Super Duper News--Non-book related (well, kind of)!

I know I only have a few followers, but I had to share my awesome news! I live in NW Pennsylvania, and I have my Masters in Middle and Secondary English Education, so I'm certified to teach English 7-12. The town I'm from is in a recession, like most of the United States, so I've had trouble even getting interviews for a teaching position, let along a job! My sister lives in Phoenix, so I decided to put my resume out there and see what happened. I ended up being contacted by the principal of a K-8 school in Buckeye, AZ. Finally I was able to get time to come out there, and so here I sit in my sister's living room in Phoenix. I had an interview at the school this morning, and within 3 hours of leaving the school they called and offered me the job!! I am terrified of moving, but so excited to be teaching what I love, Language Arts. I am going in tomorrow to see my letter of intent, and I'm probably going to take it to my sister to look over, because she's a paralegal. The principal and the two other people who interviewed me loved me, and thought I'd be an amazing fit for their school. The town is beautiful, and well, the weather kicks ass here as compared to PA! I'm 99% sure I'm going to take the job! Finally, benefits and a salary, yay!
A friend of mine, who I graduated high school with, lives in Phoenix as well, so I'll know a couple of people out here. She's picking me up tonight to take me to dinner to celebrate!
I will be writing a couple of reviews coming up soon, hopefully tomorrow. I suppose that since I'm on vacation I should catch up on some of the books I've been wanting to write about! I'll be doing reviews on The Queen's Pawn by Christy English, Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir, and Hugh and Bess by Susan Higgin Botham in the next couple of days!
I look forward to sitting down, and writing about those three books, because I absolutely adored all three of them!

Captive Queen by Alison Weir

I really enjoyed reading this novel by Alison Weir. Weir's novels are usually non fiction, but when she does right a fictional novel they are good!

This was the first book I've read about Eleanor of Aquitaine's life and family. Reading about her life has definitely piqued my interest regarding her life, and I've been looking for other books about her. I have to say that her life fascinates me as much, if not more, than Anne Boleyn's, and I've been an avid reader of Anne for years!

Anways! This book details her life from her marriage and eventual divorce to King Louis VII of France, to her scandalous marriage and eventual estrangement to King Henry II of England. It was extremely interesting to read about what a strong woman she was, especially during a time period when the opinion of women was neither listened to nor respected. She caused a huge scandal by divorcing King Louis VII and going on to marry King Henry II shortly after. She was the most powerful woman in Europe during this time, and was very well-known, for good and for bad. Reading about the love affair she initially had with King Henry II and the birth of her children, as well as her great love for her children, and then the great betrayal she felt when King Henry II fell in love with "Fair Rosamund", was enough to make it impossible to put this book down. Not only did this book tell a great story about a powerful woman, but it was written in such a smoothly flowing way, that as a reader you became completely engrossed in the novel. It had enough of a love story, drama, and betrayal to forget that you were reading a novel that was based of historical facts. I knew very little about Eleanor of Aquitaine to begin with, so this novel was even more interesting to me, because I didn't know what was going to happen next! However, by the end of the novel I had a pretty solid understanding of who she was, her life, marriage, children, and also how things ended up for her. Reading about her also helped me to become interested in the lives of her children, especially Richard the Lionheart. Weir's writing style is fantastic, and her descriptions and dialogue are effortless. I try to read every every book that Weir puts out, because I know that I'll love it!

I must say that I enjoyed Gortner's novel on Queen Juana, "The Last Queen" a little more than this novel, but I think that is because he portrayed Queen Juana in a light that I had never seen before, so it made it that much more interesting. However, reading this novel definitely interested me in Eleanor of Aquitaine, and I will be keeping my eyes open for more books that have to do with her fascinating life!