HF Virtual Book Tours Review and Giveaway: The Captive Queen by Danny Saunders

Title: The Captive Queen
Author: Danny Saunders
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Self-published
Publish Date: 2014
Source: HF Virtual Book Tours

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "Political schemes, religious partisanship and unbridled love shake the Royal Court of Scotland at the end of the Stuart dynasty.

Witness to sordid murders, spy for Her Majesty among the Protestants of the infamous preacher John Knox, forced to give up her one true love, thrown out onto the streets then ruthlessly attacked by a drunkard, Charlotte Gray will do everything in her power to remain the sovereign’s lady-in-waiting.

As for the Queen of Scots, she faces turmoil of a completely different kind: prisoner in a castle under the command of her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I of England, Mary Stuart learns that she is the victim of a vast conspiracy and that her English counterpart has ordered her imminent execution.

Despite their hardships, Mary and Charlotte will keep their dignity throughout the storm. The two women will finally find serenity, one in the arms of a man and the other in the arms of God."

My Two Cents:

"The Captive Queen" is a historical fiction story about Mary Stuart. What most people remember about poor Mary's story is that she spent a lot of time as a prisoner at the hands of her cousin Queen Elizabeth I. I have always been drawn to books about Mary Stuart because she is so interesting to me. This book looks at Mary's life and how you have a woman who thinks that she's going to be able to rule Scotland free and clear but history has much different plans for her.

This book is a look at her life and the difficulty she had throughout it. Mary Stuart definitely has a compelling story and makes for a very easy subject to write about. The style of the book fell a bit flat in some places and I wish that it had been tweaked a little bit. The story has a lot of historical detail in it; however, sometimes it feels as if some parts of the book are simply a regurgitation of historical detail rather than being interwoven with narrative. Yes, all of these facts are interesting; however, I wish that there had been narrative at some points in order to keep the story moving along.

Additionally I thought there were a lot of parts where the characters told too much about what was going on. There was a lot of telling rather than showing. I wanted to be able to add more meaning on my own.

Overall, this is the story of a very compelling woman. I think that there were definitely some parts I could've been scaled down a little bit but overall. With more polish, this book could really shine!

Giveaway:

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Follow the Rest of the Tour:

Monday, August 25
Spotlight & Giveaway at Passages to the Past
Tuesday, August 26
Spotlight & Giveaway at Historical Fiction Obsession
Wednesday, August 27
Review at Flashlight Commentary
Thursday, August 28
Interview at Flashlight Commentary
Friday, August 29
Spotlight at Ageless Pages Reviews
Monday, September 1
Review at JulzReads
Wednesday, September 3
Interview at To Read or Not To Read
Thursday, September 4
Review at A Chick Who Reads
Friday, September 5
Review & Giveaway at Book Lovers Paradise
Monday, September 8
Spotlight at CelticLady’s Reviews
Review & Giveaway at A Bookish Affair
Tuesday, September 9
Spotlight & Giveaway at Peeking Between the Pages
Wednesday, September 10
Excerpt & Giveaway at So Many Precious Books, So Little Time
Friday, September 12
Review at Princess of Eboli