Though I was looking forward to reading this book, I have to confess that I found it a bit tedious after the first fifty pages or so. It's not that it wasn't fun to learn about the scandals that rocked European courts or the crazy tactics some mistresses employed to keep kings under their spells, including black magic in one instance. Those were all quite fascinating and unexpected, to say the least. However, much of the book felt repetitive to me. I honestly didn't care about what fine furs or jewels yet another woman received during her tenure as royal mistress after reading what countless others had gained already. I understand that part of the purpose of the book was to detail the rewards mistresses reaped by playing their parts well, but I just got tired of that certain aspect of it early on. The power plays and appointing of officials and such never bored me, but the numerous run-downs of financial gains did. When it comes down to it though, I'd recommend this book to any gossipmongers out there looking for a fun read!

Well researched, poorly cited and organized.

The book as an interesting read but I'm not entirely convinced of its historical accuracy. Very little primary sources exist about these women so most of the book is speculation. We will never really know their true character but I can't imagine it was as glamorous as the author would lead us to believe.

Awesome book! This book is for history lovers as well as romance readers. Learn alot of European history and events

Quite an interesting read!

This was easily one of the most engaging non-fiction books I’ve read in the past few years. The author manages to include every bit of information that might be interesting to the reader, without any extraneous information. The phrase “addictively good dish” really does summarize the book.

Interesting, I liked Sex With the Queen better.