I really enjoyed this book. Behind Henry VIII, Charles II is my favorite monarch. I've read his story from the point of view of three of his main mistresses and both his nieces, Mary and Ann. I'm not sure why it took me so long to come around to Catherine, but it was certainly a very different look at the most licentious court England had seen in quite some time.

Catherine's mother started planning a marriage between her daughter and Charles when Catherine was just a little girl. England was under the puritan rule of Oliver Cromwell at the time, but she was certain that someday the monarchy would be restored. When it was, her daughter would be the one to join Portugal and England, which would help to drive Spain away from attacking the small country. Catherine grew up dreaming of a romanticized version of Charles. She couldn't wait for the time to come when she would leave for England...very unusual at the time since most royal Princesses dreaded leaving their homeland to marry a strange Prince from a far-away, unfamiliar land.

Catharine's mother's intuition proved correct, and at the ripe old age of 23, she finally sailed to England to marry her dashing King. One thing that surprised me was Ms. Plaidy mentioning very pointedly that Catherine did NOT get married by proxy in Portugal, when in fact, she did. In Lisbon on April 23, 1662. This would have been to assure that there would be no doubt that she was the Queen of England during the journey from Portugal to England and married to King Charles II.

Upon Catherine's arrival, the dream she had built up was quickly shattered, and reality set in. She truly did love Charles, but she was shocked to discover that he kept mistresses...and a lot of them (over the years). It took her a while before she learned that she would never be the only woman to hold the heart of the King, but once she truly accepted him for who he was, they loved one another very deeply. Charles was extremely protective of his little Queen...he would not tolerate his mistresses speaking ill of her, and he refused to divorce her once it became apparent that she would never give birth to a son.

Overall, this was an excellent realistic look into the court of Charles II. This is not the sex-filled gossipy mistress version, but the real story from a loving wife and Queen who came to this country from a very different place and just wanted to fit in. My only issue with the book, and why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5, was the second half seemed much more rushed. There was a lot of 'As the years passed...', which would quickly fly over 3-5 years. It's almost like Ms. Plaidy realized the book would be way too long if she continued writing it in the same descriptive manner as the first half, so she cut back on the dialogue and descriptions dramatically in the second half. It didn't take away from the story too much, but some events were quickly told to us almost as an afterthought, instead of finding out how these events affected certain people. In the end, though, I absolutely recommend this book, especially if you love Restoration England. Yes, the mistresses are fun, and their side of the story is always more exciting, but it's definitely worth the time to get to know the wife of England's Merriest Monarch.