Teddy Rose Book Reviews Plus More


Oct 18

27

Anne of Cleves: Henry VIII’s Unwanted Wife by Sarah-Beth Watkins- Giveaway

Posted by Teddyrose@1 on October 27, 2018
Posted in Book Tours • England • History • My Past Giveaways • Tudors  | Tagged With: , , | 5 Comments

Anne of Cleves: Henry VIII's Unwanted Wife by Sarah-Beth WatkinsAnne of Cleves: Henry VIII’s Unwanted Wife by Sarah-Beth Watkins

Thanks to the author, Sarah-Beth Watkins, I am giving away one print copy of ‘Anne of Cleves: Henry VIII’s Unwanted Wife’ by Sarah-Beth Watkins.

Description Anne of Cleves: Henry VIII’s Unwanted Wife by Sarah-Beth Watkins


Anne of Cleves left her homeland in 1539 to marry the king of England. She was never brought up to be a queen yet out of many possible choices; she was the bride Henry VIII chose as his fourth wife. Yet from their first meeting the king decided he liked her not and sought an immediate divorce.

After just six months their marriage was annulled, leaving Anne one of the wealthiest women in England. This is the story of Anne’s marriage to Henry, how the daughter of Cleves survived him and her life afterwards.

About Sarah-Beth WatkinsAnne of Cleves: Henry VIII's Unwanted Wife by Sarah-Beth Watkins


Sarah-Beth Watkins grew up in Richmond, Surrey and began soaking up history from an early age. Her love of writing has seen her articles
published in various publications over the past twenty years.

Her history works are Ireland’s Suffragettes, Lady Katherine Knollys: The Unacknowledged Daughter of King Henry VIII, The Tudor Brandons, Catherine of Braganza, Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scots: The Life of King Henry VIII’s Sister and the forthcoming Anne of Cleves: Henry VIII’s Unwanted Wife.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SarahBWatkins

Buy Anne of Cleves: Henry VIII’s Unwanted Wife by Sarah-Beth Watkins


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Giveaway Anne of Cleves: Henry VIII’s Unwanted Wife by Sarah-Beth Watkins


This giveaway is open to UK and the U.S. only for print and worldwide for ebook and ends on November 16, 2018 midnight pacific time.  Entries are accepted via Rafflecopter only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Dec 09

29

Her Mother’s Daughter: A Novel of Queen Mary Tudor by Julianne Lee

Posted by Teddyrose@1 on December 29, 2009
Posted in Books Read in 2009 • Historical Fiction • Julianne Lee • Tudors  | 18 Comments

 
Mary Tudor had a very hard life as a child.  First she was the object of her father’s, King Henry VIII affection.  Then cast out as a illegitimate child with her mother Catherine of Aragon.  She went from Princess to Lady and was to be re-trained to accept her new rank and the new religion. 
When Henry married Jane, Mary was finally returned to the Castle and reunited with her father but still as a Lady not a princess.  Before his death, Henry VIII reinstated Mary as princess and was to be queen in the event that her half brother Edward VI died.  Edward carried forth the new religion at the bidding of his counsel and the practice of Catholicism was outlawed, even for Mary.
Mary defied this order however and was threatened by Edwards council.  The threats turned out empty and eventually, when the ailing Edward died, she became Queen Mary.  She vowed to return England to the old faith. 
Today, Queen Mary is often referred to as Bloody Mary because of all the burnings of so called heretics in her land.  Julianne Lee wrote this book in an attempt to humanize Mary and show her point of view.  She succeeded in this.  She brought Mary to life.  We got to see how hard her up bring was and her continued devotion to her faith even when her life was threatened for it. 
The opening of the story was some modern day children at a slumber party.  One of the kids is dared to stare into a mirror and repeat the words “bloody Mary”.  This summons Mary and she recalls her life in flashback fashion.  Each chapter begins with her narration and the falls into third person narration.  This technique worked for me but I didn’t care for the modern day slumber party scene.  It made me think of a “B” movie from the 10970’s.  LOL!
Julianne Lee also focuses on Mary’s devote religious beliefs which was important to the story but seemed to drag on a bit for me.  I got the point, now let’s move on a bit.  That said, most of the parts of this novel were first rate.  Lee succeeds in bring Queen Mary Tudor to life and gains some of the reader’s sympathy for her.
This is the first book by Julianne Lee that I have read but I am interested in reading more by her.
3.5/5
Thanks to Kaitlyn Kennedy of Penguin Books, USA for a copy of this book.
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Copyright 2007-2010: All the posts within this blog were originally posted by Teddy Rose and should not be reproduced without express written permission.

Sep 09

25

The Tudor Rose: A Novel of Elizabeth of York by Margaret Campbell Barnes

Posted by Teddyrose@1 on September 25, 2009
Posted in Books Read in 2009 • Historical Fiction • Margaret Campbell Barnes • Tudors  | 12 Comments

Elizabeth is daughter of Edward IV and niece to Richard III. When her father dies, it is her brother who is to take the crown. However, Richard III decides that the only one suitable to be King is himself. He sends both of Elizabeth’s brothers to the tower to be held. Richard has his coronation and all of a sudden Elizabeth’s brothers go missing and are presumed dead.
Many think that Richard III ordered their disposal . Now Elisabeth is the only living descendent to Edward IV and should be the rightful Queen. Elizabeth is horrified when Richard III proposes marriage to her. Not only is she convinced that he murdered her brothers but he is her uncle, after all!
There is much plotting and it is decided that she must marry Henry Tudor and that he must fight Richard III for the crown. The first attempt fails but eventually Richard III is killed and Henry Tudor becomes Henry VII. However, he doesn’t hold up his end of the bargain to marry Elizabeth and give her a coronation to become queen of England. Eventually, due to public and private pressure he makes good and marries Elisabeth. However, he does not make her queen until after she has their first son.
The marriage itself, is loveless. Elizabeth has romantic notions that they would grow to love each other and have a passionate one. Henry doesn’t seem to know what romance is and seems incapable of love. He couples with her only to produce heirs. Poor Elizabeth longs for more out of life.
This book was first published in 1953. Sourcebooks has re-published it and it is due out in the United States on October 1, 2009. I’m glad they did. Barnes has a way with words and I love some of her descriptions of the time and place. I must admit, that there are a few places that I would nod off to sleep while reading it. Some of the time that Elizabeth interacted with her mother seemed boring to me. It took me a good 50 pages to finally get drawn into the story.
That said, I am glad I stuck with it. I learned more about the period and really enjoyed it, once it got going. If you like historical fiction and are interested in this important period in English history, you will enjoy this book.
4/5
Copyright 2007-2010: All the posts within this blog were originally posted by Teddy Rose and should not be reproduced without express written permission.

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