Charlotte BettsCritiques

La peste e la pandemia, cosa c'è di più attuale? Se poi, verso la fine del libro, scopri che raffreddore e febbre possono essere sintomi e che la malattia si diffonde nei luoghi più degradati, dove regnano la sporcizia e il sovraffollamento, il parallelismo, certamente non voluto dall'autrice, è inevitabile.
Fra colpi di scena ed equivoci vari, la storia d'amore di William e Susannah si sviluppa in una Londra devastata dalla peste e dall'incendio. Temi di fondo sono l'emancipazione e lo schiavismo.

I read the wonderful The Chateau on the Lake by Charlotte Brett last year, so when I got the question if I wanted to participate in The House in Quill Court blog tour didn't I hesitate to say yes!

Venita Lovell has lived her whole life in Kent with her family. Her father is often away working in London. When tragedy strikes the family and a dark secret is revealed must the whole family relocate to London. This new start is hard on them all, but also offer a new promising future. But, first, must the whole family unit against injustice...

I quite liked Venita, she is a strong character, with a great passion for art and she will not bow down before them that threatens the new life she is trying to rebuild in London with her family. We also have young Kitty, the maid, who traveled with them to London for a new life. Kitty doesn't want to end up like her mother with a lot of children and a hard life. She wants a better life. London may offer up a new chance for her, but it's also a city that can take away happiness in a heartbeat.

I like that we both get to follow Venita and Kitty as they settle in the new city. The difference in their positions is great, but both yearn for a good life. Kitty soon finds happiness when she falls in love and Venita together with her family decides to fulfill a longtime dream of starting up a shop where they can display furniture, art, and fabrics. However, soon dark clouds descend over both Kitty and Venita's life.

And, the darkness that Bett adds to the story is the thing that makes reading this book so excruciating. Bett doesn't shy away from that life is tough in the 1900-century. That especially women have a tough life. To be honest, I did not expect that Bett would turn the story so dark. Especially Kitty gets to face how hard life is for a woman with no prospects when life turns sour.

Still, despite that the story is interesting is it also a bit predictable. Sure, not everything was predictable, I was surprised that Kitty's life seemed to turn out quite good (until of course, the harsh reality intervened). But, the big twist, in the end, did I see quite early on. And, despite, having a strong beginning and a good ending did I struggle now and then with the middle of the book and especially everything concerning Venita's brother Raffie who I felt needed to wise up and it was frustrating seeing how blind everyone was when it came to his actions.

Nevertheless, essentially did I like the book and I recommend it if you like historical fiction with a darker edge.

I want to thank Piatkus for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!

The year is 1792 and young Madeleine Moreau travelers to France after a tragedy to find out more about her father's family. She is not alone, she travelers with her friend Sophie who for her own personal reasons need to go away from her family. Also, with them is Comte Etienne d'Aubery who offers them to stay with him in France since the country is in turmoil.

If I have to read a romance book is a historical romance probably my first chose. But that probably quite logical since I find historical books generally interesting. Especially if the subject is interesting and I have always found the French Revolution interesting.

The Chateau on the Lake was a pleasant surprise because the story never got too cheesy. I can't stand romance novels with a cheesy story or with characters that are not believable. But the story in The Chateau on the Lake was really good, from the beginning to the end and the characters were well done and not flat.

There was a love triangle between Madeline, Etienne and his Jean-Luc, an old friend of Etienne who works at Chateau Mirabelle. But the love triangle never got really frustrating irritating to read about. Mostly because Madeleine's feelings for Etieene was hard to miss, at least I thought so.
I liked this historical romance very much, I especially liked that it took place during the French Revolution which meant that both Madeline and Sophie had to be careful not to reveal that they are English and not French. That made the story so much more fascinating. Madeleine and Sophie do what they can to blend in and build up a life and at the same time they must be very careful not to reveal themselves to the people around that doesn't know the truth.
Charlotte Betts has written a wonderful book and I'm looking forward to reading more books by her. It was really refreshing to read a romance book with a strong female character and an engaging story.

Thank you Piatkus for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!

I read the wonderful The Chateau on the Lake by Charlotte Brett last year, so when I got the question if I wanted to participate in The House in Quill Court blog tour didn't I hesitate to say yes!

Venita Lovell has lived her whole life in Kent with her family. Her father is often away working in London. When tragedy strikes the family and a dark secret is revealed must the whole family relocate to London. This new start is hard on them all, but also offer a new promising future. But, first, must the whole family unit against injustice...

I quite liked Venita, she is a strong character, with a great passion for art and she will not bow down before them that threatens the new life she is trying to rebuild in London with her family. We also have young Kitty, the maid, who traveled with them to London for a new life. Kitty doesn't want to end up like her mother with a lot of children and a hard life. She wants a better life. London may offer up a new chance for her, but it's also a city that can take away happiness in a heartbeat.

I like that we both get to follow Venita and Kitty as they settle in the new city. The difference in their positions is great, but both yearn for a good life. Kitty soon finds happiness when she falls in love and Venita together with her family decides to fulfill a longtime dream of starting up a shop where they can display furniture, art, and fabrics. However, soon dark clouds descend over both Kitty and Venita's life.

