The Virgin's Lover

Very entertaining if a little trashy! A very easy read yet thoroughly enjoyable and it made me go a research more about the story. I did therefore learn quite a lot about Queen Elizabeth coming to the throne. Good holiday reading I'd say.

Philippa Gregory can do no wrong in writing historical fiction books. She has such a way of bringing the monarchs to life, catching their personalities and everything. And this book was no exception. As it says in the synopsis, this book is about Queen Elizabeth. Poor thing. She spent most of her childhood, essentially a bastard. She had no idea if she was even in line to take the throne. Her mother was Anne Boleyn, who was not remembered in good light. So naturally, because of this, Elizabeth is very anxious about being Queen. This book is about Elizabeth's first few years of reign. She is a nervous wreck, constantly anxious. She has no idea if the people will support her. She knows she has enemies that think she shouldn't be on the throne. But luckily, she has William Cecil. Cecil is an amazing man. He calms Elizabeth and gives her sound advice for anything and everything. He helps her rule and keep the enemies away. But then Elizabeth pardons Robert Dudley, who was her childhood friend. He quickly becomes her favorite, which means lover in the world of the monarchs. But Dudley is married to Amy Dudley. Amy refuses to divorce him. So instead, Amy is forced to be bounced around from home to home while her husband is knowingly sleeping with the Queen. Overall, this was a pretty good book. I rated it 4 stars simply because I am not sure of how accurate it actually was. I don't know a lot about Queen Elizabeth. Reading some of the other reviews made me question the authenticity of this book. Even if it is fiction, it's historical fiction and should be based in some fact.

I give this book a solid 3 stars. It held my interest, and as always with Philippa Gregory's books, it was well written. However, there were so many typos that took away from this book. I can ignore some, but for example, on page 366 of my paperback, William Hyde is randomly referred to as David.

The only thing that kept me going was that I didn't know the history at all. So, it was suspenseful at times because I didn't know that was going to happen, and I always appreciate that Gregory sticks to the facts as much as possible. This is an era of history I don't know much about and enjoy learning what I can.

As far as plot, there was so much back and forth and going around in circles, with the war against Scotland/France, Elizabeth's marriage prospects and Amy and Dudley's relationship. Instead of the plot moving forward, it just circles around, mainly centering around these three aspects. It became kind of dull.

Finally, I thought this a poor characterization of Queen Elizabeth I. She is so weak and lovesick and completely dependent on a man, Robert Dudley. Probably the worst man she could have picked. I found myself disliking most of the main characters; surprisingly, Cecil, for all his plotting and spying, was my favorite, besides Laetitia. While I haven't read many books yet about Elizabeth, I was so disappointed in her and how she's portrayed in this book.

I did appreciate Hannah Green, aka Hannah the Fool, making an appearance, as this book follows the events of The Queen's Fool, ironically one of my favorite books by Gregory that I've read so far. I'm glad I read this book but don't see myself reading it again.

Will Philippa Gregory ever be able to write books as thoroughly enjoyable as The Other Boleyn Girl, The Queen's Fool or The Constant Princess ever again? I'm seriously beginning to doubt it. The Virgin's Lover is tedious, much too long, and the characters are some of the most unlikable I've come across recently. They seem to be caricatures: the ever-scheming, power-hungry Dudley, the naive and simpering Amy and of course the indecisive, easily influenced yet devil incarnate Elizabeth... The way Elizabeth is portrayed is particularly ridiculous. I am still wondering why I kept reading the book until the end. I think I was hoping the book would get better somehow but it simply didn't. Gregory's writing is not bad but the story and characterization are so weak and annoying that reading this book feels like a waste of time.

Having previously read a fair share of books about Queen Elizabeth I, including 'Legacy' by Susan Key (an incredible book which made me want to re-read it immediately after finishing it), I can easily say that this one is just not it. It feels rushed, inadequate, lacks depth of character and in truth, it lacks pretty much everything that would make it bearable. Even the one star I'm giving it is quite generous because this book completely failed all my expectations and I could barely make it through to the end.