Blog Tour: Timeless Tour Discussion

I can't believe my part of the Timeless Tour is over! I've had so much fun reading three very different historical novels and I hope you've had fun reading my thoughts on them. Have you been inspired to pick any of them up?

Here are the links in case you missed the reviews the first time around:
The Enemies of Versailles - Sally Christie
Promises to Keep - Genevieve Graham
The Scribe of Siena - Melodie Winawer

The Timeless Tour isn't officially over yet. There will be a Twitter chat on May 4th at 1:00pm EST featuring all three authors and it will be moderated by Susanna Kearsley. I'm hoping I can find time to take part! Work can wait, right?

Now, for my final post...a few discussion questions. These really made me think! Thank you again to Simon & Schuster Canada for inviting me to be a part of such a great blog tour. Enjoy, friends!

What was your favourite historical time period among the Timeless Tour reads? Did you know anything about this period before you began reading the book?

I think my favourite time period was 1750s Canada because it highlighted a portion of my country's history that I couldn't remember learning much about in school. I knew who the Acadians were but I don't think I remembered that so many of them were expelled from what would become Nova Scotia. 

How did the historical events in each book influence the character’s choices and personalities?

Jeanne, in Enemies of Versailles, grew up poor and didn't have much choice in what sort of life she was going to live. It was pretty much guaranteed she'd become some sort of prostitute so she made sure to align herself with the "right" men so she would eventually be led towards the king.
Amélie's fiery personality came in handy when her family and her home were being attacked. She refused to give up and fought as long and as hard as she could to protect what was hers. 

Beatrice had to tread very carefully when she went back in time because she had to be sure not to give too much away. If she did, it was likely she would be assumed to be a witch and would be killed. She was extremely smart though so she was able to use her knowledge of the time and find ways to keep those close to her safe.  

If you could invite one of the Timeless Tour leading ladies (Beatrice, Jeanne, or Amelie) to dinner, who would you choose and why?

I'd definitely want to hang out with Amélie. I loved reading her story and it was the one that stuck with me the most. Her strong personality is one I envy a little bit. I also think she'd have such interesting stories about working the land and knowledge of the Mi’kmaq, a local First Nations tribe. 

The Scribe of Siena starts in the present before Beatrice is transported back in time to 1347, whereas Promises to Keep and Enemies of Versailles are firmly rooted in one timeline. How did this change your reading experience?

As I mentioned in my review, I liked that The Scribe of Siena was a little bit different than the other two historical novels - especially because the present day knowledge Beatrice had helped me learn more about a time period I didn't know much about. I don't think the story would have been as interesting had it not been for the time travel element.  

In the past, powerful women have been written out of textbooks. How do the protagonists of the Timeless Tour reads challenge the misconception that women in history were passive, submissive and dependent?

I love that historical novels such as these and historians are working to expose the powerful, amazing, women whose stories have been silenced. As a woman, I want to be able to read the true stories about females in the past. I know they existed and I know some of them were very influential.
All three of the women in these novels refused to sit down and just take what was coming to them. They knew they had to use whatever means necessary to survive (literally). All the women were intelligent in their own ways and they all made compelling protagonists. 

Review: The Enemies of Versailles

The Enemies of Versailles was one of my most anticipated reads of 2017 and I'm thrilled to be part of the Timeless Tours Blog Tour with Simon & Schuster Canada. I thoroughly enjoyed the first two books of Sally Christie's Mistresses of Versailles trilogy, and I was really looking forward to reading the final installment.

Here's the synopsis:

In the final installment of Sally Christie’s “tantalizing” (New York Daily News) Mistresses of Versailles trilogy, Jeanne Becu, a woman of astounding beauty but humble birth, works her way from the grimy back streets of Paris to the palace of Versailles, where the aging King Louis XV has become a jaded and bitter old philanderer. Jeanne bursts into his life and, as the Comtesse du Barry, quickly becomes his official mistress.
“That beastly bourgeois Pompadour was one thing; a common prostitute quite another kettle of fish.”
After decades suffering the King's endless stream of Royal Favorites, the princesses of the Court have reached a breaking point. Horrified that he would bring the lowborn Comtesse du Barry into the hallowed halls of Versailles, Louis XV’s daughters, led by the indomitable Madame Adelaide, vow eternal enmity and enlist the young dauphiness Marie Antoinette in their fight against the new mistress. But as tensions rise and the French Revolution draws closer, a prostitute in the palace soon becomes the least of the nobility’s concerns.
Told in Christie’s witty and engaging style, the final book in The Mistresses of Versailles trilogy will delight and entrance fans as it once again brings to life the sumptuous and cruel world of eighteenth century Versailles, and France as it approaches inevitable revolution.

I think I've realized a good historical novel is, to me, equally entertaining and interesting. I really didn't know much about Louis XV before I began Christie's series. Truthfully, I may not have known anything about him. I only knew the very basics about XV's grandson, Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette, and the French Revolution (sorry, history teachers). Now, though, I really want to dive in and do some research of my own. I think Christie did a good job of finding that balance of storytelling and educating.

That being said, I do wonder if sometimes the history and research played a part in the detail of the story. Some events were described in detail but others were skipped over. Was that because there wasn't a lot of documentation and Christie didn't want to make up too much?

The title of this book has a bit of a double meaning, I think. "Enemies" doesn't just refer to the animosity between Adelaide, Louis XVI's daughter, and Jeanne, his mistress. At the end of the book I think it also means those who are opposed to the monarchy and are in favour of the Revolution.

My biggest problem with this book was that I had no idea what year it was at any given moment. So much time passes in this novel (the first chapter is, I think, around 1750 when Jeanne is 7 and the epilogue is 1800) and I found it jumped around so much that it was hard to keep up.

Wait - I have another big problem. Simon and Schuster Canada. Guys. Friends. Why did you change the cover? Now my series doesn't match! Sigh. Bookworm problems.

I hadn't really thought about how Christie was going to have to end this series. I didn't realized that Louis XV would be dead, as would be his grandson and granddaughter-in-law. Pretty much everyone I had "met" in the last two books were dead too, either because of old age or because of the Revolution and the guillotine. That is incredibly dismal. But that is life. That was life for these very people who actually lived and died so many years ago. It says something about the stories Christie told that I mourned the characters. Before reading these novels they had only ever been names in a history book.

You don't have to be a history fan to enjoy Sally Christie's The Enemies of Versailles, or the rest of the Mistresses of Versailles trilogy. This time period really lends itself well to fiction because it was so full of intrigue, gossip, and drama. I'm sad the series is over but I've been inspired to do some more research on Louis XV, his mistresses, and his family.

Make sure you follow along with the blog tour! You can check out the Timeless Tours site and the graphic below for more details.

*An ARC of this book was provided by the publisher, Simon & Schuster Canada, in exchange for a review for the purpose of a blog tour. All opinions are honest and my own.*