Move over Queen Victoria... I want more of Princess Louise!

When I saw the cover and read the synopsis and who the author was for this title I KNEW I HAD to read it. Heather B Moore has a way of making history come alive in her books. I especially love her books based on true stories because I know how much research she does and I know I'm getting a quality representation on the subject matter.

I've read and enjoyed books about the royals before, but this was an immersive experience. You will feel like a fly on the wall as you experience all of the ups and downs throughout Louise's life and what being royal really might feel like. I loved reading the historical facts thrown in through royal letters and actual events that took place about these well known royals and even though they were not perfect, Heather did a great job of painting them in a positive light that helped you understand why some of the royal family acted the way that they did while still keeping true to the story and facts.

The love story was dreamy. I don't want to give too much away because you really need to experience it. I loved Louise's character. I loved her personality, determination and could really feel that come away from the page.

I highly recommend this book. Especially if you have ever been a fan of royals (at any point in history or now) you'll want to add this to the top of your TBR list!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the copy. All thoughts in this review are my own.

Princess Louise’s quest to become a sculptor flares to life as she convinces the Queen to allow a studio for sculpting and art teachers are hired, not a traditional path for young ladies. Princess Louise is coming of age so finding a marriage partner becomes the novel’s focus and the Queen’s quest. The parade of eligible men at breakfasts and dinners, plus sibling intervention wreak havoc on the royal plans and is quite entertaining. There is much suspense with the impending match and marriage contract; a reminder that one is “marrying into a complicated family and royal dynasty with traditions and expectations.”
Fans of all things Royal will thoroughly appreciate the accomplishments of Princess Louise as she becomes an independent thinker, a champion of change, and develops her own opinions despite being “in the shadow of a queen.”

This was a beyond informational research book about Princess Louise. I was thoroughly engrossed in her life because of how easy it was to read Heather Moore’s descriptions of the royal family, suitors of Princess Louise, her tenacious personality, and eventually falling in love. I felt like I was an invited guest of the Royal family because of all the interactions of Princess Louise with her family, her brother’s tutor, and many others. I will definitely be reading this fantastic history again and again!

This book follows the life of Princess Louise, one of Queen Victoria's middle children. The book starts shortly before her father's death and follows her through art school and the marriage market. A strong willed and creative woman, Princess Louise forges her own path through a multitude of situations.

I struggled a bit with this book. I thought the first half was extremely slow moving. I also found it hard to get a feel for everyone's personalities. The characters weren't exactly stereotypical, but they seemed distant and flat. Overall, 2 out of 5 stars.

I loved In the Shadow of a Queen! The book mainly focuses on Queen Victoria’s daughter, Louise. It was fascinating to see how the monarch’s lived back then and probably somewhat today. The book showed Louise growing up. She was deeply effected by the loss of her father but years of mourning did not help a young girl get over her loss. I think Queen Victoria wore black the rest of her life. Louise was not going to be the heir to the throne so she got to do some things like sculptures and go to art school. Much of the book focused on her arranged marriage and finding the right person for her and acceptable to the family.

The book is well researched. It is a way to learn about British history or brush up on what you probably forgotten with a really enjoyable story. I read it at the pool over Labor Day weekend and it was a joy to read.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy of In the Shadow of a Queen in exchange for an honest review. #Netgalley #InTheShadowofaQueen

I loved this book! It was so well written and interesting. I love this author's work and look forward to reading the next thing she writes.

This is the second book I’ve read recently about Princess Louise. They are both fantastic in their own right. I find Princess Louise to be a facinating subject and I’d love to know even more about her.

👑Shadow spans 11 years, from age 12 to 23, and gives a more rounded picture of her life as well as her search for a husband. It ends just a few months after her marriage.
👑Short chapters kept the story moving.
👑I liked how this book portrayed the relationship between Louise and her mother, Queen Victoria.

👑There were often time jumps from one paragraph to the next within the same chapter. They may span hours or days or even weeks at a time. There were no line break to indicate these time jumps, likely because I read an ARC, and I hope the finished book will include line breaks to indicate time has progressed.

I give In the Shadow of a Queen 3.5 stars, rounded to 4 for Goodreads. For me, this means I enjoyed the book and highly recommend it to other lovers of the genre.

