Re-read: Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn

Author: Kate Quinn

Title: Mistress of Rome

Series: The Empress of Rome #2

Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance

Format: Paperback

Pages: 470 

Published: April 6, 2010

Where I Got It: My shelf (Amazon)

Summary: 

First-century Rome: A ruthless emperor watches over all--and fixes his gaze on one young woman...

Thea is a slave girl from Judaea, purchased as a toy for the spiteful heiress Lepida Pollia. Now she has infuriated her mistress by capturing the attention of Rome's newest and most savage gladiator--and though his love brings Thea the first happiness of her life, their affair ends quickly when a jealous Lepida tears them apart.

Remaking herself as a singer for Rome's aristocrats, Thea unwittingly attracts another admirer: the charismatic Emperor of Rome. But the passions of an all-powerful man come with a heavy price, and Thea finds herself fighting for both her soul and her sanity. Many have tried to destroy the Emperor: a vengeful gladiator, an upright senator, a tormented soldier, a Vestal Virgin. But in the end, the life of Domitian lies in the hands of one woman: the Emperor's mistress.

Review:

Awww yayy! Been meaning to re-read this. Thank goodness for Book Club, eh?

Here we have Thea who is a slave girl from Judaea. She was purchased as a toy for the spiteful heiress Lepida. For the first time in her life, she has found love in Rome's newest and most savage gladiator. Her happiness will be caught short when Lepida tears them apart. Thea remakes herself as a singer for Rome's aristocrats. Thea will attract another admirer...the Emperor of Rome. However, his passions will come with a heavy price. 

You can read this without reading the first one but there are some references you will miss. When I first read this series I read this one first and was not lost, however, it was nice re-reading this in the proper order so I could understand some of our older characters a little better. 

UGH this is so dang good. I adore this author and how she brings these characters and this world to life. Fabulous. 

You can't help but love Thea and Arius. 

Booooo Domitian and booooo Lepida! Truly terrible baddies. 

Rome seems like it would be a wild place to live. I would NEVER pick Rome to time travel too. So many vipers and so much death and blood. I always feel so bad for the poor animals forced to fight. Sobs!!!!

This does have some graphic scenes, but the author does a good job not getting TOO descriptive. But lots of blood and fighting...which should be expected with Rome and gladiators being our mains. 

The ending is wonderful and you can stop there. Not too shabby of an ending. I won't spoil anything! BUT if you are like me, you will want to read the next one. 

5 stars. I can't wait to talk about this in book club. It is SO hard not to give away spoilers!!

Favorites of 2011

Hi everyone! How are you guys? Are you excited for the new year? I am! Whenever a new year approaches, I get really excited to see whats going to happen. It's like a new book...you're not sure what to expect, but you're dying to flip the next page.

Well, I originally planned to have my 'favorites of 2011' to be divided into three separate posts, but time was against me and I had a couple posts I wanted to post beforehand. *sighs* Oh well, I'll just jam pact this post with my three categories of 'favorites'.

Alright, there are three different categories: 1. Music 2. Movies and 3. Books (of course). I nominated about five or so to each 'favorite' and slowly and carefully eliminated one by one until there was a single nominee left. If there was a tie I used Random.org to help me break the tie. ^.^ BY THE WAY, these are of my own personal opinion...shall we begin?

CATEGORY 1: MUSIC

~Favorite Solo Artist of the Year:
Adele

~Favorite Band/group of Artists of the Year:

AZIATIX

~Favorite Song of the Year:

'Party Rockers Anthem' by LMFAO

CATEGORY 2: MOVIES ~Female Movie Character of the Year: Bulma from Dragonball: Evolution played by Emmy Rossum

~Male Movie Character of the Year:

John Dillinger from Public Enemies played by Johnny Depp

~Movie of the Year:

Red Cliff (2008)

CATEGORY 3: BOOKS

~Female Book Character of the Year:

Kate Masden from My Dangerous Duke by Gaelen Foley

~Male Book Character of the Year:

Matshuito from The Snow Fox by Susan Fromberg Schaeffer

~Author of the Year:

Gaelen Foley. In 2011, alone, I've read 3 of her books. So far I've kept up and I've read all her books. Right now I'm reading her most recent release My Ruthless Prince.

