The Duke of Saint-Simon, the best scandal monger & genial chronicler of the court of Louis XIV, would have been very proud of Ms Lalande's astonishing and brillant novel about the dangerous world of Versailles at the tail-end of the 17th century and its atmosphere of lust, hate, envy and very poisonous, intents, a royal golden trap where undigested slights, underhandness, bitchiness and smoldering jealousies reign supreme.
A cesspool of very devious sycophants and deceitful snakes in the entourage of the king's brother Philippe, the suspicious death of the latter's first wife, the beautiful Henriette Stuart and some malevolent secrets discovered by Liselotte, his second wife are at the center of this magnificent novel build with a plot as twisty as the many corridors of the royal palace and blessed with a cast of unprepossessing and disgusting characters.
I just loved this novel and I must definitely command its author for the amount of research she must have done prior to diving into its writing. Bravo👏👏

A higly recommended historical thriller elegantly written & a boisterous tale of Royal shenanigans.
Hopefully this wonderful novel will be translated into French. I do hope so!

Many thanks to Netgalley and the Book Whisperer for this terrific ARC

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Hall of Mirrors by Roxanne Landed. A story of intrigue, deception, mystery, romance, murder and debauchery in the Court of Versailles in 1682. I really enjoyed this story. I'm a fan of historical fiction and alot of research went into this book. The descriptions of Versailles, the food and fashion were very detailed. I had the pleasure of touring Versailles, so it was very easy to get grabbed into the story. On occasion the names got a bit confused for me Mathilde vs Madeline. I would recommend this book. Thank you for the opportunity to review this book

dnf @ 55%.

I was expecting so much more from this book. the summary makes it sound like a highly interesting novel.

the characters were boring, and I couldn't connect to them. there wasn't anything that really sparked my interest, neither through the characters or the plot.

I love anything related to Versailles and the Sun King so I was immediately drawn to this book. I actually find it highly appropriate to be given an ARC of this book see an I came from an island which was named after it's protagonist. Hall of Mirrors is just really good historical fiction and I'm grateful that I was given the chance to read it. Thanks Netgalley and The Book Whisperer for the opportunity to read this!

Louis XIV, the Sun King, brought light and prosperity to his country, but beneath the glitter and glamor of court life lurked dark secrets and dangerous intrigues.
Mathilde and Rob have been friends since childhood, but they are no longer children. While exploring their growing feeling for each other deep in the woods near Versailles, they find a locket with a mysterious symbol and an enigmatic message. In looking for other treasures, they discover charred human remains buried under the hearth of an abandoned hut.
Robin swears Mathilde to secrecy. The land belongs to the Marquis d’Effiat, Robin’s uncle, and Robin, as his heir, doesn’t want to bring unwanted attention to the man. Mathilde, however, can’t resist letting her best friend Catherine in on the secret. In turn, as more disturbing information is revealed, Catherine’s would-be lover Chret’ian gets involved.
The clues lead them to a deadly cult whose members are powerful men highly placed in society, including men with close ties to the king’s brother, Philippe. They find help from Mathilde’s mistress, Elizabeth Charlotte, known as Liselotte, Philippe’s long-suffering and ill-treated wife, and Catherine’s mistress, Victoire, the wife of the crown prince, who have good reasons for wanting to bring down the vile miscreants.
The author combines historical characters and real events with a fascinating mystery to bring Louis XIV and his reign to life on the page.

Aptly titled, the Hall of Mirrors reflects the glamor and intrigue that abound in this well-researched novel set in the Sun King's court of Versailles. As the second wife of the king's brother, Elizabeth Charlotte is convinced her husband's first wife was murdered and sets out to discover the truth before her husband and his cronies can strike again, this time against her.

The story is filled with secrets, promiscuity, jealousies and a secret society of homosexual pedophiles, as well as a hidden dungeon of horrors and numerous dead bodies. Walls have ears and rumors fly fast as royals and court favorites vie for position for themselves and their progeny.

The list of characters in this novel are long and the relationships a bit confusing. It would help to have a chart at the beginning designating who is who to reference while reading) I enjoyed learning about the court, its politics and the realities of living in the 17th Century when a rigid hierarchy of etiquette controlled daily life. The Hall of Mirrors reflects and ultimately distorts the public images of the lavish court and its anointed elite, exposing the shadowy world outside of public view.

A good read, thank you to NetGalley and The Book Whisperer for the ARC copy.

Smoldering beneath the glamour of the Sun King's Versailles lurks danger and courtly intrigue. The walls have ears, rumour spreads fast and vile, jealousies, secrets, dead bodies. This novel is full of dark secrets and surprises and, of course, some little romance as well. At its center is Elizabeth Charlotte (Liselotte), second wife of Phillippe d'Orleans, brother of Louis XIV, who wants to find the truth about her predecessor's death: was it murder that killed Henrietta Stuart, as she suspects, or was it caused by illness, as the court physicians maintain? If it was murder, who killed her?

This novel was extremely well researched, down to the many long letters Liselotte wrote in real life. I'm curious, whether some of them are original. I was captivated by the author's descriptions of the OTHER Versailles,  of the need to shine, to please the king, to lead a life wholly in service to the king's whims and in defense against so many enemies. Not only was the book well researched and intelligently written, it was also immaculately edited and proofread. Liselotte was alive in these pages, and I could feel her fear, ennui, and disgust. Not so with the other persons: Mathilde and Catherine, Robin and Chrétien appeared somewhat colourless to me. At times, the story also lost momentum, but then picked up again to reach its surprising (and saddening) finale. I felt most sorry for Liselotte at the end.

I enjoyed this book, and would recommend it to all those readers who look for veracity in their historical novels. Thank you to NetGalley and The Book Whisperer for an enjoyable ARC

I usually love historical fiction books, but I struggled with this one. I felt like the details and history overtook the story. I couldn't really get into the story and characters because of struggling with keeping everything straight.

Clearly well-researched, but gets a little too bogged down with the history and the details of French society. I wasn’t very interested in the characters or the mystery.

An amazingly good novel, set in my favourite period and place. I cannot recommend this too highly, I would give it six stars if I could. Painstaking historical research brings the court of the Sun King, at Versailles, to life and the characters involved, such as the second Madame, Mathilde, Catherine, and Julie were explored beautifully. Thank you netgalley and the publishers for letting me have an advance copy of the book.