Catherine Howard is the opposite of King Henry VIII's fourth wife, Anne of Cleves: young, beautiful and thoroughly English. So after his divorce, she seems to be the perfect candidate for marriage. But the luxury and power that comes with being queen isn't enough for Catherine. She wants to produce a male heir and is still upset over the fact that her relationship with Thomas Culpeper never blossomed. These thoughts are dangerous for a queen, especially one who is the cousin of infamous Anne Boleyn. As intrigue at the royal court becomes more and more scandalous, Catherine must hope that her power-hungry family doesn't leave her out to dry... on the chopping block.Tudor England is my favorite time period to read about. There's something about the intrigue and gossip that takes place in the court of Henry VIII that fascinates me. Me and my friend will do anything to experience this era: books, movies, even TV shows (The Tudors, anyone?). When I heard about The King's Rose, I was so excited. It was another Tudor book, but it was also about Catherine Howard, a queen that I didn't know much about. Unfortunately, I wasn't very impressed with this book. First, I felt like it should have started with Catherine first arriving at court and then Henry taking an interest in her. Instead, it started right when the king was about to propose to Catherine. This made the book choppy and also didn't leave room for much background information. Next, the plot moved millimeter by millimeter. Nothing happened. Sure, Catherine went to a ball and then got a new dress, oh and went to this palace for Christmas, blah blah blah. It was so boring and I couldn't understand why nothing was going on. This made it hard for me to get into. Finally, the last forty pages there was some action, but a little too late considering it was 292 pages long. Overall, The King's Rose wasn't too too bad, but if you're looking for a good read about the Tudors, get a book by Philippa Gregory instead.
6 out of 10.
Release Date: March 19, 2009
4 comments:
I love that time period too! Sorry to hear that you did not like the book.
Good review tho!
Also really love that period. And Anne Boleyn always gets the most press, so it's cool to see one about Catherine Howard. Too bad it wasn't any good.
Awh too bad. I was looking forward to reading this one.
Oh wow, this is the genre/time period that I absolutely adore!
It's hard to find the copy of this book here though.
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