Book Review: The Foretelling

Title: The Foretelling
Author: Alice Hoffman
Published: September 2005
Rating: 5/5

I discovered this middle-grade novel at a used bookstore. The name of the author sounded familiar to me, but I could not recall any novels that I might have read by the writer. Turns out Alice Hoffman is the author of Practical Magic which I read years ago when I was a teenager. I was happy to rediscover an author whose work I enjoyed once years ago.

Rain has been named for the sorrow from which she was conceived. She is the princess of the Amazon women and destined to be queen. She has been prescribed her destiny and her future foretold by the High Priestess. A child of the horse, Rain is raised on mare's milk and able to ride better than any warrior. She has dreamed of the black horse of death. Unlike others of her tribe she wonders about life beyond war.

Hoffman has written a compelling coming-of-age story of a young warrior whose values are different from the society she is born into. The characterization of Rain and how she changes as she grows is the heart of this story. In all purposes, Hoffman planted a beautiful blossom in the eye of the storm of this novel.

Book Review: The Scorpio Races

Title: The Scorpio Races
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Published: October 2011, Scholastic Press
Rating: 5/5

I knew the minute I walked into the bookstore and saw this novel on display I had to read it. The cover was what drew me in. The silhouette of a girl riding a galloping horse struck a core inside me just looking at it. The story inside exceeded the beauty of the cover.

Puck Connolly is tomboy and loves her island home, Thisby, and her horse, Dove, more than anything else in the world. Every year there is a horse race, the Scorpio races.  The horses and riders in this race are not jockeys with Thoroughbreds though. The horses are the horses of the sea, Capaill Uisces that eat flesh and can never truly be tamed by man. Unexpected events force her to sign up for the race. She is the first woman to ride and her mount is no Capaill Uisce. 

Sean Kendrick has ridden in the races six years and has won four times. He is the only one to have "tamed" a Capaill Uisce, Corr, the red stallion Sean loves beyond everything. There is one problem: Corr is not legally his. Sean would give anything to own Corr. He would do anything to make himself and Corr free of the man that owns them. 

Told from Puck's and Sean's alternating points of view Stiefvater holds together a strong narrative between her two main characters. She captures the bond between horse and rider in both quiet and explosive scenes throughout the novel. While elements of family, romance, and sacrifice play a role, the bond between horse and rider sets the overall tone for this novel. This is a novel that will be immensely enjoyed by all horse lovers who enjoy the fantasy genre.

Book Review: The Lady of the Rivers

Title: The Lady of the Rivers
Author: Philippa Gregory
Published: 2011, Touchstone
Rating: 5/5

This is Gregory's latest novel which came out on October 18, 2011. It is the last installment in The Cousins' War and is one of her more powerful works.

Jacquetta has a power forbidden by the society she is born into. She has the gift of the Second Sight. As she watches Joan of Arc burn she realizes the deadly dangers for women who are different or even dare to think. After her first husband dies she marries his squire, Richard Woodville, for love and a simple life.  However, they soon find themselves trusted friends of Henry VI and his young queen. As the royal family crumbles with the king's mental illness Jacquetta fears for her family and England. Unable to continue their support to the house of Lancaster, Richard and Jacquetta swear allegiance to the house of York. While she wished for a simple life herself, she dares to hope for much more for her children.

Gregory has reached a new depth in this novel. She pulls her readers into Jacquetta's world and will keep them reading with each scene. One of Gregory's strongest craft elements in this novel was her scenes. Each is fascinating in its own way and the reader will want to know even more what's going to happen as the years pass in the novel. My personal favorite scene takes place when Richard Woodville is teaching Jacquetta to ride a horse. While she is bound to her life, the reader senses Jacquetta's strong desire to be free as the galloping horse. Yet, her horse is bound to nobly serve her mistress. The two are more alike than some could perhaps know or understand.

Book Review: The Other Queen

Title: The Other Queen
Author: Philippa Gregory
Published: 2008, Touchstone
Rating: 3/5

Mary, Queen of Scots, is a queen with no kingdom. She is a naive and foolish woman, unable to hold her throne and unable to use the men around her to reach her goals. Imprisoned in England, she will do anything to be returned to Scotland and her young son. She is forgiven again and again until she forces her cousin, Elizabeth, to bring the ultimate punishment on an anointed queen.

Bess of Hardwick is a woman who has been in a low position. She knows what poverty is. Through making advantageous marriages she had gained what most Tudor woman only dream of: her own land. Upon marriage to her fourth husband, the Earl of Shrewsbury, she finds herself a woman with a title. She has risen high and will do anything to keep her future secure.

