I had no idea this book was not new. I can’t even describe my annoyance. I hated the first person monologue. I don’t know if the author intend for the story to sound like it had been written by a 10 year old, but it did. I couldn’t even like the characters. Not my thing.

This book took me back to 1135 to meet Eleanor, the beautiful thirteen-year-old heiress to the Duchy of Aquitaine and the most eligible bride in Europe. Negotiations are in progress for her marriage to the Dauphin, Louis of France when her father dies suddenly giving her no choice but to rush the wedding ahead. Thus in a space of a few short months Eleanor transforms from heiress to duchess, to Dauphine, to Queen of France at only fifteen years old. With her marriage comes the end of her girlhood dreams of romance however her burning desire for love and adventure remains.

While her adventurous streak is fed by taking up the cross and travelling to Jerusalem with her husband during the disastrous Second Crusade, her burning desire for love is not sated by the pious Louis; who as the younger son was initially destined for a monastic life before the sudden death of his older brother, Philip. Even before the Crusade, Eleanor and Louis were becoming estranged, and their differences were only exacerbated while they were abroad. After returning to France and the birth of a second daughter, Louis finally agreed to an annulment of their fifteen year marriage.

Immediately Eleanor escapes and makes for Poitiers – on the way evading two attempts to kidnap and marry her. Only on arriving to be claimed by the much younger Henry, Duke of Normandy and the future King Henry II of England. And this is where my prior knowledge of Eleanor begins, so it was really interesting in this book to read about her life with her first husband. Nicole portrays Eleanor as a precocious young woman, who grows into a strong-willed, passionate queen. Which fits well with the rebellious wife and formidable dowager queen I knew she went on to be in later life.

My only problem with this book was the sex. Okay, I get it Eleanor is famed to be the ‘queen of love’ or in other circles defamed as a worldly harlot. Also I knew the rumours of her ‘excessive affection’ for her uncle Raymond, prince of Antioch, who she was reunited with during the Crusade. So I knew love affairs would probably be involved in this story, however I was not prepared for the numerous amount and/or the erotic detail they would described in. According to Nicole neither man, boy or woman was safe around Eleanor!

Fortunately, overall I found Eleanor of Aquitaine to be such a gripping historical soap opera, that I was able to skim quickly over those pesky sex scenes and continue on undeterred. I have book two in the saga, Queen of Love, ready and waiting on my Kindle.