Louise is brought to life in this story based on the real life daughter of Queen Victoria. I loved seeing a glimpse into the life of this royal family and learned a great deal. Honestly the beginning was a little slow for me although the time they had with their father before he died was heartbreaking. I got more involved with the story when Louise was older and looking for a husband. Seeing the politics that surrounded the free spirited princess was fascinating. Her love story with John was adorable. I love the way they interacted with each other. Their banter was so fun! The chapter notes and historical facts at the end were a great addition.

Thanks to NetGalley and Shadow Mountain for this advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review. All opinions expressed here are my own.

“Mama might be the most powerful monarch in the civilized world, but she was also a mother who worried and cared about her children. A wife who had to carry on without her beloved husband. And a woman who was constantly in the spotlight.”

Princess Louise, the middle of Queen Victoria’s 9 children, may not be well known today, especially to American readers. The title says it all. We learn about Victoria, see statues and movies about her and her husband, walk by the places named for her. Many of the queens children and grandchildren have become the royalty of Europe and many were studied in school. We don’t hear much about Victoria’s children as Americans. There is a fascination with royalty and royal life, however, as we still mourn the loss of Princess Diana, and pour over the rags talking about Harry and Meagan (well, I don’t, but someone is buying the news!)

The author, Heather Moore, has meticulously researched the material and included letters at the beginning of every chapter- startlingly still available to the public now to read. This is an intimate portrait of a fascinating princess. She is one who supported womens rights over her mothers wishes. She wanted to marry someone with whom she could make a happy life, not just be a trade or used as some political gain, as her mother wanted. She was more free spirited in though and deed, and left her own legacy of philanthropy in Scotland and England. Having trained as a sculptor, she created many works of art that can be seen in museums and even near Kensington Palace.

While fascinating, the book does go on long, as quite a bit of the book is dedicated to Louise and her mother battling it out to find a husband for Louise. I enjoyed the letters and the insight of the relationship between Louise and her mother and Louise and her brother, the future king. I relished in her liberal ideas of womens rights and in her support of notions of voting, marrying for love, and in education (and ultimately in women being doctors). This is a terrific book for the curious. While important to the story, the years between her coming of age and marrying was a bit much for my taste. There was a lot of detail regarding her suitors and their lineage etc. but yet, a good read and one I will recommend to my patrons!
4*

This account of Queen Victoria's fourth daughter felt intimate and yet sensitive. It was a pleasure to read. I went into this knowing a little about Victoria and Albert but almost nothing about their children.

This book covered about ten years of Louise's life, beginning just before her grandmother's death plunged the family into mourning. Less than a year later, that mourning was extended when her father died as well. Before reading this, I had some idea that Victoria was thought odd and even criticized for the extent of her mourning. However, I never considered what effect her behavior had on her children. This book made me really feel for them. How sad to have to suppress even the happiness felt at finally being reunited with a beloved sibling.

I enjoyed watching Louise grow, search for her place in the world, strive to pursue her passions, and find a husband who would make her happy (not just one who would satisfy the queen).

This was well-written and felt like an insiders view of Louise's life. I was further impressed when I saw the chapter notes at the end. They were the kind I would expect from a biography. This was obviously well researched.

I recommend this to anyone who enjoys historical fiction, especially about the British royal family

I didn't know anything about the children of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert before this book. I was fascinated about life in the Royal Family. There was obvious love and affection mixed in with regular family struggles. The loneliness was an interesting side effect of being royal. I hadn't really thought about that aspect of being in the public eye. I loved the relationships between the family members. They were complex but very strong. Louise and John's relationship was really interesting and all that they accomplished together. I loved Louise's independent nature and love of the underdog. This book was so interesting from beginning to end. Very well written. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in Royal life or just wants to read a great book!

I did really enjoy this book. It was a very interesting read. It was well written and I really enjoyed the character of Louise and how she dealt with her royal life. I was always wanting to sit and read as much of the story as I could at every opportunity. The other characters in the book were interesting to read about as well. I will read more books by this author in the future.

I have not read a historical fiction of royalty in quite some time. I was intrigued when I was offered a copy of the book for review. I knew next to nothing about Queen Victoria and even less about her children, so this was going to be totally new to me.

The story starts in 1861 in England. Princess Louise is 12 years old at the beginning of the story, each chapter has a little blurb in the form of a letter to and from the royalty. Louise was the sixth child and fourth daughter of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Albert. She and her sibling's upbringing were strict with education with the emphasis on cooking, farming, household tasks, and carpentry, which the latter I found kind of odd. She was very artistic from a young age, but because she was a royal, pursuing the arts was not considered. She was allowed to attend an art school thanks to her mother.

