Steve, marketing manager:  “You had me at page one — ‘Among the Franks — may God sent them to their ruin!'”

Elaine, an estate lawyer:  “I couldn’t put it down, but I didn’t want it to end.”

Georgette, a former proofreader:  “I have to apologize to you.  Half way through the prologue, I forgot I was supposed to be proofreading.  I loved it!  Do you have anything else I can read?”

John, a hard-nosed car salesman, asked to read the manuscript.  He couldn’t stop, even when his wife was yelling at him to put up hurricane shutters:  “I just finished your book this very second, and I’m completely blown away. It is truly, definitively, an epic! I was afraid it would be out of my interest envelope, but I find the authenticity enthralling, and because it’s in the first person, I feel almost like I’m sneaking a peek at the actual diary of Lady Jeanne – that’s how realistic the details feel.  And it has everything – history, adventure, romance, mystery, and a mind-blowing revelation at the end! I even had tears in my eyes when [DELETED TO PRESERVE STORY LINE].  I feel I’ve read something (and you’ve written something) that is very important.”

Evelyn, a creative writing college professor:  “I very much enjoyed reading…  I did not make notes — I really found myself reading for pleasure and, for me, that is hard to do – this from years of teaching English.  The strength of the novel is in the characters – I was very much captivated by Jeanne right to the end of her life.  Her struggles as a woman made her life both interesting and universal…  You also skillfully portrayed life in that time period.  The writing is beautiful – you handled dialogue, description, narrative – all of it – very well. It is Da Vinci Code for women.”