The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

In The Constant Princess, we were introduced to the character of Princess Catalina of Spain who through many tribulations finally became Katherine Queen of England. In The Other Boleyn Girl, we are introduced to two girls – actually three – who ruin everything for not only Katherine, but for the way the world worked as well.

Mary Boleyn is thirteen and married when the book begins with the beheading of someone that the king was close to. Mary is befuddled that the king didn’t stop the beheading, thinking that he would have offered clemency. She asks her mother this, and her mother tells her that that is not how it works in the court and if she continues to think that way then she is a fool. A year later, and Mary’s sister – Anne - has come back to the English court from France. By this time Mary is fourteen and has caught the wandering eye of the king. He flirts openly with her and the family begins to plot. Mary is commanded to woo the king and become his mistress, by this point Katherine is becoming infertile and the king is losing his patience with her. He must have a son to take over his throne.

After getting a girl on her, Mary does produce a son, but by this point it is already too late. While Mary was in confinement, her family commanded Anne to detour the king’s affection, so that way his thoughts were always on Mary. But when she comes out of confinement, she can tell with just one look that the king is besotted with Anne and another plot by the family is formed. This time it goes for all the marbles.

This is the third time I’ve read this book and I’m always astounded by how for such a smart woman Anne surely acts stupid and reckless. Personally, I’m astounded by all of the women characters in this book. The king is not a faithful person, so why do you keep demanding it of him? And why do you act surprised when he strays? My only explanation that I can think of is that they wanted to believe that they could be the one to hold him. It didn’t really work out, did it?

Final Rating: 4 out of 5 stars. I really don’t understand how Henry and Anne couldn’t have worked out. They were perfect for each other! They were both vain and wanted the whole world to revolve around them. I felt bad for Mary who had to watch the death of her own sister, thinking – like at the beginning of the book – that the king would offer clemency at the last minute. Hadn’t she learned her lesson?

Bookshelf worthy? Considering how many times I’ve read this book, yes!

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

So back in 2005, I read this book because of the movie. I remember back then that I absolutely loved this book because not only did it show a side of Japanese culture, but it was also a well-told love story. I really want to know what the fourteen-year-old me was thinking, because this time around I literally want to claw my eyes out as I was reading this book.

This book tells the story of Chiyo – Sayuri as she is called later in the book – as she struggles through her life and tries to become a geisha. At a young age she is sold to an okiya by her father and separated from her sister. Thrown into this new world, she is shocked to find that one of the mistresses of the house – Hatsumomo – hates her because she thinks that one day she will be her largest rival. In fact, this geisha does everything in her power to make sure that Chiyo never becomes a geisha.

Much to her dismay, Chiyo does in fact become a geisha, a very successful one at that, and kicks Hatsumomo out of the house for everything that she has done. But the reason that Chiyo becomes a geisha is because of a man named the Chairman who she runs into one day when she was down on her luck and set in being a maid for the rest of her life. He shows her a bit of kindness, and as it turns out gets her help from one of the most successful geisha of all time.

It’s a beautiful story, really, but the details and side stories are just overdone. Seriously a chapter that could have ended in five pages went on for fifteen because of either descriptions of unnecessary items or a side story that was just filler. Also Chiyo is quite gullible. At the beginning when she tries to run away and Hatsumomo tries to help her escape she forgets the one lesson that Auntie taught her. Hatsumomo would never help her, ever. Little Miss Stupid indeed.

Final Rating: 3 out of 5 stars. The story is good, but there was just too much detail that wasn’t really needed.

Bookshelf worthy? Anyone want my copy?

The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory

As I have stated in my reviews for The Boleyn King and The Boleyn Deceit, anything that has to do with the Tudor court and Elizabethan England I find completely fascinating. Philippa Gregory is actually the main reason for this, six years ago I picked up The Other Boleyn Girl and I’ve been obsessed ever since.

