King Arthur Movie Tristan

title: To Die For: A Novel of Anne Boleyn (Ladies in Waiting, Book One)

author: Sandra Byrd

genre: historical fiction

published: ARC/ August 2011

pages: 332

source: Historical Fiction Book Tours

first line: There are many ways to arrive at the Tower of London, though there are a few ways out.

rated: 4 1/2 out of 5 stars









blurb:

Meg Wyatt has been Anne Boleyn's closest friend ever since they grew up together on neighboring manors in Kent. So when twenty-five-year-old Anne's star begins to ascend, of course she takes Meg along for the ride.


Life in the court of Henry VIII is thrilling...at first. Meg is made mistress of Anne's wardrobe, and she enjoys the spoils of this privileged orbit and uses her influence for good. She is young and beautiful and in favor; everyone at court assumes that being close to her is being close to Anne.


But favor is fickle and envy is often laced with venom. As Anne falls, so does Meg, and it becomes nearly impossible for her to discern ally from enemy. Suddenly life's unwelcome surprises rub against court's sheen to reveal the tarnished brass of false affections and the bona fide gold of those are true. Both Anne and Meg may lose everything. When your best friend is married to fearsome Henry VIII, you may soon find yourself not only friendless but headless as well.


A rich alchemy of fact and fiction, To Die For chronicles the glittering court life, the sweeping romance, and the heartbreaking fall from grace of a forsaken queen and Meg, her closest companion, who was forgotten by the ages but who is destined to live on in our hearts forever.

About:

Best friends Meg Wyatt and Anne Boleyn grew up together in Kent. When Anne is sent to live at King Henry VIII's Court, Meg follows soon after.




Meg herself lived a difficult life at home, her father having been a harsh man and often beating her. She falls in love with Will Ogilvy, but when he is sent off to become a priest, her heart is shattered.


Not before long, Meg's father arranges a marriage for her, to a man who is decades older and whom she could never possibly love.


Life at court is tantalizing as well as dangerous, and when Anne gets herself into trouble, Meg follows her best friend in her downward spiral.






My thoughts:


The Tudor period is my favorite era. What historical fiction I've read concerning the Tudors has been by Philippa Gregory. I am so glad to have had the chance to read Sandra Byrd. She is a fantastic storyteller and superb writer and I enjoyed reading To Die For from start to finish. I was instantly transported to England in the 1500's and could easily envision King Henry VIII's court, with its luxury, scandal and drama. We all know how the story of Anne Boleyn plays out, but here we get to see her best friend alongside Anne. Meg's story takes a life of its own and I was really interested in what would become of her.


Meg and Anne were very close, and I could imagine the two of them living life in the King's court.

The first young man trained his eyes on me and smiled flirtatiously. I was unused to courtly manners. Did he intend to pay me such intense attention? Or was this a part and parcel of the illusory world of the court, where nothing was as it seemed?

p.56, To Die For: A Novel of Anne Boleyn

Meg is truly heartbroken over Will. You can feel her pain as you read. Her heart breaks when Will tells her his plans to join the priesthood.

"I loved him to the point of anguish."





I liked seeing some well known people in this story; George and Mary Boleyn, Jane Parker and King Henry himself.


I recommend this one to fans of historicals and Tudor fiction, or to anyone looking to get swept up in a great story with plenty of drama, glitz and heartache.
Actually, I think To Die For: A Novel of Anne Boleyn is a must read for Tudor fans.





On a final note, I really like the cover on this book. It suits it perfectly.
To Die For: A Novel of Anne Boleyn (Ladies in Waiting, Book One) will be on my top reads for 2011.











Special thanks to Historical Fiction Book Tours for making this possible.




Links of interest:


This has been a part of Historical Fiction Book Tours.





Click Here for the Tour schedule.

title: Before Versailles: A Novel of Louis XIV

author: Karleen Koen

genre: historical fiction

published: 2011

pages: 460

first line: Intelligent, virile, handsome, a man who made himself master of all he surveyed, Louis XIV was the foremost figure of his age.


source: TLC Book Tours


rated: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

Louis XIV is one of the best-known monarchs ever to grace the French throne. But what was he like as a young man—the man before Versailles?


