Dark Queen Rising by Paul Doherty
Stacey • August 6, 2019
England during the 14th and 15th Century was a bloody mess of wars and a pretty serious game with the throne. The 100 years war really took its toll on England and all its people. The war of the roses, the infamous battle between the Lancastrians and the Yorks was the pivotal turning point for England as a whole.
Fast forward to the tail end of the war and we find Margaret Beaufort. Ruthless, intelligent and the matriarch of the Tudor dynasty, knows she could never take the throne in her own birth right so pins all her dreams on her malleable son Henry.
During this time being a Lancaster may as well be wearing a bright neon sign saying traitor to the throne right here. This still did not stop Lady Margaret.
I adore historical fiction. It’s been my go to genre for quite some time. I am well versed in the Tudor dynasty and have a vast knowledge base starting with the war of the roses, all the way to the death of Elizabeth I. I half wondered if this would be a blessing or a curse and it turned out to be a curse for the author. There are some pretty acute inaccuracies in the historical parts of the book. They did grate on me a bit, I have to be honest but for for the most part, the writing is good enough for me to overlook the inconsistencies. The beginning of the book didn’t flow well for me, way too much talking and no story building. I hated that. Building into the story would have been better. I rather felt that the first chapter was picking up from somewhere else. It felt like I was starting a book from the middle of the story rather than the beginning.
Margaret Beaufort comes across a little less of a tyrant in this rendition. The author gives her a certain motherly humanity that made her a little easier to swallow. I couldn’t imagine having my only son so far away from me and not knowing if he was going to stay safe or if he was even alive. It must have taken its toll on Margaret being in fear constantly. I really can’t help wondering if the hardening of her heart started as young girl with no stabilty, rather than from all the upheaval with the realm.
When I read the synopsis for the book I was excited! A Tudor murder mystery!! How creative. I felt very let down with the whole story. The whole mystery surrounding the murders were not the star of the book as I was lead to believe. For me, if the part about the murders were removed from the summary, I would have gone in with a different mind set and I think you would have seen a very different review from me.
Instead this book is about a highly ambiguous woman with an ambition to rival any man. You never fully understand if it’s her love for her son that drives her or whether she loves the glory her son can give her by claiming the throne and ultimately, giving her the control of the realm.
‘She was determined to weave the web she wanted..’ That doesn’t sound like a woman who is just trying to navigate her way through a dark time in history. She is actively going against the grain and is putting her life and her sons in mortal danger in the process.
This book switches between the points of view of Margaret and Christopher Ulswicke. Ulswicke was one of only two people Margaret trusted in the world. I actually enjoyed his story more so than Margarets. He's funny, determined and could feel his need to do his very best. He was much more genuine a character than Margaret. He did what he did for the good of his mistress and for someone who kills people, was a much more believable human than Margaret comes across as. Other than the gruesome and overly descriptive deaths being described, there wasn’t much that stood out.
The pace of the book wanes a lot and other times you get far too much information thrown at you. I can still see the potential this book has but for a seasoned reader like me, it didn’t hold the water it should have. There were no twists and turns, nothing to drive you forward to continue to read. I did finish it. It was mediocre at best and a real let down for me. I did a happy dance when I first started to read it. I was excited. By the end I was just glad it was over.
I have never read any other of his work and in all honesty, I probably won’t be seeking his work out again. It’s a real shame that I didn’t have something better to say about this book. I really wanted to love it.
I would give it 2.5 stars out of 5. I even had to go and read parts again because my mind wandered and that never happens to me.
