In the Shadow of a Queen

3.5 stars!!!

After giving many tries to other UK Royal Family historical fiction authors, I finally found one that works for me! I've really enjoyed everything Heather B. Moore has written and I adore her general writing style, although I think her characters always lack. I will say that it feels like not much happened in this, there wasn't a huge plot twist, or an overarching struggle the main character had to get through, but it was still satisying. The characters didn't feel well flushed out and mostly felt two dimensional. The descriptions and the main character's inner monologue is really what saved this for me. I'm definitely going to pick up everything this author writes for that reason alone!






Thank you to Shadow Mountain Publishing and NetGalley for providing an eBook copy to review.

My full review is posted at https://literaryquicksand.com/2022/10/review-in-the-shadow-of-a-queen/

Have you ever picked up a book and thought ‘Hm, this will probably be okay” and then it ends up surprising the heck out of you and being a really great read?

As you may have guessed, that's exactly what happened to me with In the Shadow of a Queen by Heather B. Moore. I went into this read thinking I'd like it well enough, and then the dang thing just quietly came in and made me love it.

Before I get into my review, thank you to Laurel at Austenprose PR for setting up this book tour, and giving me the opportunity to read a book I wouldn't have picked up on my own. And of course, thanks to the author and Shadow Mountain Publishing for the copy of the book.

Now, on to the review.

First of all, royal life has never really been that exciting for me to read about. Maybe I just hadn't found the right book before, or maybe I just didn't read enough of it to give it a chance. Whatever the reason, I went into this book thinking it would be an okay read. It did start a bit slow, but it does start when Louise is a child, and coming-of-age stories are my jam.

Like I said before, I was just quietly taken over by this story as the book went on. I wasn't expecting it at all, but suddenly I found myself so invested in Louise and her search for a husband once she's “out” in society. There honestly isn't a whole lot that really happens in this book, as far as plot. Sure, there are some things that happen, but overall it's pretty quiet and very character driven.

And you know what? I loved it. I was smiling like a total dork while I read many parts of this, and chuckling at some of the little snarky quips that just made it special.