After the death of his prime minister, Cardinal Mazarin, twenty-two-year-old Louis steps into governing France. He’s still a young man, but one who, as king, willfully takes everything he can get—including his brother’s wife. As the love affair between Louis and Princess Henriette burns, it sets the kingdom on the road toward unmistakable scandal and conflict with the Vatican. Every woman wants him. He must face what he is willing to sacrifice for love.

Before Versailles centers around the first four months of Louis XIV's reign. You get to read about the women in the king's life and his decision making, as well as palace life in general. The story of a young Louis XIV was an interesting one.


The mystery, the romance and the going's on at the French court all kept me entertained.
Within the first pages there's a boy in an iron mask and a musketeer, my attention was captured instantly.


This is my first time reading about King Louis and I enjoyed author Karleen Koen's captivating storytelling. I felt like I was right there at the King's court. One thing I love about historical fiction is getting to learn a bit as you read. I now want to visit the Gardens of Versailles!

There was a certain listlessness to the evenings with Madame still absent. On this particular one, ladies were spread out near the queen on rugs and cushions, and the queen was content to sit in the suspended garden while her dwarves irritated courtiers by stealing fans or other trifles and dropping them into the water of the carp pond. Louis and his friends were on the water racing gondolas again.

p. 215

Special thanks to Lisa over @ TLC Book Tours.
Click here to see the rest of the tour stops.



About Karleen Koen:




Karleen Koen is the author of Now Face to Face andThrough a Glass Darkly, which was a New York Timesbestseller and featured a much older Alice Verney (known in that novel as the Duchess of Tamworth). The author lives in Houston, Texas.


Connect with Karleen at her website, karleenkoen.net, and on Facebook.

title: Queen By Right

author: Anne Easter Smith

genre: historical fiction

published: May 2011

pages: 494

source: Historical Fiction Book Tours

first line: A scream pierced Cecily's dreamless sleep.

rated: 4 out of 5 stars








About:

Cecily Neville is duchess of York and is also known as Rose of Raby and Proud Cis.
As a child Cecily was betrothed to Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York and married by age thirteen. Although the marriage is arranged, the two actually fall in love.


They become involved in what is known as the War of the Roses, a period where the York family and Lancaster family are fighting for the throne of England. This was also known and the Cousins War, since cousins and in-laws were fighting on opposite sides.

As Richard fights for the throne, he has Cecily's support.
The story is told from the viewpoint of Cecily as she reflects back on her life right after her beloved Richard dies.




My thoughts:

I love it when I read a book and am immediately swept into a storyline filled with descriptive passages and interesting characters. That's exactly what happened when I picked up Anne Easter Smith's Queen By Right.



This was my first time reading about Cecily and I enjoyed getting to know her.
As a child she'd dress up as a boy and go out riding with her father, which was really frowned upon and considered a sin for a female to dress as a male. Cecily had a mind of her own from the start. Richard takes a liking to her as soon as he meets her and astonishingly enough, the two actually fall in love.



There was plenty going on within this story, but it never got overwhelming and I found no dry spots and I stood up late into the night reading. I felt like author
Anne Easter Smith took history and blended it with fiction perfectly bringing these characters to life. I liked both Cecily and Richard. And I must mention again, the setting and time period, I was perfectly swept away into the story.


I can definitely imagine this one being made into a mini-series.




This is a book to sink your teeth into and I highly recommend it, especially to fans of this genre. Romance, history, love and war all make for a juicy read!
Anne Easter Smith has become a new favorite author.

She stared into the darkness of her curtained bed, seeing again the magnificent hall and reliving that special day in her life. All her senses were satisfied that night by the delicious taste of delicate dishes, the pungent aroma of roasted meat mingled with the heaved scents liberally applied to the throats and wrists of the ladies, the myriad of colors of silks, satins, damasks, and the velvets adorned with every precious gem known to man, the sweet sounds of gems-horns, viols, lutes and recorders. And then there was the touch of Richard's hand as he led her out to dance.
p.76

Queen By Right is on a virtual book tour. For a complete list of tour links, click here. You can check out reviews as well as other guest posts, interviews and book giveaways.




