This was a pretty indulgent read, kind of like if Perez Hilton was a woman and a European historian/academic, and had a dry, British sense of humor (how's that for a recommendation?)

Let me start off by saying it doesn't get to graphic with the details, most of the intrigue has to do with the court gossip, the jealous queens, the power plays and the extent to which the royal mistress could influence politics. There are just as many Great Love stories here as there are affairs of a lesser caliber, though I was touched by the mistresses whose genuine love for their king finds them nursing their lovers on their death beds.

I only had one issue with this book, but it is a big one - this book is not organized very well. Each chapter addresses certain subject - like mistresses who had rocky relationships with the queen, royal bastards, great beauties, etc. Unfortunately, these woman fell into more than one category, so the result is a disjointed narrative as we meet a different part of a story for one woman in each chapter. I would have like to see each story told in a more cohesive manner, maybe organized by the king, since some kings had a string of mistresses whose lives were intermingled. I'm told that this problem is fixed in her next book, "Sex with the Queen," which I'm planning on reading also.

The book jacket mentions Philip/Diana/Camilla, but they are only discussed in the last chapter. It's an interesting one, because she compares the fate of a modern mistress to those in an earlier age bereft of the media, but if you are looking for an expose, you will be disappointed, and that's just as well since I think that chapter is still being written.

Definitely a great read for history buffs, but can also be a vacation read for someone looking for a book with more substance.

This was a fun, naughty little book, although anyone looking for a truly historical book for good learnin' reasons probably will find this one a little light on the actual historical teaching side. Herman obviously went for the entertainment factor over the historical edge here. I wasn't really a fan of how the book was arranged. Although she tended to mention the same mistresses over and over throughout the whole book she jumped around quite a bit in each mini 'essay' framed around a certain viewpoint - for instance, Mistresses and their dealings with Queens - and I think I would have preferred a chapter dealing with each renowned Mistress or surrounding each King and all the Mistresses he had, which might have made for a fuller picture of each historical period. Instead, I think Sex with Kings came across more like the Us Weekly for the fourteenth to nineteenth centuries. I don't think it's that far of a stretch to see gold digging, status climbing Kim Kardashian's sudden pregnancy with Kanye West's baby and compare it to the same tactics used by famous mistresses throughout history such as Madame de Pompadour and Lady Castlemaine!

Nonetheless, this was a bawdy, salacious read and very entertaining. Definitely a good starting point for anyone who is interested in mistresses throughout history to learn some of the names to delve into deeper historical treatises in the future.

Who could resist a book with this title? Apparently, not me. An interesting stroll through European history with a focus on kings who were forced, for dynastic reasons, to marry women with whom they often did not have a romantic relationship. Then they found a woman or a series of women to serve as their mistress. Eleanor Herman points out that a royal mistress could become immensely wealthy, but their lives were stressful and they could be replaced at the whim of the monarch. The typical royal mistress had to be available for sex at any time, provide witty conversation, emotional support, and often wise counsel to the king who could be as fickle and as self-absorbed as he wished. Oh, and did I mention that the royal mistress was often wildly unpopular both at court and in the general population. Not a dream job, to be sure. But I guess that someone has to do it.

I ended up stopping reading about halfway through chapter 4. The organization of the book was just annoying me too much, to the point I was reluctant to pick up the book again (and I love reading like crazy). Bouncing around through time and people and back again just made it too hard to follow.

Don't be fooled by my middle-of-the-road rating. This book was chock-full of gossip, tidbits and stories about old-timey royals' sex lives, intrigue and sexual politics, and it was a DELIGHT to read. I read some passages aloud to my husband because they were just too ridiculous to not share with someone, and it was such a fun experience.

The reason I'm only giving it three stars is because the organization of the book was kind of terrible. It was arranged around various themes, such as King's Bastards, Mistresses and Queens, The Husbands That The Mistresses Had to Abandon Randomly to Boink The King, etc. (I don't remember specifically what they were called, but that's the gist.) In the process, the book was constantly jumping from king to king, country to country, time period to time period, with the result that none of the mistresses — who were FASCINATING, by the way — ever really got "fleshed out" into a real character/person for me.

It was too hard to keep straight who was who, when they lived, which mistresses came in what order, what happened to them, the trouble they got into … and it just turned into a series of anecdotes and fun stories for me, without giving me a better understanding of any one of them in particular. That was kind of disappointing, as I would have liked to have come away with some kind of knowledge about the individuals; beside the themes that were covered in general, I didn't come away with much knowledge about any one mistress, because I couldn't distinguish between, say, Madame du Barry, Madame de Maintenon and Madame de Pompadour.

so scandalous! fun to read to your friends

•  "Sex with Kings" by Eleanor Herman provides a fascinating and informative look into the private lives of historical kings.
• The book offers a wealth of captivating stories and juicy details, shedding light on unconventional relationships and power dynamics.
• While highly informative, the structure of the book can be hectic and confusing at times, jumping between historical eras and characters.
• Despite occasional confusion, the extensive research and attention to detail make it a valuable resource for history enthusiasts.
• "Sex with Kings" invites readers to question conventional notions of power and explores the human side of iconic figures, making it a worthwhile read.