Guest Post by Christopher Gortner " Elizabeth and Robert: A Dangerous Liaison"

Please give a warm welcome to the marvelous author C.W. Gortner! I am so excited for this because not only is there an extra special giveaway going for his latest release: The Tudor Secret (The Elizabeth I Spymaster Chronicles) here on Historically Obsessed. But there is much more to go along with it. Now if you absolutely cannot wait to see if you might snag the giveaway copy then you can go to your local bookstore and pick this one up because it hit bookstores on February 1st 2011. Follow this link to check out the giveaway for a signed copy of "The Tudor Secret" and a necklace I designed with the novel as my inspiration. Without further adieu please welcome author C.W. Gortner to Historically Obsessed.

Elizabeth and Robert: A Dangerous Liaison

Elizabeth Tudor, better known to history as Queen Elizabeth I, was unexpected. Her parents, the glamorous Anne Boleyn and formidable Henry VIII, were convinced that the child Anne carried was a long-awaited son. Yet the boy Henry had so yearned for and torn his realm apart to obtain turned out to be a girl, born with what seemed to be a curse writ into her fate. Within three years, Henry would behead her mother and re-marry four times; she’d gain a younger brother, Edward, in addition to her older sister Mary; face a daunting fight for her life that would test her to her core; and would, if the legend is true, fall impossibly in love with one man— Robert Dudley.

In one of the few portraits we have of Elizabeth in her youth, we see a brittle red-haired princess with spidery fingers—so reminiscent of her mother’s—clad in an ornamental red dress against a curtained backdrop. She stares enigmatically at us, secrets lurking in her dark eyes. Keenly intelligent, arguably as alluring as Anne ever was, this portrait was painted shortly before troubled adolescence catapulted Elizabeth into an ultimately lethal flirtation with Thomas Seymour. It must have been an unforgettable lesson for the impressionable princess of the dangers inherent in her nascent sexuality. Certainly, if she’d harbored any doubts before, nurtured on whispered stories of her mother’s horrifying end, the execution of Seymour proved to Elizabeth that in her world, sex certainly could equal death.

Many believe, however, that when it came to Robert Dudley, this trauma was superseded by inescapable desire. Elizabeth and Robert are inextricably linked, two halves of a fractured whole. They cut their teeth in one of the most treacherous courts in history, witnessing early on the consequences of unbridled ambition or passion. If ever there were two people who should have known better, it was they. Yet their own dangerous liaison lasted a lifetime, epic in its unattainable promise and darkened by rumors of murder and betrayal. Elizabeth knew the price those who courted her could pay; and Robert was the favored son of a family stained by treason. Still, they gravitated to each other like stars on an unstoppable collision course. What drew these two powerful personalities together?

In The Tudor Secret, we meet Elizabeth in her nineteenth year. Four years have passed since the execution of Seymour and she’s a seasoned veteran of the court, wary and fully aware of the perils lurking behind every tapestry. Propelled by concern for her brother King Edward, she’s come unannounced to London to discover why he’s disappeared from the public eye. Robert Dudley’s father, Northumberland, holds sway over the realm and plots to further his iron grip. And Robert, though already wed, burns to achieve what he believes is his right: the heart of a princess. It is a quest that will pit Elizabeth against a tenacious foe and give smoldering birth to a catastrophic love affair that will define her life and haunt the man who yearns to possess her— proving that Elizabeth and Robert remain as fascinating today as they must have been all those hundreds of years ago.

Thank you so much for spending this time with me. To learn more about me and my books, as well as access special features, please visit me at: http://www.cwgortner.com. Happy reading!

Thank you whole heartily C.W. for the wonderful guest post on Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley. As everyone who reads this blog knows: I love me some Robert Dudley. I love their story and it is by far one of my top picks for best love stories of all time.
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The Tudor Secret by C.W. Gortner Extra Special Giveaway

As most of you might know I am a C.W. Gortner enthusiast, I love his books and he is by far one of the coolest people I have ever had the pleasure to meet in the blogging community. C.W. has been so kind in offering up a SIGNED copy of The Tudor Secret (The Elizabeth I Spymaster Chronicles) for giveaway on Historically Obsessed. I thought since this book inspired me to do an Elizabeth I necklace I would add my beautifully designed necklace into the lot for the winner also. What this mean to you is that one very lucky winner is going to not only get this beautiful new book signed but a mysterious key necklace that completely reminds me of Elizabeth I. 

Why it reminds me of Elizabeth I? I think Elizabeth must have had many secrets and in her life there was much deception that constantly surrounded her but she held the key to her heart not anyone else. I always imagined it as a really big key because of the quote "I may not be a lion but I am a lions cub, and have a lions heart". The beautiful necklace is made with antique crystals and faux pearls. All the metal hardware is sterling silver and silver plated. It is meant to be a low lying choker with a key toggle clasp.

