Tag Archives: England

Review: Daughter of the White Rose by Diane Zahler

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Daughter of the White Rose by Diane Zahler

Daughter of the White Rose
Diane Zahler
Holiday House
Published February 16, 2021

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About Daughter of the White Rose

Can a common girl save a prince trapped in the Tower of London?

April. England. 1483. The king is dead. Long live the king.

Nell Gould is the daughter of the royal butcher, a commoner, but she has been raised as the playmate of King Edward and Queen Elizabeth’s royal children: Princess Cecily, Princess Bess, Prince Dickon, and Prince Ned, heir apparent and Nell’s best and closest friend. They think alike, her and Ned, preferring books and jousts to finery and gossip and the sparkle of the court. But when King Edward dies, Prince Ned is imprisoned in the Tower of London by his scheming uncle, the evil Richard III–and Nell with him. Can they escape? Is Nell the key?

Based on the real royal scandal of the Princes in the Tower, DAUGHTER OF THE WHITE ROSE covers a shocking episode in medieval history that has captured the imagination for 530 years. A story of murder, betrayal, resilience, and growing up, this girl-led medieval middle-grade novel will make a perfect companion to CATHERINE, CALLED BIRDY and THE MAD WOLF’S DAUGHTER.

My Review

It’s been a long time since I read CATHERINE, CALLED BIRDY, but I can definitely see why this book is compared to that one. Though DAUGHTER OF THE WHITE ROSE isn’t told in diary entries, it has the feel of someone recording a memoir. At first I thought that only the beginning might be that way since the first chapter is about Nell’s birth, but it’s a style that stays through the whole story.

I liked that the story followed Nell and her connection to the royal family. I also liked that though there are some dark moments, Nell doesn’t witness things, like murder, directly in front of her. I liked her character, too. She’s smart and determined, and won’t allow herself to be pressed into a mold based on anyone else’s expectations for her. I also loved that she was so inspired by other female writers.

I think readers who are interested in historical fiction will enjoy this book. Readers who liked CLIFTON CHASE AND THE ARROW OF LIGHT by Jaimie Engle should give this one a read.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 10 to 14.

Representation
Major characters are white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
One kiss between a boy and girl. At one point, Nell learns that the king has a mistress.

Spiritual Content
Nell considers becoming a nun. At one point she spends a lot of time in prayer.

Violent Content
Brief descriptions of death or murder.

Drug Content
Adults drink wine socially.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support running this blog. I received a free copy of DAUGHTER OF THE WHITE ROSE in exchange for my honest review.

Review: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

Book Review and Content, Coming of Age, Historical, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, , , , , , ,

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Flavia de Luce #1)
Alan Bradley
Delacorte Press
Published April 24, 2009

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About The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

It is the summer of 1950–and at the once-grand mansion of Buckshaw, young Flavia de Luce, an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison, is intrigued by a series of inexplicable events: A dead bird is found on the doorstep, a postage stamp bizarrely pinned to its beak. Then, hours later, Flavia finds a man lying in the cucumber patch and watches him as he takes his dying breath.

For Flavia, who is both appalled and delighted, life begins in earnest when murder comes to Buckshaw. “I wish I could say I was afraid, but I wasn’t. Quite the contrary. This was by far the most interesting thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life.”

My Review

A long time ago, after I reviewed and enjoyed a mystery featuring a young narrator, someone suggested the Flavia de Luce series to me. I borrowed THE SWEETNESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIE from the library but only got maybe halfway through before having to return it. I liked what I’d read, but got sidetracked by other things and didn’t pick it up again until now.

Flavia is spunky and whip-smart. She has an interesting relationship with her two older sisters which mostly consists of giving each other a hard time and playing tricks on one another. There’s an undercurrent of protectiveness and caring in there, too. Sort of the only-I-can-mess-with-my-sister type of thing. It was kind of sweet.

I thought Flavia cleverly followed the thread of the mystery, having her own child-like moments here and there between highly analytical research, experiments and deductions. I feel like it should have been harder to believe that she’s eleven years old, but for some reason, I wasn’t really bothered by that as I was reading.

One section shows her listening to a long recounting of her father’s life at school. It’s interesting because it’s some of the only real interaction we see between them, but it goes on for a long time and sort of shifts the focus of the story to be about him from there on out.

