Review - The Queen's Promise by Lyn Andrews

Kindle: 496 pages
Publisher: Headline
Publication date: 28 Feb 2013

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 075538671X

Alluring Anne Boleyn knows she is required to use her charm to her advantage - and secure the status of her family at the Tudor court. She easily captivates the noblemen, most notably Henry Percy, future Earl of Northumberland and, hopeful of her father's approval, Anne agrees to a secret betrothal.

Controlling Cardinal Wolsey, though, will not countenance an alliance which could threaten his position. Exiled to the north, Henry is forced into a marriage of duty, whilst Anne's fortunes reverse when she bewitches the King himself. Unwilling to be simply his mistress, Anne will settle for nothing but the throne. But great power brings even greater enemies, and Anne's past actions - and long-kept secrets - might prove to be her undoing...

Anne Boleyn's life and subsequent death have been the subject of many, many books. She was a fascinating woman and her story makes for a riveting read.

There can't be many angles left which haven't already been explored to tell her story but The Queen's Promise seems to have found a refreshing one. It's told mostly from the viewpoint of Sir Henry Percy and his squire and really Anne is just one of the supporting cast, rather than the main focus. This is a story about Henry, for the most part. Anne is in there, obviously, but the story most Tudor fans will recognise has been turned inside out and it's like being on the inside looking out, rather than the outside looking in.

I liked that about this book. Henry Percy is usually mentioned briefly in most other stories about Anne. He was the young gentleman who fell in love with the young Miss Boleyn and I don't really know that much about him but I felt I got to know him so much better, thanks to this book.

It's got it's flaws and sometimes I got frustrated that it wasn't heading in the direction I wanted it to follow but overall it's a great story which is well told.

A great book for Tudor fans, History fans and romance fans. It's still a tragic tale but it's got a bit of everything in here.

DNF - The Rich are Different by Susan Howatch

Kindle: 566 pages
Publisher: Sphere
First Publication date: 15 Mar 1977
ISBN - 9780751553123

First lines - "I was in London when I first heard of Dinah Slade. She was broke and looking for a millionaire, while I was rich and looking for a mistress. From the start we were deeply compatible."

1983 Synopsis - Dinah Slade was young enough to be Paul Van Zale's daughter. But she didn't care. She was a very ambitious and beautiful woman with her eye on Van Zale's tremendous fortune. However, she hadn't counted on falling in love. Paul found himself attracted to Dinah in a way he had long forgotten. Her vitality, her sensuality, consumed him. With her he could forget his past, his wife, his enemies, his empire....

2013 Synopsis - When ambitious, exciting Dinah Slade becomes passionately - and dangerously - involved in the private and public life of American millionaire Paul Van Zale, it is the beginning of a violent battle over his business empire and a ruthless struggle by two women to win his heart. We follow the fortunes of Dinah Slade from the boardrooms of Wall Street across the ocean to the Norfolk Broads, from the Roaring Twenties to the Great Depression and the Second World War. For two decades she stakes everything on winning the fight, in business and in love - and at any cost ...

Urgh, I'm so disappointed.  This cover caught my eye years ago and I added it to my wishlist because I was so drawn to it (I'm shallow, yeah).  Finally got it on my kindle and it has gathered dust there until I finally cracked it open.  I didn't have the first clue what it was about, other than it was to do with rich folk and the Wall street crash of the 1920's.  Good enough.

The first chapter was promising.  Second chapter ended and it was game over.

I can't even remember the names but we'll call him 'Rich guy' and we'll call her 'Little girl'.  God knows how old he was but kept talking about his 'front hair', whatever the hell that was (but I do know it was on his head o_0) and she was 21.  He's a rich American banker and she's a stupid English girl who needs to borrow money to save her Estate in the country.

The first thing he wants to know about her when he finds out that she wants to meet with him is, "Is she a virgin?" 

Well, it turns out she was, right up until he combed his front hair and took 40 seconds to remedy that situation.  Ack!.  Whatever.   I just can't do it.

I've just found out it was written in 1977 and was probably considered racey back then but now...it's just lame. 

Lots of people seem to like it and I know I'm in the minority, but it's not for me.

DNF.

