Book Review- Whip Smart

Good morning book lovers! I have a review for you all today – I was recently given a copy of historical fiction novel Whip Smart: Lola Montez Conquers the Spaniards by Kit Brennan. Don’t know who Lola Montez was? Neither did I, so I wikipediad for a little background before starting this book. You can read about her here – born Eliza Rosanna Gilbert, she was a dancer and entertainer who travelled around Europe and eventually landed in the US. There some blanks in her history that Whip Smart fills in with a lavish and fanciful story of her adventures in Spain before her reappearance in England in 1843.

The 19th century was not good to Spain – after Napoleon’s occupation, the country had various civil wars, rebellions, conspiracies, and plots.  While looking for work as a dancer, somehow our heroine became involved in the Carlist wars. This is why I love historical fiction – I didn’t know much about the Carlist Wars before reading this book, but now I have a pretty good idea of the parties involved. The story was fast-paced and with a little bit of romance and sex thrown in for good measure, I finished reading this book pretty quickly because I wanted to see what happened next!

I was at times frustrated by Lola Montez. She was beautiful and naive and seems to have been ill-used by powerful men, but she was also an orphan, broke, and lonely. At times I was a bit confused by what was going on around Lola, but I think that was the point – she too was confused and just kind of swept away by events. I won’t say anymore because I don’t want to spoil the plot!

I definitely recommend this book for fans of historical fiction, romance, and plucky heroines. Thanks to the publisher for sending it to me because I really did enjoy it.

What are you reading?