Aimee Dubucq de Rivery and her best friend and cousin Rose Tascher de la Pagerie are born on the French island of Martinique in 1763. Their story in the book begins when they are 14 and on their way to visit an African witch in order to have their fortunes told. Both are told that they will be queens. When Aimee is 18, she sails for France to enter a convent but also to spend a month with relatives in Paris who can help her find an aristocratic husband. Rose follows her one year later to marry an aristocrat. They both believe that they are on the path to be queens until life stops working out so well for them.
With a title promising a stolen girl, I thought the girl would be stolen early in the book. Aimee isn't "stolen" until 2/3 into the story. However, this anomaly did not affect the readability of the book. The author packed her novel with interesting historical facts such as the prediction of Euphemia David. Euphemia was the African witch who told Aimee and Rose's fortune. The prediction was published in France in 1820 because Rose eventually became Empress Josephine. The latter third of the book is erotic as Aimee gives up her Catholic training to pursue riches as a concubine. Her eyes are on the clothes and the jewels and she will do anything to get them but the truth is that she really likes sex.
The story abruptly ends at awkward place. There is no denouement. The reader is supposed to automatically begin reading Part 2 of the series, The French Sultana. I felt uncomfortable with the ending and it affected my rating of the book. As far as the sexual content is concerned, if I paid attention to the publisher's warning I probably would not have purchased the book. I am not interested in reading explicit sex but it's not the author's fault that I missed the warning. However, when I am searching for books on Amazon I only look at the listed genre. Why should I have to do an Internet search to determine if the book is X rated?
4 out of 5 stars.
With a title promising a stolen girl, I thought the girl would be stolen early in the book. Aimee isn't "stolen" until 2/3 into the story. However, this anomaly did not affect the readability of the book. The author packed her novel with interesting historical facts such as the prediction of Euphemia David. Euphemia was the African witch who told Aimee and Rose's fortune. The prediction was published in France in 1820 because Rose eventually became Empress Josephine. The latter third of the book is erotic as Aimee gives up her Catholic training to pursue riches as a concubine. Her eyes are on the clothes and the jewels and she will do anything to get them but the truth is that she really likes sex.
4 out of 5 stars.
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