Review - The Orpheus Descent by Tom Harper

Paperback: 496 pages
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Publication date: 01 July 2013
ISBN: 9781444731354

Today, twelve golden tablets sit in museums around the world, each created by unknown hands and buried in ancient times, and each providing the dead with the route to the afterlife. Archaeologist Lily Barnes, working on a dig in southern Italy, has just found another. But this tablet names the location to the mouth of hell itself.

And then Lily vanishes. Has she walked out on her job, her marriage, and her life -- or has something more sinister happened? Her husband, Jonah, is desperate to find her. But no one can help him: not the police and not the secretive foundation that sponsored her dig. All Jonah has is belief, and a determination to do whatever it takes to get Lily back.

But like Plato before him, Jonah will discover the journey ahead is mysterious and dark and fraught with danger. And not everyone who travels to the hidden place where Lily has gone can return.

This was a great story AND I learned some stuff. I haven't read anything else by this author and I wasn't really sure what to expect with this, I had just heard that it was an ancient mystery thriller type story and had a Dan Brown feel to it so I was looking forward to it. I'll admit I wasn't immediately hooked and I was feeling a bit lukewarm towards it until I got three or four chapters in but from then on I could hardly put it down.

It's a dual timeline story and a lot of the time it felt like I was reading two separate tales but they were both great tales so it was win/win. One aspect I was a bit worried about was that one storyline was told from the point of view of Plato, and his part of the tale is filled with Greek God's and philosophers and in truth I thought a lot of it might go over my head as the closest I've come to anything remotely like that was the time I watched Disney's Hercules... My fears were unfounded though, Plato and his contemporaries were a joy to read about. Interesting, puzzling, fascinating...I loved all of it. When we first meet Plato he is setting off from Greece by ship to meet his friend in Italy who has asked him to bring funding for a special book he has found but can't afford. The rendezvous hits a setback from the very start and Plato's task is to try and find his friend and solve the mystery surrounding the book he wanted to buy.

Plato's modern counterpart in alternating chapters is Jonah, a band member who has recently come off tour and is keen to reunite with his archaeologist wife who he hasn't seen for the 6 weeks he's been off touring Europe. Like Plato his meeting doesn't go smoothly when his wife goes missing and as he tries to piece together the mystery that surrounds her disappearance we see the parallel's to Plato's story start to unfold.

The two stories are set more than 2000 years apart but by alternating chapters we see how closely they are intertwined and riddles posed in Jonah's chapters were usually answered in Plato's chapters and vice versa. It's very well done.

The only thing I wasn't keen on was the ending. The book held my interest right up to the conclusion but I found the ending unsatisfying. It just seemed a bit rushed and I just wasn't as enamored with it as I was the rest of the story.

All in all a great story though and I plan to read all the other author's works too.

Review - Highland Surrender by Tracy Brogan

Paperback: 372 pages
Publisher: Montlake Publishing
Publication date: 04 December 2012
ISBN13: 9781612186962

First Line - "Fiona Sinclair could not reconcile the irony of nature's twisted humour."

To seal a fragile truce, Fiona Sinclair’s brothers trade her in marriage to their sworn enemy. Though devastated by their betrayal, she has little choice in the matter, for if she refuses, her innocent young sister must take her place. The spirited Fiona is willing to sacrifice her freedom to protect her kin, but she vows never to surrender her heart.

As the eldest son of a clan chief, Myles Campbell is accustomed to having his own way. But when the king of Scotland commands he wed a defiant Highland lass instead of a French mademoiselle, Myles must obey his royal duty. Meeting his bride for the first time on their wedding day, he is pleased to discover the lass is a beauty, but she quickly proves she’d just as soon kill him as kiss him.

When two such warrior spirits collide, sparks fly, igniting a fiery passion that strains against the bonds of family honor, clan loyalty— and the ultimate surrender—love.

This has such a lovely cover and I was hoping that the story inside would be equally appealing. Turned out that it didn't really do a lot for me though, unfortunately. Overall I'm left with a feeling of frustration.

Historical Romance, set in Scotland in the reign of King James. First problem: considering it's a period piece there doesn't seem to be a lot of actual History here. If the romance had been stronger I might have overlooked this but at least give me one or the other, if not both Biggest problem however, was that I didn't actually like the leading lady, Fiona. She and Miles (from an opposing clan) are forced into marriage by Royal decree and it's hate on first sight (from her point of view) even though there's nothing actually wrong with Miles (or his family). He bends over backwards to try and make the marriage bearable for Fiona but she seems bratty for the sake of being bratty to him. Her family hated his family so by proxy she's going to make his life miserable, just because she can, not because he gives her any reason to. This goes on until well past the half way point by which time I was thoroughly sick and tired of Fiona and her constant negativity. Almost two thirds of the book before I got any romance, which incidentally was so sudden a change in attitude from Fiona that I almost got whiplash...

