The Sisters of Versailles by Sally Christie

The first book of 2016!  Technically, this was mostly read in 2015 but this is my blog and I make the rules, so it counts I say.

Anyway, coming out of the holidays I was desperate for some relaxation and so I picked the least challenging book from the stack I received at Christmas.  Christmas sets me up for months!

This was a fun, easy read about four sisters who end up over time becoming various mistresses to Louis XV.  It's based in fact but obviously, heavily fictionalized.  I love a good saucy historical novel so I was pretty excited to get into it.  What I liked was that it was well-researched and you could tell that the author did more than a cursory google search.

I also liked that the sisters were all well written without being overly saccharine - they were still products of their time and in some cases, weren't the most likeable of characters.  The book would have been a lot duller if they were all various copies of each other without any sharp points or bad decisions.

Books like this make me think I could do this - write a book or at least a short story that at once appeals to modern audiences but while still being respectful and truthful to the source material.  I am sure it's easier in my head than it is in reality though, haha.

Anyway, The Sisters of Versailles was a great start to 2016 without being too depressing, so I give it three and a half slut-shaming tabloid rags out of five.  On to the next!