeger.  I hope you enjoy this book! 

The Last Boleyn

The book I just finished is called The Last Boleyn, by Karen Harper. It is a novel about the oldest Boleyn girl, named Mary. She is the older sister of Anne, who became the second wife of King Henry VIII of England. Mary, however, was the person that triggered her family into becoming popular with the king, and, other than her sister-in-law Jane, she was the only Boleyn to escape the tragic events of the Boleyns falling from favor with the king. As you might know, this culminated with the killing of Anne, who was Queen of England.  Mary was sent to France when she was eight to serve in the court of King Louis XII, where King Henry's sister had just been made queen.  She became a favorite of Queen Mary, but when Louis died and Mary was sent back to England, Mary Boleyn had to stay (on her father's orders) and serve the next queen and king of France: King Francois I and Queen Claude.  Francois took a shining to Mary, and when she was about 15 he made her his mistress.  It was not her choice, and she hated it, but she couldn't get out of it.  About a year later, when the King of England and the King of France gathered for important diplomatic negotiations, and King Henry decided he liked the look of blonde, blue-eyed Mary.  He brought her home to England, married her to a noble at his court, and decided that Mary was going to be his mistress.  The ending of this book, and what happens to Mary, Anne, and George (their brother) was very suspenseful even when I knew the basics of what happened to them.  I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a great historical read.  It is a fantastic book- but why don't you see for yourself!  

The Secret Bride

I just had the pleasure of reading an absolutely wonderful book written by Diane Haeger, who has written many books about England between about 1500-1600.  I am very interested in this time period, which is when the Tudors were the monarchs in England, so this book was especially interesting to me.  

The title of this book is The Secret Bride.  It is about Mary Tudor, the sister of King Henry VIII (the eighth).  She grew up in the palace of Eltham, and didn't join the court until three years before her father died; she was 11.  (Mary's father was King Henry VII).  Mary was very close with her brother Henry, because their brother Arthur died when Mary was 10, and her sister Margaret was made to marry the King of Scotland when Mary was 8.  At 14, Mary was just realizing her massive power among the young men at her brother's new court (Henry becoming king at 18).  Mary became a beauty over the years, but a marriage was being negotiated for her with the Prince of Castile, who was 5 years younger than her.  While all this was happening, Mary fell in love.  

The man she fell in love with was 5 years older than her, and was her brother's best friend.  His name was Charles Brandon, and he is the son of a mere baron and his wife.  Charles is orphaned at about 11, and is sent to be the companion of young Henry.  The become the best of friends, and when Henry becomes king he awards Charles the title of the Duke of Suffolk.  Mary and Charles are madly in love, and when Mary's betrothal with the Prince of Castile falls through, they hope they can wed, because even though Mary is a royal princess of Tudor blood, Charles is now the Duke of Suffolk (dukedom, by the way, is the highest position below the king), and they hope it will be enough for Henry to let Charles and Mary get married.  All of a sudden, Henry arranges a marriage with the 75 year old (& ill) King of France, Louis XII (the twelfth).  Mary is devastated, for now she can't marry Charles.  

Mary does her duty to England and marries Louis, but when Louis dies from his illnesses a mere 4 months later, will Mary obey her brother yet again, and marry another foreign royal?  Or will she assert herself and do what she wants with her future?  You will have to read The Secret Bride to find out!  It has a great ending, and I don't want to wreck it!  I would recommend this book to anyone who has the least bit of interest in England; it is a great novel!  Enjoy, everyone!!          

Squire: The Protector of the Small Series

I recently finished a book by Tamora Pierce called Squire.  It is the third book in the series The Protector of the Small.  The Protector of the Small series tells us about Keladry of Mindelan (called Kel)'s journey as the first female page, squire, and knight in the realm of Tortall.  (Alanna (see below) was the first female to try for knighthood, but she was pretending to be a boy.  Kel is the first known female to try for knighthood).  In this book, Kel is now a squire.  She has passed the Final Exams at the end of her four years as a page, and if she can make it through the next four years as a squire, and pass the rigorous knighthood test, she will be a female knight.  As squires, knights choose the boys to be their squire, and the squires are kind of like an apprentice and helper to their knight.  Lord Raoul of Goldenlake is a knight (also a close friend of King Jonathan and Alanna) who is the commander of the King's Own, an elite group of armed men who hunt bandits, build barriers for floods, fight against countries who try to sneak across the borders, and attend banquets at the palace.  The King's Own is hard to get into, because they do so much for the people of Tortall and the king.  As Raoul's squire, Kel gets to hunt bandits herself, and she also experiences a life of parties and banquets.  (The king, queen, and the whole court is on progress, to see all of Tortall--the king makes the King's Own travel with them, but they leave to rescue people often) :).  On the Grand Progress, Kel also gets a chance to joust against other squires and knights.  Lord Raoul has been training Kel to joust, and she is very good for a young squire.  Lord Raoul is the best jouster in the whole kingdom, and hasn't lost a joust in 10 years.  Kel thinks she can't ever win a joust in the beginning, but then she realizes the only person she's ever jousted against is Lord Raoul-- the best jouster in the realm.  Kel wins at least 2 out of 3 jousts, and gets a very fine reputation as a jouster.  I won't tell you the adventures she has next, because that would ruin the end of the book, but I will tell you it is very exciting and suspenseful!  I would recommend this book, and any book of Tamora Pierce's (I have read most of them :)). She is an excellent author!  Enjoy!!