Set in 1661, the story starts with the arrival of Princess Henrietta of England for her marriage to Monsieur Philip, brother of King Louis XIV. Her flirtatious nature throws the court of France in complete disorder as three suitors fight for her love, while Monsieur Philip is set aside, jealous. Madame Henrietta sets her eyes on the highest ranking of her suitors and, to stop her husband’s jealous rages, asks this man to pretend to flirt with one of her maids of honor, Louise de la Valliere. Meanwhile, M.Fouquet silently fights off Colbert’s attacks to take his role as superintendant of finances.
This story was a lot less action as the others and more focused on the court. I actually found it quite interesting. Unlike the other books, which had portions filled with action and others where nothing was happening, this book was filled with intrigues the whole time. There was always something going on, some mischief from one or some scheme from another. I simply loved seeing how the plots unraveled.
I very much dislike Monsieur Philip and Madame Henrietta. They are both so self-centered. Monsieur Philip actually did not like that his future wife was prettier than him. How crazy is that! And Madame Henrietta never even gave Monsieur Philip a chance. She just immediately shut him out and started flirting around. I’m also mad at Louise for what she’s putting Raoul, who loves her so much, through. I love how she suddenly has the attention of everyone, but I would enjoy it even more if it didn’t mean that Raoul would get his heart broken.
I give this one a 4 out of 5. There were some frustrating parts to the story that turned me off, but for most of it, I was very curious as to what was going to happen next.
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