The Constant Princess is the sort of prequel to The Other Boleyn Girl. The story follows that of Princess Catalina of Spain who is to become Queen Katherine of England. It follows her as she falls in love with her first husband Arthur – Henry’s brother – and is thrown for a ride when he dies and makes her promise that no matter what she will become Queen of England, even if that means telling the world a lie.

I found this book fascinating. I always felt bad for Katherine while I was reading TOBG. How sad is it to be married to the King of England, and not only does he sleep around with other women, but he has the gall to ask her to give up her crown so he can crown one of his other mistresses? Terrible. This book made me feel even worse for her. She goes through so much! First, trying to fall in love with her first husband, and then when she finally does he makes her promise on his deathbed that she will marry his younger brother. Then there’s trying to persuade the King that she’s the perfect fit for the only heir now to the throne, and it turns out the King has been lusting after her this whole time. EW. Then, when she spurns the King, he makes her suffer by having her wait in poverty for six years until his demise.

Finally she does get her way and marries Henry, but even that has its problems. When she is with child and goes in for her isolation, Henry strays. What did people see in this guy, honestly? If he strays once, he’s going to keep on straying, especially if you don’t give him what he wants. I think what was amazing to me was the fact that Katherine did actually bare Henry a son, even if he did die ten days after his birth. Who knew?

Final Rating: 4 out of 5 stars. A great insight on to how Queen Katherine came to be and what she went through to get her crown. The only thing that I didn’t like was the pages after the death of their son. There really wasn’t a point to the story and considering the jump to when she is called to court because of Anne Boleyn, it would have made more sense to end it with the death of their son.

Bookshelf worthy? Support your local library!

Prisoner of Night and Fog by Anne Blankman

One of the many things that I didn’t like about my education was the fact that even though I took a lot of history classes, we never really covered World War II. Every year in those history classes we talk forever about World War I, but we would briefly go over WWII before going on to the Vietnam War. So, I was pretty much on my own when it came to finding out facts about the war.

Prisoner of Night and Fog is mostly a work of fiction. The main character – Gretchen Müller – and her family are fictional but most of the other characters actually existed. Gretchen is a teenaged girl whose father was a close friend of Adolf Hitler’s. So close, in fact, that he sacrificed his body to protect him a few years previously. Because of his sacrifice Hitler has always held the Müller family in high esteem. However, it isn’t until one night when her brother Reinhard goes after a Jew on the street that Gretchen starts to question what her ‘Uncle Dolf’ has been telling her about the Jews, and she meets a mysterious young man who calls her different than the others.

This mysterious man is Daniel Cohen a reporter for the Munich Post and who has been investigating Hitler and his closest allies. He seems to know the truth about what actually happened to Gretchen’s father that night, and it isn’t what she’s been told. Someone in the National Socialist party killed Gretchen’s father not by the state police bullets like everyone thought. The question is, who did it and why? Gretchen is hell bent on finding out even if that means alienating her family and her Uncle Dolf.

This is another book that was so disgusting (in parts) but it was written so well you barely even notice it. You get an inner look at the world of Adolf Hitler and his ‘niece’ as she tries to undo the brainwash that he has done on her over the years. Gretchen’s brother was a piece of work and I am not ashamed to say that I cheered when he died at the end of the book. When you find out that Eva – Gretchen’s best friend – has been ‘dating’ Hitler for the last two years, I really felt like being sick, and that was after he tried making the moves on Gretchen. Ick. I like the way that this book set up for a potential sequel, but even if Blankman doesn’t write it, it kind of had a clean ending.

Final Rating: 5 out of 5 stars. I’m usually really wary of WWII books, sometimes they are so haunting that I have nightmares, but this one was just the perfect blend of seriousness and romance.

Bookshelf worthy? Support your local library!

The Boleyn Deceit by Laura Andersen

So, after the crazy ending in The Boleyn King, I had a feeling that the next book was going to be intense…and man, did this book not disappoint.

