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The Courtier's Secret (2009)

by Donna Russo Morin(Favorite Author)

3.63 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0758226918 (ISBN13: 9780758226914)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Kensington

review 1: The Courtier’s Secret by Donna Russo Morin Historical Romance- Feb. 1st, 20093 stars The Courtier’s Secret by Donna Russo Morin is a historical romance that is set in France 1862 at the court of the Sun King, Louis the XIV. The heroine, a plucky young lady who secretly learns the art of fencing and is renowned for her misbehaviors, disguises herself as man and aids the Musketeers in uncovering an assassination plot against the Queen. Of course, as it is expected, she falls in love with one of the Musketeers but can never hope to marry a man of her own choosing. To complicate matters, her abusive father plans to marry her off to an aristocrat in order for further his standing in court. This book is a pretty solid read. There are a lot of things going for it. First, the ... moresetting is very, very rich. The author has chosen a great period of history to set her story in. There is so much rich material to draw upon and Morin makes great use of the time period. She creates a vivid, realistic picture of court life and the limitations of women at that time. From tiny little details such as the number of bathrooms there are in the Versailles to the rich description of the King’s daily toilette, the whole book starts to sag at the end under the weight of so much historical research. The author definitely did her homework, and I loved reading about France at that time, but in the end, it started getting a little bit too much. The novel started out very promising but the plot developed some major problems for me. I loved how Morin set the stage: girl fresh from the convent, abusive father and loving, victimized mother, gender bending, disguise, mystery. I was eager to see how the heroine will solve her dilemma. Will the dashing hero discover her hidden identity? How is she going to get out of the planned marriage? Will they ever get together? In the end however, I was disappointed. It was very good to start with but around the middle it started to slow down. The author started to focus less on the heroine’s double life and more on the forbidden courtship between the hero and heroine. It was a total and abrupt shift in the plot. The author also introduced us to the heroine’s two girlfriends, whose stories were so engrossing that I became more interested in their sub-plot stories rather that the heroine’s story. To be fair, this is Morin’s debut novel and for a first book, it’s pretty darn good compared to a lot of other poorly written romance novels out there. Overall, this is a solid read if you are interested in the French history. This author has great potential and I eagerly await her next book.Reviewed by Pauline from the Bookaholics Romance Book Club
review 2: The back of this novel recommends this to fans of Phillippa Gregory. I beg to differ. It was good, but does not contend with Gregory. Except for much court gossip and intrigue, it bears little resemblence to a Gregory novel. Too fluffy at times. Readers enter the court of Louis XIV, the Sun King. He bears much similarity to Henry the Eighth. He is pompous, full of himself, and is just utterly ridiculous constantly romping around with women and of course, one mustn't ever say anything he does not like. I mention this because tho the book is not about him, he pops up quite often. The heroine of this story is Jeanne who has been banned from a convenant and is now a courtier with a father that cannot wait to marry her off to an undesirable baron. She secretly takes fencing lessons and dresses up as a boy and fights with the Musketeers. As another reviewer has already stated, her suddenly and quickly changing clothes and identities is preposterous. Women did not just wear jeans back then. What bothered me most of all tho is in the beginning of the novel, she absolutely had to appear at all the King's functions or she would face dire punishment. How then, does she run around as a boy and miss all the functions throughout the rest of the story? Apparently, King Louis was adamant about people appearing at certain functions and in a certain order so this went unexplained. Jeannette falls in love with a fellow musketeer (I kept thinking of a Shakespeare play at this point) and her and her heart's desire attempt to cancel her upcoming marriage and save the queen's life to boot. Entertaining book despite the cheesy romance. Too many characters tho. Some of them could have completely been eliminated, making it easier to follow without hurting the story line any. Also, I think this is more suitable for the young adult crowd. less

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