Title: Mistress of Rome (Empress of Rome #1)

Author: Kate Quinn

Publisher: Berkley 2010

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 470

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Unread Shelf

Where I Got It: Unread Shelf

First-century Rome: A ruthless emperor watches over all—and fixes his gaze on one young woman...

Thea is a slave girl from Judaea, purchased as a toy for the spiteful heiress Lepida Pollia. Now she has infuriated her mistress by capturing the attention of Rome’s newest and most savage gladiator—and though his love brings Thea the first happiness of her life, their affair ends quickly when a jealous Lepida tears them apart.

Remaking herself as a singer for Rome’s aristocrats, Thea unwittingly attracts another admirer: the charismatic Emperor of Rome. But the passions of an all-powerful man come with a heavy price, and Thea finds herself fighting for both her soul and her sanity. Many have tried to destroy the Emperor: a vengeful gladiator, an upright senator, a tormented soldier, a Vestal Virgin. But in the end, the life of Domitian lies in the hands of one woman: the Emperor’s mistress.

I cannot tell you how many years this book has sat on my Unread Shelf. I know that I got it before we moved back from California, so at least 6 years. I’ve read many of Kate Quinn’s later books, but never this series. We picked it for our November book club selection and I finally dove in. Overall, I really enjoyed this look at Ancient Rome. The first 150 pages are fairly slow, but once we get past those, the story really gets going. We have to establish our world and our characters before we get to the meat of the story. Thea was a great outsider character left to navigate the treacherous and unjust world of Rome. I was rooting for her right from the beginning. Marcus was fascinating and I really wanted to see more of him that we got. Lepida was horrid and I really wished she has faced a more terrible end, but at least she did face her end. I liked the interplay of the storylines and the different levels of Roman society depicted. We got a little of everything, even a few real historical people. I just wish it had been about 100 pages shorter with some extra slow and long sections trimmed down. Still, I have the rest of the series and will put them in my TBR short pile.

Empress of Rome

• #1 Mistress of Rome

• #2 Daughters of Rome

• #3 Empress of the Seven Hills

• #4 Lady of the Eternal City

Next up on the TBR pile: