Friday, February 4, 2011

REVIEW: HIS LAST LETTER by Jeane Westin

HIS LAST LETTER BY JEANE WESTIN

  • aperback: 400 pages
  • Publisher: NAL Trade; 1 edition (August 3, 2010)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0451230124

First of all I want to send a HUGE THANK YOU to Penguin Publishing or sending me a copy of this book so many months ago.  Believe it or not historical fiction is my preferred genre, I absolutely hands-down love it.  And His Last Letter does not disappoint. 

Before picking up this book I knew absolutely about Elizabeth the 1st and not to mention the Earl of Leicester.  Nary a clue.  
Here is the product description courtesy of Amazon.com:


One of the greatest loves of all time-between Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley-comes to life in this vivid novel. 

They were playmates as children, impetuous lovers as adults-and for thirty years were the center of each others' lives. Astute to the dangers of choosing any one man, the Virgin Queen could never give her "Sweet Robin" what he wanted most-marriage- yet she insisted he stay close by her side. Possessive and jealous, their love survived quarrels, his two disastrous marriages to other women, her constant flirtations, and political machinations with foreign princes.

His Last Letter tells the story of this great love... and especially of the last three years Elizabeth and Dudley spent together, the most dangerous of her rule, when their passion was tempered by a bittersweet recognition of all that they shared-and all that would remain unfulfilled.

THis book easily grabs you from the very first paragraph, and the story keeps you riveted with the lusty magnet that holds Elizabeth and her beloved "Rob" together.  It is the classic unrequited love, and really is there any other story element that will keep you turning the pages as quickly? Nay, I say.. NAY!  
The only thing I had trouble with, and this is just ME and my puny little brain, is every time a new chapter started and there was a new year at the top, I had to flip back to the previous chapter to see which direction in time we had travelled.  I know it seems obvious, but sometimes it was only a matter of a few years, and other times it was into their much younger years. 
There is definate swooniness all over the pages of His Last Letter, and set against a backdrop of corsets and draped beds and tapestry covered walls, you will be swept away to that delicious time where social morays dictated how much passion or affection had to be hidden and secretly carried out.  SWOON!
RATING:  4/5