Friday, June 1, 2012

HF Virtual Tour Stop and G!ve@way: The Queen's Pleasure by Brandy Purdy


Title: The Queen's Pleasure
Author:  Brandy Purdy
Format: ARC
Publisher: Kensington
Publish Date: July 1, 2012
Source: HF Virtual Book Tours


Why You're Reading This Book:
  • You're a historical fiction fan.
  • You like a good scandal.
  • You like unique narrators.
What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "When young Robert Dudley, an earl’s son, meets squire’s daughter Amy Robsart, it is love at first sight. They marry despite parental misgivings, but their passion quickly fades, and the ambitious Dudley returns to court.

Swept up in the turmoil of Tudor politics, Dudley is imprisoned in the Tower. Also a prisoner is Dudley’s childhood playmate, the princess Elizabeth. In the shadow of the axe, their passion ignites. When Elizabeth becomes queen, rumors rage that Dudley means to free himself of Amy in order to wed her. And when Amy is found dead in unlikely circumstances, suspicion falls on Dudley—and the Queen…

Still hotly debated amongst scholars—was Amy’s death an accident, suicide, or murder?—the fascinating subject matter makes for an enthralling read for fans of historical fiction."


My Two Cents: 

I love, love, love reading just about anything about Queen Elizabeth I. She was strong and powerful and very unique. Oh, and she was a redhead and this redheaded reader loves fellow redheads ;) If you know anything about Queen Elizabeth I, you might know that she was Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn's daughter. You might know that her nickname was "The Virgin Queen." Or you might know that she had a long time lover named Robert Dudley. This book mostly focuses on Robert Dudley, told from the point of view of none other than Amy Dudley who is Robert's wife. Oh yeah, and Robert has relations with Queen Elizabeth while he's still married. Scandalous in the first degree!!!

I loved that this story is told mostly from Amy's point of view (Elizabeth tells some of the tale as well). It was a really unique point of view. Amy isn't a well known historical figure. Had she not been associated with Robert Dudley, we probably would not know her name. I felt horrible throughout the book for her. She knows exactly what's going on between Elizabeth and Robert. Robert buys Amy all sorts of things to keep her happy and out of his hair. He calls her a mistake and tells her all sorts of horrible things. Amy is basically stuck. Later on in the book, we find out that Amy is suffering from breast cancer on top of everything else she's going through.

Between the chapters narrated by Amy and those narrated by Elizabeth, we get to see how Robert is playing both of them. He's playing both of them just to play them but he's also playing them against each other. Even though Robert is really the one in between the two women, they both sort of blame the other for taking Robert away from each of them. It's an age old situation. Purdy did a fabulous job of really pulling the reader into the story of the pulling between these two women and one very conniving man.

This was the perfect book for me to get lost in. This is the best kind of historical fiction.



Don't Forget to Follow the Rest of the Tour:

Monday, May 28th
Review & Giveaway at Luxury Reading
Author Interview & Giveaway at The Maiden's Court

Tuesday, May 29th

Wednesday, May 30th
Review & Giveaway at Kelsey's Book Corner

Thursday, May 31st

Friday, June 1st
Review & Giveaway at A Bookish Affair
Author Interview & Giveaway at Always with a Book

Monday, June 4th

Tuesday, June 5th
Review & Giveaway at The True Book Addict

Wednesday, June 6th
Review & Giveaway at Tanzanite's Castle Full of Books

Thursday, June 7th
Author Interview & Giveaway at The Owl Bookmark Blog

Friday, June 8th
Author Interview & Giveaway at The Musings of ALMYBNENR 

Monday, June 11th
Review & Giveaway at Bippity Boppity Book

Tuesday, June 12th

Wednesday, June 13th

Thursday, June 14th
Review & Giveaway at Royal Reviews

Friday, June 15th
Author Interview & Giveaway at Psychotic State Book Reviews

Monday, June 18th
Review at Paperback Princess
Author Interview & Giveaway at The Musings of a Book Junkie

Tuesday, June 19th

Wednesday, June 20th
Review at BookingIt

Thursday, June 21st
Review & Giveaway at CelticLady's Reviews
Author Interview & Giveaway at Paperback Princess

Friday, June 22nd
Author Interview at To Read, Perchance to Dream
Review at Reviews by Molly

Monday, June 25th
Author Interview & Giveaway at BookingIt
Review at A Novel Affair

Tuesday, June 26th
Author Interview & Giveaway at Passages to the Past


Giveaway:




a Rafflecopter giveaway

14 comments:

  1. I'm looking forward to reading this book!

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  2. I can't wait to read this! I have always been fascinated with Amy Dudley and what might have really happened to her.
    candc320@gmail.com

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  3. I *cannot* wait to read this!! I love reading about the Tudor time period.

    lafra86@gmail.com

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  4. I love historical romance! That is a nice cover by the way

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  5. I would love to win this book. I am a fan of historical fiction.

    griperang at embarqmail dot com

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  6. This is on my must-read list. Accomplished author, very interesting subject, I'm definitely up for it.

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  7. Particularly love historical romance. Thanks for the giveaway.

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  8. Sounds really good! Thanks for the chance to win!

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  9. Thank you for another great giveaway! I love a good scandal!

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  10. This is on my "really crave list"!!!! I am very excited that this book is narrated by Amy. I am a Brandy Purdy fan and yes, of her cat too! Have my fingers crossed.

    CarolNWong(at)aol(dot)com

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  11. This sounds like a wonderful read. Thank you for the chance.
    :)Jeanne

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  12. I agree with you about love to read just about anything about Queen Elizabeth I. What a fascinating woman!


    cyderryATyahooDOTcom
    Chèli
    Cheli's Shelves

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  13. this is a very nice article that you have the posted on this web i like it very much.good think good idea and very nice blog thanks for the sharing.

    ReplyDelete

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