This review originally posted at More Than Just Magic 
 I love reading books about the lives of authors. Even when they may or may not be highly fictionalized it's still a lot of fun to see behind the curtain of my favourite stories. 
 Edgar Allan Poe is the perfect example of this. I have loved his writing ever since I was a teenager. And you can't help but wonder about what kind of person writes stories like The Raven, Annabel Lee or the Tell Tale Heart. Lynn Cullen explores the life of Edgar Allen Poe from a unique angle - the perspective of his mistress. This meant no matter how interesting certain events may have been I had to consider Frances's motivations as well. This worked extremely well, as it means the reader can delve into the life of Poe but an air of mystery still surrounds his personal affairs. It's win-win. As a bonus Cullen threw in references to other important figures of that time period - including brief cameos from Nathaniel Hawthorne and William Kellogg. I loved thinking about how all these famous people could have interacted before they knew what an impact they were going to have on the world. 
 I also really enjoyed getting to know Frances Osgood, a poet in her own right. The first line of this novel is "When given bad news, most women of my station can afford to slump of their divans, their china cups slipping from their fingers to the carpet, their hair falling prettily from its pins, their fourteen starched petticoats compacting with a plush crunch." And Frances wastes no time showing the reader that she is not most women. After her husband runs off with his mistress she can't afford to fall in despair and she draws upon her own talents and abilities (i.e. her writing) to support herself and her children. I liked that this book demonstrated the different ways female characters can be strong - Frances may not have been able to beat someone up but she was a lot stronger then most of the men in the novel gave her credit for. 
 Strangely enough it was the romance, the very premise of the novel, that kept me from absolutely loving this book. I enjoyed the characters, the setting and prose immensely but I thought the romance between Frances and Edgar felt rushed and over the top. If anything I thought the characters were spending more time trying to convince me they were in love than actually being in love. By the end of it I was so frustrated with both of them I wanted nothing more than for them to go their separate ways and never speak again. 
 Overall I think this a strong story and that Cullen does an excellent job capturing the setting and sentiment of the time period. However I would have liked a little more passion between Edgar and Frances to really sell how desperately they wanted to be together. And I thought Virginia Poe (Mrs Poe herself) could have used a little more character development (though I realize this wasn't really her story). But if you're someone who loves Edgar Allen Poe or historical fiction about real life people, Mrs. Poe is worth checking out.