Scan barcode
liz_towery's review against another edition
3.0
Such absolute potential, that fell flat. The characters are great, but the tie in of Henry the 8th with high school kids is just not great. But the characters, they were amazing. Especially Cleveland. Her humor was my absolute favorite thing. I will definitely read a book by this author again. If it can just stay away from the gimmick line.
iamsammie27's review against another edition
Bullies and high school drama not for me
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying and Gaslighting
noracalloway's review against another edition
5.0
This was right up my alley. I really enjoyed how historical facts and clues were translated into modern day (eg. Henry’s football jersey being 8/VIII), I loved the characters and the style of humor was perfect for me. ⭐️5/5
PS: I would’ve liked if there was a more clear Past/Present chapter label to clearly show when the story was happening. Obviously I could keep up and it wasn’t TOO jarring, but it would’ve been much easier to digest had the time jumps been clearly stated.
PS: I would’ve liked if there was a more clear Past/Present chapter label to clearly show when the story was happening. Obviously I could keep up and it wasn’t TOO jarring, but it would’ve been much easier to digest had the time jumps been clearly stated.
goosemixtapes's review against another edition
5.0
this book is INSANELY good. this book very well might be - and i DO not say this lightly - the best book i’ve read so far this year. (king lear is a play. so. shut up)
an incomplete list of things i adore about this book:
- first and foremost: this is a novel about women fighting back for and with each other. not just in a thriller-suspense type of way (though we do get some of that), but on EVERY page, in EVERY chapter, we see women standing up for themselves and for others. even the women they don’t like. even the women who aren’t their friends. never are any of the girls here flattened into one stereotype, on a metatextual level by the narrative or IN THE BOOK. i cannot COUNT the number of times cleves hears someone say something misogynistic about a girl she herself greatly dislikes and GETS THEIR ASS FOR IT!!! the WHOLE book at its core is full of WOMEN DEFENDING EACH OTHER and i AM IN LOVE WITH IT
- THE REFERENCES. HOLY SHIT. in the beginning especially every goddamn chapter had at least one in-joke about the tudor queens that weren’t necessary to understand/enjoy the book but made it ten times more fun for me holy shit (especially since... i am writing smthn that i hope does much of the same). like i’m sure i missed some of the jokes, there were so many. i want, like, the director’s cut of this novel ahshdnjdjdjd
- it took me a hot second to put together the chapter titles and the journalism thing but by god they were fun
- UGH JANE SEYMOUR
- this book was SO goddamn readable. like. i literally sat completely still in my bed hyperfocused on it for over an hour for two nights in a row. most of this i think is attributable to cleves’ snark (fucking INCREDIBLE narration), but the pacing and character work and the writing itself is just... so good
- FUUUUUCKING FINALLY WE CAN ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE REAL LIFE KATHERINE HOWARD WAS IN A LOT OF FUCKED UP RELATIONSHIPS WITH A LOT OF FUCKED UP AGE GAPS AND IT WAS NOT. HER. FAULT. the conversation cleves and katie have at the homecoming dance... literally thank GOD
- THE CLIMAX!!!
usually i don’t write super long reviews and i was actually going to wait until tomorrow to write this one out but i needed to shout after finishing it. in conclusion this book fucking ROCKS and you should read it
an incomplete list of things i adore about this book:
- first and foremost: this is a novel about women fighting back for and with each other. not just in a thriller-suspense type of way (though we do get some of that), but on EVERY page, in EVERY chapter, we see women standing up for themselves and for others. even the women they don’t like. even the women who aren’t their friends. never are any of the girls here flattened into one stereotype, on a metatextual level by the narrative or IN THE BOOK. i cannot COUNT the number of times cleves hears someone say something misogynistic about a girl she herself greatly dislikes and GETS THEIR ASS FOR IT!!! the WHOLE book at its core is full of WOMEN DEFENDING EACH OTHER and i AM IN LOVE WITH IT
- THE REFERENCES. HOLY SHIT. in the beginning especially every goddamn chapter had at least one in-joke about the tudor queens that weren’t necessary to understand/enjoy the book but made it ten times more fun for me holy shit (especially since... i am writing smthn that i hope does much of the same). like i’m sure i missed some of the jokes, there were so many. i want, like, the director’s cut of this novel ahshdnjdjdjd
- it took me a hot second to put together the chapter titles and the journalism thing but by god they were fun
- UGH JANE SEYMOUR
- this book was SO goddamn readable. like. i literally sat completely still in my bed hyperfocused on it for over an hour for two nights in a row. most of this i think is attributable to cleves’ snark (fucking INCREDIBLE narration), but the pacing and character work and the writing itself is just... so good
- FUUUUUCKING FINALLY WE CAN ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE REAL LIFE KATHERINE HOWARD WAS IN A LOT OF FUCKED UP RELATIONSHIPS WITH A LOT OF FUCKED UP AGE GAPS AND IT WAS NOT. HER. FAULT. the conversation cleves and katie have at the homecoming dance... literally thank GOD
- THE CLIMAX!!!
