Above the Bay of Angels
Genre: Historical fiction with mystery woven in
Rating: really enjoyed / 3.5⭐️

Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union for the review copy. As I go through and get caught on backlist reads, I could kick myself for waiting so long to read this one!

Quick synopsis: set in Victorian England, Bella takes over the identity of a stranger she found dying in the street. That stolen identity leads her to a cooking job in Buckingham Palace for the Queen.

The pacing was steady, and characters were well developed and had me invested in the story pretty early on. I found the main character, Bella, to have an interesting story and was fun to root for her. The novel also seemed well-researched, which is always important for me, personally, in a historical fiction novel. Overall, an intriguing read that I enjoyed, and I’ll certainly be reading other books from this author.

What a surprise this one was! I was very quickly pulled in to the mystery. I liked how it was given, the abrupt meeting and the secret letter. The fact that it's perfect for her was easy to skip over because quickly you were drawn in by the interesting characters, the draw of cooking and visiting local markets with new recipes and ingredients.

Once the rest got going with the blackmail and then the murder, I was hooked. I didn't even try to anticipate the turns but just read for the fun and fascinating story. While the cover didn't really draw me in, the story was well crafted and I found myself really enjoying it!

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

For some reason it took me awhile to get into this book. I did enjoy it and now I'm missing the characters. Lovely narration. Not terribly believable scenario, but fun nonetheless. I'm not sure I understand the title. Rhys Bowen is a favorite author of mine, but this isn't my favorite of hers.

3.5 stars (read a finished copy from the library)

Isabella takes the opportunity of a lifetime when she comforts a dying Helen Barton who is going for a job interview at the Royal Palace as a pastry chef. Isabella must choose between taking this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity even though it means she will have to lie or continuing on where she currently works as a servant who has no future prospects of being able to do what she loves which is baking/cooking.
Isabella ends up taking the opportunity but it is one that she languishes over for a time due to having to lie and keep her true identity a secret. Along with this she is learning how to become a better baker/cook and is loving it. When the Queen decides to go to Nice Isabella ends up getting chosen to go as she speaks french. While this does leave her being the only female kitchen staff, it also puts her in a unique position to figure out what is going on with the royals all while continuing to expand her knowledge of baking and cooking.

Overall I enjoyed this book. At times certain things did seem a little far-fetched especially when they got to Nice. She was able to have full moments alone with the queen and even made friends with other people who were visiting Nice that were rich which just seemed a little odd considering she was a kitchen staff member at that time. Yes, she had a good upbringing and knew certain things, but still, her position was kitchen staff and would have most likely been seen as that by the people who were rich that were around her for the most part. Having said that though it did make the story more interesting and allowed us to see more of Nice and what was happening with the Queen and her party of people as they enjoyed a nice vacation.

The ending I was okay with it and was nice because finally, Isabella wasn't on edge all the time because the person who was blackmailing her couldn't anymore.

I am interested in reading more by this author in the future as so many people love her writing and I did enjoy reading this book and getting to see Queen Victoria in a new light.

Review will be posted on February 22, 2023

This was the first book that I received several years ago from NetGalley. I read it, but did not love it, and had planned to simply not review it. However, even now, several years later, it lingers alone on my no feedback shelf, and I see that *not* reviewing it counts against me in my otherwise high response statistics on the NetGalley site. So, here is my review. This historical novel just never ignited for me. The pacing felt almost languid for much of the book, although it picked up in the end. I did not love the characters or the characterizations.

A twist of fate puts a young women in position to rise in station. This historical fiction is filled with the same charm as Downtown Abbey. The characters are compelling and the story line enchanting. Highly recommended.

{3.5 stars}

Bella lives a charmed life in Victorian London until her mother dies and her father's drinking leaves her to become a servant. She is living a pretty quiet life but always dreaming of more until one day she witnesses a deadly accident. The woman who is killed was heading to the palace for a role working in the royal household. Bella decides to take her referral letter and assume the life that Helen Barton was destined for. She thrives in the queen's kitchen enjoying the art of cooking and the gossip within the queen's household until Helen's real brother comes to blackmail her. She ends up in France with the queen's travelling retinue and relishes the opportunity until someone who ate her food dies and she is investigated for the crime and just may lose it all.

I enjoyed Bella's story although I think the blurb makes you think it's going to be a little more murder mystery - the poisoning case doesn't happen til the last quarter of the book. (And the culprit was pretty obvious.)  The historical fiction aspects were well done and while perhaps some aspects of her trajectory were unbelievable, I enjoyed this unique view of the queen's latter days.