Sincerely, The Lioness
I just finished Falling for You Again by Kerry Lonsdale and here are my musings. Meli is a furniture artist. She crafts the most amazing pieces and looks forward to taking over the family business. She is blind-sided when her uncle plans to sell the business. When she finds out the company that is buying has someone she knows working for them… Aaron. A man she hasn’t seen in years… The man she married and divorced after a night in vegas… A man who might just be able to help her destroy the deal. Wow wow wow! This second chance story really took a unique twist by having the main characters meet by chance on a plane and get married in Vegas with the agreement they annul it after. They don’t see each other again until this deal. I loved the chemistry between them. The narration was absolutely wonderful and I loved how the whole book came to life in this beautiful way. I liked Meli a lot. I loved that she had a job outside of “pink” jobs that come up a lot in romance books. She was a rockstar with A wood-lathe and that was bad ass. I thought the plot was clever and unique. It really was a fun read. I liked the ending too. It was definitely an all round epic romance read! 4.5 stars Thank you @netgalley and @brilliancepublishing for my gifted ALC! You can find all my reviews at thelionessofliteracy.com And my podcast at https://open.spotify.com/show/5kKN96RNPNh4uNDZzpIE1A #bookish #bookalorian #bookalicious #bookishblog #bookstagrammer #candianbookblogger #bookishbusiness #bookpodcast #litdulterous #readingbook #readersofbookstagram #bookrecs #fallingforyouagain #audiobookreview
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Book Review - Non fiction - History I just finished Tom Paine’s War - The Words that Rallied a Nation and the Founder for our Time by Jack Kelly and here are my musings. I don’t know a lot about American history but 1776 is a year I recognize. A country fighting for its independence…. FIST PUMP! What I didn’t know was anything about Tom Paine. He wrote a pamphlet called Common sense.. Something I see a lot of people without lately and he convinced people they could rule themselves. He didn't just write, he fought on the ground… I had no idea all the information I learned reading this book about how America started out its baby steps into independence and I have to say it was impressive! When did we as a civilization get so compliant? These men fought for America's future and we allow the cuff to be tightened all the time in the name of security. It was an eye opening book. I really enjoyed the writing and the whole tone of the book. It was well researched and I was thoroughly entertained. It’s a really good starter book if you want to dip your toe into the revolutionary war! 4 stars Thank you @stmartinspress for my gifted copy. Out jan 6th… Oh that date… Nice timing haha Check out my book podcast!! https://open.spotify.com/show/5kKN96RNPNh4uNDZzpIE1A #Bookcommunity #bookalorian #bookblog #bookishbanter #litdulterous
I just finished Everything Is Probably Fine by Julia London and here are my musings. Lorna is awkwardly fumbling through her life and the only place she feels in control is at work but her team hates her and when she accidently sends an email talking smack about her team.. Management mandates she must do a wellness program to work on her issues. Giving herself over to the program means facing things she does not want to face and making peace with a past that shaped the woman she hates looking at in the mirror. I didn’t think I was going to love this book. It started and I was like yeahhh ok. She is not my kind of person. Turns out I was wrong. She really grew on me. She was dealing with perceived baggage of her childhood that she held onto for dear life. It defined her and she didn’t let people get close enough to hurt her. I was charmed, utterly charmed. I loved the audiobook. It was just how I like my narrators to be. I felt connected and enthralled. She has to make amends to people in her past to get the money her mother left her when she passed away and what she found at the end was priceless. I laughed, I teared up, I felt like I was right there in her story. It was a real transformation story and finding oneself and I loved it so much. I loved the writing and the characters were just…. Sighhhh… Perfect! 4.5 stars Thank you to @harpermusebooks and @netgalley for my gifted ALC! You can find all my reviews at thelionessofliteracy.com And my podcast at https://open.spotify.com/show/5kKN96RNPNh4uNDZzpIE1A Book merch - bookaloriandesigns.com and bookaloriandesigns.etsy.com #everythingisprobablyfine #julialondon #bookreview #bookishreview #booklover #readersofig #readingislit #bookalorian #litdulterous #audiobook #audiobookstagram #audiobooklover #audiobookreview
