The Borgia Mistress
A Novel
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4.3 • 65 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
From the author of Poison and The Borgia Betrayal, comes a new historical thriller, featuring the same intriguing and beautiful heroine: Borgia court poisoner, Francesca Giordano
Mistress of death Francesca Giordano—court poisoner to the House of Borgia—returns to confront an ancient atrocity that threatens to extinguish the light of the Renaissance and plunge the world into eternal darkness. As the enemies of Pope Alexander VI close in and the papal court is forced to flee from Rome, Francesca joins forces with her lover, the brilliant and ruthless Cesare Borgia to unravel a conspiracy that strikes at the heart of Christendom. But when a shattering secret from her past imperils her precarious hold on sanity, only Francesca's own courage and resolve can draw her back from the brink of madness to save all she values most.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In her third novel (after The Borgia Betrayal) featuring Francesca Giordano court poisoner to the House of Borgia Poole places her heroine in a new locale and in the midst of personal and global crises. Rodrigo Borgia has been named Pope Alexander VI, and he and his son, Cesare, are more at risk than ever from assassins and rivals. Alexander thus relocates the family from Rome to the fortified town of Viterbo, where they monitor several tense situations, including possible threats from the Spanish and from the Jews. While trying to protect the pope, Francesca wrestles with her own demons, including her affair with Cesare, her secret love for a betrothed man, her lingering questions about her own origins, her inability to solve a series of murders, and her growing dependence on opium. This historical is a sexy romp through the scandals of Borgia's court, as well as an increasingly personal journey through Francesca's dark side. True to its characters and historical facts, Poole's novel immerses readers in a seductive Renaissance environment, full of danger and passion.
Customer Reviews
Too much rehash of previous novels
Although I enjoyed reading the first two novels for their historical perspective, this one was short on history with too much rehash of story line from previous publications. Having a background in medicinal plants I'd appreciate more in depth descriptions of the plants alluded to in the story line.
Borgia mistress
I have read all three of Sara Poole's books. I enjoyed this one the least. Pretty predictable. But still an enjoyable read. However, I am looking forward to her next one in the series.
Enjoyed it, but...
The story was about as convoluted, surprising, and interesting as the first two books, but I missed the details about the poisoner's art that had a more prominent role in the earlier books. I also found the occasional misspelling or misuse of words (e.g., scrapping instead of scraping, characters using "whom" incorrectly in dialogue) to be annoying. Finally, as in the other books, some of the foreign words (Italian, Catalan, etc.), when I looked them up, did not exist until after the time period of the novel.
Very creative & fun, just sloppy execution and/or editing.