Lambert Simnel, titular character of The Queen's Falconer (the previous book in the Tudor Throne series), gradually falls in love with Davina, a young woman who knows the secrets of fire eating. They're both part of a massive entourage accompanying Princess Margaret to Scotland for her marriage to King James there. Davina has more secrets than just how to handle fire, and the truth about her past ends up threatening to separate them forever.
SPOILER! Happily, Bishop bends history just a smidge to give them a happy ending. All is well. END SPOILER
Sir Thomas Lovell gets a kinder, gentler role in this book than usual, and even makes amends with his wife, Lady Isabel, over the course of the journey. But don't worry, he got to do quite a bit of rescuing, conniving, threatening, skulking, and generally being a dark hero. Which made me happy, as he's been my favorite in this series since the beginning.
Although this is part of the Tudor Throne Series, I think you could read it as a stand-alone and not be lost. This book in particular works well as a self-contained story. So if you've been curious about Bishop's books, or if you just want to try out some new history-based fiction, I definitely think you could jump into the series here and be fine.
NOTE: I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher. I was not asked or required to leave a review, positive or otherwise. All opinions are my own.
If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for some smooching, a wife and husband who desire each other, and some medieval violence.
This is my 19th book read from my TBR stash for #TheUnreadShelfProject2021.
My favorite book in the series so far!! I luuuuuuuurved Davina. And she and Lambert are COUPLE GOALS. LET'S HEAR IT FOR STRONG WOMEN AND THEIR SUPPORTIVE HUSBANDS.
ReplyDelete*facepalm* I have no idea why my comment showed up as "unknown." Blame it on my new laptop. In case you couldn't tell, this is me, Katie. ;)
DeleteKatie, last week, all WordPress blogs decided to hate me and refuse to post my comments, so I feel you.
DeleteAnyway, my favorite so far too! Davina and Lambert balance each other so well :-D
(Weird... it's logging me out.) Anyway, this is from Charity.
ReplyDeleteNothing wrong with getting attached to Davina right away -- she's a terrific character and a lot of fun. And she absolutely needed her happy ending. ;)
Charity, seems like Blogger was being glitchy this weekend when it comes to comments. Last week, WordPress blogs weren't letting me comment, so... that's weird.
DeleteAnyway, Davina was my favorite kind of heroine -- smart and determined, but not unrealistically "better than everyone at everything."
This sounds so good!
ReplyDeleteSkye, it is excellent! And a good place to jump into the series to get a taste of it, if you haven't read previous books but are curious about them. (Also, I think you'd dig Thomas Lovell too.)
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