Thanks to Lake Union Publishing via Netgalley for gifted access. Apologies for how long it took me to get around to reading. All opinions above are my own.

I really really wanted to love it, but it fell flat. it was just boring ..and lots of talking and some whining...

This was the first book by Rhys Bowen I've read and I really liked it. It's been some time since I've read a historical fiction novel and this fit the bill. I cheered for Bella/Helen as she took advantage of a tragic accident and stepped into someone else's shoes, becoming a cook at Queen Victoria's palace. Her desire to improve her situation succeeded and while the bit about her educated background and the unfortunate reason behind dropping her education at fifteen and going into service was quite often brought to the readers attention, I did admire her fortitude in that Victorian era. The delightful food descriptions were worth mentioning as well

This was my first book by Rhys Bowen and definitely won't be my last. I thoroughly enjoyed this beautifully written historical novel set in the late 1800s in London and Nice. The descriptions are rich and evocative, and the characters are wonderful. Such a great book.

Early in the COVID quarantine I read several of Rhys Bowel’s books and loved their mystery and romance plots. This novel falls short of Bowen’s other work. In late Victorian England, a society girl is forced into being a servant due to her father’s alcoholism. When she witnesses a terrible accident she takes advantage of the situation to gain employment at Buckingham Palace and cook for Queen Victoria. The rest of the novel is filled with similar situations where the main character always happens to be in the right place at the right time to get ahead. This ⭐️⭐️⭐️ is only for true Rhys Bowen fans that feel the need to read all of her books. 📚📚📚 #netgalleyreads #netgalleyreview #netgalleyreviewer #netgalleyarc #bookstagram

I enjoyed this mild historical fiction crossed with a murder mystery. I liked Bella the main character and her perspective on the working of a royal Household is interesting. It's not gruesome but there is some intrigue, love and mystery thrown in.
A decent read.

Above the Bay of Angels by Rhys Bowen is the story of chance.  Chance leads Isabella Waverly to comfort a dying woman in a street in London, only to find an offer of employment from Buckingham Palace on her, and so she decides to take her place.

Arriving at the Palace as Helen Barton, she is thrilled to take her place in the kitchens.  She even gets to go to Nice along with Queen Victoria, and the rest of the retinue.

But when one of the Queen's retinue dies, and Bella/Helen is the person who prepared this person's last meal, she is suspected, which must mean it's only so long before the truth will come out.

This is a thrilling historical tale, with glamour but also the life of a servant.  I enjoyed the glimpse of both!

Above the Bay of Angels was published on 11th February 2020 and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

You can follow Rhys Bowen on Twitter and her website.

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Lake Union Publishing.

I was granted an advance copy of Above the Bay of Angels via NetGalley, and took way too long to get around to trying to read it (Thanks pandemic reading slump!). But now that I've finally picked it up, I'm sorry I did. While I understand it is historically accurate for many people of the era this book is set to be racist, there's no excuse for the author framing the story that way. I've heard from other reviews that in addition to the racist depiction and in-story treatment of Abdul Karim, the Munshi, there's also a completely unnecessary homophobic depiction of a fictional character later in the book. Even French characters can't seem to get away from stereotypical descriptions like over-emotional and too proud. The author tries to defend her racist depiction of the Munshi (who was completely not relevant to this story anyway, and could have been left out), with an afterward citing historical "facts" that have been disproven. Racists gotta find an excuse for racism, I guess. Considering that Bella isn't my favorite character anyway, as she repeatedly makes impulsive choices and is then shocked by their outcomes, and that there's multiple turns of phrase in the book that sound too modern for the story's setting, it just doesn't seem worthwhile to finish this story for historical descriptions of food alone. What a disappointment. What I read of this book has left a bitter taste in my mouth about this author's worldview in general--this makes it seem like she'd be one of those Brits who'd hate Meghan Markle too--and I'll be removing any other of her books from my to-read list.

Thanks anyway to #NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for allowing me a free #advancecopy of #AbovetheBayofAngels.

Isabella Waverly’s a lady, her circumstances change when her mother dies and her father starts drinking. Faced with no other choice, she starts working as a scullery maid to support her father and younger sister Louisa. The hours are long, it’s hard work and a kindly Mrs. Robbins teaches Bella how to cook. Soon Bella realizes she’s stuck being a maid, to get a new job as a cook, she needs a reference and her current employers won’t give her one.

A young woman’s hit by an omnibus, Bella comforts her on the street and she gives her an envelope. It’s an offer to work as assistant cook at Buckingham Palace, the interview has today’s date on it and Helen Barton from Yorkshire has tragically passed away. Bella knows this could be her only chance to be employed as a cook, she decides to take a risk and she attends the interview as Helen Barton.

