Elizabethan Age, the time where everything was a hassle, and everything was a battle. A Protestant female with power was not the theme of the story, however Walsingham--her right hand for politics and security--was the angle trying to be worked in this story. Instead, I found it quite dry. Moments of complete theme desertion and in any matter of context or idea just plain boring. There were these few glimpses of interest at the end of dark tunnels, you caught those out whenever you could. But, as I said earlier, they were only glimpses, a few seconds. Those few seconds held cultural insight, age relevance, and the drama our modern day minds require to be able to sift through any type of book. Whether those glimpses are worth reading the book is up to you.
However, if you are knew to historical fiction and are still trying to warm-up then this would be the book for you. It is mostly a romantic story about two people between classes, these types of books are great if you are trying to warm your interest.
My last however is, if you have a high tolerance and practiced pallet for historical fiction you'll see the dry areas painfully clear.