Special thanks to Historical Fiction Book Tours for making this possible.

Today I'd like to welcome author Anne Easter Smith as she kindly stops by my little corner of the web to do a guest post. Anne is the author of Queen By Right, which I will be reviewing on May 26th.



About the book:

From the award-winning author of A Rose for the Crown, Daughter of York, and The King’s Grace comes another masterful historical novel—the story of Cecily of York, mother of two kings and the heroine of one of history’s greatest love stories.

Read on for Anne Easter Smith's interesting take on Protagonists in her novels....








Guest Post by Anne Easter Smith

Protagonists in AES Novels


While I was writing Queen By Right, people would ask me whether Cecily Neville was anything like my other protagonists. Certainly all of them were not afraid to speak their minds, except perhaps for Grace, until she was pushed. I like my medieval women feisty, history tells us they were--to a point. I confess my ladies are probably a little too contemporary in their behavior for the academic medievalist, but that’s why fiction is such fun.



Studies of the texts from the period tell us that men thought we had a greater desire for sex, that we were easily led, prone to unfaithfulness--especially sexually. That’s why men felt the need to control us. Fathers, priests and husbands thought it was their duty to keep us virtuous and threatened our reputations if we were not. A sullied reputation often meant no one would marry you, and that was a disaster.



Bold-speaking in women was a vice, so the men said, and there was nothing worse than being a “clatterer”! (Magpies, jays and women were dubbed the three clatterers, so droned on the men.) You could be punished for gossiping or scolding by being put on the cucking stool barefoot with your hair hanging down (very humiliating). It was a chair to which a woman was tied and left outside her door or in a public place, and some even had wheels so the clatterer could be clattered over the cobblestones around the neighborhood. (It is similar to a ducking stool, but no water is involved.) I know Kate Haute should have been put on one for sure! Margaret and Cecily were royalty, so I expect their husbands chastised them in private instead.



Another question I am asked is which of my “heroines” I like the most. Of course, I love them all, but here is what I love about them individually.

• Kate Haute because she was my first and, I thought, my only (and because I wasn’t expecting to write another book). I grew as a writer with her, so she’s special. And she is modeled on my younger daughter, Kate, who in puberty and teenage years mostly definitely would have been on the cucking stool a lot!

• Margaret of York is the one I related to the most as I was living with her. She was a rebel at heart, she was her father’s favorite, and she left her homeland for a new life (just like I did). She was also tall for a woman (like me) and loved books (like me).

• Grace is probably my antithesis. Petite, quiet, gentle, but I loved that she gave her heart in the wrong place at first (like me). I admired her tremendously for rising above her convent upbringing, being a bastard, being invisible at court, and yet managing to find herself among her beautiful and strong-minded siblings. I loved her loyalty to Elizabeth Woodville and John of Gloucester, and I loved the way she gently kept the peace and sorted out the mystery of who was Perkin Warbeck.

• Cecily is the woman I admire the most, and whereas I’d love to sit down to lunch with Margaret and have a natter, I’d be a bit intimidated by Cecily. This is no simpering miss! I am in awe of her strength, amazing health (she lived until she was 80), and her political savvy. She was lucky enough to experience one of the love matches of her century with Richard, duke of York, and her story is so colorful and dramatic it took me two years to tell. Cecily was in Rouen when Joan of Arc was tried and executed, she gave birth to a dozen children, she had a passionate marriage, she watched her husband fight his way to the throne to claim his right which eluded him in the end with his death at the Battle of Wakefield. And she watched her son, Edward, crowned in June 1461--550 years ago.

I invite you to dive into Cecily’s world with Queen By Right. I have been told by the wonderful woman who owns our local bookshop that this is my best book and she could not put it down. And Michelle Moran, author of Madame Tussaud, said “it kept me up for most of one night needing to know how it all wrapped up." It is my hope you will all be up nights reading it.



For more information please visit Anne Easter Smith’s WEBSITE and FACEBOOK PAGE.

*photo above is from the authors website*







“Thank you Naida, for hosting me here at The Bookworm”.


