It’s a measure of how fascinating a character Queen Elizabeth I was that I managed to finish this book.
Strike 1: When I bought it (several aeons ago, admittedly), I thought it was a scholarly book. When I picked it up to read it, and found that it was a fictionalized memoir, I was somewhat disappointed.
Strike 2: It’s in the first person viewpoint. About 75% of the time, first person narration drives me batty. This book was firmly in that 75%. There was something about the voice of this Elizabeth that just wasn’t regal enough. I had a really hard time getting past that.
But, this is the story of Elizabeth’s life, and it is a pretty fascinating story. That really kept me going.