REVIEW: Freud's Mistress by Karen Mack & Jennifer Kaufman

Title: Freud's Mistress
Authors: Karen Mack and Jennifer Kaufman
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Release Date: June 3, 2014 (paperback)

384 pages

Rating:  ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

Summary: {Goodreads}    

In fin-de-siècle Vienna, it was not easy for a woman to find fulfillment both intellectually and sexually.

But many believe that Minna Bernays was able to find both with one man—her brother-in-law, Sigmund Freud.

At once a portrait of two sisters—the rebellious, independent Minna and her inhibited sister, Martha—and of the compelling and controversial doctor who would be revered as one of the twentieth century’s greatest thinkers, Freud’s Mistress is a novel rich with passion and historical detail and a portrait of forbidden desire [with] a thought-provoking central question: How far are you willing to go to be happy?”*

*Publishers Weekly

Short version? Good premise, interesting subject, good and detailed writing, but overall disappointing. It was slow and the ending left a little to be desired.

I really wanted to like this one. Sigmund Freud is fascinating, and so are his contributions to psychology. But this book... not so much. I didn't hate it, but I didn't enjoy it very much either.

Let's start off with the good. The writing is great! - especially in the beginning when we get setting, characters, and all that good stuff. I actually really enjoyed the beginning and thought that Minna's character was going to be a good one. She was intelligent and driven, but she was dealing with dwindling funds, no job, and no marriage prospects so she moved in with her sister and her husband (Freud). That's the start of a good story in my opinion.

The premise is great, it has so much potential. I didn't know about it, but I wasn't surprised that Freud would have a mistress. While thinking about Freud as a romantic prospect isn't the easiest thing to do, I was excited to see how this would play out. Unfortunately, the relationship between Minna and Freud dragged on too long. There's only so many secret looks and whispers I can take! And when they finally take their affair to the next level, the story seems rushed to the end. I think that focusing more on the affair itself, instead of what led up to it, would have been a much more interesting story.

Overall, I was disappointed. I picked it up and put it down maybe 7 or 8 times over the 2 weeks it took me to read it. It was just OK for me, so I don't have much to say about it.

Review also posted on Goodreads.

TBT No. 1: Carolyn Meyer's Young Royals Series

Earlier this week I mentioned that I wanted to do some Throwback Thursday posts to highlight some of my favorite books from the past. 

And since it's AUGUST, the month millions of kids are going back to school, I decided to honor that by focusing on books I read during my middle-school years. 

I'm starting off with one of my favorites and the series that planted my love for historical fiction and the Tudors. 

      

The Young Royals Series (#1-3) by Carolyn Meyer

There's actually 7 books in this series, the most recent published in 2012. As far as I remember, I only read these three sometime in 6th or 7th grade. 

Meyer's Young Royals series tells the stories of the young lives of famous monarchs.

In Mary, Bloody Mary we get Queen Mary I's teenage years: from watching her father carry on an affair with Anne Boyleyn, to her marriage prospects being used as political pawns, being declared a bastard, and taking care of her baby half-sister Elizabeth.

Beware, Princess Elizabeth follows the future Queen Elizabeth I through her teenage years including learning of her mother's beheading, being locked up in The Tower by her jealous half-sister Mary, and rising up to be queen.

Doomed, Queen Anne tells the ambitious story of Anne Boleyn and her rise to being the king's mistress, then queen and the events that led up to her death.

I remember enjoying these books as a kid and being inspired to research more about the Tudors and British monarchy. The writing is simple and the plot easy to understand. They are written in first-person narrative, so it made it easier to relate to the characters, almost as if she was sitting in front of me telling me these stories. 

I think middle-school really is the right time to read these because they are so simple. They don't have a lot of historical depth or any of the sexy intrigue from more adult historical fiction. It's enough to get kids interested and that's what I loved about them. 

I don't think I could read them now that I'm in my 20s.


** If you click on the pictures, it'll take you to Goodreads for a more detailed summary.