Say Hello to Alice Salisbury, AKA the patron saint of medieval saints Alright that might have been a mild exaggeration. But in all honesty, this portrayal of the infamous, devious and financially savvy Alice Perrers is incredibly bland and colourless. Alice is a complete Mary Sue with no real or discernible flaws. She is Perfection incarnate. She is sweet, devoted, compassionate, insufferably superior and thus she holds no interest for the reader. Where has the tenacious and pragmatic social schemer of history escaped to? I mean, would Alice have really have agonised over to accept a profitable wardship and earn plenty of cash in the bargain? Would she really have squirmed at the thought of exerting influence over the King? Another thing I found laughable was Campion's theory of Alice Salisbury and Geoffrey Chaucer being OMG BFFs from childhood! WTH?! Utterly ludicrous. Perhaps I'm too cynical and jaded but I was intensely disappointed with this book. The end was a travesty IMHO. Far too surgery and reminiscent of fairy tales. My eyes nearly rolled out my head! Fanciful nonsense comes to mind.All in all, not the worst book I've ever, not by a long shot. Still, it seems, that finding a decent Alice Perrers novel is going to be difficult. I felt that the book was over-long and meandering and focused on superficial and faintly ridiculous theories. 5/10 stars Alice Perrers is almost wholly reviled by historians, but many of her "choices" were not hers to make. Think of the time period. What woman could have refused the king and walked away unscathed? A common one, at that.However, Campion's version of her character was just a tad on the sickeningly naive side for me. Time and time again she was shown through other people, through warnings, through experiences at court that she could trust only a handful, but it was rare that she actually took this to heart. It's frustrating to read about that kind of character.
What do You think about L'amante Del Re (2011)?
It was great read until the final couple of chapters. I don't like a book with a sad ending.
—lady
An eye-rolling Mary-Sue-riffic novel that starts out badly and only gets worse.
—aglitygurl101
It was okay. Some lovely descriptions and a good story.
—Adormina
