I consider myself a Tudor-era enthusiast and this book hit a lot of marks well for me. I have only ever heard brief mentions of alleged bastards between Elizabeth and Dudley, so it was nice to have a different perspective on that story that made it feel wholly possible. The author's attention to detail was great. I was a bit annoyed at the italics used to differentiate characters as there are other methods that would have been more effective and less distracting. The last 50 pages of the book were the hardest to get through for me as the pacing felt weird and the imagery didn't seem as vivid as the rest of the book. Overall, I liked it a lot.