Teaser Tuesday – The Borgia Bride by Jeanne Kalogridis

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Just do the following:

1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a random page
3. Share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
4. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
5. Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser:

The head toppled down, bouncing off the horse’s flank, then beneath its hooves, which kicked it beneath our carriage; a swift gush of blood spewed from the decapitated corpse’s neck, then its brocade-clad shoulders fell back and away. Our wheels attempted to roll forward and were obstructed as if by a great stone; the driver lashed his steeds until they pulled with all their might.

– page 125, The Borgia Bride by Jeanne Kalogridis

I picked this teaser as it reflects the horror the main character, Sancha de Aragon, witnesses as part of the Borgia family (she marries the youngest Borgia son, Jofre). Although it’s quite grisly and representative of the style of writing and the quality of description throughout, the story itself is only peppered with scenes of horror and is mostly exciting in a non-gory way – Sancha’s story itself is fraught with danger and fear. I’m really enjoying this novel (I love historical stuff anyway, but this is a particularly good one) and reading about the notorious Borgia family is exciting in itself!