Katherine is Catholic - not openly, of course, Queen Elizabeth has made sure of that. But when her family's secret is exposed and she's left alone - Katherine makes a choice. She dresses up as a boy, gets herself to London and resolves to kill a Queen.
Her decision leads to The Globe, to a production of a new play by that mad genius Shakespeare and a run in with Toby, one of the queen's spymasters and a formidable enemy. With so many secrets between them and a assassination plot in the works - Toby and Katherine's lives are far too complicated for real relationships with anyone. Except, well, sometimes the heart wants what it wants and in this story of mistaken identity, treachery and peril in Elizabethan England, sometimes the truth is enough to kill you.
Girls dressed as boys dressed as girls! Shakespeare! Spies! London! Intrigue! Strong female characters! I found this book to be a really enjoyable romp. I had to suspend my disbelief a bit, yes, and did I did want a LITTLE more from the ending, but overall I found this mismash of so many thing I enjoy to be really fun. I loved the play-within-the-story aspect and how it worked as a plot device in the greater story. There are a few bits of anachronism that stood out but the author does apologize for it in the afterward. I liked the dual-narrator format and Toby's sorting through of his own needs and feelings felt as believable as Katherine sorting through her own doubts.
Good stuff.
3.5 stars rounded up to 4
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