(Now it's time for the biggie....)

~Book of the Year:

*drumroll*Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn! I even "casted" this book, click here to see who I seen while reading this book... 

Do you guys like my choices? I feel very set in stone on my favorites of the year! I'm dying to see what I'll stumble upon in 2012. ^.^ Leave me your links to your 'favorites' or 'top tens' of 2011! I hope you all have a fun and safe New Years! I'll be stuck at work working a midnight. *thinks* I wonder how they got me to work a midnight -.- Anyways, have fun for me too!

PS-This is the last post of 2011. *sad face* It's so bittersweet...

==========================

<3CaroleRae

Cast That Book: Mistress of Rome

I was just going to have a random post today, but I was playing around with some of my casts at Storycasting and I realized...who really sees my casts? Why not share it with fellow book lovers! Plus it's a dream of mine to become a casting director! I told my friend Steven that if he becomes a famous movie director (which he is aspiring to be) to look me up and I'll give him a heck of a cast. Well...I'm bored and I'm going to showcase one of my casts I made at Storycasting.

This week, I picked Mistress of Rome. I've been reading a lot of reviews on this book and I FINALLY got my list to how I wanted it to be. Huzzah for me! 

CASTS:

Thea - Zoey Deschannel

Arius - the smexy Kevin Durand

Paulinus - Ian Somerhalder (^.^)

Lepida Pollia - Megan Dodds

Emperor Domitian - Jason O'Mara

Vercingetorix - Thomas Sangster

Marcus Norbanus - Hugh Laurie

Lady Julia - Emilie De Ravin

Calpurnia - Sarah Bolger

Justina - Jennifer Morrison

Vibia Sabina - Allison Miller

Who do you see in these roles? If you want to check out my review of this book, click HERE I hoped you enjoyed this post and perhaps I'll share more of my casts in the future!

====================================

<3CR

Mistress of Rome Review

(I literally gobbled this one up. I wanted to read it all the time. Even when I had to go to school or work or hang out with friends I couldn't wait to get home and read it!)

Author: Kate Quinn
Title: Mistress of Rome
Genre: Historical Fiction
Pages: 470
First Published: 2010
Where I Got It: My shelf (Amazon)



"First-century Rome: A World of depravity, blood, and secrets. The ruthless and enigmatic Emperor Domitian watches over all, fearing assassination from every direction...but not from the woman who fascinates him most.
     Passionate, musical, and guarded, Thea is a slave girl from Judea. Purchased as a toy for the spiteful Lepida Pollia, Thea becomes her mistress's rival for the love of Arius the Barbarian, Rome's newest and most savage Gladiator. His love brings Thea the first happiness of her life-but their affair ends quickly when a jealous Lepida tears them apart.
       As Lepida goes on to wreak havoc in the life of a new husband and his family, Thea remakes herself as a polished singer for Rome's aristocrats. Unwittingly, she attracts another admirer in the capricious and charismatic Emperor of Rome. But Domitian's games have a darker side. Many have tried to destroy the Emperor: a vengeful gladiator, an upright Senator, a tormented soldier, a streetwise child, a Vestal Virgin; but in the end. the life of the brilliant and paranoid Emperor lies in the hands of one woman: the Emperor's Mistress."

    Wow. I loved this novel. I really did. The way the author wrote this books was fantastic and simply and utterly amazing. It really sucks you into the time period. The characters seem real in some way. Most of them were real people. I love how she took real events and mixed it with her own imagination and events that could've been but still remains questionable. I was baffled at how the book would end and how the things would work out the way they were suppose to. The only thing I didn't like was Lepida, she was a little butt-head...to say the least, but I suppose every good book needs at least one character everyone hates and makes everyone's lives terrible.
     I do recommend everyone who loves history and romance and adventure to read this book. For this novel, I shall grant it 5 stars! Yayy! ***** I hope there is a sequel....