Rachel de Anjou suddenly finds herself fleeing from her home along with her family. All Jews have suddenly been expelled from the kingdom, which means that Rachel must now leave all that she loves including her very best friend Isabel behind. Fortunately, while Rachel’s father is bribing his family’s way out of the kingdom, Isabel finds a way to bid her final goodbye to her best friend Rachel.

Isabel suddenly finds herself as one of the Queen’s ladies in waiting. Confused about how she got such good fortune, Isabel determines to enjoy it while she can. When the queen tragically dies, Isabel finds herself in quite the predicament. Surprisingly she still has her position and even more so it seems as though she is favored even more.

By no means of her own, Isabel finds herself in a horrible position when she finds out that her admirer has a very important title in the queen’s court. But her knight in shining armor comes in the form of an English knight named Henry de Boyer.  But her true savior and love of her life is the valiant Rory MacGannon.  Meanwhile, Rachel while hiding her Jewish descent tries to stop herself from falling in love with Rory’s cousin Kieran.  But as fate would have it, the forces of love would not stop it from happening.

RIVALS OF THE CROWN by Kathleen Givens was a great historical read with action packed events and situations placed in all the right spots. There was not one character that was not perfectly formed in terms of personality and character. Although the book is a 400 plus read you are terribly disappointed when it ends because you’ve zipped though is so fast! I would highly recommend this book and look forward to reading more by Ms. Givens.

Reviewed by Maisha Walker for The Road to Romance