The Royal Mistress Challenge 2010
Photo by John Cunliffe for Abigails Ateliers
Photo appears by permission of Abigails Ateliers. All rights reserved.
The Rules of the Challenge
- Runs from January 1st, 2010 to December 31st, 2010. But this is an ongoing challenge and I will be renewing it next year.
- Join anytime during the year – just leave a comment, with a link to your signup post if you do one – you don’t have to! Anyone can join, you don’t have to have a blog.
- Books can be re-reads, or can overlap with other challenges.
- If you’d like me to include a link to your review, leave me a comment or email me at: misadventuresofmoppet [at] googlemail [dot] com.
- Choose your own level. You can change level anytime or change your mind about the books you will read at any time. I noticed other people have fun names for their challenge levels, so here are mine:
Orange Girl – Read one book
Maid of Honour – Read up to three books
Courtesan – Read up to five books
Maitresse en titre – Read up to seven books
Secret Wife – Read more than seven books!
UPDATE: Non-fiction counts towards the challenge! Either general books like Eleanor Herman’s Sex with Kings, or multi-biographies like Antonia Fraser’s Love and Louis XIV, or biographies of individual mistresses or favourites.
The 2010 button
Feel free to grab it for your blog.
UPDATE: Now with Mr Linky for reviews!
My progress
In 2009 I made it to Orange Girl level with a review of Madame du Barry by Jean Plaidy. In 2010 I’d like to read a book from each featured century, which would give me Secret Wife status! We’ll see how I get on.
UPDATE: January 2010: I reached Orange Girl level with my review of The Time of Singing by Elizabeth Chadwick.
UPDATE: May 2010: Now a Maid of Honour, having read The King’s Mistress by Emma Campion.
Which books qualify for the challenge?
- I’ve interpreted ‘royal mistress’ to mean a royal mistress who really existed (like Madame de Pompadour, mistress to Louis XV) as opposed to one who didn’t (Amber St Clare, MC of Kathleen Winsor’s Forever Amber, mistress to Charles II). Sorting out which is which is tricky sometimes: for example: Princess Alais, sister of Philip II of France, has been alleged to have been a mistress of Henry II, but it may not be true: do I include books about her or not? I’ve decided yes, but only if the author portrays her as a royal mistress.
- Then there are unknown mistresses whom the author has characterised, such as Richard III’s: I’ve decided they can be included too – as long as they had children which really existed.
- I’ve also included mistresses to junior royals as well as kings’ mistresses. Because otherwise I’d have to miss out one of the best royal mistress novels ever written, Daphne du Maurier’s Mary Anne. And that would be a crime.
- If the character really existed, but there is no evidence for a relationship, they will not be included: for example, in Kingdom of Shadows Barbara Erskine imagines a love affair between Isobel Buchan and Robert the Bruce, but as there is no record of Isobel being his mistress, she belongs to a third category: historical character, fictional relationship.
- Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between mistresses, wives and secret wives. On reflection I’ve decided not to include Anne Boleyn as she was only a mistress for a relatively short period – and also because there are so many books written about her that just listing them would be a lifetime’s toil. I am, however, including Francoise de Maintenon: although there is little evidence that she was Louis XIV’s mistress before he married her morganatically, and I personally don’t believe it, she is usually portrayed as his mistress in fiction.
- The book has to have the mistress as the central character – not just feature her in a major way.
- I have included sub-genres of historical fiction (mystery, adventure) but marked it as such after the title.
- Oh, and although I’ve called it the Royal Mistress Challenge, I’m including books about male favourites such as Piers Gaveston. So it’s really the Royal Favourite Challenge.
- I’ve included Elizabeth Luard’s Emerald which is cheating a bit really as it’s less about Wallis Simpson, mistress of Edward VIII, than it is about their imaginary daughter. But I couldn’t resist as I’ve heard of this one and just wanted to read it.
- Non-fiction is fine, although I’m not going to list all the books the way I have with novels, there are just too many!