– Anne Easter Smith






Thank you so much for stopping by Anne! Queen By Right does have me up into the night reading, I'm finding it hard to put down.

I enjoyed reading a bit about your other heroines and where the inspiration for them came from.
It really is hard to believe that women were put on a 'cucking stool' in order to punish and humiliate them. How far we have come!


That is one of the reasons I enjoy historical fiction so much, you learn as you read and are very much entertained in the process.





Blog visitors Queen By Right is on a virtual book tour. For a complete list of tour links, click here. You can check out reviews as well as other guest posts, interviews and book giveaways.












Special thanks to Historical Fiction Book Tours for making this possible.

title: The Secret of the Glass

author: Donna Russo Morin

genre: historical fiction

published: 2010

pages: 372

first line: The scalding heat rose up before her, reaching deep inside her like a selfish lover grasping for her soul.

rated: 4 out of 5 stars






When author Donna Russo Morin contacted me about reading and reviewing her book The Secret of the Glass, I was tickled pink. Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres and I always enjoy delving into a story set in another time and place.



Set in Venice during the 17th century, The Secret of the Glass is a wonderfully woven story full of drama, romance and Venetian history.


Nineteen year old Sophia Fiolario comes from a family of glass makers, her father Zeno owns a successful glass making factory. Being the eldest of three daughters, Sophia has been taught how to make the glass and she truly loves it. However, she works in secret with her father because it is illegal for women to work the glass.



The lovely Sophia is betrothed against her will to Pasquale da Fuligna, who is cold hearted and almost twice her age. She unwillingly consents to marry him, thinking of what will happen to her family once her father dies. If all goes as planned, her husband will inherit her fathers business and 'kindly' pay to put her two sisters in a nunnery.

When Sophia meets a handsome and kind stranger Teodoro Gradenigo, there is instant attraction. However, Teodoro is headed to the parish himself. His older brother is set to marry, leaving Teodoro with no other choice.

She felt his gaze first, like the brush of a butterfly's wings if they passed too close to the tender skin of her cheek, a touch that wasn't a touch at all but jarring nonetheless. She turned to it, drawn by it and saw him. His chiseled features towered over every other head in the room. He seemed to scowl at her, yet a small, almost secretive smile played upon his full lips.

Teodoro and Sophia are soon unable to forget each other, but they know it is nearly impossible to be together. Sophia is on a mission to find out if her betrothed is up to something illegal so she can report him and hopefully save herself.
To make matters worse, Sophia's father has been diagnosed with Dementia and his health is quickly declining.



Another interesting aspect to the story is Galileo Galilei and his famous invention, the telescope. He needs someone to make a special glass piece for it, and he hears the Fiolario's glass making factory is among the finest in Venice.



Author Donna Russo Morin obviously did her research and the result is a beautifully told story with vivid details of 17th century Venice and its history. I really felt swept up in this time period while I was reading.




I liked Sophia's character very much. She's a strong heroine, with a mind of her own trying to make it in a world were her options were limited.
The relationship she had with Teodoro was really sweet. I wondered how their story would end.



I also enjoyed reading about the techniques used during glass making. It seemed that Sophia had a passion for it, and truly felt free while making beautiful glass creations. Sadly enough, she had to keep her love of working the glass a secret.


I loved how the story involved different aspects of Venice and it's historical figures. Galileo is woven into the storyline seamlessly.





This was a great read and I highly recommend it to fans of Historical Fiction.
There's an interesting plot, likable characters and wonderful writing within these pages.

It is the history book writer's function to tell us where and when things happened;
it is the function of the fiction writer to tell us how it felt.
- Donna Russo Morin

Special thanks to author Donna Russo Morin for sending me a copy of her book.

title: Lady of Hay

author: Barbara Erskine

genre: historical fiction/paranormal

pages: 571

published: 1986, republished 2010

first line: It was snowing.

rated: 4 out of 5







Journalist Joanna Clifford is researching regression by hypnosis for an article she is writing. In 1970 Jo herself was hypnotized, but remembers very little about the incident. What she doesn't know is that she nearly died during the session, her heart having stopped, and the hypnotherapist gave her a mental suggestion so that she would not remember anything that occurred.



