Main Characters: Violetta,
Series: None that I know of
Young and beautiful Violetta may be of royal blood, but her kingdom is in shambles when she arrives in London on a mysterious mission. Her journey has been long and her adventures many, but it is not until she meets the playwright William Shakespeare that she gets to tell the entire story from beginning to end. Violetta and her comic companion, Feste, have come in search of an ancient holy relic that the evil Malvolio has stolen from their kingdom. But where will their remarkable quest—and their most unusual story—lead? In classic Celia Rees style, it is an engrossing journey, full of political intrigue, danger, and romance. This wholly original story is spun from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, and includes both folly and suspense that would make the Bard proud.
When I first requested this book for review, I was drawn to the fact that this book seemed to be a lot different from what I’m used to reading. I was drawn in by the blurb and by the beauty of the cover. I’ve never shied away from the fact that I’m a cover snob. I love pretty covers and this cover to me was freaking gorgeous. I wish I had this girl’s silky smooth skin.
This book started off confusing as all get out. I haven’t read anything by Shakespeare since high school and I’ve never read Twelfth Night so I came into this story with no knowledge of anything Shakespearean. But we’re introduced to Violetta and Feste who are on a quest to retrieve a relic that was stolen from their country and they ask William Shakespeare for help. Will, not knowing why he’s so drawn to this beautiful young woman agrees to help them.
It took me over 6 days to read this book which is surprising because it hardly ever takes me that long to read any book but for some reason, it was hard to get over the first half of this book. The descriptions of each scene and each setting is so great that the words just drip off the pages. The good thing about that was it was very easy to picture the different places that were mentioned in the book like the Duchessa’s beach and Maria’s small and sparse home, I was right there with them.
Rees did a wonderful job of making the reader connect with the characters. I think, for me, that is what saved this book. One of the things that will guarantee that I enjoy a book is writing characters that will resonate with me and I totally connected with Violetta. I felt for her plight and I was rooting her on to complete her mission successfully. Over the course of this book, I came to like William Shakespeare for his role in helping Violetta and Feste, even though I would have understood him walking away from them. I enjoyed getting to know Feste and even Guido and Stephano. For a lot of the book, I’m on the fence about Staphano but alls well that ends well and by the end of the book, I was sure of him and his love for Violetta.
I guess my issues with the book stems from the wordy-ness of it. Yes, I know that wordy-ness isn’t a word but I can’t think of another word to describe what I mean. While apart of me understood the need for all of the wordy descriptions, the other part of me kept saying in my head, “Alright, I get it…all those words to describe them arriving at the beach” and I just wanted to get on with the story.
Overall, this book was enjoyable. It was one of those books that kept you wondering through out the story, how the hell it was all going to fall into place and if you’ve read Twelfth Night then maybe you’ll know how it ends but I’m glad that I read this book. It’s not one of my favorite books but it opened my eyes to a world of historical fiction that I’ve never read before and it’s definitely broadened my horizons a bit.
I’m thinking that fans of Shakespeare and Twelfth Night will enjoy this book and fans of historical fiction as well.
**I was lucky enough to score a chance to read and review this book through the ARC Tours. This book will be featured on various other blogs through out this blog tour so to catch a list of all of the blogs this book will be featured on, click here.**
Book cover and blurb credit: http://barnesandnoble.com