Name: The Rivals of Versailles
ISBN: 9781501102998

Sally Christie

1745. Marie-Anne, the youngest of the infamous Nesle sisters and King Louis XV's most beloved mistress, is gone, making room for the next Royal Favorite. Enter Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, a stunningly beautiful girl from the middle classes. Connections, luck, and a little scheming paved her way to Versailles and into the King's arms-- but conniving politicians and hopeful beauties seek to replace the bourgeois interloper with a more suitable mistress. As Jeanne, now the Marquise de Pompadour, takes on her many rivals, she helps the king give himself over to a life of luxury and depravity. Around them, war rages, discontent grows, and France inches ever closer to the Revolution.

A Novel

The Rivals of Versailles

Court intriguers are beginning to sense that young King Louis XV, after seven years of marriage, is tiring of his Polish wife. The race is on to find a mistress for the royal bed. The King's scheming ministers push Louise, the eldest of the aristocratic Nesle sisters, into the arms of the King. Over the following decade, of the five Nesle sisters-- Louise, Pauline, Diane, Hortense, and Marie-Anne-- four will become mistresses to King Louis XV. All will conspire, betray, suffer, and triumph in a desperate fight for both love and power.

The Sisters of Versailles

Sheila

I received this book in a Goodreads First Reads giveaway! 

This book drew me in more than I had expected it to; I hadn't planned to finish this in a day. It is well-researched and well-written, and certainly captured the spirit of Versailles in the mid-18th century in all the small details without getting wrapped up in them. Alternating the POV between the five sisters de Mailly-Nesle worked out extremely well! I got a real sense of each sister's distinct personality, with some being focused on more than the others depending on which sister's star was rising with King Louis XV. 

The synopsis says that this book is "in the tradition of The Other Boleyn Girl," but if I'm honest The Sisters of Versailles is better researched and, consequently, feels more genuine. It's a great thing when pop historical fiction branches out from the well-tread favourites, and I'd recommend this book to any historical fiction reader looking for something fresh!

In the final instalment of Sally Christie's Mistresses of Versailles trilogy, Jeanne Becu, a woman of astounding beauty but humble birth, works her way from the grimy back streets of Paris to the palace of Versailles, where the aging King Louis XV has become a jaded and bitter old philanderer. Jeanne bursts into his life and, as the Comtesse du Barry, quickly becomes his official mistress. After decades of suffering the King's endless stream of Royal Favourites, the princesses of the Court have reached a breaking point. Horrified that he would bring the lowborn Comtesse du Barry into the hallowed halls of Versailles, Louis XV's daughters, led by the indomitable Madame Adelaide, vow eternal enmity and enlist the young dauphiness Marie Antoinette in their fight against the new mistress. But as tensions rise and the French Revolution draws closer, a prostitute in the palace soon becomes the least of the nobility's concerns.

The Enemies of Versailles

Chantale

I love historical fiction books so of course, I had to read this book. 
This is book 3 in The Mistresses of Versailles Trilogy and yes I did read the previous 2 books. I did enjoy the 2 previous books and yes I did enjoy this book as well.

This book kept me reading and kept me interested in the story and this book is very well written and surprisingly enough I liked this book more than the previous two. 

You can now purchase this book online or in your local bookstore. 

I give this 4 out of 5

This is the second book in the Mistresses of Versailles trilogy and it picks up right after the first book in the series.

I have read the first book and enjoyed it and I did enjoy this book just as much as the first one. 
It is very well written and at times it felt like it is written like a soap opera. It isn't as cheesy though . 

I am now patiently waiting for book 3 to come out and I know I will read it as soon as I get it because so far I have just loved the books.

I give this 5 out of 5 stars.

Sarah Roberts

Kathleen Mullins

And you thought sisters were a thing to fear. In this captivating follow-up to Sally Christie’s clever and absorbing debut, we meet none other than the Marquise de Pompadour, one of the greatest beauties of her generation and the first bourgeois mistress ever to grace the hallowed halls of Versailles. The year is 1745 and King Louis XV’s bed is once again empty. Enter Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, a beautiful girl from the middle classes. As a child, a fortune teller had told young Jeanne’s destiny: she would become the lover of a king and the most powerful woman in the land. Eventually connections, luck, and a little scheming pave her way to Versailles and into the King’s arms. All too soon, conniving politicians and hopeful beauties seek to replace the bourgeois interloper with a more suitable mistress. As Jeanne, now the Marquise de Pompadour, takes on her many rivals—including a lustful lady-in-waiting, a precocious fourteen-year-old prostitute, and even a cousin of the notorious Nesle sisters—she helps the king give himself over to a life of luxury and depravity. Around them, war rages, discontent grows, and France inches ever closer to the Revolution. Told in Christie's celebrated witty and modern style, The Rivals of Versailles will delight and entrance fans as it brings to life the court of Louis XV in all its pride, pestilence, and glory.

“An intriguing romp through Louis XV's France. Filled with lush backdrops, rich detail, and colorful characters, fans of historical fiction will enjoy this glimpse into the lost golden era of the French monarchy.” (Allison Pataki, author of The Accidental Empress) “Tantalizing descriptions and cliff-hangers will leave the reader rapidly turning the pages in anticipation…A wickedly delightful read.” (New York Daily News) Goodness, but sisters are a thing to fear. Court intriguers are beginning to sense that young King Louis XV, after seven years of marriage, is tiring of his Polish wife. The race is on to find a mistress for the royal bed as various factions put their best feet—and women—forward. The King’s scheming ministers push sweet, naïve Louise, the eldest of the aristocratic Nesle sisters, into the arms of the King. Over the following decade, she and three of her younger sisters—ambitious Pauline; complacent Diane, and cunning Marie Anne—will conspire, betray, suffer, and triumph in a desperate fight for both love and power as each becomes the king’s favorite for a time. In the tradition of The Other Boleyn Girl, The Sisters of Versailles is a clever, intelligent, and absorbing novel that historical fiction fans will devour. Based on meticulous research on a group of women never before written about in English, Sally Christie’s stunning debut is a complex exploration of power and sisterhood—of the admiration, competition, and even hatred that can coexist within a family when the stakes are high enough.

The Rivals of Versailles A Novel

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