Tag Archives: Historical Fiction

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The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory

The one thing I usually don’t like when reading books that are a part of a series is repetition of events. Hearing the same thing over and over doesn’t really appeal to me. However, even though this book covers the same events as The White Queen, I’d hardly call it repetitious. The events are looked at through such different lenses, that at times I forgot I had already read about the history.

The White Queen was written from the view of the York side, from Elizabeth Woodville’s point of view, and I found the contrast between her and Margaret wonderful. Elizabeth isn’t afraid to make her own future, and embraces that. Margaret makes her own future, but refuses to call it that. She’s acting for God, doing what He commands her.

Margaret, as a character, is hard to like. She says she is the most faithful and good girl, serving her God, but she is jealous, prideful, vengeful and even a little vain. Even though I did not like her as a person, I could feel for her. She did not have the easiest life. She wanted to mean something more to the world than just a way to continue the Lancaster line. If she needs to disguise this need as serving God, I can understand that.

This is yet another hit for Gregory and I’ll be anxiously awaiting Elizabeth of York’s story.

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The White Queen by Philippa Gregory

Yet another amazing Gregory book. Her writing makes me think about history and I perform more Google searches when I read her books than at any other time. I love finding more about the people she writes and the places her stories take place. There is so much history that happens in such little time, but Gregory makes it all interesting.

It was fascinating to read about Elizabeth’s life. Gregory wrote her as an ambitious woman who knows what she wants and works to get it. She knows that while men hold the most visible power in the world, the women hold a secret power that can change lives.

Even though we may never know exactly what happened during these times, the motivations of people, or the true emotions involved in their lives, Gregory is able to weave such a wonderful tale, even tying in a magical element which makes it nearly impossible to put this book down.

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The Lady of the Rivers by Philippa Gregory

I adore Philippa Gregory and will read pretty much anything she writes. She is able to bring such life into the history and brings light to those stories that aren’t very well known in the history books.

This book was wonderful. I had known a bit about the War of the Roses, but this book brought a whole new light to the conflict. I will admit to sitting down and drawing out a chart just so I could keep all the players in this war straight. Add in the touch of magic and I was completely drawn in.

Jacquetta is a strong, smart woman in a time when that was looked down on. She knows she needs to hide the power she has from the important men in the country, but she doesn’t hide so much that she comes across as weak. She knows how to get things she wants using her head and not her body, which is a wonderful change from Gregory’s Tudor series and I think it makes her a better character overall.

Overall, this was a fantastic book and Gregory has yet again drawn me into her writing and I can’t wait to finish the rest of this series.

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Ghost on Black Mountain by Ann Hite

This is a book I will be thinking about for a long time. It’s the kind of book that makes you stay up until 2am reading it because you just have to know what happens on the next page. There wasn’t a place where I could stop reading and <i>not</i> think about it.

The web that surrounds Hobbs Pritchard draws you in slowly and before you know it, he’s managed to ensnare you, just like he does his ladies in the book. The different perspectives each woman gives of the same man shows just how complicated a person can be. There isn’t one true Hobbs, in my opinion. Each woman sees a different version of him, and they’re all right and wrong at the same time. As much as I disliked him as a person, his character is one of the best I’ve read.

As for each of the women, my heart went out to each and every one. They all had secrets that eventually came back to bite them, some worse than others. It didn’t matter what the reasoning was behind keeping the secrets, be it good or bad, the secrets ate at each woman and her life.

Something else I found wonderful was how strong the females are in this book. They might make bad choices, but who doesn’t in life? However, these women overcome these weaknesses and stand up for themselves, taking charge of their situation and doing what they need to do to make their lives better. I know I say it a lot, but I love real characters, and these women fit the bill. They found strength in their weaknesses, and transformed from characters in a book to real people in my mind.

This was not the simple read I thought it was going to be. It deals with the dark side of human nature, how keeping secrets can destroy good things and many women’s issues. This was a fantastic novel and Hite’s next book cannot be released soon enough.

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The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

I’m not really sure what my expectations were when I started this book. All I know is every single one of them was shattered.

This is not a book you can just breeze through and understand. It makes you really read and drown in the rods on the page. There is so much emotion in every word, you can’t just skim it. this is a book that demands you read it.

The whole book is narrated by Death as he “works” through World War II. He tells Liesel’s story as she grows up during the war. She begins as an orphan, heading to her foster home but becomes so much more.

