This was the first Jean Plaidy fact fiction style book and it's basically started me on my history novel addiction of late. So she was offically the one to blame! The novel kicks off within the first few lines, telling us that Victoria is now Queen of England after she is, what I think, rudely awoken to be told in the late hours of the night. After settling (?) into her role as the new monarch quite well, after all she is still quite young, we see her favouritism with the prime minister Lord Melbourne. Even from the first time his name is mentioned in the book I figured that there would be some kind of relationship between the two, although not ...  Read the complete review

The Queen and Lord M is the second book in the Victoria series and picks up where the last book, The Captive of Kensington Palace, left off with an eighteen year old Victoria being woken in the middle of the night to be told that she is now the Queen of England. As the title suggests the main plotline of the book focuses on Victoria's relationship with Lord Melbourne who is the Prime Minister when she comes to the throne. Plaidy plays on the lack of a father figure in Victoria's life (Hers died when she was a young child) and weaves together a very realistic relationship between the Queen and her Prime Minister. She also focuses once ...  Read the complete review