What I'm reading

What I'm reading today--The Dark Queen by Susan Carroll. One of my favorite romances is her Bride Finder, and it's been a long time since she had a new book on the shelves, so I was very excited to pick this one up! Especially since I think the era, the time of Catherine de Medici, is fascinating, and ripe for all kinds of intrigue and paranormal doings and meaty, rich plots. It has a gorgeous cover, too, though the Boucher painting is a tad bit late for the setting. :) It's the first of a trilogy, centered around 3 sisters, and the first one, Ariane, is a sort of supernatural healer/witch thing, and ruler of her own island. The hero is actually dark and interesting, not pretending to be dark but actually whiny (which makes me so mad in heroes!!!). And the setting is well done. I'm only about half-way through, but so far so good. I'm really enjoying it. I always do feel so sorry for poor Catherine de Medici, though--was she actually as bad as she's always depicted in books, or just misunderstood? (Another great new read about this period, in non-fiction, is The Serpent and the Moon, about Catherine and Diane de Poitiers).