I appreciate the publisher allowing me to read this book. I really enjoyed reading it the plot was interesting and the characters made me want to know more about them. I highly recommend.

Matilda of Tuscany was one of the most powerful women in Italy during the eleventh century. She was a warrior of the pope who fought against Henry IV, the Holy Roman emperor. She was one of the three women to be buried in St. Peter’s Basilica. This novel tells of the forbidden love story between Matilda of Tuscany and Henry IV. Matilde is a descendant of Charlemagne and a warrior. However, her husband Godefrey abuses her and she runs away from her husband. She meets King Heinrich (Henry IV) of Germany and stays in his court. King Heinrich is also unhappy with his arranged marriage. Together the two fall in love, but destiny may force them to become enemies.

Matilde of Tuscany is a strong woman. She is a tomboy and loves sword fighting. She is a devout Catholic and is faithful to the pope. She also harbors a secret ambition to emulate her ancestor, Charlemagne. I liked that she was not afraid to ask for an annulment from the Catholic Church. This shows that she wielded immense authority in Rome. She falls immediately head-over-heels in love with King Heinrich because he took her in. She is also attracted to his looks and charming words. At first, she wielded extraordinary influence with him. However, Heinrich does not want to be anyone's pawn. He wants the state to interfere with religious matters. He wants full control. Because of his desire to control the church, Matilde wonders if she should stay with or leave him. Thus, Matilde is an interesting conflicted character, and I found her relationship with Heinrich to be very interesting.

Overall, this novel focuses on church versus state, power, and forbidden love. I found the large cast of characters to be well-written. My only complaint in the novel is that sometimes it could be repetitive. Lotharingia tells the tale of two lovers who become enemies due to ideals. The novel is very well-written and shows the political and church politics of the Middle Ages. I can’t wait to read the sequel, and I wish it was already out! I did not want this novel to end! Lotharingia is a feast for historical fiction lovers that will leave readers craving for more! I recommend this to fans of Lady of the English, Queen of the Darkest Hour, and Four Sisters, All Queens!

Lotharingia picks up story of Mathilde, Countess of Tuscany and granddaughter of Charlemagne as she enters adulthood. It combines arranged marriages, conflicts between the church and court, spies, battles, abusive husbands, miscarriages, secrets, deceptions, religious relics and prophecies. It has a little of everything.
I struggled in the beginning. I started, stopped and restarted several times. I do not know if it was me not connecting to the story or if was the typeset. Much of the first part of the book especially parts about Charlemagne was run together with no space or periods. It was a challenge to read. Once I started and stayed with the story I could not stop reading.
Lara Byrne’s research and knowledge of the time period is unbelievable. I cannot image the time she spent just researching. She paints the scenes so well that I could picture myself being there. I am looking for to a sequel to learn more of Mathilde’s historic life and legacy mixed with a little fiction.
Thank you to the Lara Byrne and NetGalley for opportunity to preview the book.

This book caught my imagination from the beginning and did not disappoint. It is the second part of a series of three so would love to read the full series. Historical fiction at it’s very best and a highly recommended read.

Very well researched story of an amazing woman, the granddaughter of Charlemagne, and how she became one of the most powerful women in history. As a young women, Mathilde, Countess of Tuscany enters into an arranged marriage (as was common) but with an unusual term in her betrothal contract...a clause of non consummation. After a brutal violation of the contract Mathilde flees her abusive husband, who only wants her because of the property and power she brings and takes refuge at the court of King Heinrich, to whom she owes fealty. Mathilde is a trained warrior and well educated woman, and her mother Beatrice is equally so, and powerful politically in her own right. At it’s heart, Lotharingia is the story of a series of powerful and brilliant women in 11th century in Europe, particularly Mathilde who fights for what is rightfully hers. Engrossing, entertaining, well written, Lotharingia is well worth the read and shouldn’t be missed!

Matilda of Canossa, one of three strong female characters in this book, is the main character in this exciting historical fiction novel. Her cultural legacy includes many monuments (over 100 cathedrals) listed by UNESCO, a few of which I’ve been fortunate enough to visit over the last 10 years. So, I was very excited to come upon this novel and to delve into the rich history of Matilda’s early life.

Lara Byrne, in her extensive research, has brought Matilda to life showing her strength in character and her known history as a female warrior. I am ready and waiting to read about her legacy in Byrne’s next novel! Don’t pass this one up…. it’s a must if you enjoy medieval history!