George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury is a man of honor. He will serve his queen, Elizabeth, while admiring the Queen of Scots. He will keep his word, even it means bringing about his own ruin. Even if it means he loses his fortune and the love of his wife.

Told from these characters points of view Gregory weaves together the story of Mary's imprisonment in England and how she brought her own ruin. As always, Gregory has provided a pleasant read but this novel is lacking momentum. She only covers three years of Mary's imprisonment and the novel is repetitive. There is the endless saga of plot discovered, Mary forgiven, Mary moved, Mary plots again. In my personal opinion, Gregory would have been better off to write a novel about Mary's short reign as true Queen of Scotland before she was forced to flee.

However, Gregory brought up an element of life for Tudor women. Women in Tudor England were oppressed. They were not valued like a son. Daughters of the nobility were fortunate if they received an education comparable to that of their brothers. They were born into world dominated by men and they were valued for what goods and land they brought to the marriage. They were valued if they were fertile but rejected if they could not "breed". So, what woman would not use the men in her life to advance her station? Even if she loved her husband, why would she not use that love to secure her future?

This tragic reality for Tudor women is perhaps most well played out in the case of Henry VIII and his endless quest to have a son. He divorced Catherine of Aragon because she only gave him Mary. He had Anne murdered when she could only give him Elizabeth. Jane Seymour died giving him a son. It was said only a man could rule a kingdom. His own daughter, Elizabeth, proved him wrong. She proved every man living in the Tudor era wrong.

Book Review: The Queen's Fool

Title: The Queen's Fool
Author: Philippa Gregory
Published: 2004, Touchstone
Rating: 4/5

Hannah Verde is an educated young woman and her father owns a bookshop. They are in possession of forbidden books and they are also Jewish. Hannah is begged as a spiritual fool to first King Edward, then to his sister the Catholic Mary. Forced to hide her true religion as Catholics seek to purify England of all heretical beliefs, Hannah finds herself trapped between loyalty to herself and of the Queen. Hannah is rare gem who loves the Queen and yet also admires the Protestant Princess Elizabeth. She is the key character in showing the complicated relationship between the sisters.

Gregory made a very good decision in having this period of the Tudors told from the view of a different character. Through Hannah the reader sees the effects the warring religions in England had on both the common person and those of royal blood. The reader is able to have three stories in one through Hannah: Mary, Elizabeth and Hannah herself.

Book Review: The Broken H

Title: The Broken H
Author: J.L. Lanley
Published: 2007, Loose Id.
Rating: 4/5

Shane Cortez has lived on the Broken H since he was rejected by his own family for being gay. Taken in by the Hunters, they raise the teenager as their own son and give him a job. He is also the reason the Hunters' biological son doesn't come around much.

Grayson Hunter is Shane's junior by 13 years and growing up worshiped the ground Shane walked on. When he tried to confess his feelings to Shane when he was 17, the rejection hurt him too much. So much, he left home and went on to become a cop. Now, he serves as Sheriff to their county. Even though he lives in the same town, he barely ever goes home to see his parents in order to avoid seeing the man who broke his heart.

A sudden tragedy forces the two men back together. How will they handle this reunion and the emotions both of them can no longer deny? Will the truth hurt or heal them?

This book is a pleasant M/M erotic novel. As a romantic smut book, the plot is not too complicated. There is a certain lack of story in the story. Still, the the characters are realistic and the dialogue well done. The sex scenes are very explicit in detail but do seem to consume too much of the book towards the end. However, isn't that what smut books are all about?

Book Review: The Virgin's Lover

Title: The Virgin's Lover
Author: Philippa Gregory
Published: 2005, Touchstone
Rating: 5/5

Was Elizabeth I, the "Virgin Queen", truly a virgin? Or was it all part of an image she sought to project to her beloved people? In this novel, Gregory delves into the psyche of the young queen as she struggles to be the ruler she needs to be and the woman she wants to be. Her characterization of the conflicted queen is tastefully done as the reader sees the effects Elizabeth's childhood had on her.

Elizabeth is a survivor. She is the daughter of Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn, who died in false shame and ruin. Having survived her sister's reign, she has come to the throne in peril as she has lived her whole life. Unable to trust many of those around her she seeks out her childhood friend Robert Dudley. He is her favorite, her trusted adviser, and soon becomes her lover.

