Date Finished: 1/23/15
This was a fun read. I'd seen that this book had received some publicity - maybe I saw it in People magazine (?) - and when I saw it at the library I thought why not.
Here's the book info (spoilers after the jump:
Empress Elizabeth of Austria, known as Sisi, is the Princess Diana of nineteenth-century Europe. Famously beautiful, as captured in a portrait with diamond stars in her hair, she is unfulfilled in her marriage to the older Emperor Franz Joseph. Sisi has spent years evading the stifling formality of royal life on her private train or yacht or, whenever she can, on the back of a horse.
Captain Bay Middleton is dashing, young, and the finest horseman in England. He is also impoverished, with no hope of buying the horse needed to win the Grand National—until he meets Charlotte Baird. A clever, plainspoken heiress whose money gives her a choice among suitors, Charlotte falls in love with Bay, the first man to really notice her, for his vulnerability as well as his glamour. When Sisi joins the legendary hunt organized by Earl Spencer in England, Bay is asked to guide her on the treacherous course. Their shared passion for riding leads to an infatuation that jeopardizes the growing bond between Bay and Charlotte, and threatens all of their futures.
Ok, so the truth is that there really isn't much to spoil - other than the fact that Charlotte and Bay end up together. No surprise that Bay has an affair with Sisi - or that she expects he will accompany her back to her homeland. But Bay, being the proud English gentleman, can't spend his life waiting on orders from an Empress! Plus he's taken with Charlotte and her innocence (and maybe her fortune?). I mean, let's be real - would he have been that interested if she wasn't an heiress? I'm not sure I learned enough about his character to be able to tell. And I'm not sure what it says about me that I wanted her to go to America on her photography trip with Mr. Hewes. I guess I'm all for an independent woman...that said, I suppose it's gratifying when they end up together - and Bay even offers to carry Charlotte's photography equipment on the trip to America - what a man!
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