Instead of of hoping they'd sort out their differences and get it together I actually hoped Fiona would make a run for it or that Miles would ditch her. I don't think that's the desired reaction for a reader of romance. The story got a bit more interesting from that point on but by then it was too little, too late.

Book Review - Stardust by Carla Stewart

Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: FaithWords
Publication date: June 7 2013
ISBN13: 9781455504282

First Line - "My marriage to O’Dell Peyton was already over when he washed up on the shores of Zion."

Shortly after burying her unfaithful husband, Georgia Peyton unexpectedly inherits the derelict Stardust motel from a distant relative. Despite doubts from the community and the aunt who raised her, she is determined to breathe new life into it. But the guests who arrive aren't what Georgia expects: Her gin-loving mother-in-law; her dead husband's mistress; an attractive but down-on-his-luck drifter who's tired of the endless road; and an aging Vaudeville entertainer with a disturbing link to Georgia's past.

Can Georgia find the courage to forgive those who've betrayed her, the grace to shelter those who need her, and the moxy to face the future? And will her dream of a new life under the flickering neon of the STARDUST ever come true?

1950's Texas Motel near the Bayou. Such a sweet read. Since finishing this I've found out it's classed as a 'Christian' read, if I'd known that before starting I might have been a bit leery of it. I've got beliefs but I'm not religious and I try to steer clear of anything that might be a bit preachy. That kind of stuff just rubs me up the wrong way. I didn't get preachy with this book though, I just got a lovely, sweet story.

The narrator Georgia is a recent widow and she hasn't had an easy life, she was abandoned as a child, married young to a womaniser and is now in sole charge of two young daughters and has inherited a run-down motel complex. Add to that the polio epidemic, her late husband's mistress and her children, a difficult mother in law, a little romance and money worries and it all makes for a really interesting story. It touches slightly on racial prejudices but as with everything in this book it's handled in a way that is touching and heartwarming.

I really liked this story and I might overlook the 'Christian' tag from now on as this is a great ambassador for the genre. Georgia is such a lovely person and I really enjoyed reading about her. The ending wasn't brilliant and there were a couple of things I would have liked more closure for but overall it was a good read.

Book Review - The Collaborator by Margaret Leroy

Paperback: 480 pages
Publisher: Harlequin (UK)
Publication date: May 20th 2011
ISBN13: 9780778304593

First Line - "Once upon a time there were twelve princesses..."

A forbidden love...a private war. There's a sudden scatter of birds in the sky. I flinch. Little things seem violent to me. And in that moment my decision is made. It's 1940, Guernsey. Vivienne de la Mare waits nervously for the bombs to drop. Instead comes quiet surrender and insidious occupation. Nothing is safe anymore. Her husband is fighting on the frontline and the facade of being the perfect wife is cracking. Her new life is one where the enemy lives next door. Small acts of kindness from one Nazi soldier feel like a betrayal. But how can you hate your enemy when you know his name, when he makes you feel alive, when everything else is dying around you? Vivienne is fighting her own private war. On one side, the safe, secret, loving world she could build with her captain; on the other, virtuous loneliness and danger. It's time for Vivienne to choose: collaboration or resistance...Margaret Leroy explores a forbidden friendship in a frightening world. In the darkest hours in history, no choices are simple.

Nazi occupation on Guernsey during WWII. Doesn't really conjure up images of a lovely romance for me but I think this is considered Historical Romance. The only thing I found romantic about it was the language and the setting but I did enjoy it. While reading it the star rating swung from 4 to 2 to 4 and finally settled on 3 but then just at the last page jumped it back to 4 again, at the last second. I didn't like the ending particularly but I didn't see it coming so it got an extra star for the shock factor.

