A Court Affair

The Queen's Pleasure by Brandy Purdy
I was so excited when the author of this book reached out to me and asked if I'd want a copy to read. I really enjoyed her last book, The Tudor Throne, so I couldn't wait to read another by her. It's funny going back to that post and reading that I wanted to see Elizabeth's story continue, because basically this is that. I do think that if I read the two closer together I would have enjoyed this more, because while parts of the story did come back to me, it did take a while.

My biggest complaint with this book is actually the way it was marketed. The front cover calls it "A Novel of Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley." But it really is a story of Amy Dudley, the wife of Robert Dudley. Given who she is, Robert & Elizabeth are definitely significant players (in fact several chapters are even told from Elizabeth's point of view), but it really is Amy's story. Even the book's summary never mentions Amy by name, and she is only referred to in passing as Robert's wife. What is interesting is reading the summary of the UK version of this book (marketed as A Court Affair by Emily Purdy), because there you can actually tell who the story is about.

The book actually begins as the end of the story, and then goes back in time to fill in the details of what got everyone got that point. I'm not always a fan of that that approach, but since I knew what to expect from Amy's story (both from Philippa Gregory's The Virgin's Lover and Jean Plaidy's A Favorite of the Queen) it really worked for me.

I have read complaints about this book that it's not historically accurate, which I can see because it's told from Amy's point of view and we really have no idea what she's thinking. Except as you read you can't help but notice the historical details, based on fact, that are woven throughout. Purday doesn't make a point to call the out just to prove that it is based on truth, but if you look for them, there are a lot of historical accuracies within.

I really did enjoy this one, and do think Purdy has an interesting take on the Tudor reign. I can't wait to see what she has next, although in some ways I'd like to see her venture into more interesting territory instead of sticking with this family.

4/5

Disclosure: I was provided this book from the author. All opinions expressed are my own.

Today I'm linking up with Blonde Undercover Blonde for Book Club Friday!