Leslie Carroll Cover Alert

Leslie Carroll is so sweet, she shared this juicy bit of information with me about the upcoming release of "Royal Pains A Rogues' Gallery of Brats, Brutes, and Bad Seeds". I know it is a long time to wait but I am sure it will well be worth the wait until March 1st 2011. Thank you for sharing Leslie and I can not wait to read this one.

"In a world where sibling rivalry knows no bounds and excess is never enough, meet some of history’s boldest, baddest, and bawdiest royals




The bad seeds on the family trees of the most powerful royal houses of Europe often became the rottenest of apples. In an effort to stave off wrinkles, sixteenth-century Hungarian Countess Erzsébet Báthory bathed in the blood of virgins, and for kicks and giggles devised even more ingenious forms of torture than the über-violent autocrats Vlad (the Impaler) Dracula and Ivan the Terrible had ever imagined. Lettice Knollys strove to mimic the appearance of her cousin Elizabeth I and even stole her man. The Duke of Cumberland’s sexcapades and subsequent clandestine marriage led to a law that still binds England’s royal family. And the libidinous Pauline Bonaparte scandalized her imperial brother by having herself sculpted nearly nude and commissioning a golden drinking goblet fashioned in the shape of her breast.


Chock-full of shocking scenes, titillating tales, and wildly wicked nobles, Royal Pains is a rollicking compendium of the most infamous, capricious, and insatiable bluebloods of Europe".


Praise for Leslie Carroll's Notorious Royal Marriages
“For those who tackled Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall, and can’t get enough of the scandal surrounding Henry VIII’s wives, [Notorious Royal Marriages is] the perfect companion book.”—The New Yorker


“Carroll writes with verve and wit about the passionate—and occasionally perilous—events that occur when royals wed.”—Chicago Tribune 

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Amazon: Royal Pains: A Rogues' Gallery of Brats, Brutes, and Bad Seeds 

Book Review: ROYAL AFFAIRS by Leslie Carroll

A witty and humorous nonfiction chronology of "Royal Affairs" throughout the history of British monarchs. What a great read, Leslie had me going from section to section wondering what witty perspective she had on that particular historical figure. My favorite quote was her "use it or loose it" policy on Edward IV, hilarious and oh so fitting. Opening with Henry II and Rosamund de Clifford all the way down to the current prince of wales Charles and Camilla Bowles. I knew that I loved her style and confirmed we are like minded when she refereed to Isabella (Edward II wife) with "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned in bed", so true.

I found really helpful the section on Mary Queen of Scots. I had so many question and all were answered in short and to the point, not being over shadowed by the details. Her husbands murder, and what happened to Bothwell? Well the awnser is he was thrown into a deep dark remote fortress of Dragsholm castle in Denmark. He lived a decade there before dying of madness. She even found out that his remains are mummified and still preserved under glass at Farevejle church, near Dragsholm. My other favorite that I have to mention was the heart wrenching story of Caroline of Brunswick and George IV daughter the princess Charlotte who married prince Leopold. She died after a fifty hour delivery of a still born son. The reference to Charlotte was brief but it built up the whole history in her family and why he loss was so tragic.

5/5 muses, This was the perfect nonfiction set up for an ADD reader like myself. Long enough to fit in the best with out going over board and losing my interest. Falling into the category of special nonfiction that is not dull or lagging. I am really looking forward to her next new release "Notorious Royal Marriages" on January 5Th 2010. If it is anything like this one I know it will be a goodies book and I will love it. Thank you Leslie I loved the book, and you are right "real history is much more sexy".

"Royal unions have always been the stuff of scintillating gossip, from the passionate Plantagenet's to Henry VIII's alarming head count of wives and mistresses, to the Sapphic crushes of Mary and Anne Stuart to the scandal-blighted coupling of Prince Charles and Princess Diana. Thrown into loveless, arranged marriages for political and economic gain, many royals were driven to indulge their pleasures outside the marital bed, engaging in delicious flirtations, lurid love letters and rampant sex. On these pages the arousing history comes alive."