Giveaway: The Last Queen

A big thank you to author CW Gortner for offering TWO COPIES of his fantastic book, The Last Queen, to my readers!

This was one of the best books I've read this year. You can check out my review here if you like. As soon as I finished reading it I gave it to my cousin who was in town for the weekend. She was pretty excited about it and I'm sure she's going to enjoy it (when she gets a chance to read it finally!).


*** How To Enter ***

• Leave a comment saying why you'd like to read this book - the cover? the summary? a review you've read? something else? A simple "enter me!" won't get you in.
  
  
• If your email address is not available through your profile or your blog, please include it in your comment.
  
  
• The author is only shipping books to readers with a US mailing address. (I DO have an international giveaway coming up though!)
  
  
• I'll choose the winners on Friday morning (7/31) so be sure to get your comment posted before then.

***About The Book ***

Juana of Castile, the last queen of Spanish blood to inherit her country's throne, has been for centuries an enigmatic figure shrouded in lurid myth. Was she the bereft widow of legend who was driven mad by her loss, or has history misjudged a woman who was ahead of her time? In his stunning new novel, C. W. Gortner challenges the myths about Queen Juana, unraveling the mystery surrounding her to reveal a brave, determined woman we can only now begin to fully understand.

The third child of Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand of Spain, Juana is born amid her parents' ruthless struggle to unify their kingdom, bearing witness to the fall of Granada and Columbus' discoveries. At the age of sixteen, she is sent to wed Philip, the archduke of Flanders, as part of her parents' strategy to strengthen Spain, just as her youngest sister, Catherine of Aragon, is sent to England to become the first wife of Henry VIII.

Juana finds unexpected love and passion with her handsome young husband, the sole heir to the Habsburg Empire. At first she is content with her children and her life in Flanders. But when tragedy strikes and she inherits the Spanish throne, Juana finds herself plunged into a battle for power against her husband that grows to involve the major monarchs of Europe. Besieged by foes on all sides, her intelligence and pride used as weapons against her, Juana vows to secure her crown and save Spain from ruin, even if it could cost her everything.

With brilliant, lyrical prose, novelist and historian C. W. Gortner conjures Juana through her own words, taking the reader from the somber majesty of Spain to the glittering and lethal courts of Flanders, France, and Tudor England. The Last Queen brings to life all the grandeur and drama of an incomparable era, and the singular humanity of this courageous, passionate princess whose fight to claim her birthright captivated the world.