Welcome to Litsy!

Final book in the trilogy and it‘s the best by far.

King Henry is now out of the picture. Eleanor spends her time as Queen Mother and advisor to her children. Tons of tragedy for Eleanor, plus plenty of backstabbing and betrayal which has always been commonplace for life as a royal. My favorite part is the politics and decision-making in this installment, always with the goal of protecting borders. Great series, I really enjoyed my time with it.

Beach reading 🏖️🍹☀️

Excellent!! But stressful toward the end, with the Revolt of 1173 and Eleanor‘s subsequent capture. These are not spoilers; history tells us these things. What stood out most was Henry and Eleanor‘s tumultuous relationship and the way Henry forged alliances with neighboring lands to solidify his empire. So much scandal and betrayal! I‘m eager to continue with the third book, but I may take a short break since they‘re such dense reads.

Nearly halfway thru this one and I‘m enjoying this [fictional] deep dive into Eleanor of Aquitaine‘s life! I love her.

Every time I read medieval stories I‘m just blown away by how little agency women had in that era-even rich and powerful ones-and by how pregnancy and childbirth really sort of ruled their lives.

I enjoyed it! Although there‘s no telling how accurate Chadwick‘s depiction of Eleanor is here given the lack of info and the fact that this author uses Akashic Records (👀) for her research, but I still enjoyed it. Chadwick has no love for King Louis VII, and I felt for Eleanor throughout her marriage to him, but I‘m really excited to see read about her marriage to King Henry II in the subsequent books. Great story, very much in my wheelhouse.

#currentlyreading Nearly a week into this book, I‘m approaching halfway thru. It‘s dense but really good. I keep stopping to read more about historical names and places. My first time reading about Eleanor of Aquitaine!

My best reading buddy Beau is keeping me warm! 🐾

Random book from our home library:

📖 Eleanor of Aquitaine by Alison Weir

Recent fiction acquisition:

📖 The Serpent's Tale by Ariana Franklin

I don't have words for how much I love this book.

So here's some stats:

82 days to read
758 pages read

I bought the book cause I couldn't read fast enough.

Love this book enough I bought the other two in the trilogy.

I am so glad I started, stuck with, and finished this book!

#WeekendForecast and #BookReport

Technically, I finished a book last Sunday but included that book in the previous wrap up.

I have been reading on my chunky book-about 20-25 pages a day at lunch (about 35-40 minutes). I have hit the limit of renewals at the library and may have to purchase this one cause I do want to keep at it.

Tomorrow, I am going to sit with my coffee and read a few kids books. It's imperative I switch things up, bookwise.