Mary Sue Litmus Test Weighting
Why the necessity for a Mary Sue Litmus Test? Well, when I checked out reviews for one or two of these novels, I found many of the heroines were being accused of being Mary Sues. Royal mistress novels seem to be particularly prone to it, not sure why. However, I do feel that in one respect the Mary Sue Litmus Test is unfair to royal mistresses: it penalises unusually attractive characters. Royal mistresses were mostly beautiful – that’s how they attracted their lovers in the first place. And if the historical record describes a character as beautiful, and she appears in a novel depicted as plain, the accusations of inaccuracy are going to flood in. So, for the sake of argument, I’m going to say that beauty equates to average attractiveness for RM characters. They will, however, be marked down should there be constant reference to that beauty: violet eyes, burnished hair, alabaster skin, whatever.
Have I missed anything out?
I hope that quite apart from the reading challenge, this will be a useful reference list for me and for others. So if I’ve left a book out (and I must have left out loads) do let me know. Books in other languages are fine too: if it’s not in French I probably can’t read it, but someone else might.
General Posts
Twelfth century
Nest of Deheubarth (Welsh princess), mistress to Henry II of England
Anne Bell, Daughter of the Dragon
Sarah Johnson (Reading the Past) reviews Daughter of the Dragon
Eleanor Fairburn, The Golden Hive
Sarah Johnson (Reading the Past) reviews The Golden Hive
Margaret Mackinlay, The Pawns of Kings
Margaret Orford, Royal Mistress
Princess Alais, mistress to Henry II of England
NB: Disputed Relationship: some historians do not believe that Alais was Henry’s mistress.
Christy English, The Queen’s Pawn
Allie (Hist-Fic Chick) reviews The Queen’s Pawn
Judith Koll Healey’s Princess Alais mysteries:
- The Canterbury Papers
- The Rebel Princess
Ida de Tosney, mistress to Henry II of England
Elizabeth Chadwick, The Time of Singing (To be released in the US in 2010 by Sourcebooks with the title of For the King’s Favor)
Reviewed and certified Mary-Sue free by Miss Moppet
Carla reviews The Time of Singing
Daphne reviews The Time of Singing
Katherine reviews The Time of Singing
Fourteenth century
Piers Gaveston, favourite of Edward II of England
Chris Hunt, Gaveston
Brandy Purdy, The Confession of Piers Gaveston
Eve Trevaskis, The Lord of Misrule
Sarah Johnson (Reading the Past) reviews The Lord of Misrule
Susan Higginbotham reviews The Lord of Misrule
Alice Perrers, mistress to Edward III of England
Vanora Bennett, THE PEOPLE’S QUEEN (released August 2010)
Emma Campion, The King’s Mistress
Cat (Tell Me A Story) reviews The King’s Mistress
Daphne reviews The King’s Mistress
Katherine reviews The King’s Mistress
Miss Moppet reviews The King’s Mistress
Katherine Swynford, mistress to John of Gaunt
Judy Perry’s blog on Katherine Swynford
Anya Seton, Katherine
Mariota de Athyn, mistress of Alexander Stewart, son of Robert II of Scotland (the Wolf of Badenoch)
Charles Mackie, Mariota
Fifteenth century
Agnes Sorel, mistress to Charles VII of France
Noel de Vic Beamish, Queen of Swords
Elizabeth “Jane” Shore, mistress to Edward IV of England
Philip Lindsay, The Merry Mistress
Daphne blogs a cover for The Merry Mistress
Jean Plaidy, The Goldsmith’s Wife/The King’s Mistress
Daphne reviews The Goldsmith’s Wife
Daphne blogs covers for The Goldsmith’s Wife
Arthur R.G. Solmssen, The Wife of Shore
Unknown mistress to Richard Duke of Gloucester, later Richard III
Vanora Bennett, Figures in Silk (also features Jane Shore)
Katherine reviews Figures in Silk
Anne Easter Smith, A Rose for the Crown
Daphne reviews A Rose for the Crown
Marg and Kailana review A Rose for the Crown
Sixteenth century
Mary Boleyn, mistress to Francis I of France and Henry VIII of England
NB: Disputed Relationship. Mary Boleyn is not portrayed as Francis’s mistress in The Other Boleyn Girl and Philippa Gregory at least thinks there is not enough evidence to prove a relationship.
