This was a tough read. I was expecting something like a mix of people and a history book ala Michael Farquhar but this was a bit more tedious. There wasn't a lot of "mystery" in the Stuart period and the stories in the Georgian period were not told well. I would not recommend this one.

I received a copy from the publisher and netgalley to review.

More than real mysteries, I would speak of gossip or real scandals. Why insist on using the word "mystery" in the title to attract an audience when, in the end, there are very few mysteries? "Real Scandals" would have been more appropriate and would have immediately clarified the setting of the volume.

Which is not bad, mind you; indeed, I found it quite enjoyable. The perplexity about the title remains.

I love history and mysteries, so I requested this as quickly as possible. The Stuart and Georgian periods cover from the accession of James I and VI to the death of George III in 1820, and it includes topics such as James I's alleged bisexuality, George III's "marriage" to Hannah Lightfoot, and Charles II and the Secret Treaty of Dover. Venning draws on many different sources, such as official records, letters, diaries, etc. This book is an excellent follow-up to Royal Mysteries of the Tudor Period, and I'm looking forward to the next one.

Well reserached, informative and entertaining. I learned something new and i liked the style of writing
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

The content of this book is interesting, but the writing style and organization is so complex and convoluted, it's difficult to follow. The copy I have is an ARC, so maybe the published version is better.

This book reviews some of the biggest "mysteries" or scandals of the Stewart/Stuart and Georgian dynasties in the British Isles.

Despite being intended for a general audience, this book is not written with the easy language or page-turning intensity of the mystery genre, but rather in a surprisingly scholarly tone. As a result, it does an excellent job of contextualizing and picking apart historical events to explain what (probably) happened and the elements of drama and scandal enjoyed by contemporaries without access to the whole historical record.

Overall, it is a good read for anyone already interested in 16th-18th century Scottish and British history.

This book covers some really intriguing and exciting Royal stories from the Stuart and Georgian era. It certainly proves that todays so called scandals of adultery and other ‘sexploits’ have numerous precedents. I was aware of a couple of the stories; James and his male lovers and rumours around George III marrying a commoner. I was hopeful that this book would be a revelation as the authors credentials as an academic are unparalleled.

I have to say I’m really struggling with the content. I have little doubt that the research is both meticulous and extensive. Every chapter is packed with facts but the way in which they’re presented is hard going. The text is very dense. There are numerous pages where the entire page has no paragraph break and and although I’m familiar with academic texts, I’ve found this very dry and hard going. It’s as if every possible detail has been packed in and at times the information overload is overwhelming. There’s not much let up and whilst I’m enjoying the detail of each of the scandals, I’m having to tackle the book in small bites. I wonder if it would be bette suited to audio, if well narrated?

In some ways, this has the potential to be a non fiction best seller. But it lacks a bit of lightheartedness to lead the reader along. Impressed with the research but less so the way it’s set out. Takes dedication and in the coming weeks, I’ll finish this bit by bit.

The mysteries which the book covers sound really interesting and should have made for an informative and perhaps even entertaining read. However the writing is so dry, and written with such long sentences full of parentheses and hyphens, that it's actually quite hard at times to understand what is being said. Some chapters felt like more of an info dump about the situation at the time, rather than an exploration of the specific "mystery" that headed the chapter. I persisted to about the halfway point before giving up. I'm sure it's well researched and factually correct - I'm not qualified to comment on that - but ultimately that's pointless if it's not putting across the information in a clear, readable and engaging format.

This book should really be titled scandals and revolts of James VI and I-Victoria as it goes an initial dense discussion of the plots surrounding James I before he became King of England that I lost interest in actually getting to any mysteries.

This reads like an academic version of the National Enquirer for the Georgian/Stuart period!! It's essential a royal tabloid magazine for the upper echelons of society during those time periods. Entertaining, but also an academic study which feels like a strange combination yet continues to lure the reader in like the titillating gossip magazines of today. This is for readers who think "times used to not be like that!" with all the scandal that we see today -- because with the author's thorough research, it evidently was just like it is today but perhaps a little more well-hidden from society at large.

This delves deeper into the stories we are told in history classes and goes further than we often see in documentaries about the time. Such a treat for anyone interested in the Stuart and Georgian periods. Written in such a way as to appeal to seasoned history buffs and those who just like a good story, this book will reach many readers.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and Dr. Timothy Venning for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! I definitely recommend this book for fans of historical mysteries or for people interested in the Stuart & Georgian period in general. I found this book to be very well-researched and informative, while still being comprehensible to someone like myself who is by no means an expert on this era. If you want to learn something new and get potential answers to historical questions you may not have even known to ask, definitely pick up a copy of this book!