usually i don’t write super long reviews and i was actually going to wait until tomorrow to write this one out but i needed to shout after finishing it. in conclusion this book fucking ROCKS and you should read it
julesanne's review against another edition
4.0
I highly recommend this book which is a Henry VIII retelling, with the setting occuring in the present day, in an Indiana high school. Henry is a high school student who is charismatic, good looking, a QB on the hs team, and plays the guitar, who strives for power, while dating, well, you can guess how many girls. The novel is clever and witty, while dealing with issues as bullying, girl power, double standards between men and women, and of course manipulation. I have completely enjoyed reading this story.
figsjuice's review against another edition
1.0
*DNF @ 58% this is honestly one of the worst things ive ever been forced to read.
doublearegee's review against another edition
4.0
Smart, funny, and a great send up of the life of Henry VIII told by "Anne of Cleves" as shown through the lens of high school hierarchy.
mrs_bookdragon's review against another edition
3.0
Thank you Net Galley for the ebook in exchange for an honest review.
I grabbed this book because I loved the title and the cover-little did I know that it was a modern take on Henry VIII and his wives! If you are into this moment of history, I think you would enjoy the connections you can make with characters throughout this book.
I did think it could have moved a little faster. I found myself wanting to get to the next page and next event. One of my favorite parts was the girls coming together.
I grabbed this book because I loved the title and the cover-little did I know that it was a modern take on Henry VIII and his wives! If you are into this moment of history, I think you would enjoy the connections you can make with characters throughout this book.
I did think it could have moved a little faster. I found myself wanting to get to the next page and next event. One of my favorite parts was the girls coming together.
hellomadalyn's review against another edition
2.0
This review originally appeared on Novel Ink.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Okay, I’m gonna be up front with y’all: my experience reading The Dead Queens Club was, hands-down, one of the STRANGEST reading experiences I’ve ever had. I literally can’t make up my mind as to whether I actively hated this book, or whether I’m just apathetic toward it.
Let me preface my review with the fact that I was so excited to read DQC. I’ve been obsessed with Tudor England since I was in elementary school, and this was pitched as “Mean Girls x The Tudors,” which, like, SIGN ME UP. However, I was left feeling more frustrated and confused than anything else after finishing this book.
The Dead Queens Club retells the history of Henry VIII and his six wives, but in a modern American high school setting– which is such a cool concept. Our main character is Cleves (short for “Cleveland,” the city she hails from), who gets caught up in the charismatic Henry’s world after meeting at summer camp and instantly clicking. Cleves also holds the title of Girlfriend Number Four, a fact both she and Henry try to ignore, as they long ago decided they work better as best friends than romantic partners. When two of Henry’s girlfriends turn up dead after mysterious “accidents,” Cleves and her fellow surviving girlfriends start to get a little suspicious, and hatch a plot to catch Henry in his lies.
Friends, I don’t say this often, so take note when I say it now: this book was so damn confusing. And I don’t mean that in the sense that the themes went over my head; no, I mean that in the most elementary sense– disjointed plot threads are thrown in seemingly at random, only to be haphazardly hacked together much later in the story. It didn’t feel like a continuous story because we jumped around so much, with very little connection.
