Name: Jennifer's review of The Borgia Confessions by Alyssa Palombo
Item: The Borgia Confessions
Rating: 3
Author: Jennifer

Alyssa Palombo

'Under Palombo’s skillful hand, the entangled world of the Borgias comes vividly to life, exposing the dark facets of class structure and the all-consuming greed that comes with ambition--and love." - Heather Webb, internationally bestselling author of Last Christmas in Paris and Meet Me in Monaco During the sweltering Roman summer of 1492, Rodrigo Borgia has risen to power as pope. Rodrigo’s eldest son Cesare, forced to follow his father into the church and newly made the Archbishop of Valencia, chafes at his ecclesiastical role and fumes with jealousy and resentment at the way that his foolish brother has been chosen for the military greatness he desired. Maddalena Moretti comes from the countryside, where she has seen how the whims of powerful men wreak havoc on the lives of ordinary people. But now, employed as a servant in the Vatican Palace, she cannot help but be entranced by Cesare Borgia’s handsome face and manner and finds her faith and conviction crumbling in her want of him. As war rages and shifting alliances challenge the pope’s authority, Maddalena and Cesare's lives grow inexplicably entwined. Maddalena becomes a keeper of dangerous Borgia secrets, and must decide if she is willing to be a pawn in the power games of the man she loves. And as jealousy and betrayal threaten to tear apart the Borgia family from within, Cesare is forced to reckon with his seemingly limitless ambition. Alyssa Palombo's captivating new novel, The Borgia Confessions, is a story of passion, politics, and class, set against the rise and fall of one of Italy's most infamous families--the Borgias.

A Novel

The Borgia Confessions

Amanda

Jennifer

Usually historical fiction falls flat in terms of the writing style, but I have to say that I'm quite a big fan of Alyssa Palombo's novels as she manages to make the characters as well as the featured historical figures come alive. The Borgia Confessions is no exception to this writing asset of hers: it proves to be a rather politically intriguing body of work which is also carefully researched.

So let me reiterate what I particularly enjoyed in The Borgia Confessions:

+ Characterisation: The Borgia Confessions is narrated from two perspectives. Maddelena (who is a maid) and Cesare (who is the son of Pope Alexander VI). Without giving away too many details, I have to say that the character development is really solid. In Maddelena's case, it's quite admirable to see her standing up for herself. And in Cesare's case, his narratives offer his personality downfalls and his moral ambiguities. 
+ Writing style: One thing I don't usually enjoy in historical fiction is the writing style, but luckily Alyssa Palombo did a great job at connecting to the readers and giving each character a distinctive personality. I also admire how she incorporates the different symbolisms into the writing e.g. the seven sins.
+ Themes & historical research: There are a few central themes in this novel - primarily on virtues / sins, moral corruption, and politics. I found these tied up really well with the excellent historical research. Alyssa Palombo managed to incorporated just the right amount of historical research to sate the scope of The Borgia Confessions - this, I'm thankful for because many historical fics tend to fall prey to excessive info-dumping of the real historical events that I could easily just look up on the internet. She managed to make it breathe passion and life.

So clearly, I quite enjoy this book. However, there are a few reasons why I didn't rate this a 4 star read and I feel like these are important to address.

- While I applaud the historical context given in the novel, I feel like the pacing was initially too sluggish so I think having the action taking place earlier in the novel would be better and make the novel less of an uphill climb to go through in its first 100 pages.

- On the other side of the coin, I feel like the ending was slightly rushed. A few more chapters towards the end might make this feel less abrupt.

- I personally have the biggest issue with the intimate scenes and I felt pretty uncomfortable reading them. While I understand that Cesare's character arc is the one going from a promising heir of Borgia to a self-serving and borderline abusive one (as shown in his decisions and actions), I think several scenes from Cesare's POV could easily be cut as I eventually found them predictable. 

Because of the intimate scenes, I wouldn't recommend this to anyone under 18. Content-wise, these are the potential triggers in The Borgia Confession: sexual abuse, NSFW, violence, gore, illness, and death.

Despite my concerns with the pacing and some romance scenes, I found this a very rich and fascinating historical fiction focusing on the political tension within the House of Borgia. Last but not least, Alyssa Palombo defied the common historical fiction writing pitfalls by crafting a cast of emotionally engaging characters without sacrificing the historical accuracy. 

(3.5 stars out of 5)

Jolie

I don’t know about you, but I haven’t heard a ton about the Borgia’s. What information I knew had been picked up in other books. So, when I was approached to the blog tour for The Borgia Confessions, I was intrigued. The blog painted the book as a romance set in Renaissance Italy. Then I read the book and man; it is more than what I thought. And I mean that in the absolute best way!!

The Borgia Confessions is told from the viewpoint of Cesare (1st person) and Maddalena (1st person). I am not a fan of dual storylines, but in this case, it was needed.

The pacing of The Borgia Confessions was fast-paced. It needed to be, considering the author was writing about a time where wars ended politics and people being murdered was commonplace. There were no dropped storylines, no dropped characters, and I didn’t have any issues keeping up with the plotline. What I enjoyed is that even though the plotline was fast-paced, I didn’t have to go back and reread chapters. That was a massive plus for me.

I will admit that I did some research into Cesare Borgia after I read the book. The author did a great job of keeping to who Cesare was. He was not a nice man. He murdered, bribed, and man whored. There was a hint of the scandal between him and Lucretiza. But, the author only let it stay a hint. The majority of the book focused on Cesare, his issues, and of course, his romance with Maddalena.

I did like Maddalena, and I loved the insight that her character gave to what was happening behind the scenes. But I found her almost too pious. Her constant praying and thinking about sin got on my nerves. I also wasn’t a fan of how two-sided she was. She was quick to condemn Cesare when he was sleeping with his brother’s wife. But when she was sleeping with him and was condemned by the other servants, she was hurt. I kept thinking to myself, “Can’t have it both ways, buttercup.”

I did think Cesare was a manwhore. Him being a Cardinal didn’t slow him down. He went after anything in skirts. That included his own brother’s wife. I was expecting Maddalena and him to hook up, but I wasn’t expecting it to be as late in the book as it was. Honestly, I was glad. I liked that Cesare and Maddalena were able to form a relationship before they got involved. Did I believe that Cesare loved Maddalena? Yes, I do. I do think that in his way, he did.

The end of The Borgia Confessions was rather abrupt. I was left wondering what happened to Maddalena and Cesare. The author’s note, afterward, did clear up any questions that I had. The author, in her note, also explained why she didn’t touch upon the rumors that surrounded Cesare, Lucretiza, and Pope Alexander’s incestuous relationship. She also told why she changed Joffre and Juan’s names. In real life, they were Gioffre and Giovann

Amanda &
The Borgia Confessions by Alyssa Palombo

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