3.3/5.
Thanks to Netgalley and the author for a free copy in exhange for a review.
Preface: When reviewing a book by a self-published author, I like to write a review gives potential readers an idea of what to expect, but also shares with the author what I, as a reader, thought was great and what could be better.
I requested Lotharingia because I love historical fiction, especially historical fiction with strong, female protagonists. I did not connect with this book. After taking many days to get through the first third, I read the rest of the book quickly. I want to be generous and say this is because I’m tired and distracted by life, but I also think it was partially the book's style. That said, I think the book shows promise, especially if developed into a stronger sequel.
I knew nothing about Matilde before reading Lotharingia. She’s a great historical character and the author made a fantastic choice centering a story around her. The problem is that she starts off strong and bold, but she succumbs to some sort of shadowing of her potential throughout most of the book. She doesn’t become the strong, in charge of herself person I wanted to read about until the end of the book. I assume and hope she carries on with this strength in the upcoming sequel. I think there was room for her to be weak at times without sacrificing her character for the sake of the romance plot. I think there was also room to include the romance plot without making Matilde come off as a little unbelievable (no spoilers, but a woman of that period and status would probably not just do what she starts up around 30% without serious consideration of major, life-shattering potential consequences- not without being more scheming or ambitious or the type of person to take a great risk. The build-up to the actions isn’t believable for a character portrayed like Matilde. The romance is not that convincing). Towards the end, Matilde begins to sound more like a real, complex person. She has doubts and concerns about people she cares about that felt real, like someone really thought about what a woman of her nature in her position would think about.
I didn’t see enough change or versatility in the other characters to really get a feel for them as people. This type of writing isn’t always unwelcome. Cecelia Holland was excellent at not showing thoughts and feelings of the most interesting characters. She let them be known by their actions. In this case, though, I think there was a problem with connection.
I don’t want to be unfair. It could be that I was the problem here in failing to connect. I thought a lot about this because I believe the book has promise, but some issues felt like they were keeping it from meeting its full potential. This issues could be entirely in my head, and there could be plenty of people who love the book as is and wouldn’t change a thing. Different strokes. If other readers feel the same, I hope this can be useful feedback. The prose seemed to lack rhythm and variety. It felt monotone. It was mostly dialogue, and not varied dialogue that keeps reading interesting. It felt like characters were passing a ball between them with the dialogue-one would say one line and then the other says a line and this would repeat like they were guided by a metronome. Most action was summarized in dialogue after it had happened. The actions themselves were never surprising, which gave the characters a bit of flatness and made the story fairly predictable. For historical fiction, there’s a great sense of politics at play in the Holy Roman Empire, but not a good sense of the HRE itself as locations, people, etc. I didn’t feel dropped into the middle of life in the 11th century HRE. The lives of the characters and the nature of HRE politics seem well-researched. Just that little bit of life needed to be breathed into them. It seemed like the short nature of the chapters and then jumping to another time period for a short chapter put a wall between me and the characters. I would have enjoyed either more focus on a shorter period, or a longer book that made the story into something epic-like and really wrestled with the characters in and between each period. The characters needed more breathing room.
That all being said, I liked how it ended. For a romance of this type, it’s a little surprising and much more interesting than if everything had ended happily. It gives room for Matilde to come into herself in the sequel and display the character that made her a memorable historical figure. The ending is also satisfying on its own, without needing a sequel, but gives material for a sequel. I don’t know for sure that I’ll read the sequel. Likely I’ll preview it. It may be that the writing style still isn’t for me, and that’s okay. If it’s how the author really wants to write the story, that’s how it should be.

I read this ARC for an honest review
All thoughts and opinions are mine


Loved this
Set in Tuscany - it has all the things I love about historical fiction
This is the second part of a series and I didn't know that when I started but it has made me realise I need to read the first part but I did enjoy this

I received Lotharingia as part of a NetGalley giveaway.

In 11th century Tuscany, the Countess of Canossa Matilde is a young woman schooled in and wielding much power despite her sex. Married against her will to her violent and greedy stepbrother, she seeks refuge at the court of King Heinrich, the presumptive future Holy Roman Emperor and a childhood friend, but finds much more, falling deeply in love with him. But Matilde's and Heinrich's respective marriages stand in the way, as does a long-ago prophecy dating to the reign of Charlemagne, and many people--both secular and religious--would seek to scuttle their plans for a happy ending.

This was evidently the second book in a series, which I wish I'd known ahead of time. The various rivalries and alliances and roles of the many characters were a bit difficult to grasp for someone coming in in media res. After reading a bit about the real-life characters, it seems there's no basis in reality for this relationship, which was disappointing given that it's such a centerpiece of the series. I don't mind some divergence from "real" history in my historical fiction, but I believe you should rely on fact and evidence as much as possible. The story itself was interesting and one I wasn't familiar with--I appreciated the complexity even when I struggled with it--but the lack of adherence to historical fact really stuck in my craw.