Robert Dudley has been laid low by his family's defeat. He has lost his fortune and many of his family members. When Elizabeth comes to throne, he sees it as his way back to glory. An unfamiliar feeling consumes him when he is with Elizabeth. Her happiness and welfare is more important to him than anything else. He would give anything to be her husband, but he has two objects in his way: his wife and Elizabeth's love of her throne.

The ambitious Robin may love Elizabeth, but he also wants to be King. Elizabeth is eager to be loved, but she is unwilling to do anything that would cost her the throne. She is unable to protect her throne from her private life. William Cecil, Secretary of State, makes the ultimate move to protect England with the Queen's royal command.

Now back to the question: Was Elizabeth truly the virgin she claimed to be? There is no doubt she and Robin Dudley loved each other and wanted to marry. My personal belief is that Elizabeth feared the state of marriage and only contemplated marrying Robin because she did love and trust him.  When she could not have him, she decided she would never marry. Did she sleep with him out of wedlock? I do not believe so. Perhaps they came close, but in my view Elizabeth was too shrewd to do anything that would put her and her beloved England at risk.

Book Review: Howl's Moving Castle

Title: Howl's Moving Castle
Author: Diana Wynne Jones (deceased)
Published: 1986
Rating: 5/5

I am ashamed to admit that I discovered this book on accident browsing the middle-grade reading section of Barnes and Noble. As a fan of anime, I have indulged in watching Hayao Miyazaki's film Howl's Moving Castle several times. This movie quickly became my favorite film produced by Studio Ghibli. The art is amazing and the story is a touching romance about plain maid and a handsome wizard. However, the are both cursed. I had no idea the popular anime movie was based off of a novel.

Jones'  ability to weave human truths into a fairy tale like setting is appealing to all ages. Sophia is the eldest daughter of a deceased Hatter and views herself as very dull. One day, she gets tangled with the Witch of the Waste and ends up cursed with an aged body. She embarks on a quest to seek her own fortune and to rid herself of the curse. She gets more than she bargained for when she finds herself living with the immature and selfish wizard, Howl, and Howl's young apprentice.

If anything, Jones mocks the traditional fairy tale. Her heroine is not beautiful or brave. The knight in shining armor is given to tantrums over hair dye and is a well known heart-breaker. However, they can only break their curses by discovering themselves through an unlikely friendship. Along the journey, the reader will find themselves laughing at some of the unpredictable situations these two characters find themselves in. I hope this novel stays in publication for future generations as a children's classic.

Book Review: The Boleyn Inheritance

Title: The Boleyn Inheritance
Author: Philippa Gregory
Published: 2006, Touchstone
Rating: 5/5

In this novel Gregory embarked on a journey to tell the story of the more fortunate fourth wife and the less fortunate fifth wife of Henry VIII. Told from three compelling and beautifully crafted POV the reader experiences the inner thoughts of Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard and the infamous Jane Boleyn. 

Anne of Cleves marries the King of England out of duty to her brother's kingdom. Everything goes splendidly wrong for her. The King abhors her and is unable to consummate the marriage. Fearful for her life, she agrees to the terms the King sets for the marriage to be annulled. She will be his "sister" and the highest lady after the Queen and the King's two daughters. She will have an allowance and her own small court. She discovers with unexpected joy the advantages of becoming a discarded wife. 

Jane Boleyn is the infamous wife of George Boleyn and sister-in-law to Anne Boleyn. She will do anything to get back to court. She will lie and tend to the needs of her family and of herself. She lives half in the present and half in the past. She is a murderess without committing murder.

Kitty Howard is a young girl. She cares only for clothes, jewels and looking pretty. She is shallow and the petted fifth wife. She is perhaps the most tragic of the wives, for her childhood upbringing will be her downfall. Against better judgment, she listens to the advice of Jane Boleyn and their uncle. Who could blame a young girl for taking a lover? Who can blame a young girl who cried out "I die a Queen but I would rather die the wife of Culpepper" when married to a beast like Henry VIII?

Gregory shows her readers that history is never truly in the past. History affects the present and the future. What happened in England when Henry VIII was on the throne with his second wife would haunt his future wives, his children, and England for years. The life of those in the royal circle always had to be wary of the past as they were of the future. 

Gregory has made me consider this aspect in my own novel. The present circumstances of my novel have been influenced by events that took place before the start of my story. The political plots in my novel are born from past incidents in my characters' lives. Sibling rivalry, favored children, jealousy, a sense of injustice, and ambition are just some of the elements influencing my characters and their political word. Those raised and involved in ruling families, I believe, had a very different mentality. These psychological influences from their childhood would show through in their adulthood and would determine what kind of rulers they would become.