The Queen was determined to carry her children off to the proper people. There was a list of royals to choose from but Louise would have none of them. She found little time for the niceties of finding a suitor. It was difficult to find the perfect suitor for her, she insisted that the husbands that she choose would have to live in England, so that left a lot of the royal men not suitable, which was fine in Louise's mind.

Louise was the unofficial secretary to Queen Victoria and that was a job she was well suited to. Prince Albert died and the Queen and all of the family went into deep mourning, so this left a lot of time to pursue her love of art., becoming a prolific sculptor and artist. Louise was best known for her philanthropic endeavors, and she received many honors for her works.

Princess Louise did meet and fall in love with John Campbell, telling her mother that she had no desire to marry a prince and she wanted to marry John. He was heir to the Dukedom of Argyll, Marquess of Lorne. Their marriage was a happy one for a time, then they drifted apart for a while but they persevered and the marriage continues.

I learned a lot about Louise, Queen Victoria, whom I always thought of as a fussy old woman but that could not be further from the truth. She just wanted what was best for her family and her kingdom. She had been deeply in love with Prince Albert and that love was passed down to her children.

I think that the author did a tremendous job in the research and writing, depicting the Queen and her children as a great family, notwithstanding issues, every family has that, even royalty.

I really enjoyed this book, I will be reading more by Heather B.Moore. I give this book 5 stars!

"Holding still for Louise is like telling a filly to walk slowly."

<i>In the Shadow of a Queen</i> follows the life of Princess Louise, the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. We begin with Louise at age twelve, then progress through her life, watching her grow to a young woman and adult. We get to see world events in the context of (the rather enormous) royal family of England.

Wow. What a story this was. Heather Moore did a phenomenal job of bringing the royal family to life and letting us glimpse what might have been.

I've always been interested in Queen Victoria and her life, family, and legacy, so this book was a fascinating look into what her and her family's lives might have been like. Each of the interactions of the royal family felt genuine and authentic, and I found that I related to these people, even though our lives could not be more different.

While some of us dream of becoming royalty, the reality often seems to be far from a fairytale. Though some artistic license has been taken, this book shone a light on some of the harsh realities of the royals and life with the demanding and controlling Queen Victoria.

I loved Princess Louise. Louise was an artist through and through, and it was delightful to go on her life journey with her and see her grow and thrive and struggle against the constraints of her family and time period. She seemed so real to me, and starting helped me feel like I really got to know her.

This book is well written, and the research that went into it is phenomenal. I appreciated all the sources and the commentary on each chapter at the end of the book. Knowing that the events in the book were so steeped in true history made the entire book feel incredibly authentic.

There are a lot of slow moments, not boring moments, but definitely slow. However, this wasn't terribly surprising, as history is rarely as exciting as we might think. That being said, the content was fascinating enough to keep me interested in moving forward when the pacing slowed down.

Stepping into the lives of the royal family was an absolute delight, and Heather B. Moore painted such vivid pictures that I found myself engrossed from start to finish. I would absolutely recommend this book to any lover of English history or the royal family.

Thank you to Shadow Mountain Publishing and NetGalley for the complimentary digital copy. No positive review was required. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Shadow of a Queen starts when Princess Louise is twelve-years-old when we first meet her. It is a year before the tragic death of her beloved father, Prince Albert. It is a painful time for each of her siblings but especially her mother, Queen Victoria.

It was interesting to see that all of the siblings just interact with each, especially Leo and Louise. Even though they are part of the Royal Family, it was clear that they were also just a family who loved each other despite some of the adversity that was presented to them.

I enjoyed the beginning, it was full of a young idealistic Louise who obviously loves her family, but as she was looking for a potential husband with Queen Victoria’s approval, I found my interest waning a bit here, but it picked up when she realizes that she was very interested in Lord Lorne, and he in her. I liked his strong character, support, and belief in Louise.

I appreciated the character of Queen Victoria because really the only place I had a perspective to draw on were her dour pictures dressed in mourning black. She is a mother but also a monarch of an Empire, and I would expect that it is a hard line to make a good balance between those two determining factors.

Overall, I enjoyed this foray into the life of Princess Louise. Recommended.

My gratitude to NetGalley and Shadow Mountain. All opinions expressed are honest.