Vivienne, a soldier's wife, is living on Guernsey with her 2 daughters and her mother-in-law while her husband is away fighting for his country. When the German army come to occupy the island she learns to come to terms with restricted living. When a few Nazi soldiers commandeer her empty neighbour's house she's drawn to one of them in particular (Gunther), and so begins the 'romance'. Vivienne's marriage is an unhappy one and I get the impression that her marriage was over a long time before her husband left to fight but to be honest I still have no clue what she ever saw in Gunther. He didn't strike me as romance material but I think Viv was just miserably unhappy and lonely and whichever of the Nazi's had shown an interest in her would have had just as much chance to get with her.

I didn't feel that the romance was actually the focal point of the story for me. It was always there in the background but I was more interested in the Historical aspects. The Resistance from the Islanders, the Prisoners of War, the shortages and rationing...in general the results of the Occupation on the island. There were some really touching moments and some harrowing moments, as you'd expect from a war-time drama and all the characters were really well written and I really cared what happened to them.

I was frustrated with the ending though. I was all set to give it 3 stars overall and file it under 'a good read' but then I got to the end and I lost my footing. I'm still not sure how to deal with it. Not sure if I liked the ending, neither am I sure I disliked it. It took me by surprise and when I read it I wanted to know more and was annoyed that I'd never find out...then back pedalled and thought the shock ending was the right way to deal with it. Argh! I don't know. I'll just say it was a surprising end to a good book. Not sure if it was good or bad ending but it was surprising.

It's a nice gentle read, despite the war theme and the occupation and I'd maybe read more by this author.

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Book Review - Edinburgh Dead by Brian Ruckley

Paperback: 369 pages
Publisher: Orbit
Publication date: 4 Aug 2011
ISBN13: 9781841498652

First Line - "The corpse sat in a simple, high-backed chair"

The year is 1827. For Adam Quire, an officer of the recently formed City Police, Edinburgh is a terrifying place. It is a city populated by mad alchemists and a criminal underclass prepared to treat with the darkest of powers. But nothing can prepare him for the trail of undead hounds, emptied graves, brutal murders and mob violence that will take him into the darkest corners of the underworld and to the highest reaches of elegant Edinburgh society.

Wow! 2011 is drawing to a close and I think I just found my favourite read of the year. Edinburgh Dead by Brian Ruckley! Totally brilliant! It's rare that I can use the term 'unputdownable', but I definitely can say it about this one. Read it in less than 48 hours, which for me is pretty much unheard of. Could NOT put it down.

I'm fond of Historical fiction (albeit usually romantic) but to say I'm not usually a crime/mystery reader is an understatement, not a single murder mystery comes to mind that I've read but the lure of the area around where I live used as a backdrop, coupled with zombie dogs just sucked me right in. There are zombie humans too but I mostly wanted to see the zom-dogs loose on Edinburgh's streets and closes.

I really, really loved that I knew all the places mentioned in the book. I'm in Edinburgh about once or twice a fortnight and all of the places and building's are familiar to me. Loved that. The people of the story are familiar 'faces' too...even the non-famous one's. Go to certain parts of Edinburgh on any given day and chances are you'll rub shoulders with just the sort of people mentioned in the pages. There's maybe 200 years seperating them but their banter hasn't changed that much. As for the famous 'faces' well, in particular Burke and Hare the infamous body snatchers or 'Ressurectionists' as they were also know are common knowledge for anyone who spends any time in or around Edinburgh and I loved reading about them. Fictionalised in parts but great fun to read nonetheless.

And zombie's. Let's not forget the zombies. They're the reason that I wanted to read this so bad in the first place, although I did wonder how a person could fit the undead into an Historical murder/crime/mystery. The whole book has a dark, gritty feel to it and the air of supernatural 'going's on' didn't seem out of place or contrived at all. In fact, as unlikely as it all sounds Mr Ruckley writes in such a way as to have me think it was all quite plausible. It's very well done.

I loved all of the characters and really felt like I got to know them. Some of them I'd like to know even better and REALLY want there to be more cases for Adam Quire to solve... I'd read any and all stories if this were made into an ongoing series.

There's a bit of a twist in the tale at the end and being as unfamiliar with crime mystery as I am, I'm not sure if that's usual but whether it is or it isn't, the twist at the end just sealed the deal for me. It was a brilliant end to a brilliant story and I just hope I can find more stories like it.

I can't say enough good things about this, I'm all over the place but I just really, really liked this one. I only finished it half an hour ago so it's all still running through my mind. I'll probably think of a dozen things to say after I hit 'publish', but for now I'll just close by saying again....

Really liked it! A lot!

