Book Review: Ladies in Waiting Laura L. Sullivan

Ladies in Waiting by Laura L. Sullivan
Release Date: May 8, 2012
Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books
Pages: 328
Received: ARC from publisher, via NetGalley
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Summary

From Goodreads:

Eliza dreams of being a playwright for the king’s theater, where she will be admired for her witty turns of phrase rather than her father’s wealth. Beth is beautiful as the day but poor as a church mouse, so she must marry well, despite her love for her childhood sweetheart. Zabby comes to England to further her scientific studies—and ends up saving the life of King Charles II. Soon her friendship with him becomes a dangerous, impossible obsession. Though she knows she should stay away from the young, handsome king, Charles has a new bride, Queen Catherine, and a queen needs ladies in waiting. And so Zabby, Beth, and Eliza, three Elizabeths from very different walks of life, find themselves at the center of the most scandal-filled court that England has ever seen.

Review

They so didn't teach history like this in school!

Oh boy, ok, this is one of those books that needs to come with a bit of a warning. I went into things expecting a nice historical fiction story—frothy and more relationship-focused, sure, but nice. What I got was very different.

What I got was more like The Young and the Restless, as done by HBO. Think smut. There's so much coarse, bawdy talk about sex. And the way it's talked about is so not of the sweet "make love" variety. I mean, lady parts are referred to with slang my innocent ears have only heard coming out of the gutter mouth of Titus Pullo. I felt more than a little awkward reading this at work!

Romance readers won't find this racy at all (and no one actually HAS sex, which is kind of a disappointment after all that talk), but I was expecting a clean YA historical fiction so this all came as a surprise to me.

Is this educational historical fiction?

Ladies in Waiting takes place during the reign of Charles II. I don't know a whole lot about this time, so I was hoping to beef up my knowledge. Ladies in Waiting didn't teach me much at all, though, so it gets low marks as a cheat-sheet substitute for reading actual non-fiction.

There are mentions of real historical figures and their relationship to Charles is explained, but it is sort of an aside. Even Charles himself is more of an ephemeral presence than an actual fully explored character. The "feel" of the setting wasn't particularly immersive and I didn't feel grounded in the specific time period. It all just had a general "old court" vibe that really could have been any court.

So what's the point?

I'm not really sure. I guess I could put on a smarty pants hat and pull out some explanation about three girls finding their place in life, working toward achieving happiness on their own terms, journey of empowerment, yada yada.

But really? It's about sex. Who's having it, who isn't, who wants to and with whom. The narrative is third person and switches focus between each of the three girls, so you get to follow along as each pursue their relatively separate goals.

The plot moves at a moderate pace, but there isn't a ton of action. It's more like a People magazine where you can read through it pretty quickly, you're mildly entertained throughout, it's not particularly gripping, but you flip through every page to ensure you don't miss out on any botched plastic surgery or unmasked affair.

Beth gives drama queen Gothic heroines a run for their money with her comical pining after an off limits childhood sweetheart. I'm not sure if I was supposed to be laughing at her, but she's so absurd I couldn't stop giggling every time the narrative shifted focus onto her.

Zabby wants to do it with the king and spends about half the book thinking about it, a quarter of the book trying to talk herself out of it (the queen is her friend!), and the remaining quarter looking at his pee and other bodily fluids under a microscope. She's a little weird.

Eliza reminded me of Jo March. That is, if Jo March dressed like a man (ok, Jo March did do that), kept house with a whore, and spoke like a drunken sailor. She was so outlandish and crude, but she's such a simple, happy character that I felt equal parts ick-ed out and entertained by her.

I didn't actually like any of the characters, but I think that's ok (though the king's #1 mistress was pretty funny as she tried to puzzle out what exactly Zabby and the king did together in his science lab). To make matters worse? Their love interests aren't any better.

Why did I keep reading?

Because I love gossip and scandal and these ladies were rushing headlong into disaster and I wanted to see everything blow up in their faces. The end result wasn't the exploding train wreak I was hoping for (although the hanging scene was pretty close!), but the drama was high enough and the results outlandish enough to keep me entertained.

Heads up on the ending: This isn't the kind of book where everything ends happily ever after for everyone.

Bottom line

If you're looking for serious historical fiction, likable characters, or a steady plot, then pick another book. But if you're like me and you've ever purposely picked the longest line at the supermarket in order to have enough time to read all the scandalous headlines on the trash magazines, then Ladies in Waiting is for you!

This is a standalone.

Explanation of rating system: Star Rating Key 

Do you have any questions about Ladies in Waiting that I haven't addressed?
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