Now, 15 years later, Jo has agreed to be hypnotized again for her research. Her old flame Nick is adamantly trying to talk her out of it, while his brother Sam is as well. However after the first session, Jo regresses to 800 years in the past and finds herself seeing her life through the eyes of Matilda de Braose, The Lady of Hay.



Before she knows it, Jo's hypnotic trances are getting really vivid and she is having a hard time distinguishing what's real from what happened to Matilda.
She learns that Matilda was unhappily married to William, but was secretly in love with Richard de Clare. She experiences Matilda's pain and heartache. Jo even finds herself missing Richard and wanting to regress just to be able to be with him, if only in a trance.



While under hypnosis, Jo experiences Matilda giving birth to her first born son. When Jo awakens she find herself having post-partum symptoms. She also misses the baby and hears him crying at night.

Jo starts to think that she may have at one point in time actually been the Lady of Hay, and is just now remembering her past life. She also insists on being hypnotized again and again until she finds out what became of Matilda.
But soon enough, scared of what is happening to her, she tries to make herself forget Matilda, to no avail.

She laughed uneasily. "It appears I have an alter ego. I still don't believe I am her reincarnation-I can't bring myself to accept that-but this woman is living a life somewhere there inside my head and it is so real! More real in some ways than the life I'm leading here and now."

Jo visits the site of Matilda's former home and while there she falls into a trance midday. The same keeps happening from then on, Jo regresses into these trances on her own with no control over them. She doesn't have to be hypnotized to do it, she can be standing in the middle of a field and mentally be in Matilda's day and time oblivious as to what is going on around her in the present time.



Little by little, Jo begins to put the pieces of the puzzle together, only to find out that some of her current friends were also alive 800 years ago, and knew the Lady of Hay back then.




At 571 pages, Lady of Hay is a pretty hefty book. It took me about 100+ pages in to get hooked on the story. All the while, I didn't really relate to any of the characters, but I was curious about what was going to happen next. The plot fascinated me, but some of the characters annoyed me, mostly the men in Jo's life. There's some physical violence during the current day storyline, and the female characters put up with it, which had me shaking my head as I read.




I found the scenes where Jo would regress into Matilda's life to be really interesting. That's when the book really took a turn into the historical fiction element of the story.
Barbara Erskine makes a smooth transition from Jo's world to Matilda's and vice versa. You can also tell that the author did alot of research for the book. The events and people in Matilda's world are well detailed.




The plot is full of drama, backstabbing, time travel and a touch of romance. I liked the paranormal element to the book as well.
There's alot going on in this story and I found myself hooked from the second half of the book until the end.

It's hard to explain what it's like being someone else, even if only as a vivid dream. She doesn't inhabit my skin. I find myself in hers. I think and speak and feel as her. But I don't know her future anymore than she would have known it.

Lady of Hay is a novel with a rich plot full of interesting characters. I can see this being made into a movie or even a mini-series.


I recommend this one to fans of historicals and paranormals. This story has a nice blend of the two.


Special thanks to Danielle over at Sourcebooks for sending me a copy of this book.

title: The Queen's Pawn


author: Christy English

published: 2010

pages: 378

first line: My mother died the day I was born.

rated: 4 out of 5 stars

Looking into my father's face I saw that he believed what he said. When life was dark and the road of duty and honor was rocky and long, I remembered my father's face on that day. I remembered how he loved me and how he was a man good enough to see beyond the evils of this world into a certain paradise.

Set during the Middle Ages in England, The Queen's Pawn is the story of Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine and Princess Alais of France, and the love and betrayal that occurs between these two women.


An arranged marriage has been planned for Princess Alais and Prince Richard, also known as Richard the Lionheart. Richard is the son of King Henry II and Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine.



When Eleanor and Alais first meet, the two are drawn to each other and Eleanor thinks of Alais as a daughter right away. They form a mother/daughter type relationship, Eleanor teaching Alais everything she knows, and Alais looking up to the queen.


However, once Eleanor she sees how her son Richard reacts after meeting the princess, she can't help but be jealous. Richard shows emotion and lust for Alais, and sings love songs to her at court. Eleanor wants to figure out how to make sure the two of them love her more than they love one another.