And, the darkness that Bett adds to the story is the thing that makes reading this book so excruciating. Bett doesn't shy away from that life is tough in the 1900-century. That especially women have a tough life. To be honest, I did not expect that Bett would turn the story so dark. Especially Kitty gets to face how hard life is for a woman with no prospects when life turns sour.

Still, despite that the story is interesting is it also a bit predictable. Sure, not everything was predictable, I was surprised that Kitty's life seemed to turn out quite good (until of course, the harsh reality intervened). But, the big twist, in the end, did I see quite early on. And, despite, having a strong beginning and a good ending did I struggle now and then with the middle of the book and especially everything concerning Venita's brother Raffie who I felt needed to wise up and it was frustrating seeing how blind everyone was when it came to his actions.

Nevertheless, essentially did I like the book and I recommend it if you like historical fiction with a darker edge.

I want to thank Piatkus for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!

Londres, 1665. Susannah, hija de un boticario viudo, ha ayudado desde niña a su padre y se ha convertido en toda una experta en remedios naturales. El aroma resinoso de la lavanda, la esencia del romero, el regaliz y la trementina han impregnado siempre el ambiente que respiraba. Cuando su padre vuelve a casarse con una mujer mucho más joven que él, que además tiene tres hijos, su universo se derrumba. En plena epidemia de la peste bubónica, la propuesta de matrimonio de un encantador amigo de la familia, Henry Savage, parece la mejor solución para huir de su situación. Pero a medida que la epidemia avanza por toda la ciudad, su marido resulta ser alguien distinto de lo que ella esperaba. Susannah necesitará todo su coraje y su pasión para salvarse de la tragedia, personal y colectiva, y deberá luchar por encontrar su sitio en un mundo demasiado complejo.

1665, Suzannah Leyton lives and works with her father in his apothercary shop. Her farther announces that he is to remarry a lady who already has children. It's clear that Suzannah and her new stepmother are not going to get on. However Suzannah gets a proposal of marriage from the charming Henry Savage which seems like a way out.

I liked this book and quite enjoyed seeing what was going to become of Suzannah. The basis of the story has been told many times so did sort of become predictable. What made the story more interesting was the time period.

The story of Suzannah is set in the time of the plague and leading up to the great fire of London. This made the story more interesting than what it may have been. Without the historical elements to the story it would have been just an ordinary romance. I would have liked perhaps a few more pages about the fire as this was just a short section towards the end. The ending was sugary and in true romance style all well that ends well.

Overall an good read set against an interesting part of history that kept my interest.½

Incendi de Londres 1666

This is a wonderful debut novel, set in London in 1665 in the midst of the bubonic plague. Not a scenario I expected to enjoy, but the writing is excellent, with just enough detail to paint a vivid picture of the tragic, often ghastly scenarios, without gratuitous gore.

Susannah is the daughter of an apothecary in an age when women did not generally work outside the home; her life changes when her widowed father decides to marry again. There's a gentle love story underlying the whole of the book, with jealousies, betrayals and suspicions, but there's a whole lot more too. Not just the background of 17th century London in the grip of plague, although that was very well done and brought the time alive to me in a way that history lessons could never do; I also began to understand the real dangers of childbirth and unscrupulous medics, and also learned first-hand (or so it seemed) about how African slaves were perceived, even encouraged in this era.

Possibly a little long-winded in places, but overall an excellent read. Highly recommended. I'd give it four and a half stars if I could.

I received this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I enjoyed this book a great summer read highly recommend
The Chateau on the Lake is a breath-taking historical novel set during the time of the French Revolution; rich, evocative and immersive. If you love Philippa Gregory and Joanne Harris, you will adore Charlotte Betts.

As the story began in 1792, Madeleine Moreau was a teacher in London at the Academy for Young Ladies. She yearned to know more about her father’s family, but he was always very secretive about his parents or even if he had any siblings. After Madeleine’s father and mother were both tragically killed, she took it upon herself to travel to France where he was from. Her close friend, Sophie who was being abused by her husband, becomes Madeleine’s traveling companion. Comte Etienne d’Aubery, whom they’d only recently met, is also traveling to France and offers them a place to stay. But, when the French Revolution begins and they cannot travel back home, he offers them a more permanent solution and a safer place to stay at the Chateau Mirabelle. Madeleine finds herself attracted to Etienne, but she is also strangely attracted to his friend and estate manager, Jean-Luc Viard. There’s a bit of a mystery within the pages as it had been rumored that Etienne may have murdered his wife.

I liked the mystery surrounding Etienne and wanted to find out exactly what happened with his wife. Some of the scenes, however, were not altogether believable. For instance, when you envision a wall of people at a huge event, do you really think you could elbow your way to the front? Madeleine did just that in order to witness the decapitation of King Louis. The story didn’t go overmuch into the war other than the ramifications it had on the people’s lives in England and France. The scenic descriptions of Chateau Mirabelle were nicely done and I could see in my mind’s eye how captivating and beautiful it was. The story flows quite easily. Rating: 3.5 out of 5.½