Im sorry I just couldnt believe in the story. ( )

Had some very cool elements, but wasn't very satisfying plot or character wise. ( )

Great historical fiction/fantasy! The real Mary Seymour was the daughter of England's former queen Catherine Parr and Thomas Seymour. Orphaned early, she was taken in by the Duchess of Suffolk, and there are no records of her after the age of two. Jacqueline Kolosov takes that story and creates a new life for young Mary, where she is taken in by the Lady Strange after the Duchess' death, and educated in the normal arts and sciences as well as the arts of white magic. When she comes of age, Mary is placed in Elizabeth I's court publicly as a lady-in-waiting, and secretly as a white magician charged with protecting the queen. Mary's biggest problem is that there are agents of black magic who seek to dethrone the queen -- including her very handsome cousin Edmund. ( )

I picked this one up because I was captivated by the cover. I bought it because I was captivated by the synopsis. I could not put this book down. For those who love the Tudor period of history and a little fantasy or magic, this book has both.

I found Kolosov's narrative style to be well-paced. She writes a solid plot, and her protagonist is one I wanted to invest in as a reader.

In particular, I thought her choice of ending was unique--I won't give it away except to say it leaves options for a sequel, and I found myself wanting one. I'm interested in reading Kolosov's next book, "A Sweet Disorder." ( )

I tried and failed to read Jacqueline Kolosov's The Red Queen’s Daughter. It was just awfully written - it felt like a poor fan-fiction than a published novel. I was originally attracted to it because it's meant to be the story of Catherine Parr's daughter, Mary Seymour (of whom historians don't know much about). However, I just couldn't get past the second chapter! It was just so cheesy and full of strange imagery, and the characters names were ridiculous. And she sounds awfully mature for a girl that's meant to be only about ten years old.

An extract:

It was after the Duchess's funeral that I met the woman who would become my new guardian. Our meeting took place during that crepuscular hour when the sky turns a deepest blue before fading into black. So silently did she move that neither Jack, my beloved wolfhound, nor I heard her enter my small bedroom in one of the manor's draftiest rooms, where we lay curled beneath two thick wool blankets beside a scantily laid hearth, trying to stay warm.

When the newcomer placed her hand on the small of my back, I rolled over to face her. I felt I knew her instantly. Breathing in the fragrance of her skin, so like the cool dark of a forest in spring, I said "You've come for me, haven't you?"

"Yes. I am Lady Strange." Her violet eyes glinted in the firelight, and the sapphire at the base of her throat seemed to radiate an energy that filled me with calm. "You are to live with me from now on. I will raise and protect you as my own daughter."

A sort of trembling, like the dancing of new leaves, overtook me.

"You may not know it," Lady Strange said, "but you were born when Mars, symbol of power and potency, was in Scorpio, the most secret of all the water signs."

"What does that mean?"

"It means, my dear girl, you have a destiny."

This word was new to me. Nevertheless, I liked the sound of it. I knew that 'destiny' must mean something marvelous.

Seriously, "Lady Strange"?!

It was so awful that I thought I should mention it to warn other people from wasting their time with it! ( )