Brian Ruckly has a great website where you can find out more about his books, and a really interesting photo trailer section where he has added his photo's from a lot of the area's mentioned in the Edinburgh Dead. It's quite cool.

Earth's Children by Jean Auel

I was excited to hear that Jean Auel is releasing a further installment to her Earth's Children series this year on Mar 29th. It's called The Painted Caves/ You can read the first 3 chapters of Painted Caves HERE on Jean's site. There's also some free wallpapers etc to download.

It's been almost 25 years since I read the very first one, Clan Of The Cave Bear, so a re-read is almost mandatory in order to re-cap the story so far. One of the problems her fans have is the length of time in between books. I think the longest gap has been about 12 years. The last one, Shelters of Stone was 9 years in the making. Or something like forever. Must be worth the wait though, judging by how many fans she still has, even after all this time.

I actually started re-reading these last year (before I knew about the newest one) but was taking it slowly as there's quite a lot of story to take in. So far I've made my way through the first three books again - Clan of the cave bear, Valley of Horses and The Mammoth Hunters. I was just about to start the fourth one Plains of Passage when I heard of the new release. I'm finding that they're still great stories but I'm just not gripped like I was the first time around. Maybe it's because my reading preferences have changed, although not that much I wouldn't have thought, but I suspect that maybe it's because my younger self didn't have a lot of epic books to compare with. In the last 20+ years I've read hundreds of books (both good and bad) and have a better measuring stick when it comes to what I like.

Anyway, I'm going to get up to speed and get through the next couple so I'm ready to go when number 6 arrives. The only thing that's bugging me so far about them, is that everything seems to be repeated a million times. It's as if Jean thinks her reader's have the memory of a hen. Perhaps she thinks that we don't re-read and so need countless re-caps throughout. Might be true for some, but it just bugs me no end to have to go over old ground all the way through.

There was even a movie made of the first book and although it was pretty dire (the movie, not the book) I still watched it at the time. On my travels last night to find out the new book's release date I stumbled on a site where you can watch the movie for free (if you're in the UK). It's highly edited from the book, there's virtually zero dialogue and all in all it's a pretty poor movie but Daryl Hannah does her best with what she's got to work with. Might only appeal to fans of the book but a free movie is a free movie - right? I had to get the hankies out and had a bit of a blub at the end there... I'm such a softie for stuff like that in movies. Maybe I'm hormonal :D

Anyway, get the free Clan of the Cave Bear movie HERE


Details of Earth's Children and the newest release is on Jean Auel's website

Book reading order as follows:

Earth's Children Series:
1. The Clan of the Cave Bear (1980)
2. The Valley of Horses (1982)
3. The Mammoth Hunters (1985)
4. The Plains of Passage (1990)
5. The Shelters of Stone (2002)
6. The Land of Painted Caves (2011)

The Innocent - Posie Graeme Evans

1450. The high Middle Ages, and a baby is born in the deep forest of western England. Powerful forces plot to kill both mother and child, but somehow the newborn girl arrives. 1465. England has a charismatic new king, Edward IV, as the country wakes from the nightmare of the War of the Roses into the dawn of a fragile but hopeful new age. When Anne, a young peasant girl of fifteen, joins the household of a wealthy London merchant, her unusual beauty soon provokes jealousy, lust, and intrigue, but Anne has one special quality that saves her--her knowledge of herbs and healing. News of Anne's remarkable gift spreads, and after saving Edward's queen from death during childbirth, Anne is moved to the palace. It is here that Anne finds her destiny, and the man who will become the greatest love of her life--the king. The meeting between them will change both of their lives, for at such an uncertain time in England's history, little as it seems. Least of all this shy servant girl, whose power extends far beyond her healing hands...

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I really liked 'The Innocent'. It was a light read but enjoyable with just enough intrigue and romance to keep it moving and I wanted to keep turning pages to see what would happen next. I really liked Anne too but at times I feel she was just a little bit too 'nice'. There's nothing wrong with being nice, but at times I wished she had a little bit more dimension to her.

Sometimes I felt that her beauty was overplayed though. Everyone she meets, and I mean EVERYONE, is struck dumb by her beauty and even if someone is in a foul murderous mood, one glance at Anne and they're turned into a blithering idiot who is willing to do her bidding no matter what. It's a bit overdone.

