Author: Suzanne Crowley
Series: ---
Publisher: HarperCollins
How Received: local library
No one wanted you. But I did.
Kat's true identity is a secret, even from her. All she has ever known are Grace and Anna and their small village. Kat wants more—more than hours spent embroidering finery for wealthy ladies and more than Christian, the gentle young farmer courting her.
But there are wolves outside, Grace warns. Waiting, with their eyes glowing in the dark . . . and Grace has given Kat safety and a home when no one else would.
Then a stranger appears in their cottage, bringing the mystery of Kat's birth with her. In one night, Kat's destiny finds her: She will leave. She will journey to London, and her skill with the needle will attract the notice of the magnificent Queen Elizabeth—and of the wolves of the court. She will discover what Grace would never tell her.
Everything will unravel.
Buy | Borrow | Brush Off
I'll admit - the original reason I checked this out was sheerly because of the cover. I'll probably dedicate an entire Friday Fronts post to it, so I won't say anything about it now, except LOVE.
The Stolen One was... interesting. I'm a big fan of historical fiction, so whenever I get my hands on a book that tackles an unsolved historical mystery is always fun. Throw in Queen Elizabeth (or Queen Victoria, but she wasn't in this story) and I'm usually hooked.
I loved Queen Elizabeth in this story. It was fun to see her character develop, to see how she thought and how she acted and how she manipulated everyone around her. Kat was an interesting enough character, though I felt like she just sat and waited for things to happen instead of chasing them off herself.
I wish we had seen more of Anna; I rather liked her character.
The diary entries of Grace's were a nice touch, rounding out her character and giving the back story without giving too much away as you went through the book. (In between each chapter, there's a small diary entry from Grace.)
[SPOILER ALERT]
The plot was interesting enough and most of it came together; I didn't understand how she hadn't realized she was 'so in love' with Christian, or why the sexy Spainard that I rather liked had to up-and-die because of the pox. It seemed that there should have been more Christian, instead of the random parts where he was shoved in, and less (or none) of the Spainard, who didn't help the plot at all.
[/SPOILER ALERT]
But I have to say - all in all, not bad. Not a particularly amazing historical novel, but it'll do.
Overall Rating & Final Comments: 7/10. Contained some interesting characters while others fell through with a plot that mostly came together.
Cover Comments: LOVE.
Queen Elizabeth or Queen Victoria?: I LOVE Queen Victoria - she's my favorite queen in England's history - but Queen Elizabeth is a much more interesting character, and so much fun to read about.
I'm getting a bit harder on my grading, aren't I? There are less nines and tens and more sevens and eights...
Come on, little books, earn those numbers!