Another thing to note is that there are a couple of racially insensitive (at best) situations or comments in the story. I’ve listed them below in the contents. To be honest, these are the kinds of things I have the most trouble with as a reviewer. This book is set in the 1950s and published in 2009 (which isn’t that long ago). I feel like the face-painting and Flavia’s comment could have been easily left out. They may have been historically accurate representations of ideas at the time, but including them feels insensitive to me, and none of them were critical to the story.

I enjoyed the mystery elements, and felt like the characters are believable and interesting. I wish it hadn’t included those few references.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Takes place in England.

Flavia’s father and a friend had a performance routine in which they dressed up as a Chinese man using make-up and an unflattering accent. Flavia later makes an off-hand comment about colonization “civilizing” the indigenous people– though it’s unclear if she says this sarcastically. These things may have been historically accurate representations of feelings and behavior at the time the story takes place, but are at the least racially insensitive and prejudiced.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Flavia sees a young man kiss a young woman.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content – Trigger warning for bullying, suicide and murder.
Flavia is the youngest of three sisters, and her older sisters boss her around and bully her sometimes. Flavia also commits pranks against her sisters. She also learns of a student her father knew who was bullied.

Description of a man throwing himself from a rooftop. Flavia discovers the body of a stranger in the garden who appears to have been murdered.

Contains situations of peril. Two scenes show Flavia tied up and locked away.

Drug Content
Adults drink alcohol socially.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support the costs of running this blog.

Review: A Golden Fury by Samantha Cohoe

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Historical, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , ,

A Golden Fury
Samantha Cohoe
Wednesday Books
Published October 13, 2020

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About A Golden Fury

Thea Hope longs to be an alchemist out of the shadow of her famous mother. The two of them are close to creating the legendary Philosopher’s Stone—whose properties include immortality and can turn any metal into gold—but just when the promise of the Stone’s riches is in their grasp, Thea’s mother destroys the Stone in a sudden fit of violent madness.

While combing through her mother’s notes, Thea learns that there’s a curse on the Stone that causes anyone who tries to make it to lose their sanity. With the threat of the French Revolution looming, Thea is sent to Oxford for her safety, to live with the father who doesn’t know she exists.

But in Oxford, there are alchemists after the Stone who don’t believe Thea’s warning about the curse—instead, they’ll stop at nothing to steal Thea’s knowledge of how to create the Stone. But Thea can only run for so long, and soon she will have to choose: create the Stone and sacrifice her sanity, or let the people she loves die.

My Review

I loved all the twisty, turning elements of this story. The quest to create the Stone. The evolving relationships, especially between Thea and her parents and Will and Valentin. I love that she faces things her mother taught her about relationships, and about men in particular and has to decide for herself if they are true. There’s a lot of exploration on trust and how much someone deserves, and some about what forgiveness looks like, and the nature of power.

Thea is a complicated character who struggles with a desire to please her mother and also resents her mother’s control over her. She desperately wants to find her own way, but also desperately wants to save her mother, too. I felt like she was so relatable in all of that, and I felt her anxiety about being on her own and her butterflies about meeting her father for the first time.

The tone in the story has an older feel to it (as in centuries, not the age of the characters), which fits the historical genre. It reads a little bit like a scientist’s journal, in that there are a lot of observations and internal thoughts and long stretches where there isn’t much dialogue.

This didn’t really bother me at all once I got into the story. By about chapter four or five, I felt pretty hooked, and even before that I was enjoying the story and really interested in what happened. But for me, my reading seemed to take off once I was a few chapters in.

I think readers who enjoyed TO BEST THE BOYS by Mary Weber, or GIVE THE DARK MY LOVE by Beth Revis will really enjoy this one.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Major characters are white. There are some clashes of class, rich versus poor.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
One curse in German.

Romance/Sexual Content
Some clear attraction between a man and woman. References to others having had sex.

Spiritual Content
One character is Catholic and visits a priest to confess sins. The Philosopher’s Stone gives its bearer a great amount of power, but also carries a curse that destroys the sanity of anyone who tries to make it.

Violent Content
Several violent altercations with some brief graphic violence. Some reference to and events leading to torture. Multiple characters are restrained with chains once they’ve gone mad.

Drug Content
Some historically appropriate social drinking.

