The Accidental Empress

 Book 5 of my 2021 Reading Challenge

The Accidental Empress

by Allison Pataki

Summary (via Goodreads)

published 2015

The year is 1853, and the Habsburgs are Europe’s most powerful ruling family. With his empire stretching from Austria to Russia, from Germany to Italy, Emperor Franz Joseph is young, rich, and ready to marry.
Fifteen-year-old Elisabeth, “Sisi,” Duchess of Bavaria, travels to the Habsburg Court with her older sister, who is betrothed to the young emperor. But shortly after her arrival at court, Sisi finds herself in an unexpected dilemma: she has inadvertently fallen for and won the heart of her sister’s groom. Franz Joseph reneges on his earlier proposal and declares his intention to marry Sisi instead. 
Thrust onto the throne of Europe’s most treacherous imperial court, Sisi upsets political and familial loyalties in her quest to win, and keep, the love of her emperor, her people, and of the world.

First Impressions/Judging a Book by Its Cover

I'm going into this book completely blind; it was recommended to me and I have no idea what it's about.  

Our libraries are currently curbside only (we can put items on hold, they'll pull them for us, and we pick them up outside) but there was a brief time before Christmas they were open for people to come in for quick browsing.  Not only are we a family of readers at my house, my mom and sister both have disabilities and have been relying on us to pick up their items so they can stay home and safe, and my mom is an incredibly voracious reader.  That's a longwinded way to say that we've always been familiar faces to the librarians but especially now, with limited hours and so many people to "shop" for, I was there often and getting stacks at a time.  So one day the librarian noticed my pile had quite a bit of historical fiction and when I said that was my favorite genre, she left the desk immediately to get this book off the shelves for me to check out and read.  

My Opinion

4 stars

The pages pass very quickly.  What I liked about this book that was that Franz marrying Sisi instead of her sister happened very early in the book (and was included in the description so it's not a spoiler) so the complications weren't from the usual "we can't feel this way", but instead the complications were "fish out of water" and whether love is enough to sustain an entire upheaval of her life.

It was frustrating that Franz fought to be with Sisi and loved her because of her uniqueness but as soon as they were married, those qualities weren't appreciated by him.  He was such a champion for her before their marriage that the shift in his behavior was difficult to read.  

Her loneliness was easy to imagine but it also led to a detachment on my part since everything is from her perspective.  Since nobody talks to her, very major events happen "off-screen" and are only mentioned in passing.  While she was sleeping after the birth of her child, Franz and his mother not only gave the child a different name than they had planned but also baptized her?  This should've been more than a few sentences but since she wasn't there and she didn't start a fight about it, it was just stated and then they moved on.

While I didn't love everything about the book, I do realize that the things I didn't like (depending on a man for her worth, not much say about her children, etc.) were more reflective about the time period and not the actual writing, especially considering how closely the author stuck to the "historical" aspects  of Elisabeth's life when writing this historical fiction.

I didn't realize how close to the truth it was until reading the author's notes after finishing the book.  I will definitely look into further non-fiction about this family, and I will read the author's second book continuing Sisi's story as well.

Quote from the Book

"  "Your Majesty." He clears his throat. "Are you ready?"

  She inhales, considering the question. Is she ready? No. She never really was ready, she supposes.  That was the problem, wasn't it?    "