The Courtesan

Gabrielle Cheney, the younger sister of Ariane, Lady of the Faire Isle, is rumored to be a witch. Leaving her family and all she knows, she travels to France. She even gives up painting. When she mistakenly trusted a family friend, Gabrielle was raped. Since she is no longer pure, she decides to become a courtesan, the best one that she can be. Gabrielle has been with some of the most powerful men in the court of the French, but what she really desires and wants is to be a powerful woman in her own right. She sets her sights on being the mistress of the King of Navarre, Henry, who just happens to be the prisoner of Catherine de Medici.

Captain Nicholas Remy is the one man who can heal Gabrielle's shattered and torn feelings. Gabrielle and Nicholas met when he was recuperating on her island. Everyone believes that he has been killed, but he is hiding out and working behind the scenes to get the King free. He has to come out of hiding as he needs her to help him. All he has to do is keep from falling further in love with her than he already is.

Will love survive and conquer all with the king being freed? Is there a happy ever after for Nicholas and Gabrielle?

While the story takes place in the late fifteen hundreds, the emotions and feelings portrayed in this story are timeless. I was hoping against all odds for Gabrielle and Nicholas to defeat Catherine de Medici and her anti-Protestants; their all-encompassing true love kept me reading page after page, devouring the book to find out what happens. What really drew me to the story, though, was how they dealt with their troubled past and looked to see if they could put all behind them to become one. The emotional challenges facing Gabrielle and Remy are only a part of Ms. Carroll’s grand plotting.

This novel is almost 600 pages long and includes court intrigue, witchcraft, potential war, religious persecution and, yes, a romance. Given all that, I would not have been surprised if it had bogged down at some point, but it never did. Ms. Carroll managed the various story threads with skill and grace. I read this in a night, and was unable to put it down. Though the plot and setting made this read more like straight historical fiction (with the very slightest touch of the paranormal), the author never forgot the romance. I was intellectually intrigued and emotionally satisfied right through the slightly over-the-top climax. Not many books can do that.

Intriguing and compelling, The Courtesan by Susan Carroll hooked me in! I was taken into a world of magic, espionage, witches, suspense and more; all of these parts worked together to make this book well worth the look. You will be wondering, as I was, if good will triumph over evil and make it all right. The characters come alive as you enter a world that is so intense and compelling, making you feel as if you know the characters. Woman who are not meek, but strong and powerful make this story even more compelling to read.

While this book is part of a trilogy, it stands on its own; you can bet I will be buying the other two books to find out what happens to Gabrielle’s siblings.

Reviewed by: Wendi