What is Diane Stanley reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Diane Stanley, author of The Princess of Cortova.

Her entry begins:

I’ve always been a reader of literary fiction with a weakness for Man Booker Prize winners, Wolf Hall being one of my all-time favorites. But lately I’m all over the map.

I’m currently reading Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. I haven’t read her lately, but then came all the reviews of MaddAddam, part three of a trilogy that begins with Oryx and Crake. Since I liked The Handmaid’s Tale, I thought I’d take another visit to a Margaret Atwood dystopia. If I liked it, I’d read all three.

The book is dark and occasionally funny. It’s well-written, no surprise, the characters are good, and her world building is very inventive. But I have to say that the take-away for me...[read on]

About The Princess of Cortova, from the publisher:

With tensions rising between the kingdoms of Westria and Austlind, Molly and Tobias accompany King Alaric to Cortova, where he hopes to form an alliance with the powerful King Gonzalo—an alliance that would be sealed by Alaric's marriage to Gonzalo's daughter, the beautiful princess Elizabetta. But the devious Gonzalo has many surprises up his sleeve, beginning with the revelation that Alaric is not the only suitor.

As the days pass, Alaric is trapped in a nightmarish bidding war in which the price keeps spiraling up and the terms become ever more outrageous. Yet he cannot afford to walk away. Then comes the first attempt on Alaric's life.

Through it all, Molly is powerless to help him, for her magical Gift sends her nothing now but terrible forebodings—and visions of an enormous talking cat. And as for Princess Elizabetta, who is as clever as she is beautiful—is she really Molly's friend or just another player in her father's crafty game?

The thrilling story that began with the acclaimed novels The Silver Bowl and The Cup and the Crown comes to a spectacular and surprising conclusion in The Princess of Cortova.

Learn more about the book and author at Diane Stanley's website and Facebook page.

The Page 69 Test: The Princess of Cortova.

Writers Read: Diane Stanley.

--Marshal Zeringue