Note: I received a free copy of A GOLDEN FURY in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support the costs of running this blog.

About Samantha Cohoe

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Samantha Cohoe writes historically-inspired young adult fantasy. She was raised in San Luis Obispo, California, where she enjoyed an idyllic childhood of beach trips, omnivorous reading, and writing stories brimming with adverbs. She currently lives in Denver with her family and divides her time among teaching Latin, mothering, writing, reading, and deleting adverbs. A Golden Fury is her debut novel.

Review: The Queen’s Secret by Jessica Day George

Book Review and Content, Clean Fiction, Fantasy, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , , , , ,

The Queen’s Secret (Rose Legacy #2)
Jessica Day George
Bloomsbury USA Children’s
Published May 14, 2019

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About THE QUEEN’S SECRET

Bestselling author Jessica Day George continues her heartfelt fantasy series about a girl who can communicate with horses and a kingdom on the brink of collapse.

Anthea knows the truth about horses. They’re not carriers of deadly disease like everyone in their kingdom thinks; they’re majestic creatures who share their thoughts and feelings with her through The Way. Anthea has convinced the king of this, but at a cost–he demands that horses and riders with The Way do his bidding.

But when a deadly plague breaks out, the people believe that horses are the cause. As more fall ill, it’s up to Anthea and her friends to transport medicine, all while keeping out of reach from Anthea’s wicked mother. And when Anthea discovers a secret that could change the kingdom forever, she must risk everything to reveal the truth before it’s too late.

Continuing the sweeping storytelling of The Rose Legacy, bestselling author Jessica Day George delights readers–especially horse lovers–once again.

My Review

I’ve been a Jessica Day George book fan since DRAGON SLIPPERS, so following the Rose Legacy series has been kind of a no-brainer for me. It’s been a long time since I’ve read a girl-and-her-horse book, but THE QUEEN’S SECRET definitely scratches that itch and brings back all the fond memories of those horse books I loved when I was younger.

THE QUEEN’S SECRET picks up near where THE ROSE LEGACY left off. With Anthea and her friends now in the service of the queen, they work to reintroduce horses to the people of the south kingdom and dispel the myth that horses are extinct or diseased.

I love the strong female characters in the cast. Jilly, Anthea’s best friend, is fierce and a bit snarky, but with a heart of gold. Anthea herself is smart and a great leader. And omg the mothers in this book. From the queen, who works as hard as she can for the good of her people, to her Rose Maidens, who may also be spies, to Anthea’s mother, the spy with her own agenda, women definitely pull the strings throughout the book.

All the great things in THE ROSE LEGACY continue on in THE QUEEN’S SECRET. If you enjoy horse books or middle grade stories with strong female characters, I recommend getting your copy of this book today.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
The story takes place in a sort of re-imagined England. Most characters are white or lack race descriptions.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
A girl and boy exchange kisses on the cheek.

Spiritual Content
Anthea and others have the ability to telepathically communicate with horses, called the Way.

Violent Content
References to villagers shooting at Anthea and her friends. It happens off-scene.

Drug Content 
None.

Note: I received a free copy of THE QUEEN’S SECRET by Jessica Day George in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links which cost you nothing but which help support this blog.

Review: My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows

Book Review and Content, Clean Fiction, Fantasy, Historical, Magical Realism, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , ,

My Lady Jane
Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows
Harper Teen
Published June 6, 2016

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About MY LADY JANE

Edward (long live the king) is the King of England. He’s also dying, which is inconvenient, as he’s only sixteen and he’d much rather be planning for his first kiss than considering who will inherit his crown…

Jane (reads too many books) is Edward’s cousin, and far more interested in books than romance. Unfortunately for Jane, Edward has arranged to marry her off to secure the line of succession. And there’s something a little odd about her intended…

Gifford (call him G) is a horse. That is, he’s an Eðian (eth-y-un, for the uninitiated). Every day at dawn he becomes a noble chestnut steed—but then he wakes at dusk with a mouthful of hay. It’s all very undignified.

The plot thickens as Edward, Jane, and G are drawn into a dangerous conspiracy. With the fate of the kingdom at stake, our heroes will have to engage in some conspiring of their own. But can they pull off their plan before it’s off with their heads?