I've always enjoyed learning about the English monarchy, especially as a young girl and dreaming about being a princess. It was just so fascinating to me. All of the rules and the lifestyle and duties. Of course I probably romanticized a lot of it but at the same time it was the history and trying to understand what life was like long before I was alive. Combine history and the story of a princess who lived many years ago and I couldn't wait to pick up this next book from author Heather B. Moore. And let me tell you, it did not disappoint at all!!! But I always know that when I pick up a book from this author, in whatever genre she is writing in, I will enjoy it!

My reading time has been really limited lately so it did take me a while to finish this one. But I found myself thinking about it a lot in between my time to read it. But I couldn't fall asleep without at least reading a page or two or a chapter or two depending on how tired I was. I found it so interesting. I loved the excerpts from letters or journal entries that the author included at the beginning of each chapter. Some were from Louise and some were to her and others were Queen Victoria's journal entries. I bet the research for this book was quite extensive and very fascinating. I'm sure the author had to really be picky in what to feature and what to leave out from her research. I'm bet this book could be volumes and volumes long.

The book starts in 1861 when Princess Louise is 12 years old and ends in the year 1871 when she is age 23. I loved the portrait that we are able to see of her home life, her siblings, her relationships with her siblings and most especially her mother. It definitely brought a new perspective and thoughts about royalty. I loved Princess Louise's personality and her determination to do something that she loved and to champion causes she felt strongly about. Even if it wasn't quite in the way that she would have hoped to do so, she found ways to make it work and still be listening to her mother and supporting her.

I enjoyed reading about her younger years and how different experiences and losses shaped her. But I especially loved reading about when the time came to find her a husband. Can I just say "swoon?" I won't say anything because if you haven't studied or know anything about her story, I'll let you enjoy it without any spoilers. Such a sweet and gentle love story. With the chance for her to grow and know who she is and what she truly wants. I loved how supportive Queen Victoria was.

I would love to share so much more but you need to read and discover and enjoy it for yourself if you choose to read it. Which I hope you do! The title of this book is very fitting but I loved seeing her have her moments out of the shadow of her mother/monarch and able to bask in the sun and discover herself all while staying true to her mother and the princess that she was born to be.

Content: Clean. There is some death and loss talked about throughout the book. Louise does get married but the marital relationship between her and her husband is very well written and nothing graphic. I would let me teenagers read this book.

I received a copy from the publisher, Shadow Mountain Publishing, via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions in the review are my own.

Happy Reading!!!

This book gives us such an interesting insight into Queen Victoria’s life. I love the royal family so any book that has to do with them I am highly interested in. This story explores the relationship between Victoria and Louisa her daughter. Louisa pushes buttons, breaks rules and tries to discover her true self. Victoria wants to protect the crown. So good! 4 starts!!

Heather B. Moore has written another amazing novel based on a true story.  “In the Shadow of a Queen” the true story of Queen Victoria and Princess Louise gives you a personal glance of life as a Royal.  Princess Louise has a talent for sculpting. At age 13 she was using modelling clay, her ambition was to sculpt in marble. Sculpting was not viewed as appropriate for a Princess.  Princess Louise has to come up with a plan that the Queen will approve of so she can take a sculpting class.  Being of Royal Heritage, there are certain protocols that must be strictly followed, who you married, politics, what you were allowed to read and never allow yourself to be put in a scandalous situation!  Princess Louise definitively had her own way of thinking but she was always respectful of her mom, Queen Victoria.  Enjoy reading about her journey and those she cared about the most!

I was given an ARC from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was such an enjoyable read! You can tell a lot of research was put into the book and it paid off! I have read another book recently about Princess Louise so I was familiar to her story, but loved this different take this book went with. I felt like it dove deeper into the relationship between Queen Victoria and Princess Louise and added a unique personable touch to the story of their lives.

If you want to learn more about Queen Victoria and Princess Louise or are a fan of the royal family this is a great book to read! I liked that the book shed some light on other members of the family and not just the mother/daughter duo. Entertaining yet educational, this was such a delightful read! I urge any historical fiction lover to read this when it’s out in October!

Thank you Shadow Mountain Publishing for the advanced copy and to Heather B. Moore for shedding such a bright light on the even brighter star of a woman, Princess Louise!

A brilliant historical fiction read with a character who often lurks in the shadows, finally gets her spotlight moment.

I am always a bit cynical towards historical accuracy with these types of reads, but wow the author has done her research and produced a compelling tale.

Liked the letter intros to scene set, but for me this book really took hold of me as Louise goes to find a husband. and how that storyline progresses.

A world unravelled in a very quiet Princess's life. Thoroughly enjoyable.