Review: An Assassin’s Guide to Love and Treason by Virginia Boecker

Welcome to the blog tour for An Assassin’s Guide to Love and Treason! Today we’re sharing our review of this heart-pounding historical fiction novel and featuring a giveaway.

 

From the first page to its last, An Assassin’s Guide to Love and Treason is a page-turning adventure. In a smart creative choice, the prologue starts the reader out with a hint at the ending, just enough to whet your appetite with what is to come. From there, we meet Katherine in one of the worst nights of her life – that in which her father is discovered as a secret Catholic and murdered in front of her. Determined to seek justice for her father, she flees to London to take part in the plot that her father was engaged in – a plan to kill the Queen of England.

Of course, the Queen has intelligent people doing her bidding and that’s where Toby Ellis comes in. A spy for the Queen, he orchestrates a plot using Shakespeare’s newest play as a way to catch the people aiming to assassinate Queen Elizabeth. He will play the main character, giving him direct access to investigate all of the other actors and stagehands involved.

Katherine takes up disguise as a boy and is cast in Shakespeare’s play opposite Toby. But as they grow closer, their secrets threaten to destroy everything for both of them.

The plotting is very cleverly done and the growth of Katherine and Toby’s relationship feels very natural. While the story is rooted in history, Boecker takes liberties with some elements of the timeline but those just make the story more engaging.

As tension rises and the planned assassination of the Queen grows closer, the pace slowly continues to build so that the finale has you on the edge of your seat. Both Katherine and Toby are in difficult positions and you can’t help but root for them, even when it appears that they are doomed. And to that end, the resolution is very clever, satisfying, and exhilarating.

Overall, I really enjoyed An Assassin’s Guide to Love and Treason. It’s a quick, exciting read that is perfect for fans of Shakespeare and fun, historical romps.

Rating: 8/10

About the Book:

When Lady Katherine’s father is killed for being an illegally practicing Catholic, she discovers treason wasn’t the only secret he’s been hiding: he was also involved in a murder plot against the reigning Queen Elizabeth I. With nothing left to lose, Katherine disguises herself as a boy and travels to London to fulfill her father’s mission, and to take it one step further–kill the queen herself.

Katherine’s opportunity comes in the form of William Shakespeare’s newest play, which is to be performed in front of Her Majesty. But what she doesn’t know is that the play is not just a play–it’s a plot to root out insurrectionists and destroy the rebellion once and for all.

The mastermind behind this ruse is Toby Ellis, a young spy for the queen with secrets of his own. When Toby and Katherine are cast opposite each other as the play’s leads, they find themselves inexplicably drawn to one another. But the closer they grow, the more precarious their positions become. And soon they learn that star-crossed love, mistaken identity, and betrayal are far more dangerous off the stage than on.

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Formats: Hardcover, eBook

Pages: 384

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, B&N, iBooks, TBD

About the author:

Virginia Boecker recently spent four years in London obsessing over English medieval history, which formed the basis of The Witch Hunter. She now lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and spends her days writing, reading, running, and chasing around her two children, a cat named Thomas and a dog named George.

In addition to English kings, nine-day queens, and Protestant princesses, her other obsessions include The Smiths, art museums, champagne, and Chapstick. She is represented by John Cusick at Folio Literary Management.

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Giveaway:

3 winners will receive a finished copy of AN ASSASSINS GUIDE TO LOVE AND TREASON, US Only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Tour Schedule:

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