My Review

It took me several chapters to really get into MY LADY JANE. The comparison to THE PRINCESS BRIDE made me really nervous because I love that book, and while I totally see why MY LADY JANE gets compared to it, I felt like it made some of the spunk and jokes seem like a copy rather than letting them shine on their own.

I wasn’t crazy about Edward’s character at the opening of the book. Maybe because of the dying part, I guess I figured he was an intro character who would turn the story over to other characters in a chapter or two. Jane and “G” pretty much had me at hello, though. I’m kind of a sucker for those stories where characters have to get married even though they don’t like each other and then magically, unexpectedly (to them at least) fall in love. So in that way, it was a perfect read for me.

Also, some of the minor characters were hilarious. Jane and Edward’s grandmother is my favorite. She has that very pragmatic, very frank personality and also, she turns into a skunk when she gets angry.

I’m also kind of a fan of re-imagined historical fiction. MY LADY JANE reminded me a little bit of THE RING AND THE CROWN by Melissa de la Cruz or ROMANOV by Nadine Brandes, though both are in a much more serious tone. But both have magic plus re-imagined history.

On the whole, I enjoyed reading MY LADY JANE partly in spite of its weirdness and partly because of it. If you like really quirky books, this is a great one to put on your summer reading list.

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
All the characters are English, Scottish, or French.

Language Content
Mild profanity used twice.

Sexual Content
Kissing between a boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
Some references to the Church of England.

Some characters can transform into animals. Others believe this is a form of witchcraft, and that any who can transform should be burned at the stake.

Violence
At one point, a character is sentenced to be beheaded. (Other references to character who were beheaded, all happened off-scene.) Another character faces being burned at the stake. (Not shown on-scene.)

Some battle sequences with situations of peril.

Drug Content
“G” gets quite drunk the night of his wedding. Later on, his wife embarrasses him by stopping him from overindulging in his wine.

Note: This post contains affiliate links which don’t cost you anything, but which help support this blog when used.

Review: Ozland by Wendy Spinale

Book Review and Content, Dystopian or Post-Apocalyptic, Fantasy, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , ,

Ozland
Wendy Spinale
Scholastic Press
Published on April 24, 2018

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About Ozland
With Everland and Umberland both destroyed, the survivors have taken refuge in a small village tucked within the shadows of the Bloodred Queen’s castle. Doc has found an actual cure for the Horologia virus, while Gwen, Pete, and Alyssa begin plotting the assassination of the queen with the help of Gail, an excellent huntress. But killing the queen won’t be enough. The world has been destroyed and its needs a ruler to set things right again. A ruler who is good, kind, and fair. Someone like the former king of Germany. But he’s dead … or is he?

There’s a rumor that the king has been hidden away in a secret land, where only the worthiest can find him. Desperate to end the war, a plan is hatched that could put everything right again, only before it’s set in motion, the village is burned to the ground, all survivors taken prisoner to the castle. Except Gail.

But is one girl enough to find a long-dead king, kill the wicked queen, and save the world?

My Review
Out of all three books in the series, I felt like this book is the furthest from any kind of retelling or story inspired by another tale (The Wizard of Oz in this case). I still enjoyed finding out what happened to characters from earlier books like the Lost Boys, Gwen, Lily, Alyssa and Maddox, as well as meeting some new characters, like Gail, the huntress and Ginger, the warrior.

There were moments where I would think, ah, that’s an element from The Wizard of Oz. Ginger seemed a little bit like a Glinda the Good type of character, for instance. But for the most part, Ozland picks up where Umberland leaves off and sets up a huge battle against the Red Queen, hoping to find a way to free the world from her tyranny.

I think of all the books in the series, Everland is still my favorite. I liked the younger characters with their pithy lines and comedic relief. Ozland is a bit darker and much more serious. The romantic entanglements are already well-established, so there’s no new tension in that arena. I still enjoyed reading it – but mainly because I wanted to see how the author would use The Wizard of Oz in this dystopian story world and because I wanted to know what happened to Pete and Gwen and the others.

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Cultural Elements
Major characters are white (English or German). Lily is Indian.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Brief kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Flying hybrid monkey-slash-machines attack Gail and her allies. Soldiers whip Doc and Lily. One scene describes a character being burned with acid, others being shot and stabbed in detail.

Drug Content
None.