I just finished Night Watcher by Daphne Woolsoncroft and here are my thoughts. Nola is a late night call in radio host that has its callers ringing in with ghost stories. That is until one night, a caller describes what is happening… It’s eerily similar to a serial killer’s MO. A killer who murdered Nola’s babysitter all those years ago. One thing is sure, Nola is being watched again and the hiding man is coming for this time This is just what I needed!! I loved the thrum of underlying fear that this book built up in spades. It is exactly the kind of tension I needed and the pacing was brilliant! I loved the narration as well, it was absolutely creepy AF! I liked Nola. I think the author did an awesome job of showing that she was the potential victim of the serial killer but also strong and fierce. It was nice to see the balance of this in the FMC. She also wasn’t annoying haha. I have been on a run of annoying MC’s so this broke the streak. THANK YOUUUUU. It was all perfection until the end. That was a total bummer! It just kinda fell flat. I was expecting some big crescendo…. Alas… This was not meant to be. All in all I was entertained though. 4 stars Thank you @netgalley and @hachetteaudio my gifted copy. You can find all my reviews at thelionessofliteracy.com And my podcast at https://open.spotify.com/show/5kKN96RNPNh4uNDZzpIE1A All book merch at Bookaloriandesigns.com and bookaloriandesigns.etsy.com #nightwatcher #thriller #bookalorian #booktok #booklover #bookloversunite #bookreview #audiobookreview #audiobooklover #alc #audioreader #audiobookstagram
I just finished The Liar I Married by D.K. Hood and here are my musings. How do you cope when you find that your husband wasn’t the man you thought he was.. You cannot remember things and he won’t let you see your children and you are the reason you had a bad accident? Oh man I didn’t see any of this stuff coming! I love books that keep you on the edge of your seat.. That keeps you unbalanced…. You never know who’s telling the truth… Where is the danger… This book had that in spades. I didn’t trust anyone. I was questioning everything. The story was so well done with the best of the best pacing. The narration was excellent. I was hooked. I could not put it down and that ending…. YAHOOOOOO I was shocked I tell ya… SHOOK TO MY CORE!!! If you read psychological thrillers, you have to add this page turner to your TBR! 4 stars Thank you @bookouture #theliarimarried #dkhood #thriller #thrillerreader #thrillerbook #bookreview #booksbooksbooks #bookcommunity #bookalorian #litdulterous #bookblog #bookinfluencer #bookrecs
I just finished You Must Be New Here by Katie Sise and here are my musings. Sloane and her ex co-parent well with their daughter Daisy but something is missing from Sloane’s life… Then Harper and Ben move in next door. Harper is vibrant and different and they become friends. Things are looking up until Daisy’s babysitter goes missing, everyone is on edge and secrets come out of the wood work. I did the audio of this one and it was solid. I enjoyed the narrator and they did a good job of bringing the tension. So many horrible things happen in this book and a lot of it seemed to be more about shocking you than being believable but that matters very little to me because I suspend my disbelief when I read fiction so for me, this was awesome. I think the gold in this story was Harper and Ben’s backstories. It was intriguing and different. Not what I was expecting at all. I thought the writing was solid and the pacing was on point but that ending? It kinda fell apart there for me which was a bit of a let down but all in all an enjoyable and entertaining thriller. 3.75 stars Thank you to @netgalley and @brilliancepublishing for my gifted ALC You can find all my reviews at thelionessofliteracy.com And my podcast at https://open.spotify.com/show/5kKN96RNPNh4uNDZzpIE1A All book merch at Bookaloriandesigns.com and bookaloriandesigns.etsy.com #youmustbenewhere #katiesise #thriller #bookreview #bookalorian #litdulterous #readersofig #igbooks #bookishpodcast #bookishbusiness