Queen Victoria’s royal kitchen, is a hive of activity and has so many staff. Bella’s captivate by it all, she has so much to learn and studies cookery books in her spare time. Bella’s a talented baker, she makes the best scones and they get the Queen’s tick of approval. When the monarch travels to the Riviera, Bella’s one of the English staff to go with her and she can speak French.

Bella’s threatened by someone who knows her true identity, they try blackmailing her and then one of the queen’s quests falls ill and dies. Bella cooked the guest’s final meal, they think she poisoned the Count, during the investigation she has to prove her innocence, and she’s concerned her true identity will be revealed

Above The Bay Of Angels, is a story full of interesting characters, I find Queen Victoria and her relationship with her servant Abdul incredibly fascinating. I enjoyed reading about Bella learning to cook, her visiting the local markets with French chef Jean-Paul Lepin, her seeing and tasting new ingredients and recipes. I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, full of mystery and secrets, a wonderful change of writing style by Rhys Bowen and five stars from me. I have posted and shared my review on Goodreads, Amazon Australia, Barnes & Noble, Edelweiss and Twitter.

An interesting story from a favourite author, a different type of storyline and although starting out quite slow the storyline picked up and kept the pages turning

One does not turn down the opportunity to read a novel by Rhys Bowen set in London and Nice in the late 1890s, the waning years of Queen Victoria’s reign. It was a wonderful read.

As the daughter of an aristocrat’s poor second son, protagonist Isabella Waverly did not expect her father to insist she become a maid, at age 15, in the house of a nouveau riche family when her own family’s circumstance became dire. Making the most of her situation, Isabella learns the secrets of baking and preparing other food from that family’s cook.

It is her cooking talents which, through a series of unexpected actions, has Isabella jettison, under a pseudonym, into the kitchens of Buckingham Palace, with the responsibility for helping create dishes the old Queen, a picky lover of food, would eat. So naturally, when Queen Victoria moves her court to Nice she insists her favorite cooks travel with her, including Isabella. In Nice, Isabella comes of age as she explores the mysteries of the Queen’s court, as well as the mysteries of the unknown, wonderful food sold at Nice’s open air markets. Isabella also must deal with the mysterious men of Nice, including Victoria’s wayward son, Bertie, the Prince of Wales.

I enjoyed this book. The plot was tight enough so a reader could not get lost in the twists and turns of the story. Her descriptions of London and Nice at that time was believable, and her characters lived and breathed, including a cranky Queen Victoria and her womanizer eldest son. I highly recommend this book. (In return for an honest review, I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley.)

Set towards the end of Queen Victoria’s reign in 1896/7 I thought this sounded interesting when I read the synopsis on NetGalley, and it is. It’s a pleasant easy read, but rather far-fetched.

The novel is based on facts to a certain extent. Rhys Bowen’s Historical Note explains that many aspects of the story are true, including the details about Abdul Karim, the Queen’s Indian Munshi. The Hotel Regina Excelsior above Nice was built for Queen Victoria – she had a separate wing with its own entrance – and she took a team of her cooks with her when she visited each winter.

I thought the beginning of the book was slow and predictable, and there are a few convenient coincidences. Isabella (Bella) Waverley’s father was a member of an aristocratic family, the second son of a second son, who fell on hard times and eventually died an alcoholic. Bella had gone into service and found she had a talent for baking. So when she had the opportunity to take Helen Barton’s position as an under cook at Buckingham Palace, she presented herself as Helen at the Palace. Keeping her real identity a secret was a problem that continued through the book, providing an element of suspense. Then when one of the Queen’s German relatives died, Bella is suspected of poisoning him, I enjoyed the intrigue and the puzzle of who killed the Count.

Overall I did find the book entertaining. I enjoyed reading about the meals the Queen Victoria’s household were served and the settings both in Buckingham Palace and in the French Riviera are beautifully described. Compared to the slow start the ending is packed with action and romance as well as mystery.

With thanks to NetGalley and to the publishers for my review copy.

Rhys Bowen does an excellent job writing historical fiction books. Though the story is unrealistic, you can’t help but enjoy the tale of a servant who rises above her station in life. You are treated with menus from the Victorian era which was a plus. They had me salivating. There are a couple of twists and aspects that will grab your attention.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

The premise to the story seemed very interesting. It was about working in Queen Victoria’s Royal household. However, I found the novel to be very slow moving. The mystery did not start until the book was almost at the end. Thus, I would have enjoyed it more if it was shorter and if the mystery was the main focus of the story. Still, the story is well-written with gorgeous prose. I recommend this for fans of Downton Abbey.