Tour Review - His Last Mistress by Andrea Zuvich

Title: His Last Mistress

Author: Andrea Zuvich

Series: Stand Alone

Pages: 206

Published:  July 5th 2013 by The Seventeenth Century Lady 

ISBN:  9781490425566

Source: Arranged Tour

Description: As the illegitimate eldest son of King Charles II, the Duke is a spoiled, lecherous man with both a wife and a mistress. However, this rakish libertine is soon captivated by the innocence of young Lady Henrietta Wentworth, who has been raised to covet her virtue. She is determined to spurn his advances, yet she cannot deny the chemistry between them. Will she succumb? At the same time, the Duke begins to harbour risky political ambitions which may threaten not only his life but also that of those around him.

I Give This ...

In the past, I probably would not have looked twice at this one.  But having read another book focusing on the mistress recently, I decided to give this one a shot as well.  It had its highs and lows, but overall I enjoyed reading it.

 A lot of the time I can put aside how young characters can be in history.  For some reason, it hits you right in the face.   Lady Henrietta is young  (13 or 14) when she first meets the Duke.  He wastes no time in propositioning her and those around her are equaling as quick to make sure she knows his true character.  With all that being drilled into her head, I'm amazed she becomes captivated by him at all.   I wasn't giving him the benefit of the doubt though.  I seldom believe declarations of love from notorious rakes.   It sometimes works in fictions, but rarely happens in real life.

The Duke captured my interest though.  I think he behaved the way he did because he was seeking attention the only way he knew how.  His father barely acknowledged him.  He was so often a pawn in others games.  It often came as a huge expensive to his own liberties.  I think he initially just enjoyed the chase when it came to Lady Henrietta.  But, somewhere along the way he truly fell in love with her.  It took me a long time to believe it.

I liked the history lesson the most in this book.   I didn't know a thing about this notorious Duke before this book.  I loved learning about his history, his father, and his final days.  The battle of Monmouth was not what I was expecting.  I also was not expecting the graphic description of his death.  Again...I love it when a book makes me seek out the details!

 

Link to Tour Schedule:  http://hfvirtualbooktours.com/hislastmistresstour/ 

Born in Philadelphia in 1985 to Chilean-Croatian parents,

Andrea Zuvich is a historian specialising in the Late Stuarts of the Seventeenth Century and is the creator and writer of the history website, The Seventeenth Century Lady. Andrea studied History and Anthropology at both the University of Central Florida and Oxford University, and has been independently researching the 1600s since 2008. Andrea is a leader on and one of the original developers of The Garden History Tours at Kensington Palace, Historic Royal Palaces, and lives with her English husband in Lancashire, England.