I found this to be a highly enjoyable book based on little known Elizabeth of Bohemia. She was the daughter of King James I, sister to King Charles I. King James was the sucessor of Queen Elizabeth I. She lead a fascinating life and I was glad to read her story.
Not to be missed by Historical Fiction Lovers!
I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley. Thank you so much,Netgalley!
All opinions are my own.

London 1612: Sixteen year old Elizabeth Stuart meets Frederick V as he was chosen to be her husband. The match seems to be pleasing to both of them. The following year, they get married. The story follows their move to Heidelberg Castle, further with help from Bohemian rebels, Frederic takes over royal duties in Prague. Thus, Elizabeth becomes the Queen of Bohemia during a brief reign.

The story is intertwined with many letters including ones from her cousin Arabella Stuart, who is imprisoned at the Tower due to a fact that she married William Seymour, the man she loved, in a secret ceremony, instead of picking one of the suitors picked by King James, Elizabeth’s father. Elizabeth promised to persuade her father to be merciful.

The story is tangled with such names as Alfonso Ferrabosco – Italian composer working in England and Ingo Jones – the most notable architect in England. It was interesting to come across such distinguished names.

I was looking forward to reading about the Queen of Bohemia, so called Winter Queen as I’ve never read a book about her. But the issue is the progression of the story overwhelmed with dialogue and not well-developed characters. Probably most of the story is written through dialogue and I didn’t feel a connection with any of the characters. Also, the way the story is presented it’s more of explanatory execution instead of being presented in action.

Hearty thanks to ECW Press and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest and fair review.

It took me a long while to figure out how to review this book fairly.

I love Historical Fiction and was excited to read a novel about different branch in the European Royal Family Tree! I was excited to have Shakespeare, Raleigh, Hume and Descartes make cameo appearances in the novel.

I would recommend this book for someone preparing for the SAT's because there are a lot of advanced vocabulary words. The author has a dry, meandering and circumlocutory writing style and that seems off putting when reading for pleasure. It very much felt like the author was saying, "Let's use a sesquipedalian word when a singularly unloquacious and diminutive linguistic expression will satisfactorily accomplish the contemporary necessity!"

I disliked this book, to me it read like a fleshed out version of a Wikipedia article. There was too much History and not enough fiction! Where was the court gossip? Where were the descriptions of fantastic clothes, banquets, glittering balls? Where was the romance? Even the letters between friends and family in this book lacked depth. The writing was tedious and I wanted to stop reading by chapter 4 but I always finish a book no matter how pedestrian.

Sorry, it's a no from me.

I requested this book because the story sounded interesting but the quality of the writing lets it down.

I'm inclined to agree with Elmore Leonard that you should never open a book with the weather, but leaving that aside, the first sentence is clunky and doesn't make sense. The grey skies have frozen on the crusty lawns? The lawns are crusty because?

Why is Elizabeth explaining her backstory to Lady Anne Dudley when they clearly know each other well? Why is she reminding herself of the colour of her own curls?

The opening of a book should grab the reader, not perplex them. Or deter them from reading on.

Sorry, but it's a DNF from me.