I saw his loneliness then, and it called to the loneliness within me. Just as I had been alone all my life, sent to marry among my father's enemies to serve the throne of France, so had Richard been alone, except when his mother was with him. He too, served as I did. He worked always for the good of Eleanor, placing her needs and the needs of the duchy of Aquitaine above his own.

These two women have a strong bond, and you see it plainly throughout the book. Eleanor strives to teach Alais, to make her into a strong woman who thinks with her head, and not with her heart.

When I curtsied and bid her good night, Eleanor drew me close. "Lead men a merry chase," she said, "but never let them catch you."


"Not until the wedding night," I said, speaking low, so that others would not hear me over the music.


Eleanor smiled her wicked smile, and let go of my hand. "No, Alais. Not even then."

Once King Henry arrives at court, he sees Alais and is smitten with her.
Henry is used to taking lovers whenever he pleases and he becomes jealous of his own son, wanting Alais for himself. He even announces to Richard that he will never give Alais over to him for marriage. Eleanor is used to Henry's infidelities, and hasn't allowed him in her bed for many years.






Alais being well trained in how to behave at court and with royalty, plays it smoothly, always knowing just how to act and what to say to the king. This does not go unnoticed by Eleanor. As events unfold, this is where the story begins to take its turn. These two women who were once like mother and daughter, now begin to have a rivalry.

She met my eyes across the crowded hall. Everyone was pretending that they had not seen the exchange between her and the king, as if they were not speculating whether he would make her his mistress, and when.

I really enjoyed reading The Queen's Pawn. I was drawn in from page one, and I love a good scandal. The storyline was interesting, the characters were well developed and the setting was really well written. Christy English takes the reader to the Middle Ages in England. I always enjoy when an author takes fact and weaves it in with fiction.

This was my first time reading about Eleanor of Aquitaine and Alais of France, and I liked the dynamics of their relationship. There is betrayal between these two ladies, but also forgiveness. Eleanor is a complex character, it seemed she was always plotting and planning, but she did it for her survival.
She knew how to live and thrive in a man's world. Alais betrays Eleanor, yet loves her no matter what happens. Alais being young and naive, wants to believe in Henry and in his love for her. "Revenge was not the tonic I had hoped it would be."




This is the type of read you cozy up with and just kind of live within the pages for a few days. There's drama, heartache, romance and a good dose of scandal. Highly recommended, especially to fans of historical fiction.

Alais set her dog down and came into my arms as sweetly as she ever had, as if she had never cast a lustful eye at my husband, as if she had never threatened to take my favorite son from me. I had no god to pray to, but I prayed anyway. I begged a god I knew did not exist to shield this girl in the days to come, to harbor her, even from me.

Special thanks to Christy English for sending me a signed copy of The Queen's Pawn. Click here for my interview with the author.

Each fortnight you have to write a blog post about an historical fiction book of your choice (it might even be something you already read before), but it MUST be related to the letter of the week.


You have several possibilities:


- the first letter of the title


- the first letter of the author's first name or surname


- the first letter of a character's first name or surname


- the first letter of a place where an historical event took place






My pick for this round is Jane Boleyn a.k.a. Lady Rochford.


She was married to George Boleyn and was sister in law to the famous Anne Boleyn.
Jane's marriage to George was an unhappy one, it is said that George was homosexual. He was also very close to his sister Anne, preferring her company above anyone elses. Jane's testimony against Anne and George played a huge role in having them beheaded. Supposedly Jane accused them of having sexual relations. Historians say that Jane was jealous of the close relationship her husband had with his sister Anne, and this is what fueled her to testify against them.


Several years later, Jane became lady-in-waiting to Henry's 5th wife Catherine Howard. Eventually she and the queen were charged with treason and were held in the Tower of London. Apparently Jane had been helping Queen Catherine meet with her lover, Thomas Culpepper, behind the King's back. It has been said that Jane had a full nervous breakdown while in the Tower and eventually went insane. It's unsure whether Jane was faking insanity to get a pardon or really went mad. Jane watched as the queen was beheaded, before going to the chopping block herself. Such drama!



