What do You think about To Dance With Kings (2007)?
This was a long, fairly engrossing book, and I learned a lot about the lead-in to the French Revolution, and the Revolution itself, by reading it. I didn't know a ton about French history going into this, so that was interesting. I found the different generations of women to be a little too similar for my tastes--I felt like they weren't individual enough as characters--but I did find the arcs of their stories to be satisfying and realistic. My biggest gripe with this book was the extreme violence against women that it portrayed. I know that it is historically accurate, but it's just something I, as a reader, find really hard to read, and hard to make it through. If you are less sensitive to this, then you may be able to connect to this book more than I did. It's not that I didn't like it--I did!--I just didn't love it the way lots of other readers have.
—Kristen
Meh. A good friend of mine (whose opinion I seriously respect) has been recommending I read this book for YEARS. I finally borrowed it and I have to say, I'm a little underwhelmed.Like most have written, the concept of this book is brilliant: following four generations of women through Versailles. The problem is the execution. I couldn't really get invested in any of their stories and Laker's writing is really awful. I like a trashy romance as much as the next person, but I found myself rolling my eyes. That being said, this isn't your typical trashy romance. Laker obviously did her research and must have been incredibly passionate about the story. But if I read the would "sumptious" or "he knew her better than she knew herself" one more time I might light myself on fire.Various characters were interesting though, and the beauty of this book is in the details. I would have liked a little more involvement from the main women and something - anything - to relate to. So read if this is your genre, but for those of you who don't usually do historical romance, there are significantly better books out there to scratch that itch ;-)
—Marian
To Dance with Kings was recommended to me by friend who kept on insisting I read this. I was reticent at first but I'm glad I gave it a shot. The story takes place in Versailles and starts when Louis XIV ruled until the French revolution. So basically what we have is Jeanne Drémont a peasant's wife in the village of Versailles,specialised in the making of fans. Jeanne has wanted a child for a long time and is giving birth to her daughter in the beginning of the story. While she's,actually,giving birth, a group of drunken young noble men enter her cottage. Apparently it's their right to come and go wherever they please and not give a fuck about poor pregnant women in labor. While the woman writhes in pain,they laugh and joke and one of them names, the just-now born baby, Marguerite and promises to see her again in 17 years. That's where the story starts and the books takes us through Marguerite's life and her daughter's Jasmine, then the life of Jasmine and her daughter's Violette etc...The novel goes through 4 generations of women,each with a flower's name and a tendency to lose the love of their life. I gave it 4 especially for Marguerite's life and love story,unfortunately the last 200 pages got me quite bored. I thought it was nice and I recommended it to all Versailles fans.
—Yossra kerkeb
