Joan of Kent led a fascinating life - one in which fact far out-strips fiction. A woman living in the tumultuous 14th century during the reign of Edward III; scandal, secret marriages, courtly ambitions, treachery, love, death.

Joan is presented as being meek and obedient; willful and headstrong; naive yet knowledgeable; well practised in the cut and thrust of court politics; adept and dissembling; a siren calling men to their doom; defiant in the face of a king.

Joan is not a figure that many people would be familiar with - being outshone by the likes of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Elizabeth; however, her story is brought to life here with Anne's thorough research.

For many, this will be a great introduction to Joan; however, for me, I felt no real connection, so her story fell a little flat and I found myself skipping pages as it was rather long in the telling. think a prefer a non-fictional account.

The Shadow Queen.....what an apt title! Joan of Kent is definitely a historical figure that is often in the shadows of other stories. But here she stands forward to bring a telling of her own tale. A cousin to King Edward III, she grows up in the Royal Court, but later finds herself embroiled in one of the biggest marriage controversies of all time. The author gives a balanced telling, and gives the reader sympathy for all parties involved. Later, ambition kicks in, and Joan finds herself wed to Prince Edward (later known as Edward the Black Prince). The telling of his demise is heart rending. The last portion of the book, where Joan is establishing herself as the mother of the new child King Richard, seemed to loose a bit of the connection with me, probably as she evolved from a griefing wife, to a mother out to malipulate politics, granted with a view to protecting her child.
Thank you for the chance to review a story about a forgotten women of history.

I really enjoy historical fiction. It is such an easy way to learn some history, and with all their scandal and battles for power historical fictions set in royal courts are especially fun. That's what led me to pick up Anne O'Brien's The Shadow Queen when I saw it was available for review, and I was really glad I did!

When I first started reading I felt a bit nervous - I haven't been enjoying 1st person POV, especially with a young protagonist, and the story opens with Joan of Kent at about 12 years of age. However, Joan's voice, while capturing the feeling of youth, really felt more like a much older Joan reflecting back on her life. It was easy to read, and I was very quickly caught up in the intrigue and scandal of King Edward the Third's fourteenth century court.

One of the things I enjoyed about sharing Joan's point of view was that she is written as such a strong woman - she isn't afraid to admit (first to us, her readers, and later to those around her) that she craves power, she is beautiful and not afraid to use that to get what she wants (and, to be fair, how many advantages did a woman really have in those times?).

For the most part I found the story really well paced, although for me it seemed to drag out a bit around Richard II's coronation.

I was really excited to see how many historical fiction novels Anne O'Brien has written around this time period, and am keen to read some more - probably starting with The King's Concubine about Alice Perrers, who we meet in The Shadow Queen.

This would be a great read for anyone who already enjoys a royal historical fiction - I thought the feeling was similar to books like Wolf Hall - or for someone who is interested in getting into those sorts of books, since the writing felt really accessible (I feel like I've seen this classified as YA).

I gave it 4/5 stars (more please!)

The Shadow Queen by Anne O'Brien is out this week from Harlequin Books. I received an e-book copy in exchange for an honest review, but only chose to read it because it sounded like something I would enjoy (life's too short to read books we don't think we'll enjoy) and I wouldn't tell you it was good if I didn't think so. =)