I loved this series! I read The Accidental Empress and Sisi back to back and was captivated by Sisi's story. I also enjoyed the long author's note at the end!

"Sisi" sat on my to-be-read list for too long, but it was definitely worth reading. Even though I had studied fin-de-siècle Vienna, and was familiar with some of the resources the author recommended for those interested in learning more about the time period, I did not know much about Empress Elisabeth (Sisi) of Austria-Hungary. She was a fascinating woman and her life demonstrates the difficulties of being royalty when your personality/spirit is not suited to the strictures of royalty, especially in the formal, regimented court of Emperor Franz Joseph. There are times the reader will love her and other times the reader might be disgusted by her behavior.

In the "author's note" at the end of the book, Ms. Pataki explains that while the book is historical fiction, she incorporated as much historical material as possible. I was pleased to learn that many of the outlandish and amusing incidents, such as the behavior of the Shah of Iran during the visit to the World's Fair in Vienna and the Prince of Wales throwing a chair through a window, did in fact happen. Empress Sisi was surrounded by and interacted with a number of colorful individuals. As someone with a particular interest in World War I and Europe in the years leading up to the war, I cannot help but wonder, as does the author, how things might have been different if Crown Prince Rudolf had enjoyed a better upbringing, including better relationships with his parents, and had lived long enough to have the opportunity to convince Emperor Franz Joseph to adopt some of the "modern" ideas, including about governance, relations between Crown and subjects, and mental health, that he espoused.

I received a copy of the e-book via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

Sisi, the beautiful, sensitive and in some ways a free spirit, who finds herself the Empress of the Austro-Hungarian Empire for life. In a marrriage with the Emperor Franz Josef who has grown cool over the years due to an over bearing mother-in-law who has taken over the rearing of her two oldest children Rudolf and Gisela but has thawed over their mutual work and success in granting Hungary independence and at the same time making it part of the Empire. This thaw produces a third child, Valerie. But not long after Sisi returns with Valerie to Hungary where she feels much freer from all the official protocol and pressures of imperial llife. She also is close to the Hungarian Prime Minister Andrassy and falls in love with him but it is an affair that is doomed not to last because they are both married. She is an expert equestrian and eventually on one of her travels to England becomes enamored of Bay Middleton, another expert equestrian, but that too is short lived because he's engaged to become married. So Sisi returns to Vienna and an unstable Rudolf who begins drinking excessively, fighting with his father and being totally promiscuous.. Even though she loves her son she fails to try to intervene and that becomes a tragedy when he and his lover are found dead in a suicide pact. She beging to wander all over the world after that and soon after is assassinated by a deranged anarchist. I loved the novel and recommend it to all. Thanks Net Galley and Howard Books for letting me read this treasure of a book.

*3.5 Stars*

This was a complete cover read for me. I would even go as far as to say that the cover for Sisi: Empress on Her Own is one of my favorites from 2016 releases! It was way past time for me to strop drooling over the cover, and actually read it…

I’m going to preface this review with a little disclosure. When I requested Sisi: Empress on Her Own on NetGalley, I didn’t realize that it was actually the SECOND book in a series. I read this one without reading the first book, The Accidental Empress, so this may have impacted my reading experience. Take my thoughts/rating with a grain of salt.

Before reading Sisi: Empress on Her Own, I knew nothing about Empress Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary (Sisi). Apparently, Sisi wed Emperor Franz Joseph I, emperor of Austria, at the age of 16. She was famously known for her beauty, slim figure, and extremely long hair. With her long absences from court and her family, Sisi was a very controversial figure in Austrian history.

Sisi: Empress on Her Own covers the second half of Sisi’s (Empress Elizabeth) life, her life after bearing all her children. You can tell that a substantial amount of research went into this book, which I always appreciate. Judging from my research, Smith does a fairly good job staying true to historical events while putting her own spin on Sisi’s story. I found Sisi’s story to be absolutely fascinating. I guess what they say is true, sometimes history is just as entertaining as fiction. Sisi’s life was filled with great joys, but even greater heartbreak.

What Pataki really does so well here is take a controversial figure in history and tried to shed some light on Sisi’s possible perspectives and motivations in life. I am a big fan of authors that attempt to explore another side to famous people throughout history who are typically cast in negative light.

While I did find Sisi’s life story to be absolutely fascinating, there were some drawbacks to this book. Sisi wasn’t a likeable character in any capacity, at least for me. Despite the author’s attempts to show Sisi’s point of view, I still couldn’t help but cringe at Sisi’s selfishness throughout the novel. I am wondering that had I read the first book, maybe I would be more sympathetic to Sisi… BUT I doubt it. I don’t typically have to like the main character in a story to like the book, but I do have to understand their motivations. Here, I do understand Sisi’s motivations & reasoning behind her decisions, but I just cannot sympathize with those decisions. I found that Sisi consistently put her wants & needs before those of each of her children. I am also not a fan of people who run away from their problems, which is basically what Sisi does the entire novel. There was just nothing redeeming about her.

Another issue I had with this book was that the time jumps throughout the book felt jarring at times. The author attempted to cover decades of Sisi’s life in the matter of 450+ pages, so there were often large time hops from one period of her life to the next. These transitions felt off to me.

I must admit, Sisi’s life makes for good historical fiction, but I wonder if I would have enjoyed this story more from additional perspectives. At the end of the day, Sisi was a very self centered person who put her love for horseback riding ahead of everything else in her life. While I appreciated reading about her passion for horseback riding, it took up too much of the plotline. Since Sisi was too often absent from her family & her life as the Empress, telling this book only from Sisi’s perspective limited the author. Telling this family’s story from multiple perspectives would have served this story better, and given us a more exciting read. For example, I think Emperor Franz‘s perspective and even Franz’s mother, Sophie, could have made for interesting view points. Not only would the author have accomplished showing Sisi’s side of things, but we would have seen more about the other family members & the drama sounding them as well. I definitely wanted to see more about Sisi & Franz’s son, Rudolf.

Overall Sisi: Empress on her Own is a book about a fascinating family in Austrian/Hungarian history. Pataki’s writing & historical accuracy were well done, and she had a good baseline for a great story here. Unfortunately Sisi proved to be a unlikeable main character and I could not overcome my aversion towards her. I also feel like this story would have worked better told in multiple perspectives.

*Big thanks to Random House for providing me with a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A beautifully written historical novel that will pull you into the Austria-Hungarian realm. I was so entranced with this novel that I didn't realize it was a sequel to Accidental Empress.

This is the sequel to The Reluctant Empress, a book about Elizabeth, best known as Sisi, who married Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary in the 19th Century. In book one we found Sisi, a young bride who was tightly controlled by her mother-in-law. Her first two children were removed from her care and raised by the stern matron of the family. Now, in this sequel, Empress Sisi is overly protective of her third child; unwilling to let the little girl be taken from her side. She tires of the daily drudge of ruling a country and longs to travel, spending years living away from her husband. Though appalled by the manner in which her son was raised, she does little to remedy his behaviors. He is an odd boy who is another tragic figure. Sisi is obsessed with her appearance and has become a celebrity among all the royals, famously known for her stunning beauty. She falls in love with other men but is not promiscuous. Her wanderlust takes her to numerous countries where she visits different royal houses. The settings are rich and the plot follows the dramatic story of this well-known monarch. It’s clear that Pataki has done a great deal of research in her telling of this historic story of wealth, beauty and tragedy.