The one thing that I loved and hated about Death telling the story, was how well everything was foreshadowed, or in some cases, announced. Knowing what was coming just made me dread it more, because I knew there wouldn’t be a different outcome. If Death announced something, it was coming. It just made the emotional shock value increase, and tied a connection between me and war going on in the book. People die in war. You can’t change that. Knowing what will happen is sometimes worse than not knowing.

As depressing as the subject matter of the book is, somehow, the book itself is never completely depressing. It is not morbid. Liesel provides what this book needs to save it from being a depressing read. She and her Papa’s relationship is one of my new favorites. The love they had for each other nearly jumped off the page. In between all the ugly in the book, there was good.

This book made me feel more than most books in recent memory. The story grabs you by the heart and does not let go. It squeezes hard and tugs at you, but through the entire story, you are being held captive by the words that play so important a part within the story itself. This is not a book for young adults. It is a book for anyone. It will leave an imprint on you long after you finish reading the last page.

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The Help by Kathryn Stockett

I’m not sure I can find the words I need to describe this book. The one word that keeps coming to mind is “amazing.”

I’ll be honest. I put off reading this book for a long time because I wasn’t sure I would like the topics and subject matter. I was worried it would be trivialized or made simpler just to get the book out. I have never been so happy to be wrong. This book was real and touching, and I found myself crying several times.

The characters felt so real and flawed. But on the flip side, even the “villain” of the story had a good side. They were real people, written the way they should be. That is what made this book so readable.

This is a book everyone needs to read. It’s a tough subject to handle, but The Help uses that to create a funny, empowering, uplifting book. I cannot wait to read more from Stockett.

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To Die For: A Novel of Anne Boleyn by Sandra Byrd

It’s never been a secret that I love books from the Tudor court. There is something about the drama that will always draw me in. There was so much in play during that time, and one can never really know for sure the truths and intents behind the actions of everyone involved.

I felt Anne was portrayed a little differently in this book, as compared to others I have read. In this book, she seemed less of the queen with no real feelings for those around her, caring only about how high she could raise herself, and appeared more genuine. She showed real concern for her best friend, and was portrayed as more of a person than that of a conniving woman, focused only on raising herself up to the highest position she could.

There are few books of this time period that show the loyalty and friendship that is portrayed in this book. Meg is presented with several times to leave and possibly save herself from being tied to Anne’s name forever, but she chooses to remain with her best friend and be the support Meg knows Anne can’t find anywhere else. She remains loyal to Anne until the end and I loved that. Meg had no secret intentions with Anne’s affections; she only wished to remain with her friend.

I loved this book and am looking forward to reading more of what Byrd has in store.

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In a Treacherous Court by Michelle Diener

Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres, and I have pretty high standards when it comes to reading books that fit within that genre. I especially love books written in the era of King Henry VIII.

I started this book with high hopes after seeing the amazing reviews other people had left, but was left wishing it had had more. More history, more connections and more believablility. While I liked the characters as individuals, the relationship between Susanna and Parker seemed somewhat forced and I found it difficult to accept it.

I was hoping I’d be more entranced by the mystery at the heart of the story, but found myself easily distracted and not very into the plot.

I feel like this book had the potential to be something really amazing, but instead it came across a little flat, fast and forced.

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Legacy by Cayla Kluver

I got my copy of Legacy and couldn’t wait to read it. Forbidden-type romances really draw me in. There’s just something about two people you know should be together, and yet they can’t that makes me crave more words.

Legacy didn’t disappoint. It started a little slow, but I quickly got into in and found myself willing Alera to find her voice and really use it, to tell her father exactly what she wanted. Don’t get me wrong, she was already strong to begin with, but she was still very compliant and gave in to her sheltered world, not questioning things she should. When she started asking questions, the new strength she found was amazing.

Narian was able to make her see that there was so much beyond the walls she had been living in, a completely different world from the one she currently resides in. He told her that woman can have power, and should. The future should not be left up to the men only, and Alera needed to add her voice into the mix.

My heart was breaking towards the end of the book, and I cannot wait for the next book in the series to see how Kluver handles the future of her characters.

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The Girl in the Gatehouse by Julie Klassen

I’ve read the other books by this author, and enjoy them for their style, and focus on one main storyline. This was yet another one of those books.

I love how connected every character is in the book, meaning long explanations of characters and building of connections could be left out and I could just sit back and enjoy.