This is a fictional story of Kathryn Howard, Henry VIII’s fifth wife. Kathryn was still a teenager when she became Henry’s wife (and he was up in years). It wasn’t long that they were married before she was arrested and beheaded for trysts with a few men, some from before she’d even met Henry.

I haven’t read a lot about Kathryn, and I never had a good impression of her. This one, however, gave me a bit of sympathy toward her. Unfortunately, the author’s note didn’t address how much was known and how much was out of the author’s head; I was particularly interested in how much was known from before she came to court. Despite that, I still quite enjoyed it. ( )

An easy read that brought life to the character of Katherine Howard. ( )

This is the best fictionalized account of Catherine Howard's life that I have read. In most fiction books about her, she is either portrayed as a goody-goody (as in Carolly Erickson's The Unfaithful Queen) or just as a lusty young woman that could become vindictive to those that would expose her faults.
I believe she was neither. She was just young and naive. Remembering back to when I was that age myself, I could really relate to and sympathize with her---something which was difficult to do in the other novels about her. ( )

I've read more books about Henry VIII and his six wives than I can count. Fascinated by this subject, I continue my quest to learn more and more and to find a new book with a new twist. Sadly, this wasn't the one!

I assume the name of the book No Will But His refers to Henry VIII and his controlling personality, yet, even as one who knows a lot about the subject, I'm mystified how the author published with this title.

The book focuses on Katherine Howard, wife #5 of rotund, open-wound stinking, mercurial Henry. While peppered throughout there are sentences about Anne Bolyen and Henry, it isn't until the last chapters (that seemed rushed) wherein the author melds Henry and Katherine and their ill fated union.

A mere child when Henry took notice of her, Katherine's life was a case study in frivolity and supreme lack of common sense.

Motherless and living with a penny less father, the only thing the family had was a name, which Katherine promptly besmirched.

Hoisted off to her non- hands on grandmother, Katherine had free reign with other girls in the house as they wantonly attracted and bed young men.

By the time Henry set eyes on her, she certainly was not a rose without thorns. Continuing the hope of liaisons while married to the King of England, alas, this empty headed fool lost her virginity long before she lost her silly little head.

It is such a shame that the author had so much to work with and rambled on and on with corny, trite phrases, lacking depth.

Not recommended.

Sarah A. Hoyt, mostly of Shakespeare fiction fame, takes one of the most scandalous wives of the Henry VIII, Kathryn Howard, in true Philippa Gregory/biographical fiction tradition. I had high hopes for this novel -there's so much juicy intrigue to pull from. How could you go wrong?

Readers first meet young Kathryn Howard when she's sent off to live in the home of the dowager duchess, a family relative. Even though Kathryn is raised to be a well-mannered, graceful young woman who will one day marry a man and bear his children, she finds herself entangled with a lustful music master and a young man named Francis Dereham, whom she hoped to marry one day. After discovering her indiscretions, the dowager duchess sends her away to be a lady-in-waiting to the new Queen Anne of Cleves, within something of a hidden agenda. Of course, much like her infamous cousin Anne Bolyen, Kathryn catches Henry's eye and eventually becomes queen herself, but of course, her questionable past catches up with her as do her other questionable deeds...

Sounds like a great recipe for some juciy fiction, doesn't it? It should have been, but Hoyt manage to make it well...boring. First, Hoyt's writing style is composed of long, windy sentences and flowery dialog that fit better with her other Shakespeare-fiction novels, but tend to leave readers out of breath. Hoyt's prose also tends to frequently fall flat, and lacks adequate detail or emotion. More importantly, No Will But His has dull characters that have hardly any personality or compelling traits that bring them alive for the reader. I was left wondering if Kathryn was ambitious, a pawn in a bigger game, or just an unintelligent flirt. I never even got a sense of romance between Kathryn and her adulterous lover Thomas Culpepper, just the need for them to come together for the purposes of the plot.

Though the plot itself is solid, there's no characterization at all. Frankly, I was sorely disappointed in No Will But His, and went away with no added understanding of Kathryn Howard the character or the historical figure. Tudor fiction fans should give this one a miss. Don't waste your time here. ( )