Unabridged Chick

Full review here.  Despite being a Josephine fangirl, I know very little about the Bonapartes and was excited to start this novel about the wife of Napoleon's brother Jerome. 

Elizabeth 'Betsy' Patterson was a Baltimore belle determined to marry better than a merchant, and she does when she marries dashing, immature Jerome Bonaparte.  A teen who plays at war and loves to shop, Betsy very quickly realizes that the great passion Jerome feels for her is little comfort when Napoleon demands he abandon Betsy to marry a princess. 

The events of Betsy Patterson's life were all new to me, so I spent a good deal of this novel gasping.  It reads fast, very easily, although my e-book had a few frustrating errors ('reigns' for 'reins', that kind of thing).  Otherwise, a fun and zippy read about a woman I'm eager to learn more about.