Philippa Gregory, The Other Boleyn Girl
Alex re-reads The Other Boleyn Girl
Katherine reviews The Other Boleyn Girl
The Literary Omnivore reviews The Other Boleyn Girl
Naida reviews The Other Boleyn Girl
Robinbird reviews The Other Boleyn Girl
Karen Harper, The Last Boleyn
Robinbird reviews The Last Boleyn
Aileen Quigley, Court Cadenza, republished as The Tudor Sisters by Aileen Armitage
Judith Saxton, Feather Light, Diamond Bright
Diane de Poitiers, mistress to Henry II of France
Diane Haeger, Courtesan
Seventeenth century
Olympe Mancini, mistress to Louis XIV of France
Alison Farely, Tempestuous Countess
Louise de La Valliere, mistress to Louis XIV of France
Sandra Gulland, Mistress of the Sun
Carey reviews Mistress of the Sun
Julianne reviews Mistress of the Sun and interviews Sandra Gulland
Lizzy reviews Mistress of the Sun
Athenais de Montespan, mistress to Louis XIV of France
Catherine Decours, Aimee du Roi
Woland reviews Aimee du Roi (in French)
Francoise de Maintenon, mistress to Louis XIV of France
NB: Disputed Relationship. Francoise de Maintenon was almost certainly married morganatically to Louis XIV (although no marriage certificate survives). She may or may not have been his mistress prior to that.
Alice Acland, The Secret Wife
Sarah Johnson (Reading the Past) reviews The Secret Wife
Francoise Chandernagor, L’allee du roi/The King’s Way
Lucy Walters, mistress to Charles II of England
Elizabeth Goudge, Child from the Sea
Misfit (At home with a good book and the cat…) reviews Child from the Sea
Nell Gwyn, mistress to Charles II of England
Gillian Bagwell, THE DARLING STRUMPET (released January 2011)
Gillian Bagwell’s blog on travel and research for The Darling Strumpet
Diane Haeger, The Perfect Royal Mistress: A Novel
Lizzy reviews The Perfect Royal Mistress
Betty King, Nell Gwyn
Priya Parmar, EXIT THE ACTRESS (released January 2011)
Priya Parmar’s writing blog, The Plum Bean Project
Lozania Prole, The Fabulous Nell Gwynne
Lozania Prole, The Orange Girl
Lozania Prole, Pretty, Witty Nell
Lozania Prole, Sweet Nell
Susan Holloway Scott, The King’s Favorite: A Novel of Nell Gwyn and King Charles II
Luan Gaines reviews The King’s Favorite
Telynor reviews The King’s Favourite
Richard Sumner, Mistress of the Streets; Mistress of the Boards; Mistress of the King
Barbara Castlemaine, mistress to Charles II of England
Patricia Campbell Horton, Royal Mistress
Olivia Leigh, The Notorious Lady Castlemaine: The career of Barbara Villiers
Susan Holloway Scott, Royal Harlot: A Novel of the Countess of Castlemaine and King Charles II
Alaine – Queen of Happy Endings reviews Royal Harlot
The Empress of Good and Evil reviews Royal Harlot
Luan Gaines reviews Royal Harlot
Luan Gaines interviews Susan Holloway Scott about Royal Harlot
Heather (The Maiden’s Court) reviews Royal Harlot
Richard Sumner’s Nell Gwynn trilogy:
- Mistress of the Streets
- Mistress of the Boards
- Mistress of the King
Louise de Keroualle, mistress to Charles II of England
Susan Holloway Scott, The French Mistress: A Novel of the Duchess of Portsmouth and King Charles II
Luan Gaines reviews The French Mistress
Katherine Sedley, mistress to James II of England
Susan Holloway Scott, The Countess and the King
Telynor reviews The Countess and the King
Margaret “Peggy” Hughes, mistress to Prince Rupert of the Rhine
Diana Norman, The Vizard Mask
Misfit reviews The Vizard Mask
Eighteenth century
Madame de Pompadour, mistress to Louis XV of France
NB: Madame de Pompadour was definitely Louis XV’s mistress. However, in 1750 she made the transition from mistress to best friend, confidante and political adviser.
