Queen Charlotte
photo credit: JuliaQuinn.com
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““We are one crown. His weight is mine, and mine is his…”
In 1761, on a sunny day in September, a King and Queen met for the very first time. They were married within hours.
Born a German Princess, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was beautiful, headstrong, and fiercely intelligent… not precisely the attributes the British Court had been seeking in a spouse for the young King George III. But her fire and independence were exactly what she needed, because George had secrets… secrets with the potential to shake the very foundations of the monarchy.
Thrust into her new role as a royal, Charlotte must learn to navigate the intricate politics of the court… all the while guarding her heart, because she is falling in love with the King, even as he pushes her away. Above all she must learn to rule, and to understand that she has been given the power to remake society. She must fight—for herself, for her husband, and for all her new subjects who look to her for guidance and grace. For she will never be just Charlotte again. She must instead fulfill her destiny… as Queen.”
Photo credit: Celita. M
“He’d thought she was pretty. That was all he’d thought, really, when he saw her standing by the wall. But then she spoke. And he was lost forever”
-Juila Quinn and Shonda Rhimes
Agatha doesn’t like her husband very much. She was promised to him when she was three years old and finds his presence suffocating. Brimsley is seeing Reynolds in secret, and dreams of them being together forever, but can their love survive their duties to the royals? Charlotte’s marriage to King George began like a fairytale. And then it turned sour overnight. King George is irrevocably in love with his new Queen, but he also has a terrible secret that could bring down the monarchy and torch his relationship with Charlotte. He will do anything to keep it hidden.
Who would have thought that what the Bridgerton series needed was an origin story? I’ve wished for it a few times. This was a great idea… for the Netflix series. It does nothing for the book series at all. The characters in Queen Charlotte, are actually the screen adaptation characters. So, if continuity is your thing, Queen Charlotte steps of the beaten path of the Bridgerton book series that came before it.
I rate romance books on its steam factor right along with the romance. The more steam the better😍 and the steam in Queen Charlotte leaves much to be desired. That aside, I must admit, it is one of the best love stories I’ve read since The Viscount Who Loved Me. (Anthony Bridgerton’s Story).
I was ready to award this book three stars, (which is average on my scale) due to the writing and narration style being so different than the rest of the Bridgerton Series. Then I thought, maybe that was the point. This story takes place before Lady Whistledown, and many years before the Bridgerton’s stories began. The narrative voice SHOULD be different, I thought that was a stroke of creative genius. which bumped up the score.
I loved the growth of the characters throughout the story, but I wished there was a little more to the plot. There were many missed opportunities to make the plot more intriguing. Not only do we have the POVs of the central characters Charlotte and George, but we also get the POVs of Agatha and Brimsley, who have their own life struggles as they revolve around their duties and friendships with Charlotte and George.
It was so difficult for me to review the book after watching the Netflix series because there is very little difference between them. Even though I liked the book, after watching the series, it still felt like a waste of time. My advice; read the story first. Then watch the series.
Fans of historical romance, more specifically, The Bridgerton series, strong female characters, and Royal Romance tropes should read this book. Queen Charlotte’s target audience is the fans of the Netfilx series.
Interested in how I awarded Queen Charlotte 4 stars? See my post on how I rate books here.