Another thing I absolutely could not stand about this was the writing. Again, this isn’t something I say lightly, but Capin’s writing style screamed “trying too hard.” Cleves’s *~quirkiness~* is pushed on the reader at every turn. I don’t even know how to describe this, but the author strings together words/phrases that would normally be hyphenated into continuous strings of words that are really difficult to read– each time, it took me out of the story. This happened *at least* once per page of the e-ARC, usually more like two-four times per page. It was endlessly frustrating, and after about 20 pages, this grammatical choice alone had me ready to call it quits. I think lots of readers will take issue with the writing here. It’s one of those things that’s unquestionably polarizing. On the surface, Cleves is exactly the kind of “unlikeable female protagonist” I usually love (even when other readers don’t), but in this particular case, she felt like a cardboard cutout with no backstory or development. Like, I never got a sense of her as a person, outside of her acerbic wit, which is an issue in a book that’s told in a first-person POV.
I will applaud Hannah Capin on the brilliant idea to retell this segment of history in a modern high school, because wow, the level of drama is 100% conducive to that kind of setting. And, for the most part, I think the way Capin adapted these historical figures to the setting was pretty brilliant. Like, I definitely laughed every time Cleves said, “ugh, Jane Seymour,” because, yeah, I think everyone familiar with the original history feels that way. That being said, I just needed more development for all of them. Like Cleves, all the other characters in this book felt very superficial and surface-level. Also, the fact that every character in this book is, at least to the reader’s knowledge, straight and cis, is kind of a disservice to the messages Capin was trying to articulate with this book. Like, the fact that there were SO MANY CHARACTERS and none of them were canonically queer was… very strange.
Going off of this, I do appreciate the themes Capin addressed in DQC– toxic masculinity, gaslighting, slut shaming, etc.– but I honestly don’t feel like she went far enough with any of them. The scene where Cleves realizes the ways in which Henry has been manipulating her was one of the (few) highlights of the book for me. Like the rest of the story, though, these explorations felt very surface-level.
I contemplated DNFing this infinite times, and on one hand, I’m glad I didn’t, because it did get better as the story went on. On the other hand, though, I don’t feel like I got anything out of reading this. I don’t need to have a deep, meaningful experience with every book or anything, but I do expect to at least enjoy or be interested in the book if I don’t get anything else out of it… and with DQC, not so. The last third of the book was the only time I was even marginally interested in any of the events of the story.
Overall, The Dead Queens Club boasts an excellent premise, but subpar execution, and I will not be recommending it.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Okay, I’m gonna be up front with y’all: my experience reading The Dead Queens Club was, hands-down, one of the STRANGEST reading experiences I’ve ever had. I literally can’t make up my mind as to whether I actively hated this book, or whether I’m just apathetic toward it.
Let me preface my review with the fact that I was so excited to read DQC. I’ve been obsessed with Tudor England since I was in elementary school, and this was pitched as “Mean Girls x The Tudors,” which, like, SIGN ME UP. However, I was left feeling more frustrated and confused than anything else after finishing this book.
The Dead Queens Club retells the history of Henry VIII and his six wives, but in a modern American high school setting– which is such a cool concept. Our main character is Cleves (short for “Cleveland,” the city she hails from), who gets caught up in the charismatic Henry’s world after meeting at summer camp and instantly clicking. Cleves also holds the title of Girlfriend Number Four, a fact both she and Henry try to ignore, as they long ago decided they work better as best friends than romantic partners. When two of Henry’s girlfriends turn up dead after mysterious “accidents,” Cleves and her fellow surviving girlfriends start to get a little suspicious, and hatch a plot to catch Henry in his lies.
Friends, I don’t say this often, so take note when I say it now: this book was so damn confusing. And I don’t mean that in the sense that the themes went over my head; no, I mean that in the most elementary sense– disjointed plot threads are thrown in seemingly at random, only to be haphazardly hacked together much later in the story. It didn’t feel like a continuous story because we jumped around so much, with very little connection.
