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3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
lighthearted
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I liked this much more than I expected to. O'Brien's Alice Perrers is sympathetic and human, neither a Mary Sue nor a true villainess. Her emotions and motivations are complicated, as are her relationships. What O'Brien does well with this book is show that love can take many forms. The relationship that Edward has with Philippa is different from what he has with Alice which in turn is different from what she has with her husband. No one relationship is clearly better, no partner more beloved than the other. It is a refreshing take for a genre that is not known for realism when it comes to love.
I would like to thank Harlequin MIRA for the chance to read and review this book. It certainly took me a while to read but when I did get the chance to pick it up and read it again, it was very easy going. It just all flowed together and I always remembered exactly what had happened.
We very quickly get to meet our leading lady, Mistress Alice Perrers, although not much is known about her in the history books, Anne O'Brien has certainly brought her to life. Young Alice had a terrible start to life, abandoned in an Abbey. The sisters take her in and raise her. It became very clear early on that Alice has ambitions and dreams. But she had no idea what was in store for her.
We then meet Philippa of Hainult who is Queen of England and wife to King Edward III. Alice helps her and is soon whisked off to court and thrown into court life as the King's mistress. Many years go by and Philippa dies. Making Alice the King's Concubine.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and loved all 3 of the main characters as Anne O'Brien has made them all very likable and in way you do feel for Philippa who has been forced to find her husband a mistress. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading historical fiction.
My Rating: I give this book a 4/5 rating. It is well deserved and a thoroughly enjoyable book.
We very quickly get to meet our leading lady, Mistress Alice Perrers, although not much is known about her in the history books, Anne O'Brien has certainly brought her to life. Young Alice had a terrible start to life, abandoned in an Abbey. The sisters take her in and raise her. It became very clear early on that Alice has ambitions and dreams. But she had no idea what was in store for her.
We then meet Philippa of Hainult who is Queen of England and wife to King Edward III. Alice helps her and is soon whisked off to court and thrown into court life as the King's mistress. Many years go by and Philippa dies. Making Alice the King's Concubine.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and loved all 3 of the main characters as Anne O'Brien has made them all very likable and in way you do feel for Philippa who has been forced to find her husband a mistress. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading historical fiction.
My Rating: I give this book a 4/5 rating. It is well deserved and a thoroughly enjoyable book.
Not my favourite of the books I've read by Anne O'Brien so far, but I love Alice Perrers as a historical woman.
emotional
informative
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
3/3.5 stars
At 17 years old, Alice Perrers became the mistress of King Edward III as his wife ailed with a debilitating illness. In The King's Concubine, Anne O'Brien brings to life the mystery of Alice and the real woman behind the rumours and the false accusations made against her.
I really enjoyed Anne O'Brien's way of bringing to life Alice - a woman I never knew about before. But she was someone who I immediately was intrigued by when I began to learn how she accumulated wealth and what a smart business woman she must have been. At a time when it was really hard/virtually impossible for a woman to own her own wealth, she basically became a property tycoon. And you have to respect that. It makes you think what she could have accomplished if she had been born in a different time as she obviously had a great mind, and a business savvy to boot.
This book would never be described as action packed, it's quite long and for people who might be new to historical fiction, it could be a little bit boring - especially as for the majority of Alice's time as Mistress, times were peaceful and when they weren't, she wasn't privy to much.
It's always interesting and infuriating to see how men vying for power will try and bring down a woman when she takes a step too far up the ladder of power herself, and this is exactly what happened to Alice. She also had a strong sense of pride in this book and this characterization of her which meant that often she said the wrong things and she would often let people think things about her rather than show any kind of weakness.
I also felt in this book the real absence of a group of female companions for Alice - she was an extremely lonely and solitary character and the only people who she seemed to truly be friends with were her lover, and her lover's wife. Even in her marriage, she seemed to keep him at arm's length.
I still enjoyed this book, and as always love to hear about a woman's place and time in history.
At 17 years old, Alice Perrers became the mistress of King Edward III as his wife ailed with a debilitating illness. In The King's Concubine, Anne O'Brien brings to life the mystery of Alice and the real woman behind the rumours and the false accusations made against her.
I really enjoyed Anne O'Brien's way of bringing to life Alice - a woman I never knew about before. But she was someone who I immediately was intrigued by when I began to learn how she accumulated wealth and what a smart business woman she must have been. At a time when it was really hard/virtually impossible for a woman to own her own wealth, she basically became a property tycoon. And you have to respect that. It makes you think what she could have accomplished if she had been born in a different time as she obviously had a great mind, and a business savvy to boot.
This book would never be described as action packed, it's quite long and for people who might be new to historical fiction, it could be a little bit boring - especially as for the majority of Alice's time as Mistress, times were peaceful and when they weren't, she wasn't privy to much.
It's always interesting and infuriating to see how men vying for power will try and bring down a woman when she takes a step too far up the ladder of power herself, and this is exactly what happened to Alice. She also had a strong sense of pride in this book and this characterization of her which meant that often she said the wrong things and she would often let people think things about her rather than show any kind of weakness.
I also felt in this book the real absence of a group of female companions for Alice - she was an extremely lonely and solitary character and the only people who she seemed to truly be friends with were her lover, and her lover's wife. Even in her marriage, she seemed to keep him at arm's length.
I still enjoyed this book, and as always love to hear about a woman's place and time in history.
How on earth this was stretched to over 600 pages is beyond me. The middle of the book was so dull and dragging, with only a few interesting moments, but I feel that its greatest failing is the complete lack of complexity to Alice. O'Brien wants me to care about her, to understand her, but honestly she just paints her as an ambitious woman who loved the king because... I guess he was really manly? Also she feels bad about betraying the queen but not too much, as she has no problems sleeping with her husband. The whole dynamic of a much younger woman being seduced by the king just because he's the king was really gross to me - I understand historical accuracy, but it's just never addressed. This started to really annoy me, as I think there is a very intriguing story there, but she did nothing to explore it. Saying this is better than Philippa Gregory is insulting.