Menie Gregoire, Le bien-aime: Memoires apocryphes de Madame de Pompadour
Marie-Louise O’Murphy, mistress to Louis XV of France
Duncan Sprott, Our Lady of the Potatoes
Melanie reviews Our Lady of the Potatoes
Madame du Barry, mistress to Louis XV of France
Jean Plaidy, Madame du Barry
Certified Mary Sue-free by Miss Moppet
Arleigh reviews Madame du Barry
Miss Moppet (The Misadventures of Moppet) reviews Madame du Barry (part one)
Mary “Perdita” Robinson, mistress to the Prince of Wales, later George IV
Amanda Elyot, All for Love
Jean Plaidy, Perdita’s Prince
Nineteenth century
Maria Fitzherbert, mistress to the Prince of Wales, later George IV
Michael Dyne, The Glitter and the Gold
Diane Haeger, The Secret Wife of King George IV
Jean Plaidy, Sweet Lass of Richmond Hill
Lozania Prole, A Queen for the Regent
Mary Anne Clarke, mistress to Frederick, Duke of York
Daphne du Maurier, Mary Anne
Dorothy Jordan, mistress to the Duke of Clarence, later William IV
Jean Plaidy, Goddess of the Green Room
Arleigh reviews Goddess of the Green Room
Ms. Lucy reviews Goddess of the Green Room
Ekaterina Dolgoruky, mistress to Tsar Alexander II
Princesse Bibesco, Katia
Mathilde Kschessinska, mistress to Tsar Alexander II
Adrienne Sharp, The True Memoirs of Little K.
Telynor reviews The True Memoirs of Little K.
Twentieth century
Lily Langtry, mistress to Edward VIII
James Brough, The Prince and the Lily
Wallis Simpson, later the Duchess of Windsor, mistress to Edward VIII
Anne Edwards, Wallis: The Novel
Elizabeth Luard, Emerald [about Wallis's fictional secret daughter by Edward VIII]
Very intriguing. I have tweeted your url and I’ll look forward to your reports! I may even join in a few
Thank you so much and yes, please do join in! I won’t progress all that fast as a lot of my reading time is going to research, plus I have to spread the costs – annoyingly the library doesn’t have most of these. I am hoping the Plaidys might get reprinted in due course.
This is a great list and challenge, and I’m looking forward to reading others’ reports! I’ve been collecting/tracking historical novels on royalty for ages and will likely have more to add once I go through my shelves. (I see you’ve found my review of the Gaveston novel too – thanks for linking it!)
I’ve just ordered Jean Plaidy’s Madame du Barry. Also reserved Joan Haslip’s du Barry biography at the library for purposes of comparison.
I personally wouldn’t count Alais as the mistress of Henry II. Many modern historians consider it highly unlikely, and that it was simply a way for Richard to avoid marrying Alais, and propaganda by Henry’s enemies. Sharon (Penman) mentioned it a few times in her previous blog, or the one beofre that.
I’m putting a note in about this, and about other disputed relationships.
I love royalty and historical fiction, but the only ones on that list I’ve read are The Other Boleyn Girl, Goddess of the Green Room, and The King’s Favorite. All of them were amazing. Goddess of the Green Room was probably my favorite.
I’ll try and read some of the others. Also, I’d like to reccomend Wallis: The Novel by Anne Edwards if you want a book on Wallis Simpson (and not her fictional daughter though that premise intrigues me it seems a bit weird). It’s fairly good on historical accuracy and a total page turner that I read in two days, though the writing style is a bit weak in some places. And Forever Amber is AMAZING though I understand why it doesn’t qualify for the challenge.
Tatiana, thanks so much for recommending Wallis – I’ve added it to the list. I’ve enjoyed Anne Edwards’ biographies, especially her books on Margaret Mitchell and Vivien Leigh, but I’d never heard of this novel. Looking forward to reading it now.
I like the sound of Goddess of the Green Room and that’s probably the next Plaidy I’ll look at after I’ve finished the current one, Madame du Barry.
Forever Amber is one of my all-time favourites – I’ve got three copies – and if I extend the challenge to fictional mistresses, it will be front and centre. But I’ll post about it at some point in any case, perhaps as part of the Alphabet Challenge.
Thanks again! And I’d love to hear what you think of any of the others.
As I read a royal mistress book in 2009 – Madame du Barry by Jean Plaidy – I can congratulate myself on having completed the challenge in 2009!
I plan for my first Royal Mistress Challenge book of 2010 to be The Time of Singing by Elizabeth Chadwick. Ideally, I’d like to read at least one book from each century this year. Here are my initial ideas:
14th century – The King’s Mistress by Emma Campion
15th century – A Rose for the Crown by Anne Easter Smith
16th century – The Last Boleyn by Karen Harper
17th century – Aimee du Roi by Catherine Decours
18th century – Our Lady of the Potatoes by Duncan Sprott
19th century – Goddess of the Green Room by Jean Plaidy
20th century – Wallis: The Novel by Anne Edwards
But you know what you have to do to make the God of Reading Challenges laugh? Tell him your plans.