I just finished The Haunting of Emily Grace by Elena Taylor and here are my musings. You can find her author interview here on Tuesday - https://open.spotify.com/show/5kKN96RNPNh4uNDZzpIE1A Grief is a funny thing and Emily Grace understands that and with only one person left in her life that has thrown her a life line, she finds herself tasked with doing carpentry work on a mansion.. On a secluded island after the wife mysteriously disappears.. Is the house cursed like locals seem to believe? Strange things are happening and the longer she stays, the more sinister it all becomes. I actually enjoyed the heck out of this book. As you all know, I like my books to be faster paced but this book brings a certain ethereal magic to the story with its slow build and creepy energy and you won’t be able to help being sucked right into the chilling undertones of this gothic novel. Emily Grace has this unreliable edge and you never know what is driving what she is seeing, hearing or feeling. I was uneasy right from the ferry until the very end. Kind of like someone was standing behind me… Cold fear just brushing over me… The atmosphere was harrowing and I was on the edge of my seat towards the end of the book. I never knew for sure what was what and I did not see the ending coming. The imagery of the writing was so original and felt authentic! I could see what the author was portraying in my mindseye with such ease. I enjoyed the dialogue, it was precise and clean! If you are looking for a gothic mystery to get under your skin, add this one to your tbr! Due out on November 4th, I cannot recommend this book more! 4.5 stars https://amzn.to/4hp6epB Thank you @elenataylorauthor and @partnersincrimevbt for this opportunity to get to know this gifted book on a more connected level! #elenataylor #partnersincrimevbt #thehauntingofemilygrace #bookreview #bookalorian #booktok #litdulterous #bookinfluencer #literaryinfluencer #suspense #gothicnovel #gothicreader #mysterythriller
Welcome to the Lit-indie Files. Where I take a chance on small/indie published books and bring you the inside scoop!! I just finished The Lady and the Unicorn by Ophelie and here are my musings. Running to a life not away should be the mantra of any young woman looking to reinvent themselves. The trouble is when you run head first into a man who brings the heat but keeps you at arms length. Not knowing what is real and what is in her head, who do you run to? Who can protect you from the dangers real or imagined? Loads to unpack here. It feels like reading a book a step away from it. There was nothing to connect to. A lack of use of names kinda keeps you at arms length. It was an interesting way to tell a story and kinda worked in some spots but others… I wondered why I kept reading. You need to connect. You have to feel something to keep the pages turning and the only thing that kept me reading was finding out what was real and what was not. As a woman who has people in her life with BP… the Psychosis parts were wild. I don’t know if this is drawn from experience or whether she researched bipolar but in my experience this isn’t the norm and the catalyst didn’t really seem like something that would set a BP person on this trajectory so that was a little unsettling for me. The writing definitely went waywire towards the end. It felt erratic and not well reasoned but still I kept turning those pages. There was a great underlying story here. I can see it. It just needs some editing. It needs someone else to work the kinks out and smooth the story a bit. I could have used more being in psychosis, maybe her doing things that seemed normal as she is narrating it and people were acting like she was doing something out of this world crazy and then another POV to give us the reality. Maybe her living and not knowing what is real and what is not in an unreliable narrator way rather than the way it was done here. It was unique and different but it still needs a bit of work. 3.5 stars #theladyandtheunicorn #ophelie #indiebook #indiereader #bookreview #readersofig #igbooks
Copy, Kill, Repeat by Steve Cornwell Something sinister is happening in London. Someone is recreating famous murders and staging them for the police. He isn’t even doing it himself… He finds others to do it for him. The police bring in criminologist Ethan Marshall to help bring the killer to justice.. But the clock is ticking. It was interesting.. The gruesome parts were absolutely brilliant but the pacing and tone everywhere else was a tad bland. It felt like 2 different people were writing this one. I think it was done on purpose to bring maximum effect to the parts that mattered but it didn’t work so well for me on audio. I think had the author quickened the pace, it would have been the best book of the year for me but it just missed the mark. I liked Ethan but again, he came across boring in spots and that really was a bummer. 3.5 stars #bookalorian #bookrecs #spookyrecs #bookish #copykillrepeat #booksbooksbooks #reading #booklover #bookworm #booktok #litdulterous #bookreview #bookcommunity
