The Crown of Valencia

Kate Vincent Adventures #2

by Catherine Friend

It's tempting to describe the actinon in The Crown of Valencia, but then we'd reveal spoilers from The Spanish Pearl. Just know that once again, Kate Vincent finds herself in a mess, both romantically and time travel-wise. Romance, betrayal, intrigue, disobedient children, and religious fanaticism pack this tense conclusion to the epic adventure begun in The Spanish Pearl.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical, Lesbian, LGBT, Time Travel, Fantasy, Lesbian Fiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published October 22, 2007

About the author

Catherine Friend had what she calls a "boring" childhood, but she says that boring was just fine -- because it gave her more time to read. She read so much her parents had to set a "no-reading-at-the dinner-table" rule. She was slightly shy as a child, but enjoyed playing Beauty Parlor with her sister, taking family trips, and watching STAR TREK and TIME TUNNEL.

She studied Economics, but because of her love for books and stories, she eventually found herself drawn to writing. Since then, the author has written six children's books, including THE PERFECT NEST, a hilarious read-aloud illustrated by John Manders; and two books in Candlewick’s Brand New Readers series. She is also the author of the acclaimed adult memoir, HIT BY A FARM: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BARN. When it comes to her writing, Catherine Friend likes to try new things and seek new challenges -- but she always likes to write stories that make her laugh.


Catherine Friend lives on a small farm in southeastern Minnesota -- which inspired both THE PERFECT NEST and HIT BY A FARM. There, she raises sheep, goats, and llamas, and has an energetic border collie named Robin.

Reviews

[Rahnuma Khan · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 star

[Dide · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is more 3.5 star rating... It just couldn't deserve the 4 star rating I gave its predecessor. It gave us an anticipated thrill, quirkiness, romance (though not as the previous book). While one won't necessarily need to have read the book before it, it does help to do so. My issue most with this book was the too many modern slang used in the past... That was just not helping me get back in the past and enjoy the adventure. In turn, I feel Katie's character in this book turned out dense 🤤... What happened to our witty Kate?

[M. Kei · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Crown of Valencia is the sequel to Friend's first novel, the Spanish Pearl. The story takes place eight years later. Kate Vincent has adopted Arturo, who is now fourteen, a teenager, martial artist, and high school actor. Anna, her ex, hasn't been seen in eight years. Kate takes martial arts with her son and learns some unarmed combat so she isn't as useless as she was in the first book. Sadly, although the things that annoyed me about Kate in the first book have been rectified here, it's unsatisfying.

Anna has made her way back to the 11th century, and thanks to her excruciating knowledge of history, a store of Viagra, and some unspecified addictive drugs, has managed to get control of Rodrigo Diaz, the man known to history and legend as El Cid. Anna's goal is to thwart El Cid's conquest of Valencia and enable Moorish Islam to take over the world. Anna believes that this more moderate form of Islam will make the world a better place. Kate has to set history straight so that the world as we know it won't cease to exist.

Along the way Kate attempts to team up with her ex-lover, Elena Navarro, but Navarro isn't having her. Still disguised as a man, Navarro is leading Diaz's attack against the Moors, but Anna outs her, and she is run off by the outraged Christians. For some reason or other, she winds up rescuing Kate and fixing history, in spite of her own vowed desire for revenge on Diaz and the Moors. Navarro's personality in the first book was strong and consistent, but in the sequel her characterization is whatever suits the plot at the moment, and it was a real weakness.

The author's command of 11th century Spain is an asset, and it's lovely to see multicultural characters who represent a variety of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim perspectives, so there's much to like about this book, but unfortunately, the story suffers from the sophomore curse and just doesn't hang together as well as the first one did. The humor that gave the first book its sparkle is gone; no witty repartee or attempts to teach black eunuchs about Malcolm X, and a good dose of humor definitely would have helped.

You'll definitely need to read The Spanish Pearl to have any idea what's going on here.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, this was the sequel of "The Spanish Pearl" and the last book in the series. Once again I loved how well the book was written, it was witty and I found it less cruel than the first one. But in my opinion it was rather fast, the book was full of events and actions that happened way too quickly: Kate's sudden desire to leave everything and go back to the future, then without details of her return we see her life eight years later; Arturo's willingness at fourteen to stay in the eleventh century and raise his baby without listening to his mother's opinion! But the main question is why a lesbian soldier who spent 15 years hiding her sex under men's clothes, who had soldiers to lead, who lived to fight decided to have sex with her best male friend and as a consequence had a baby? Wasn't Elena the one who told Kate that she just couldn't live as a woman? After all those years she spent hiding and proving herself as a man..
Despite all of my questions i liked the book and I'm going to miss the characters.

[M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book, though less than its predecessor. There wasn't as much romance in this one as in the first; I like my historical fiction to have a nice mix of adventure and romance, and like I said, this had less of the latter.

What's more, I just couldn't bring myself to agree with a major decision Kate makes in the beginning of the book, so I found it difficult sometimes simply because I was cursing her so much!

The author's writing is fun and fast paced without being too simplified, so that didn't detract from it for me. It was just the wanting to shake Kate through most of it!

