This book was ok-had a romance novel type feel. I was already familiar with the love story between Charles Brandon and Mary Tudor-Dowager Queen of France. This book tried to compare the love of Henry VIII holding out against his father's wishes to marry Katherine of Aragon with the love of Mary-who is given as part of an alliance treaty with France to the old and sick Louis XII-she makes a bargain with her brother to choose her next husband-as she and Charles Brandon are in love.
The author takes quite abit of liberty with her historical facts and dates-much like Philipa Gregory-unfortunately her writing is not good enough for me to forgive her those lapses-unlike Philipa Gregory. ( )

Writing seems clipped and emotionless, however, I may give it another try at a later date.

2.5 stars


Mary has known Charles Brandon since childhood and doesn’t hide her dislike. But growing up she notices her feelings starting to change, yet she knows that a princess can’t have a future with a duke. Mary does her duty by marrying the old French king and after her husband dies, she and Charles follow their hearts knowing Mary’s brother will be furious.

The book leaned more towards romance than straight historical fiction but unfortunately I couldn’t feel the passion between Mary and Charles. I kept waiting something to happen and sparks starting to fly but nothing. I didn’t really connect with Mary to be fully interested to know what happened with her. She was too naïve and well… maybe not too bright. And of course beautiful. Which we heard many, many times.

And there were too much sneaking around corners and secret meetings. How could Mary had the opportunity to do half of what she was doing?

This was rather easy and quick read but didn’t quite reach the expectations. ( )

Really I gave this a 3.5.

The book is well written and very interesting and wasn't the least bit contrived. I did have to skip/skim over a bit in the beginning...all the lavish explanation about the details of the rooms, clothing, etc. got a bit tedious for me.

It was interesting to see how Henry VIII changed.....and the story tied up nicely at the end.....no loose story lines remained.

I did not like this as much as The Perfect Royal Mistress, by Haeger...this wasn't quite as well written and was a bit slow in places. ( )

I've always loved the Tudor period and have read numerous novels about them. I didn't know all that much about Mary, sister of Henry VIII and aunt to Elizabeth & Mary Tudor. IMO, Diane Haeger's one of the best historical fiction writer's being published today, but this novel definitely wasn't one of her best. The entire story dragged on without end. The romance was rather lacking, without real depth of feeling or passion. The story itself wasn't played out as well as it should've been and depth of character and a feeling of being able to connect to any of them was seriously lacking. If I wasn't so familiar with this author's work I'd think this was a first attempt at writing. ( )