The Borgia Confessions by Alyssa Palombo

It is 1492 and we meet Rodrigo Borgia - Pope Alexander VI who has four children and a mistress.

The children must do what their father says so the Borgia family can become more powerful.

His son, Cesare, must become a cardinal when he really wants to be in the military.

His son, Juan, must go to the military when he really isn't suited for it.

His daughter, Lucrezia, is thirteen and must marry a man 20 years older than she is so two powerful families can advance together.

The fourth child, Jofre, was too young to even consider for anything to help his powerful reign increase until he decided it would be in the family's best interest to find a marriage partner for him at the age of 12.

It seems as if marrying into another powerful family would make your family more powerful, and that seemed to be the Pope’s main concern.

Ms. Palombo did extensive, amazing research for THE BORGIA CONFESSIONS and gave us a detailed account of the activities at this time.  What a wonderful history lesson with information that was new to me.

Learning how life in the Vatican was in the 1400’s was quite interesting especially how they married off their children at such a young age and did everything for gaining status and power.

I enjoyed the family interaction, but the military planning and political undertakings were not of much interest even though these facts were the gist of the story line and marvelously told. 

Also be aware that there are some graphic romantic scenes.

Did the public really know what went on in the castles with these holy men?  

What a time to live, and what a family.

It seems that there was a lot of greed, scheming, murders at their whim, and other sins to confess. :) 4/5

This book was given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.