I'd recommend the book though, especially if you like a good costume drama, it's easy to get into and as long as you're not put off by a few rough sex scenes, it's a good book.

I'm looking forward to the second and third books in the series.

Fatherland - Robert Harris

Fatherland is set in an alternative world where Hitler has won the Second World War. It is April 1964 and one week before Hitler's 75th birthday. Xavier March, a detective of the Kriminalpolizei, is called out to investigate the discovery of a dead body in a lake near Berlin's most prestigious suburb. As March discovers the identity of the body, he uncovers signs of a conspiracy that could go to the very top of the German Reich. And, with the Gestapo just one step behind, March, together with an American journalist, is caught up in a race to discover and reveal the truth - a truth that has already killed, a truth that could topple governments, a truth that will change history.

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I thought Fatherland was such a good read! Alternate history intrigues me and I think this particular point in history is one of the most speculated about when it comes to 'what if's'.

To begin with I found it hard to lose myself in the alternate reality because my mind kept trying to correct what I was reading and saying 'No, no, no, that's now how it was/is'. But several chapters in and I was sucked into the pages and loving it.

Some might say the characters are a bit hackneyed; loner cop, dumped by his wife for overworking, estranged from his kid, meets much younger feisty heroine who he hooks up with no problem, antagonist is a bad bully with no redeeming features....and, and, and. You get the idea. But really, why fix it if it isn't broken? All those very things and more are what make this book great. The alternate ending to WWII means we're taken out of our comfort zone and those other constants give us something familiar to work with.

That's where the familiarity ends though, the story itself is slick, well constructed and highly enjoyable but imaginative use of 'what if' takes us to places that I for one am glad I'll never see. In this fantasy regime, things are grim. There's everything to hope for and nothing to lose.

I gave this to my dad to read and he loved it too. He lived through things the first time around and says Robert Harris has put into words everything he feared at the time and he's glad he only had to read about it.... and not live it.

Threads: The Reincarnation of Anne Boleyn - Nell Gavin

It's 1970. Anne and Henry still have issues they need to address. It's been 434 years since they parted - on bad terms - and they haven't spoken since. Henry now has problems with alcohol, drugs and irresponsibility, and Anne is still holding onto a grudge.

They don't know they were married 434 years ago. They don't know they parted on bad terms. Anne has no idea why she has a compulsion to punish him, a man she's only just met, and Henry has no idea why he can't be near her without falling in love.

Threads, a reincarnation fantasy, opens with Anne's death in 1536. Her husband Henry, seemingly in defense of Anne (but more likely acting out of "stubborn perverseness," she observes), has terrorized England and decreed murder after political murder to protect her. Ultimately, to Anne’s horror, he made the decision to have her executed as well.

Anne’s fury at her husband’s betrayal has enough momentum to survive centuries, but in "Threads" she learns that she has been assigned a hard task: she must forgive him. This may prove difficult and take some time. The husband in question is Henry VIII. The narrator is the stubborn, volatile Anne Boleyn, who is not at all inclined to forgive. .

It is a very unusual love story.

2000 William Faulkner Competition Finalist for best novel.

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This is an unusual love story. Strictly speaking, it's not Historical romance and it's not just about the Tudor's, but because the main character is Anne Boleyn you'd be forgiven for thinking so.

It's all a bit far fetched and confusing... but in a good way. It's a new slant on Anne and Henry, iconic 16th century lovers at war.

The main storyteller is Anne Boleyn, she has to go through a series of reincarnations to learn her 'lesson'. Obviously she has to forgive Henry VIII, who it transpires has been her husband over many lifetimes. It always ends the same way, Henry lets Anne down and Anne dissapoints Henry. They have issues that they need to work through and it's taking centuries to get to the bottom of the problem.

The problem is, whilst living the life (any and all of the reincarnations) Anne and Henry have no notion of what they are here to do.

It's heartbreaking and rewarding and frustrating all at the same time, for us the reader AND Henry and Anne. I got so involved with the story and kept wanting to shout and tell them what they needed to do to be happy, to save them further heartache.
I can't do it justice in a few paragraphs, I wouldn't know where to start. There's Anne and Henry from Tudor times, there's egypt, the circus, modern America....it's all here.

I loved it. It's different to most books with a Tudor theme and it's an unusual book with just enough familiar things to make it enjoyable, and just enough unfamiliar to make it exciting.