Also, vague spoilers, but the theme of this one seemed very baby crazy, and maybe it's just because that's so different from my own life experiences or what I want out of life, but I found that less than enjoyable.

Overall, though, it was still good, and the ending is happy, which is important!

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

An incredibly ambitious time-travel romance with smatterings of alternate history that doesn’t quite stick the landing. We’ve got a woman warrior passing as a man, the Christians fighting the Muslims in 12th century Spain, Viagra, an adoptive family, sex, drugs (but no rock and roll), changing historical timelines, multiple people going back in time for reasons that don’t seem very clear, multiple characters that pop into view, then disappear and a bunch of other things. It’s well-written and I kept reading to see how the author was going to pull things together so it might be the thing you’re looking for. But I would definitely read the first book before tackling this one.

[Kira · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really, really enjoyed this book. After finishing The Spanish Pearl, I was hungry for more, and this book definitely fulfilled my craving. It's a little more serious than the first book, but I think that makes a lot of sense. Motherhood changed Kate as a person, and I'm glad to have seen that reflected in her character.

I appreciated how Friend handled the implications of their time travel in the first book, and I think the approach taken made a lot of sense while adding to the "realism" of this fictional quest. The very last section had me literally laughing out loud!! I would say that if you're thinking about reading this book, make sure to read The Spanish Pearl first.

[Rach · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I think of these books in the series, and the characters in the story it brings a smile to my face. The books really help you escape every day reality, like good books should.
Really can't recommend them highly enough.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the sequel to The Spanish Pearl. Kate is living a happy life back in 10th century Spain, married to her love, Elena, who poses as a man and is a key figure in Rodrigo's army. When Kate finds out her ex-love (Anna) has come back in time under the pseudonym Paloma de Palma and has abandoned the boy t(Arturo) hey were to adopt, Kate makes the diffiicult choice of leaving her true love to take care of him. Seven years later, odd things start happening to 11th century documents and history begins to unravel. Kate must return to right the changes that Anna has made before her world is changed forever. There are many twists and turns as Kate meets old friends and enemies and a few big surprises as she tries to fix history. I enjoyed this tale, but not quite as much as the first, as some points/ plot aspects seemed a little forced. It was worth reading and I am glad she did a sequel after hinting at Anna's return in the first book.

[Merles · Rating 3 out of 5]

I admit that this novel is not as enjoyable as Friend's last novel, the Spanish Pearl, as it didn't have the same humor and I found it was very fast paced towards the beginning. But even so, the words still sucked me in, almost like that ale, so addicting that I refused to drop it until I was finished with it. And even then, I stared at the book for a good minute and wondered if I should take a look at The Spanish Pearl again before I send it back to the library. I loved it, for the people who I wanted to die, died, and the people who I wanted to live, lived. And I'm so glad it ended the way it did.

[D. Omars · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it, I admit it. It had quiet the drama, suspense, some acceptable amount of action and romance. Just like the previous one, I liked the characters, but some of them were really dumb. There's one part I did not liked, but that is not a good reason to affect the score, so I will ignore it. The ending was good, not REALLY good, but good anyways. It was great, but not to the point that I would give it perfect score.

[Erica · Rating 5 out of 5]

(From my Amazon review)
Catherine Friend 's book 'The Spanish Pearl' leaves you wanting more. Although you get a teaser at the end of the book, it doesn't feel finished. This is where 'The Crown of Valencia' steps in. It feels more action packed and has less romance than 'The Spanish Pearl' but it delivers the same level of gripping historical fiction. I'm not sure how the book would fare if read on it's own, but as a sequel it is fantastic.

[Shauna · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful sequel...

I do not usually enjoy sequels, especially in romance but I enjoyed this one. usually they drag out a story unnecessarily that has already had its requisite happy ending; this was the exception. For those who enjoyed the Spanish Pearl, you will love this revisit and wrap up. still, this can stand alone without the first and is enjoyable and substantive on its own.

[Celina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the case when one says, "one book was enough." or "why ruin something good?" Because yes, Anna doing shit was very understandable but the whole Mcs not seeing eye to eye... well that ruined the chemistry. And also... this constant voilence against women and annoying children... like save me lord.

[Daina Rowell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! It had everything a girl could want in a book. Romance, swashbuckling, political intrigue, historical depictions and unique diverse ethnic flavors of life! Wish I could read another book like this series!

[Lynnabelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just as good as the Spanish Pearl...great read!

[annebeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another fun romp. The foreshadowing is a little heavy handed, but it is a historical romance after all. Fun fluff.

[Dee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this! Mind you time travel would be so exciting! Several strong women confused by love, time and a desire to be a parent.

[Sunny · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great continuation of The Spanish Pearl. I really enjoyed both books. Not your typical lesbian romance!

[Mariah Lebron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great sequel to The Spanish Pearl. Can't wait to read A Pirate's Heart next. Great Author.

[CuriouslyOrdinary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great adventure.

[Marisal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found myself genuinely worried and sad through a great deal of this book... Really pleased with how things progressed.

[AGC · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, a cute above other lesbian fiction. Great story and well rounded characters.

[Kinshasa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent escapism, just like expected

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic novel!