The Giveaway Rules

Up for grabs is ONE SIGNED finished copy

The giveaway is open to the US  and Canada only, sorry.

For ONE entry enter your name and email on the form below.

For TWO entries follow my blog. If you already are following me through Google Friend Connect or Facebook thank you for following my blog. Just let me know in form by answering the optional question three.

For THREE entries blog or tweet this giveaway to spread the word. In other words post your web address to where you shared this giveaway info at in optional Question four on the form.

Giveaway will end on February 26th 2011 at midnight.

I will draw one winner using Random.org on February 27th 2011

"Summer 1553: A time of danger and deceit. Brendan Prescott, an orphan, is reared in the household of the powerful Dudley family. Brought to court, he finds himself sent on an illicit mission to the King's brilliant but enigmatic sister, Princess Elizabeth. But Brendan is soon compelled to work as a double agent by Elizabeth's protector, William Cecil--who promises in exchange to help him unravel the secret of his own mysterious past. A dark plot swirls around Elizabeth's quest to unravel the truth about the ominous disappearance of her seriously ill brother, King Edward VI. With Elizabeth's lady-in-waiting at his side, Brendan plunges into a ruthless gambit of half-truths, lies, and murder. Filled with the intrigue and pageantry of Tudor England, THE TUDOR SECRET is the first book in the Elizabeth I Spymaster series".

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Book Review: THE TUDOR SECRET by C.W. Gortner

C.W. Gortner really is the best when it comes to exploring the “what if” factor. I love that a key component of The Tudor Secret’s story line is a case of “what if”. I recommend that if you are a staunch supporter of complete historical accuracy then I am going to tell you right now this novel will not be meant for you. On the other hand if you happen to be more like me and do not find it imperative to have complete historical accuracy then “The Tudor Secret (The Elizabeth I Spymaster Chronicles)” is the perfect historical entertainment for all Tudor lovers.

Brendan Prescott, what a hot name. Hot Brendan knew he was foundling even at a young age. He was cared for by Alice who found Brendan as a babe outside a cottage on the Dudley’s homestead. Alice was a Dudley servant and she raised Brendan as her own son that is until she was killed on the road when he was in his early teens. This novel is darker than others I have read because you find that Brendan has a dark past with the Dudley brothers. To say they were atrocious to him would be an understatement and with Alice gone life for Brendan got even harder. 

The Dudley brothers were barbarous and cold to Brendan but mostly because of their own self-serving reasons. When they wanted to the boys together could be merciless but even scarier yet was their mother Jane Guilford. Pure evil in that one, Jane was cruel to him when he was just a child. After Alice was gone Brendan found the house Stewart master Shelton took him under his wing and made sure he was to be his future replacement as the Dudley’s household Stewart. Brendan’s day came when at twenty one he was called to plunge head first into the murkiness known as the Tudor court. The Tudor succession was on rough footing with all the intrigue raging between the nobles and courtiers; everyone had something to hide especially the Dudley family even down to the lowly squire Brendan.

Brendan from the start was to be Robert Dudley’s man even though they despised each other. This novel does not show the pretty side of Robert instead Gortner chooses to focus on Robert’s more devious traits. Flat out Robert was extremely vain, short tempered, and rude to his staff, but I can see where it is coming from because he was or could have been all of the above in my mind. I love it that Brendan as soon as he is as court has like a sixth sense about people and he just knows things are amiss in Tudor court even if he cannot comprehend it at the time. On Brendan’s first reporting to his Lord Robert Dudley: Robert demanded that fresh to court Brendan go and hand deliver a ring to the king’s sister Lady Elizabeth. As we all know Elizabeth was the light of Robert’s life. In trying to accomplish Lord Roberts’s outlandish task Brendan falls like Alice fell in wonderland into a rabbit hole of disturbing deceit that he was completely unprepared for.

Propelled between the dead King Henry’s children; Edward, Mary, and Elizabeth for in what seemed like a domino effect of constant intrigue Brendan finds he has no other choice but to just keep going because in the Tudor court there can be no looking back. Everything Brendan touched drew a reaction and when he was forced to touch upon the courts world of “half-truths” he had no choice but to get caught up in the mysterious happens of the Tudors. In the Tudor court it was not easy to ride the wave of shifting powers, for Brendan it would be sink or swim in the sea of Tudor England.

5/5 I really enjoyed this one, it was fast paced, not too complicated in the characters, and in a truly great mysterious style Gortner covers the great Henry VIII’s worst nightmare; the succession. I think if Henry VIII had had a premonition about the succession before he passed he might have had a nervous break down but in the end fate played a cruel joke on the Tudor succession because there were no winners. The unresolved succession to the English throne made England a very dangerous place when the young king dies tragically opening up the gauntlet race for power. This is a must read for mystery lovers because really you will not figure this one out before the very end of the book.

• PG-13 Rating for some violence.
• FTC-This book was sent to me by the publisher.

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