The Queen's Fool - Philippa Gregory

A stunning novel set in the Tudor court, as the rivalry between Queen Mary and her half-sister Elizabeth is played out against a background of betrayal, conflict and passion. The savage rivalry of the daughters of Henry VIII, Mary Tudor and Elizabeth, mirrors that of their mothers, Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. Each will fight by any available means for the crown and future of the kingdom. Elizabeth's bitter struggle to claim the throne she believes is hers by right, and the man she desires almost more than her crown, is watched by her 'fool': a girl who has been forced to leave her homeland of Spain, as a Jew fleeing the Inquisition. In a court where truth is wittily denied and lies are mere games, it is the fool who can speak plainly: in these dangerous times, a woman must choose between ambition and love. Elizabeth will not make the same mistakes as her mother.
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Long story, cut short.....Hannah Verde, Spanish, Jewish, settles in England with her father after their flight from the Spanish Inquisition, given over to the Royal court of young King Edward as his Holy Fool, on his death she transfers to Queen Mary as her fool and here the story begins.....

This is my third Philippa Gregory and as expected it is a solid story, but not on the same par as her Bolyen books. I felt as though I learned quite a lot about Queen Mary, who as the book progressed seemed to get more and more unhinged, and it's no surprise she earned the name 'Bloody Mary'. Elizabeth was portrayed as thouroughly unlikeable and self serving and I don't doubt that she was all that and more and even the main players at court were just as I imagined them to be; fickle, scheming, underhand, greedy and manipulative, but it was the main character who really spoiled things for me. No matter what situation was unfolding, Hannah was always right there in the thick of things and after a while she really started to grate on me.

She didn't have a bad word to say about anybody, regardless of how horribly they treated her, and she kept going back for more of the same. I realise she wouldn't have had a lot of say in matters regarding how she was put to use by her employers but one minute she's litterally wetting herself as she's about to be tortured as a heritic because Mary has a bee in her bonnet (to put it mildly) about non Catholics, even though she considers Hannah her trusted friend....then the next minute Hannah is all doe eyed at Mary's feet and defending her against any critics....it just doesn't make sense. She has the means to escape and put it all behind her, but she does everything in her power to stay.

She can't seem to make up her mind about where her loyalties lie for most of the book and dithers from one plot master to the next, depending on what's afoot at any given time. Mary, Elizabeth, Lord Robert Dudley, her betrothed, John Dee...and, and, and. I just couldn't relate to her because she just didn't seem to have the wit to remove herself from danger when the opportunity arose. The exit was right there for her, and she chose not to take it.

Having said that, the story itself was interesting and enjoyable, if a little slow. The pace wasn't as fast as in her other books but overall the story was a good one.

I haven't been put off and I still plan to work my way through her other books, but if this is your first try of Philippa Gregory, this isn't her best.

The Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite - Beatrice Colin

As the clock chimed the turn of the twentieth century, Lilly Nelly Aphrodite took her first breath. Born to a cabaret dancer and soon orphaned in a scandalous double murder, Lilly finds refuge at a Catholic orphanage, coming under the wing of the, at times, severe Sister August, the first in a string of lost loves. There she meets Hanne Schmidt, a teen prostitute, and forms a bond that will last them through tumultuous love affairs, disastrous marriages, and destitution during the First World War and the subsequent economic collapse. As the century progresses, Lilly and Hanne move from the tawdry glamour of the tingle-tangle nightclubs to the shadow world of health films before Lilly finds success and stardom in the new medium of motion pictures and ultimately falls in love with a man whose fate could cost her everything she has worked for or help her discover her true self. Gripping and darkly seductive, The Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite showcases all the glitter and splendour of the brief heyday of the Weimar Republic, and the rise of Hollywood to its golden age. As it foreshadows the horrors of the Second World War, the novel asks what price is paid when identity becomes unfixed and the social order is upended.

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The Luminous Life of Lily Aphrodite opens with Lily's birth. Her mother could be described as Bohemian and unconventional but her homelife is soon to be replaced by the 'family' she inherits as an orphan in a Berlin orphanage. Lily eventually befriends the streetwise Hanne who shows her life outside their home. When the orphanage closes Hanne and Lily lose touch (a recurring theme) and Lily has to grow up in a hurry as she struggles to survive in a brutal, war torn Germany.

This is where the real story begins and life for Lily just seems to be one trauma to deal with after another.

