The Rebel Princess
A Novel of Suspense
by Judith Koll Healey
William Morrow (HarperCollins), 2009. 365 pages.
I enjoyed Judith Koll Healey’s earlier novel, The Canterbury Papers, so much, I made sure to preorder this one on Amazon so I could read it as soon as it was published. Although I did enjoy it, I wasn’t as thoroughly captivated as with the earlier book.
In The Canterbury Papers Princess Alaïs, daughter of Louis VII, gets in deadly peril and falls in love. In The Rebel Princess, she has a disagreement with her beloved. He wants her to stay safe while he rescues her son, who doesn’t yet know he is her son. But Alaïs gets new information and is convinced her son’s life is in danger, and she must go save him.
Thus, the story isn’t such lovely romance as the earlier book. Alaïs again gets in deadly peril with court intrigue, but I felt that some of her conclusions fell into her lap, following her intuition rather than cleverness.
Still, this is another gripping adventure tale, and fans of medieval historical fiction will enjoy it.
Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Fiction/rebel_princess.html
Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.