📖 Book Review ~ The Crownless Queen by Elizabeth Chadwick

Sphere
9 April 2026

Joan of Kent #2

Thanks to the publisher for the invitation to read this book

1360: Having left her days of rebellion behind, Jeanette of Kent has finally found contentment as a wife and mother. Then, she is delivered a new blow: her beloved husband, Thomas Holland, has died on duty overseas.

Though broken, Jeanette readies herself once more to fight to protect what is hers. And when Prince Edward, heir to the throne and her longtime friend, unexpectedly steps forward and offers marriage, she accepts for the sake of her family.

As their relationship deepens, love blossoms again for Jeanette, but it comes at a price. With great power comes great responsibility - not least bearing a future king - and, as the wheel of fortune climbs higher, it becomes harder and harder to hold on.

📖 My Review..

Having read The Royal Rebel, which is the first book in this duology about Joan of Kent, I was intrigued to see how the story would continue particularly following her first husband’s death in France. As always the author brings this medieval world vibrantly to life and I was soon engrossed in Joan’s life as she come to terms with the loss of her great love, Thomas Holland, and of her future as the first Princess of Wales on her marriage to Prince Edward, who we know better as the Black Prince. There is no doubt that the relationship between Joan and Edward was a love match but with the danger that was ever present in the lives of medieval power people there was no respite for them from danger and tragedy. However, the romance of a beautiful love affair sits comfortably alongside the more dangerous aspects of living in this turbulent time in medieval history.

The author always brings the adventure of the medieval world to life so accurately that I feel like I have lived alongside Joan and Edward as they lived out their complicated lives and whilst I knew ultimately how their relationship would evolve, I have enjoyed spending time in their world and was particularly interested in the years spent with Joan and Edward in Aquitaine, learning more about a period of French and Castilian history of which I had scant knowledge. 

Bringing history alive is what this author does best and The Crownless Queen has been a real joy to read, to go back in time to observe the tragedies which were ingrained in life and of the danger and surprises which were very much a part of living so close to the English throne. Concluding the fascinating story of this powerful medieval matriarch, The Crownless Queen is Elizabeth Chadwick, once again, writing at her very best.

About the Author

Elizabeth Chadwick is a prize-winning historical novelist and New York Times bestseller, published in 22 languages, with over 1 million copies of her work sold in the UK alone. The Royal Rebel is the forst of three new novels set in the fourteenth century.

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