I recommend reading The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory if you want to read some good historical fiction that has Jane Boleyn as a central character.

title: The Boleyn Inheritance


author: Philippa Gregory

genre: historical fiction


published: 2006


pages: 518


rated: 4 1/2 stars

I rise from my great chair with the gold canopy over my head. On either side of the box the curtains billow in the Tudor colors of green and white, my initials are everywhere, my crest is everywhere. The other initials of all the other queens are on the underside of the curtains only and they don't show. To judge from today, there has only ever been one queen: myself.

It seems every time I pick up a Philippa Gregory book, I cannot put it down. Since reading The Constant Princess, I have been hooked on her books and find myself totally absorbed in her storytelling. The Boleyn Inheritance was no different.








The story is set between 1539 and 1542 after Jane Seymour dies and King Henry VIII decides to marry once again. This time he marries a German princess, Anne of Cleves, making her his fourth wife. After a bad first encounter with Anne, Henry quickly begins to hate her. Once Anne is in England she finds herself alone and barely able to speak the language, with a husband who will not consummate the marriage and who dislikes her from the start.






The story is told from the points of view of Queen Anne, Katherine Howard who is a lady in waiting, and Jane Boleyn, who is George Boleyn's widow. Jane's own testimony helped send her late husband and his infamous sister Anne Boleyn to the chopping block.




The young, beautiful and silly Katherine Howard has captured the kings eye, who is already looking for a way out of his new marriage.



The Henry in this book is old and obese, no longer the young, handsome, charming prince he once was. He is nearly fifty years old and a tyrant, twisting the law to serve himself and having innocent people killed.

A fat old man, a vulgar old man, like a drunk sheep farmer on market day. His face is terribly bloated, like a great round dish of dripping; his hair is thinning and gray; he is monstrously fat; and he has an old injury in his leg that makes him so lame that he rolls in his walk like a sailor. Without his crown he is not handsome; he looks like anybody's fat old grandfather.

Katherine Howard made me laugh a few times with her self-centered comments and observations. She was definitely vain and flighty, and had no clue about the danger she was putting herself in. I pitied her since she was just 14 years old when she arrived at court and 16 when she was sentenced to death. Katherine became Henry's fifth wife and he called her his 'rose without a thorn'.

The king is on his throne looking powerful and fatherly, and Lady Anne is as pretty as she can be (given that awful dress) beside him. She might as well just have thrown the sables in the Thames and have them sewn on that taffeta tent. I am so distressed about such wonderful furs all but thrown away that it almost dims my pleasure for the moment.

Jane Boleyn is back at court after helping send her husband and sister-in-law to their deaths. She was constantly sneaking around, eavesdropping and following them in The Other Boleyn Sister. But in this book she misses them and keeps thinking about how much she loved them, that didn't make any sense to me. Towards the end of the book she somewhat admits to herself that she was insanely jealous of the bond between George and Anne Boleyn.

The two of them used to ride together, racing, neck and neck like lovers, and I could hear their laughter over the thudding of the hooves as they went flying by. Sometimes, when I saw them together, so rich, so young, so beautiful, I couldn't tell which of them I loved more.

I liked Queen Anne, and I pitied her. Her marriage to the king was doomed from the start. Once she knew that Henry was trying to find a way out of the marriage, she just hoped and prayed her life would be spared.

There is a silence between us, as we both come to realize the simple truth that is being spoken. We are two women who have recognized that we cannot control the world. We are players in this game, but we do not chose our own moves. The men will play us for thier own desires. All we can do is try to survive whatever happens next.

I enjoyed this book very much. The Boleyn Inheritance has been the perfect read on a cold winters night. There was drama, romance and plenty of interesting characters. I was completely hooked on the last few chapters and was up until late into the night reading.

Everyone tries to forget that Henry is a ruthless man. Henry himself tries to make us forget. When he is being charming, or setting himself out to please, we like to forget that we are playing with a savage bear. This is not a man whose temperament is tamed. This is not a man whose mood is constantly sweet. This is not a man who can manage his feelings; he cannot keep constant from one day to another.