Book Beginnings & #Friday 56 - #20

Book Beginnings on Friday is a weekly meme hosted by  Rose City Reader . Every Friday we share the first sentence (or so) of the book we’re currently reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires.

My Book Beginning:  

The Rivals of Versailles (The Mistresses of Versailles Trilogy, Book 2) by Sally Christie

     The gypsy’s hair is as red as blood, I think in astonishment.  She catches me staring and starts, rabbit-like, as though she recognizes me.  But she does not, and I certainly don’t know anyone quite so dirty.

My Thoughts:  The beginning doesn’t really tell us too much about who is talking or about what’s going on so far but it’s an interesting beginning.  This is from an ARC of the book I received for an upcoming review so the beginning might change by publication. 

What do you think?  Don't forget to leave your book beginning below and to link-up at Rose City Reader.  

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Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice on every Friday.

To Play along here are the Rules:

*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that's ok.)
*Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it)
*Post it.
*Add your post below. 

*Don’t forget to add your post URL (not your blog url) at Freda's Voice.  
*It's that simple.

My 56:  Also from The Rivals of Versailles by Sally Christie

      I flee the chaos of the apartments and flop down on the sofa in Aunt’s salon; no summons from the king today, though I did receive a note yesterday saying that if he had wings, they would be flapping for me.  It’s been almost a week and it is frustrating to be under the same roof yet unable to see him.  And I am not going to start hanging out in the public rooms, hoping to greet him like a common courtier or sycophant as he passes by.  He should send for me or come looking for me at least. 

My Thoughts:  I think this is pretty much sums up what being a mistress to someone famous, politically powerful or royal would be like; you are completely at their beck and call and I know I’m not cut out for that kind of a relationship…lol 

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About The Rivals of Versailles (The Mistresses of Versailles Trilogy, Book 2)  by Sally Christie

And you thought sisters were a thing to fear. In this compelling follow-up to Sally Christie's clever and absorbing debut, we meet none other than the Marquise de Pompadour, one of the greatest beauties of her generation and the first bourgeois mistress ever to grace the hallowed halls of Versailles.

I write this before her blood is even cold. She is dead, suddenly, from a high fever. The King is inconsolable, but the way is now clear.

The way is now clear.

The year is 1745. Marie-Anne, the youngest of the infamous Nesle sisters and King Louis XV's most beloved mistress, is gone, making room for the next Royal Favorite.

Enter Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, a stunningly beautiful girl from the middle classes. Fifteen years prior, a fortune teller had mapped out young Jeanne's destiny: she would become the lover of a king and the most powerful woman in the land. Eventually connections, luck, and a little scheming pave her way to Versailles and into the King's arms.

All too soon, conniving politicians and hopeful beauties seek to replace the bourgeois interloper with a more suitable mistress. As Jeanne, now the Marquise de Pompadour, takes on her many rivals - including a lustful lady-in-waiting; a precocious fourteen-year-old prostitute, and even a cousin of the notorious Nesle sisters - she helps the king give himself over to a life of luxury and depravity. Around them, war rages, discontent grows, and France inches ever closer to the Revolution.

Enigmatic beauty, social climber, actress, trendsetter, patron of the arts, spendthrift, whoremonger, friend, lover, foe. History books may say many things about the famous Marquise de Pompadour, but one thing is clear: for almost twenty years, she ruled France and the King's heart.

Told in Christie's witty and modern style, this second book in the Mistresses of Versailles trilogy will delight and entrance fans as it once again brings to life the world of eighteenth century Versailles in all its pride, pestilence and glory. 

Amazon

Don't forget to post your meme's and link up at both host locations.  

Have a great Friday! 

Maria