Reluctant Queen

Marguerite de Valois #2

by Freda Lightfoot

A brand-new historical novel from a well-loved storyteller - Sixteenth-century France. Gabrielle d’Esrées’ one wish is to marry for love, but her mother sells her as a mistress to three different men before she catches the eye – and the heart – of Henry of Navarre, King of France. Henry promises to marry her, but Gabrielle’s difficulties have just begun . . . for Henry’s wife will only divorce him if he promises not to marry Gabrielle. Is the love of a king enough to secure her both the happiness and respectability she craves and a crown for their son as the next dauphin of France?

Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical, France, 16th Century, Fiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Born in Lancashire, I've been a teacher, bookseller and in a mad moment, a smallholder on the freezing fells of the Lake District where I tried my hand at the ‘good life’, kept sheep and hens, various orphaned cats and dogs, built drystone walls, planted a small wood and even learned how to make jam. I now spend the winter in Spain and summer in the UK. I have now published 48 books including many bestselling family sagas and historical novels.
For more information, visit my website www.fredalightfoot.co.uk.

Reviews

[Rio (Lynne) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 Stars. Freda Lightfoot picks up in this novel where she left off in The Hostage Queen. First of all the back of the book "explaining the story" is a little deceiving. The back says this is the story of Gabrielle d' Estrees. Actually this book covers 3 parts. Part 1 covers Margot being escorted by Catherine de Medici to live with her husband Henry of Navarre and their tumultuous marriage. Part 2 covers Henri I de Lorraine, Duc de Guise "Margot's former lover" and the War of the 3 Henry's. Part 3 covers Gabrielle's story and her and Henry of Navarre...now King Henry's love affair. How does the author do this in 254 pages? She gets straight to the point. You will not find pages wasted on descriptions of gowns and castles. If you skim this book, you will surely miss out. There is a lot of information and a great story packed into this little book. My only complaint is there are no author's notes at the end. After googling, everything she wrote appeared to be very accurate. Not knowing anything about Gabrielle I was surprised at the ending. If you love true historical fiction (no romance fluff here) and have not read Lightfoot add these two books. Can you skip the first one? Only if you know Margot's story through the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, but I would recommend reading both.

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really looking forward to reading this book, since I love historical fiction, but I was sadly disappointed. The book is supposedly about Gabrielle's relationship with Henry, yet she isn't even introduced into the book until more than halfway through, so I spent the entire book trying to figure out who the protagonist even is. First, I was wavering between Margot or Jeanne of Tignonville (who begins the book, and whose character is established prior to even Margot's or Gabrielle's). And then I realized that it had to be either Margot or Gabrielle. If the protagonist is unclear, then who, as the reader, is one supposed to empathize with? And a more important question, who is the reluctant queen? It would seem to be Margot...the queen who won't give up her title to a nobody, even though she has no true desire to be with Henry. But then, there is Gabrielle, the mistress who yearns to be queen. If it is the former, this conflicts with the fact that the book is supposed to revolve around Henry and Gabrielle. It is a good book, well written, and with likable characters, but with major questions such as these unanswered, unfortunately, the story is lacking, and I finished the book feeling very unsatisfied.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the story of the love between Henry IV of France and his mistress Gabrielle. They fight against the queen margot for a divorce. Gabrielle has many children with Henry, and all she wants is to be his life. Sure Henry still strays from her bed, but not near as much as before she was there. She knows he is his one true love. Eventually towards the end of the book, the divorce is granted and Gabrielle and Henry are so happy to be getting married finally. However, Henry's own advisers plot against Gabrielle and kill her and her child by poisoning her. Henry is heart broken but only temporarily, because he finds a new mistress.

[Miss Melly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Margot is a more likeable character in this novel as she has matured and learned from experience.
You start to see the deterioration of the strong Henry of Navarre as he comes under the spell of Gabrielle and is ruled by his heart and not his head. Not the sort of King you really want ruling your country!
Catherine de Medici is still kicking on in this novel, albeit fatter and sicker. As evil as she was, I can still empathise with her as she was a pawn in a game that she attempted to control (and did).
Only about a third of the book deals with Gabrielle, which was fine with me as I didn't like her much.
A great read, more meaty than Hostage Queen.

[Terry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually I would give it a 2.5

This book was a bit of a disappointment after having so enjoyed The Hostage Queen. The first half was a bit of a mess that needed the attention of a good editor. It drives me a bit crazy when reading a book that repeats the same phrases every few pages. When she finally got to the story of Gabrielle, the book got better. I found the story interesting but the book not as well written as the first in the series.

[Catherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a confusing book. It was hard to figure out who the author was really writing about. It was supposed to be about Gabrielle d'Estrees, but the author spent so much time focusing on other historical figures of the time that it was difficult to figure out the focus.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book through the giveaways here on Goodreads.com and I really did love it. Its one Id read again in a few months.

[P · Rating 2 out of 5]

The info dumps become worse in this book. And why would the readers want to read about a random mistress of Henry of Navarre instead of Margot? This is book is a sequel to The Hostage Queen after all. Margot's tribulations were glossed over in this book and instead the author chose to focus on Gabrielle d'Estrées, who came across as a vain and self-spolied beauty. She had none of Margot's charms or her defiant spirit. The story of Marguerite de Valois' life is much too fascinating to be overlooked like that. Much disappointed by this book.

[Lynn Futch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good job of keeping the plot clean. easy read

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just won this as a First Reads Giveaway, can't wait to read it!

[Lisa Margarite · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh,...