Exhaustive descriptions of court protocol, meals and entertainments slow the narrative at times, but, all in all, this is a...
Gulland, author of a trilogy starring Josephine Bonaparte (The Last Great Dance on Earth, 2000, etc.), turns her attention to Louise de la Vallière, most beloved mistress of Louis XIV.
Louise, nicknamed “Petite” because of her slight stature, was born to lower nobility in Tours, France. From childhood she displays a love of horses, and she tames her unruly white stallion Diablo by dosing him with so-called “Bone Magic”—in effect “gentling” the beast by making a Devil’s bargain. This becomes the occasionally overworked motif of Petite’s later romantic career. Her father’s death and Diablo’s disappearance trigger the chain of events leading her into Louis XIV’s bed. Petite’s impoverished mother entrusts her to a convent, then reclaims her when marriage to a marquis improves her fortunes. The marquis’s household serves Gaston, Duc D’Orléans, and Petite becomes maid to Gaston’s daughter, Marguerite, whom Gaston hopes will marry young King Louis. When Louis weds a Spanish princess, Marguerite has to settle for a Medici. Chasing a runaway colt, Petite encounters Louis, mistaking him for a forest poacher. When he compliments her on her horsewomanship, she’s smitten. After Gaston dies without a male heir, his estate reverts to the Crown. Petite is called to the Sun King’s court to wait upon Henriette, wife of Philippe, Louis’s younger brother. Petite, slightly lame but an accomplished dancer, stars in Louis’s ballets. At first piously resisting their growing mutual infatuation, Petite succumbs when she’s again alone in the woods with Louis. From then on she walks a delicate political line at Court. Rudimentary contraceptive practices of the day fail. Keeping her pregnancies and confinement secret, she stoically bears Louis four children. Louis legitimizes the surviving two, making Petite a duchess. Petite’s chief rival for the king is someone she least suspects, who ensnares Louis by witchcraft—poetic justice for Petite’s dabbling in the dark arts.
Exhaustive descriptions of court protocol, meals and entertainments slow the narrative at times, but, all in all, this is a fine telling, bolstered by the strength and sensitivity of Gulland’s characterizations.Pub Date: June 3, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-7432-9887-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2008
BOOK REVIEW
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.
A promise to his best friend leads an Army serviceman to a family in need and a chance at true love in this novel.
Beckett Gentry is surprised when his Army buddy Ryan MacKenzie gives him a letter from Ryan’s sister, Ella. Abandoned by his mother, Beckett grew up in a series of foster homes. He is wary of attachments until he reads Ella’s letter. A single mother, Ella lives with her twins, Maisie and Colt, at Solitude, the resort she operates in Telluride, Colorado. They begin a correspondence, although Beckett can only identify himself by his call sign, Chaos. After Ryan’s death during a mission, Beckett travels to Telluride as his friend had requested. He bonds with the twins while falling deeply in love with Ella. Reluctant to reveal details of Ryan’s death and risk causing her pain, Beckett declines to disclose to Ella that he is Chaos. Maisie needs treatment for neuroblastoma, and Beckett formally adopts the twins as a sign of his commitment to support Ella and her children. He and Ella pursue a romance, but when an insurance investigator questions the adoption, Beckett is faced with revealing the truth about the letters and Ryan’s death, risking losing the family he loves. Yarros’ (Wilder, 2016, etc.) novel is a deeply felt and emotionally nuanced contemporary romance bolstered by well-drawn characters and strong, confident storytelling. Beckett and Ella are sympathetic protagonists whose past experiences leave them cautious when it comes to love. Beckett never knew the security of a stable home life. Ella impulsively married her high school boyfriend, but the marriage ended when he discovered she was pregnant. The author is especially adept at developing the characters through subtle but significant details, like Beckett’s aversion to swearing. Beckett and Ella’s romance unfolds slowly in chapters that alternate between their first-person viewpoints. The letters they exchanged are pivotal to their connection, and almost every chapter opens with one. Yarros’ writing is crisp and sharp, with passages that are poetic without being florid. For example, in a letter to Beckett, Ella writes of motherhood: “But I’m not the center of their universe. I’m more like their gravity.” While the love story is the book’s focus, the subplot involving Maisie’s illness is equally well-developed, and the link between Beckett and the twins is heartfelt and sincere.
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-64063-533-3
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
Review Posted Online: Jan. 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.
Eleven years ago, he broke her heart. But he doesn’t know why she never forgave him.
Toggling between past and present, two love stories unfold simultaneously. In the first, Macy Sorensen meets and falls in love with the boy next door, Elliot Petropoulos, in the closet of her dad’s vacation home, where they hide out to discuss their favorite books. In the second, Macy is working as a doctor and engaged to a single father, and she hasn’t spoken to Elliot since their breakup. But a chance encounter forces her to confront the truth: what happened to make Macy stop speaking to Elliot? Ultimately, they’re separated not by time or physical remoteness but by emotional distance—Elliot and Macy always kept their relationship casual because they went to different schools. And as a teen, Macy has more to worry about than which girl Elliot is taking to the prom. After losing her mother at a young age, Macy is navigating her teenage years without a female role model, relying on the time-stamped notes her mother left in her father’s care for guidance. In the present day, Macy’s father is dead as well. She throws herself into her work and rarely comes up for air, not even to plan her upcoming wedding. Since Macy is still living with her fiance while grappling with her feelings for Elliot, the flashbacks offer steamy moments, tender revelations, and sweetly awkward confessions while Macy makes peace with her past and decides her future.
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2801-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
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