The characters were unique….I really liked the family matriarch ‘Grandmama’, the Duchess of Tamworth.

It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy the story, because I did but at times I felt like the plot line was in want of something more. I have to admit, I didn’t get as into the book as I thought I would. I read lots of good reviews on Goodread and was excited to start it despite its length (673 pages!). Since the book falls under the historic fiction category I decided to use it as part of the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. I was ready for something new and different. As I was browsing my bookshelf I decided to pick up Through a Glass Darkly by Karleen Koen. All of the books are set in 17th-18th century England and France and all feature colorful blue blood aristocrats so if you love historic fiction of this period, these books are for you! Karleen Koen has written four books, Dark Angles, Through a Glass Darkly, Now Face to Face, and Before Versailles….for more info check out her website. She knew the author had written other historic works such as Before Versailles: A Novel of Louis XIV which I saw featured on Goodreads around the same time. She had heard lots of good things about it and said she thought it was part of a series but wasn’t sure. Both her and I have very similar literary tastes so when she got me this book I was very excited to start reading it–I totally trust her literary judgement, since she is a librarian she knows all the good books/authors :). For my birthday a few months ago, my sister got me this book.

Karleen koen author