Elizabeth Marie Pope (1917–1992)

I bought this when I was very little, back when I was really getting into Elizabethan literature.

The story runs thus: Kate and her younger sister are ladies in waiting to Elizabeth I while Elizabeth is residing in the Tower of London under her sister's rule. Younger Sister decides that it's a wise idea to send Queen Mary a note about Elizabeth's conditions, which prompts Mary to ask for Younger Sister to go work with Mary and Kate to go work elsewhere, to remove the bad influence from the noble soul of her younger sister.

Romance, faeries, crazy people, gypsies, riddles, and all-around fun adventure romp - this story's got them all. Kate is a fun character and the cast of characters she meets are intriguing and enjoyable to read about. The ending is a little "well, I wanted this to happen, but..."

Still, it's enjoyable. I believe this is meant for teenagers though, so be wary if you're expecting adult historical fantasy fiction.… (mais)

Thanks to the obliviously seditious actions of her sister Alicia, Queen Mary I exiles pragmatic Kate Sutton to a remote castle. Kate discovers treachery, superstition, a secret enclave of "fairies," and the sarcastic, tormented Christopher Heron.

This was pretty fabulous, and it's so full of great lines that I couldn't begin to quote them all (My favorite is Chistopher's "Kate! Unkind! How can you? Marry Alicia? Think of it!" but it requires the rest of the book for context). Kate and Christopher are wonderful characters: she is stern, relentless and loyal, while he's flippant, caustic, and wounded.… (mais)

I got this off a Book Riot list of “unusual historical romance” when I was searching for recommendations for a friend. I was so excited when she asked for romance recommendations, and then she said her preference was historical romance set in America, which ruled out just about all my recommendation arsenal.
Anywayyy, this looked good, and I wanted it for myself. The library didn’t have it and it wasn’t available on kindle, so I bought myself an honest-to-goodness print copy. “Get out the reading lamps and bookmarks, sister! We’re doing this old school!” I said to myself.
This book doesn’t have just one romance, it has three! With a book that has fewer than 300 pages, you might guess there’s a bit of love at first sight going on, and you would be guessing correctly two out of three times. Eh, it didn’t bother me, since the writing was good, and the stories were told in such a fun way.
The book shifts back and forth in time as friendly ghosts tell the main character, Peggy, about their lives during the American Revolution. Each character’s story has action, romance, and humor, and it never bothered me to switch gears and go back in time with them. The book spends more time in past, during the American Revolution, than in Peggy’s time (I’m guessing the 50’s, when the book was written).
It’s a gentle book—the American colonel and the British captain who are matching wits throughout the book respect each other, and their drive is to stop and capture rather than wipe each other out. It was a nice break from the gritty and the grim, and the main female characters were all smart and resourceful. My favorite story was Barbara’s—I loved how she outmaneuvered Peaceable, and how it prompted his marriage proposal
This felt like very tame YA to me. With all the love stuff, I don’t know if a younger audience would be interested. Maybe they would? I wouldn’t call it a kissing book. It’s more of a let’s-jump-right-to-a-marriage-proposal book. Whatever it is, I recommend it regardless of your age. It was a quick, comforting read for me in a time when that’s just what I needed.… (mais)

After stumbling upon The Sherwood Ring last year and loving it, I was excited to see the author had written a fantasy too. Like The Sherwood Ring, this felt like very tame YA, like what I would have read when I was a teen in the eighties. Kate is my kind of heroine: smart, forthright, and brave. I liked her immediate compassion for Christopher when she heard his story and the unique way they got to know each other. I didn’t always get their vibe, but I was still rooting for them.
If you’re into fairies, you’ll probably dig this book. There’s a mix of the familiar and the new, with a few ideas I’d never seen before.
I probably liked The Sherwood Ring a little more, but both are worth the read.… (mais)