Victoria and Violet (Royal Maids #1) by Rachel Brimble
Genre: Historical fiction, Victorian era
Read: 20th October 2022
Amazon
Published: 17th October 2022
★★★★★ 5 stars
DESCRIPTION:
It should be a dream come true to serve the Queen of England…
When Violet Parker is told she will be Queen Victoria’s personal housemaid, she cannot believe her good fortune. She finally has the chance to escape her overbearing mother, a servant to the Duchess of Kent.
Violet hopes to explore who she is and what the world has to offer without her mother’s schemes overshadowing her every thought and action.
Then she meets James Greene, assistant to the queen’s chief political adviser, Lord Melbourne. From entirely different backgrounds and social class, Violet and James should have neither need nor desire to speak to one another, yet through their service, their paths cross and their lives merge—as do their feelings.
Only Victoria’s court is not always the place for romance, but rather secrets, scandals, and conspiracies…
MY THOUGHTS:
What a wonderfully delightful and immersive read this tale is! I was immediately swept away finding myself surrounded by rich Victorian detail as I wandered the halls of Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace, and their respective gardens. Queen Victoria has always been a figure that has fascinated me and I welcome any tale that has her firmly embedded as a character within.
Violet is a young servant at the behest of her mother who is the companion serving the Duchess of Kent, Queen Victoria's mother. In the opening pages we witness the manipulative bullying of her mother and that of the Duchess as they instill Violet in the young Queen's household as a spy to do their bidding. Violet is too frightened of her mother to go against what she asks of her. But as soon as she meets Victoria, Violet is immediately taken with her youthful charm and friendly demeanour. She is presently planning her birthday ball and is bursting with excitement and takes Violet under her wing, so pleased to have someone in her household closer to her in age. How could she possibly do her mother and the Duchess' bidding and betray the young Queen?
And yet the longer she stays in the Queen's employ, the more her mother implores her to deliver. Her cruelty towards her daughter is clear and she sees no problem with slapping her for insolence and disobedience. But the longer Violet is in the Queen's employ, the more confidence she gains that she no longer answers to her mother, as she so often threatens. If the Queen commands her presence, there is nothing her mother can do about it.
Violet soon finds that she has more in common with the young Queen that she ever supposed. Both have overbearing controlling mothers they dislike with great intensity. And it isn't long until Victoria realises that as soon as she marries, her mother has no hold over her and can be banished from the palace as soon as she deems appropriate...freeing both her and Violet from their despicable mothers.
While Victoria is entertaining the idea of marriage, Violet has caught the eye of the Prime Minister and the Queen's private secretary, Lord Melbourne's assistant, James Greene. A man whose reputation precedes him as an incorrigible flirt who has no problem with bedding women he has no intention of wedding. There is something different about Violet Parker that captures James' attention that he cannot explain. His family have their own expectations for him. He has an estate and a title awaiting him upon the death of his father that he is expected to step into with a wife and heir by his side. But James has no intention of marrying...or at least he hadn't...until he he met Violet Parker.
VICTORIA AND VIOLET is such a delightfully easy read that I read in one day. I literally devoured every word and every page until the very end, so lost was I in the early days of Queen Victoria's reign as a young woman who still relished fun and frivolity and dancing and romancing. Brimble brings the young Queen to life in such a personable way that the reader can easily relate to her just as Violet could.
The characters were all well developed, some of them deplorable such as Victoria and Violet's own mothers, the Duchess of Kent and Geraldine Parker. Whilst on the other hand James, Lord Melbourne, Lehzen and even Albert were expertly drawn and equally likeable in their own ways despite their foibles.
The setting of Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace, which most of us have only seen the outside of, become privy to their inner sanctums as Brimble depicts their beauty steeped in rich history whilst also serving as the residences of the Queen and those that also reside there. The vast distance between young Victoria's suite of rooms to that of her mother's only speaks to the difficulties of their relationship. Which is highlighted upon her marriage to Albert and her mother, along with Violet's, are dispensed of to Belgrave Square and out of reach of them both.
I simply adored VICTORIA AND VIOLET and eagerly await what is next in store in this new Royal Maids series. I know I would love to see more of Victoria, as I said I have always found her fascinating. I loved the easy style of writing and Brimble's storytelling which engages the reader both in the royal household and an equally delightful romance.
A perfect easy read for those who enjoy sweeping historical tales.
I would like to thank #RachelBrimble, #WildRosePress and #RachelsRandomResources for an ARC of #VictoriaAndViolet in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
A member of the Romantic Novelists Association and the Historical Novel Society, when Rachel isn’t writing, she is reading, walking, or knitting while watching an endless reel of period dramas.
Her latest novel, "Victoria & Violet" is the first book in her new Royal Maids series with the Wild Rose Press.
Social Media links:
No comments:
Post a Comment