The Boleyn Deceit takes place a few months after the events in King. William is trying his best to keep his feelings towards Minuette a secret as he tries to figure out a way out of the peace treaty and engagement to France. Minuette and Dominic are trying to keep their romance a secret from their best friend. And Elizabeth, well, Elizabeth is just a hot mess of her own. She’s still in love with Robert Dudley, even though he’s married and a traitor – not that she knows that – and she is craving her chance to rule ever since William made her regent while he was fighting the war in France last year.

Like I said, intense.

Can I just say that Andersen’s character development is amazing? Because it really is. The way she writes these characters makes me believe that some of these people really existed – William, Minuette, etc. – and makes me really loathe some of them too. Take Lord Rochford, Eleanor, and Robert, I mean…I really, really wanted to slap the hell out of them during this book. Lord Rochford because you can obviously tell that he doesn’t care for the fact that he no longer can control the king and his interference into William’s personal affairs is honestly none of his business. Eleanor because…actually, I’m not quite sure why I wanted to slap her, considering that I’m totally against William and Minuette anyway, but I don’t know the way she behaves as if she knows him just because she was his lover and bared him a daughter just annoyed me. And Robert, well, he was just a complete and utter douche. I was so happy when Elizabeth finally realized everything that he had done and slapped him.

As for Dominic and Minuette, well…. I have to say that I was excited when Dominic finally lost his good sense and married her. The only thing I was disappointed with though was that after all the buildup of sexual frustration between these two, when they finally get married and undressed…

It’s the next day.

Talk about a total let down.

So, now that Dominic and Minuette are husband and wife, what are they going to do about William? They know that if they tell him it would be seen as a betrayal, not only as their king but as their friend as well. But the couple gets a reprieve when Elizabeth sends a note to Minuette…he has small pox and the situation is dire.

Another crazy cliffhanger ending makes me really really want the third and final book in this series and I can’t believe I have to wait ‘til… July!!

Final rating: 5 out of 5 stars. The second book in this trilogy did not disappoint, the games people play at court continue to grow.

Bookshelf worthy? Just like the first one, definitely.  

The Boleyn King by Laura Andersen

Confession: I hated history in high school, but I love historical fiction, especially anything to do with the Boleyn family. So, when I came across this book last year at the bookstore, I instantly picked it up and read the summary. And holy crap, I fell in love.

The Boleyn King is basically a what-if story. What if instead of losing her last baby, Anne Boleyn carried to term and gave birth to a son? What would have happened?

Answer: a whole hell of a lot of things.

Now, here’s my summary. The Boleyn King centers on King Henry IX who is called William, his sister Elizabeth, their friend Dominic, and Genevieve – called Minuette – who was born the same day as William. The book begins on their seventeenth birthday and her return to court. Like with any book that deals with a king, there is much intrigue with court life and those who play games to raise their standings.

This book was quick paced and well written. I loved reading about the plots surrounding William’s court, and how Minuette was trying to unravel them. It was especially entertaining as she tried to figure out her feelings towards William and Dominic. The aftermath of Anne Boleyn’s death was the real turning point in this book when William starts to realize that the friendship that he has with Minuette might be more than he originally thought.

There were only a few minor issues that I had with this book. Now, it’s been a while since I read The Other Boleyn Girl but I could have sworn that Mary – Henry and Mary Boleyn’s daughter – wasn’t that much older than Elizabeth – Henry and Anne Boleyn’s daughter – but in the book they make mention that Mary is thirty-seven, while Elizabeth is nineteen. Whoa! And again with the love triangles! As much as it makes for intriguing reading, it drives me insane, especially because it is between Minuette, William, and Dominic. All three of them are friends! There is no way that this can end happily.

And speaking of endings! The Boleyn King ends with such a cliffhanger that I was really glad that I also checked out the sequel.

Final rating: 5 out of 5 stars. Writing was great, the characters were great, and the plot was greatly executed.

Bookshelf worthy? If you were a fan of historical fiction and the Boleyns like I am, I would definitely add this to your collection. If it weren’t for the fact that my bookshelves are already overflowing, I’d get it myself.