By D. L. Bogdan
This is another Tudor era historical fiction novel. This time, the story of Henry and his wives is told through the perspective of Mary Howard, daughter of the Duke of Norfolk.
10 observations on this story:
1. I am officially Tudor’ed out and need to take a break from these books for a bit.
2. The author I feel borrowed some ideas from the show The Tudors.
3. I thought this was actually a part of the Kate Emerson Secrets of the Tudor Court series when I bought it at the Borders G.O.O.B. sale. It is not. If I ever become a novelist, I might have to search online for other books with the same name as the one I am writing and change the name accordingly.
4. Every time I read these books, I always think momentarily: Maybe Anne Boleyn will have a healthy boy this time? I know it’s dumb but still…
5. Mary’s father is an abusive man who constantly assaults his wife and his daughter when they don’t “obey” him. Some of these scenes were a bit more than was needed in what I would call a "beach read".
6. It was an interesting perspective to hear Mary talk about the loss of so much of her family (2 cousins who were queens among them) due to Henry VIII. I never really thought about these people as being a "family". Does that make sense?
7. I felt like Mary couldn't catch a break. Even though it's based on a real person, I don't mind some fiction to make a happier ending. Like Mary Ingalls in the show Little House on the Prairie. She never married in real life but it was better story for the show.
8. MAYBE SPOILER: I didn't get the "But I have always loved you Mary" ending.
9. I side-eyed the picture of the author in the back. It also annoyed me that she used her initials. It seemed very pretentious.
10. This is a marginal at best recommendation.
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