My review of The Time of Singing plus Q&A with Elizabeth Chadwick is here:
http://misadventuresofmoppet.wordpress.com/2010/01/23/year-of-the-historical-the-time-of-singing-by-elizabeth-chadwick/
I am going to aim for three books:
• A rose for the crown
• The Other Boleyn Girl
• The Last Boleyn
You can find my post here: http://jaynesbooks.blogspot.com/2010/01/royal-mistress-challenge.html
Sorry for the two replies.
No problem Melissa and thanks for the link. Hope you enjoy your books!
what a neat challenge.
kim iin ohio
This sounds like a fascinating challenge. Ever since I read “Sex with Kings” by Eleanor Herman I’ve developed an interest in several of the mistresses. Even if I don’t join, I will be eagerly looking forward to the reviews!
I haven’t read Sex with Kings yet but a few people have recommended it. I’m reading The Time of Singing for the challenge now and hoping to post about it next week. In other news, I put in a purchase request for Emma Campion’s The King’s Mistress at the library yesterday, so that’s likely to be next in the queue! Hope you enjoy the reviews Penny.
Hello, I just came across your blog and this challenge sounds awesome. I have all of the Susan Holloway Scott books that I have been hoping to get to – so this challenge might help. I am going to try for the Maid of Honour level for now. Here is the link to my post http://themaidenscourt.blogspot.com/2010/01/royal-mistress-challenge.html. Thanks!
Thanks for the link Heather – hope you enjoy the challenge!
Miss Moppet,
I just learned of your challenge by way of The Maiden’s Court — I’m so pleased to see my books included. As you probably guessed, I’ve always been fascinated by the royal mistresses. They often have far more power than the queens, and while beauty is usually what gets them first noticed, they also have to be clever and witty to stay in favor, and intelligent to survive court politics. Your challenge-readers will have a lot of fun with the ladies on this list!
Susan, thanks so much for stopping by! I’m planning to read challenge books from every century this year which I hope will give me an idea of how the role of the mistress evolved over time. But the late 17th century has to be the golden age of the royal mistress both in England and France and I’m looking forward to reading your take on it.
Count me in! This will go really well with the Year of the Historical Challenge I just signed up for XD I’ll be tracking my progress in my blog. Sign-up post here: http://oneblacksheep.wordpress.com/2010/01/14/new-challenges/
Thanks for the link black sheep! I’m doing Year of the Historical too, although every year is a Year of the Historical with me.
Add me to this too please, here is my post on it:
http://historicallyobsessed.blogspot.com/2010/01/more-2010-reading-challenges-plaidy-and.html
Thank you for hosting this it is going to be a fun one!
Welcome to the challenge Lizzy! Hope you enjoy your books. A couple of the ones I’m planning to read are Plaidys, so I may be able to join the Plaidy challenge too.
Here is my post about this challenge. I can’t wait to dig in to some of the books I’ve chosen. We will be featuring Ms. Holloway Scott’s new release in September ’10 for the <a href="http://historicalfictionroundtable.com"Historical Fiction Bloggers Round Table featured read.
I’ve decided non-fiction should count too – ie biographies, general books about mistresses. I’ll add an update at the top of the page asap.
Hi,
Here is the url for my challenge post:
just joined this challenge! Looking forward to reading your reviews
http://muse-in-the-fog.blogspot.com/2010/01/royal-mistress-challenge-2010.html
I’ve been wavering about this one all month wondering if I can manage another challenge.
Sounds too much fun to resist any longer especially as non-fiction has been added.
My challenge post is here:
http://cat-bookmagic.blogspot.com/2010/02/royal-mistress-challenge.html
Catherine Delors has an interesting post on Grace Dalrymple Elliot, mistress of George IV when he was the Prince of Wales. So far as I know there’s been no fiction about Lady Elliot, but she wrote a journal of life during the Revolution (somewhat fictionalised) and there’s been a biography. More here:
http://blog.catherinedelors.com/2010/01/29/grace-dalrymple-elliott.aspx
Why thank you for putting up my link to the review of The King’s Favourite. This sounds like a wonderful challenge for the year, and should help me stay motivated. Orange Girl, hmmm…
You’re welcome Telynor, and thanks for stopping by!