Things are bleak, depressing, grim and hopeless. Through it all though, Lily seems to keep her chin up, while all around her people are dropping like flies and making poor choices. There's not a lot of luminosity in Lily's life though, despite what the title tells you. I had thought that Lily would make a name for herself as an actress and I'd be able to revel in the success she enjoyed, but mostly there isn't a lot to celebrate. Any success she has is accidental or brought about by being in the right place at the right time and I never got the impression that Lily was very instrumental in getting to where she was.

Most of her good luck stems from the fact that she was breathtakingly beautiful with haunting eyes and a voice like a caress.....at least that's how everyone else sees her, Lily herself doesn't know what the fuss is about.

I didn't hate the book, but it's difficult for me to really love a book when things are so bleak. I was hoping for the payoff at the end, where some sort of reward was waiting for Lily, to compensate for all the hardship and fight she had to contend with, but No, the end is the worst part of all.....for Lily at least.

Beautifully written, and very well researched, it's brings the German era surrounding the first world war and the Weimar rule startlingly into focus.
I suppose it's content can be best summed up by the cover artwork .... it's very Film-Noir.

The Boleyn Inheritance - Philippa Gregory

From the bestselling author of ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’ comes a wonderfully atmospheric evocation of the court of Henry VIII, and the one woman who destroyed two of his queens.

The year is 1539 and the court of Henry VIII is increasingly fearful at the moods of the ageing sick king. With only a baby in the cradle for an heir, Henry has to take another wife and the dangerous prize of the crown of England is won by Anne of Cleves.

She has her own good reasons for agreeing to marry a man old enough to be her father, in a country where to her both language and habits are foreign. Although fascinated by the glamour of her new surroundings, she senses a trap closing around her. Katherine is confident that she can follow in the steps of her cousin Anne Boleyn to dazzle her way to the throne but her kinswoman Jane Boleyn, haunted by the past, knows that Anne’s path led to Tower Green and to an adulterer’s death.

The story of these three young women, trying to make their own way through the most volatile court in Europe at a time of religious upheaval and political uncertainty, is Philippa Gregory’s most compelling novel yet.

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The Boleyn Inheritance was my second Philippa Gregory book and I enjoyed it even more than the first (The Other Boleyn Girl). I loved seeing how things panned out, depending on which side of the fence the narrator was on, and I really felt like I knew the characters and their motivation by the end. The end just came too soon for me. I'd have liked it to carry on and on, especially Anne's part.

Anne's and Katherine's chapters were more entertaining than Jane's but that's probably because Jane's chapters/thoughts/narration were primarily about her own self inflicted torment and delusions over her husband's and Anne Boleyn's betrayal. Her narrative had a definite air of madness about it as the story progressed. By the end she was a broken woman and I don't doubt she was as mad as box of frogs. I don't pity her though.....well, not much anyway.

I love that I feel I know these women a little better now (albeit in a fictional way) and will look out for other fictional works which cover the Tudors.

King Henry was vividly repulsive in the pages, to the point where I swear I could smell the supporating wound on his leg every time I opened the pages. At best he was delusional, at worst he was a maniac and I wonder how anyone could bear to be around him.

All in all it's a great read, I just hope I can find a worthy bedtime read to replace it, now it's finished. That's the worst part of a good book.....it's over too soon.

Empress Orchid - Anchee Min

To rescue her family from poverty and avoid marrying her slope-shouldered cousin, seventeen-year-old Orchid competes to be one of the Emperor's wives. When she is chosen as a lower-ranking concubine she enters the erotically charged and ritualised Forbidden City. But beneath its immaculate facade lie whispers of murders and ghosts, and the thousands of concubines will stoop to any lengths to bear the Emperor's son. Orchid trains herself in the art of pleasuring a man, bribes her way into the royal bed, and seduces the monarch, drawing the attention of dangerous foes. Little does she know that China will collapse around her, and that she will be its last Empress.

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I loved it. The story of a girl overcoming hardships, set in the Forbidden City. She goes from nothing to becoming one of the most formidable women in China at the time. It's a work of fiction but is based on a real character, the Empress Dowager. This book only takes us through her early life though, before she becomes the Dowager empress and the story continues with the sequel. It was wonderful to soak up the atmosphere, pomp and ceremony from the pages and I can't wait to read what happens to her next.