We are both Orange Girls. I’m going for Maid of Honour now but the next one I want to read, which is The King’s Mistress by Emma Campion, hasn’t arrived from the library yet.
I’ve just realised, you could get to Courtesan level just by reading Susan Holloway Scott!
I just signed up for this challenge here. I’m looking forward to reading everyone’s reviews!
Just read and reviewed The King’s Mistress – very disappointing.
http://cat-bookmagic.blogspot.com/2010/03/review-kings-mistress-by-emma-campion.html
Thanks for the link, Cat!
I posted a page with ALL current reading challenges. Let me know if you want me to add any other information about yours. I hope it brings even more readers to The Royal Mistress Challenge!
Reading Challenges.
Rachelle (Bibliobabe)
Thanks Rachelle! I’m adding your challenge page to my links.
Just reviewed The Time of Singing – I seem to have had a completely opposite reaction to virtually everyone else I’ve met
http://oneblacksheep.wordpress.com/2010/04/09/multiple-challenges-yoth-royal-mistresses-challenge-the-time-of-singing-review/
Variety is the spice of life, black sheep! Thanks for leaving the link.
Hey just added mine but was unsure on one read “The Confessions of Catherine De Medici” by C.W. Gortner. It covers Diane but is from Catherine’s point so I am unsure if it would count so I did not add it.
Thanks for the links! Yes, do feel free to add the Gortner if it features Diane.
I’ve just posted about this on my blog, here. I’ve recently become interested in Charles II and his mistresses, so we’ll see where this leads…!
Here’s another entry for you:
http://www.epinions.com/review/Veronica_Buckley_The_Secret_Wife_of_Louis_XIV_Francoise_d_Aubigne_Madame_de_Maintenon_epi/content_517629709956 — The Secret Wife of Louis XIV: Francoise d’Aubigne, Madame de Maintenon by Veronica Buckley (nonfiction)
It’s full of quite a few surprises, I must say. Thank you for letting me come and play.
Thanks so much for linking this, Telynor! I’m so glad you enjoyed the book. Madame de Maintenon had a fascinating rags to riches story. She was also ahead of her time, creating the first secular girls’ school in France. There’s a lot of research being done into her life and influence on Louis XIV at the moment. On the fiction side, I really do recommend, if you can find it, Francoise Chandernagor’s The King’ Way, which is fiction, based on her letters, many actually unpublished.
bit late ! lol
as the saying goes” better late then never”.
I’m in at orange girl.
Never too late, marshallslion! Welcome aboard and I hope you enjoy your books.
Thanks!
I have a new one for Louis btw.
I would add “The Sun King Rises”byJean-Francois Parot, Jego, Yves Lepee, Denis.
I recall at least two of Louis mistresses in it! lol
I’m only listing books which are primarily about a mistress so I won’t add The Sun King Rises to the list above, but thanks for mentioning it – sounds like a great book!
I’ve just started reading “Madame du Barry” by Jean Plaidy. I ordered it thru Alibris books, since its almost unobtainable in the US. Starting this book is like eating chocolate-covered strawberries – you’re just thankful that you are alive and well to enjoy such a pleasurable activity! So I’ll be an orange girl, at least!
Glad you managed to get hold of it, Holly! It is a fun read.
And here is another one for you:
http://www.epinions.com/review/Susan_Holloway_Scott_The_Countess_and_the_King_A_Novel_of_the_Countess_of_Dorchester_and_King_James_II_epi/content_528706932356 — The Countess and the King: A Novel of the Countess of Dorchester and King James II by Susan Holloway Scott (fiction)
Thanks Telynor – great review! Interesting to read about a mistress who isn’t considered stunningly beautiful. I’ve added your link to the list.
Here’s another one for you:
The True Memoirs of Little K. by Adrienne Sharp
It’s about Russian ballerina Mathilde Kschessinska, the mistress of Nicholas II. It’s fiction, and to be honest, I hated it — just two stars.
http://www.epinions.com/review/Book_The_True_Memoirs_of_Little_K_Adrienne_Sharp/content_529508503172
Thanks Telynor, I hadn’t heard about this one.
It only came out last week, so it’s pretty recent. I had heard about it last spring, preordered it, and then promptly forgot that I had done so.