Another thing I absolutely could not stand about this was the writing. Again, this isn’t something I say lightly, but Capin’s writing style screamed “trying too hard.” Cleves’s *~quirkiness~* is pushed on the reader at every turn. I don’t even know how to describe this, but the author strings together words/phrases that would normally be hyphenated into continuous strings of words that are really difficult to read– each time, it took me out of the story. This happened *at least* once per page of the e-ARC, usually more like two-four times per page. It was endlessly frustrating, and after about 20 pages, this grammatical choice alone had me ready to call it quits. I think lots of readers will take issue with the writing here. It’s one of those things that’s unquestionably polarizing. On the surface, Cleves is exactly the kind of “unlikeable female protagonist” I usually love (even when other readers don’t), but in this particular case, she felt like a cardboard cutout with no backstory or development. Like, I never got a sense of her as a person, outside of her acerbic wit, which is an issue in a book that’s told in a first-person POV.
I will applaud Hannah Capin on the brilliant idea to retell this segment of history in a modern high school, because wow, the level of drama is 100% conducive to that kind of setting. And, for the most part, I think the way Capin adapted these historical figures to the setting was pretty brilliant. Like, I definitely laughed every time Cleves said, “ugh, Jane Seymour,” because, yeah, I think everyone familiar with the original history feels that way. That being said, I just needed more development for all of them. Like Cleves, all the other characters in this book felt very superficial and surface-level. Also, the fact that every character in this book is, at least to the reader’s knowledge, straight and cis, is kind of a disservice to the messages Capin was trying to articulate with this book. Like, the fact that there were SO MANY CHARACTERS and none of them were canonically queer was… very strange.
Going off of this, I do appreciate the themes Capin addressed in DQC– toxic masculinity, gaslighting, slut shaming, etc.– but I honestly don’t feel like she went far enough with any of them. The scene where Cleves realizes the ways in which Henry has been manipulating her was one of the (few) highlights of the book for me. Like the rest of the story, though, these explorations felt very surface-level.
I contemplated DNFing this infinite times, and on one hand, I’m glad I didn’t, because it did get better as the story went on. On the other hand, though, I don’t feel like I got anything out of reading this. I don’t need to have a deep, meaningful experience with every book or anything, but I do expect to at least enjoy or be interested in the book if I don’t get anything else out of it… and with DQC, not so. The last third of the book was the only time I was even marginally interested in any of the events of the story.
Overall, The Dead Queens Club boasts an excellent premise, but subpar execution, and I will not be recommending it.
bookishtiff's review against another edition
1.0
I received this copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are of my own.
This book was terrible and I don’t usually say that often. This book didn’t seem like it had any real potential and that saddens me. I always try to find the positive things about a book even if I hated it. I’m not for sure if I can come up with any but we will see as I go along with this review if I can come up with anything.
To start off this review let me just say I did not finish it. I tried so hard to finish this book but I just couldn’t torture myself any longer. I stopped reading this book at 30% and trust me when I say I was pushing myself even before that to keep reading.
I thought I would like this book because it mentioned Mean Girls in the summary. But looking back on the summary again I am disgusted with myself for requesting this book.
The main character Cleves is by far one of the most annoying characters I had meet in 2018. She has zero dimension to her. She’s supposed to be this big jokester but honestly I don’t find her funny at all. She just annoying. She’s best friends with this guy who’s the “king” of the school she just moved to a year or two ago. She’s apparently the only girl he’s dated that something bad hasn’t happened to her. She’s an aspiring journalist who doesn’t stick up for herself half the time and relies on others to do it for her. She then gets anger for what they do to try to help her. Seriously why can’t she just help herself. She’s all about feminism but yet she doesn’t take those values to heart.
Henry the so called “king” is prick in my opinion. He rather listen to rumors about his girlfriend and dump her than actually ask her if they are true. He’s had so many girlfriends and I can’t believe one of the reasons he decided to dump one of the girls was because she was religious and didn’t want to sleep with him yet. This is a big hell no from me. Guys or girls should always respect decisions of their partners and not make fun of it. If he didn’t want to be with her just for that sol reason then he’s got more issues than what I thought.
Not only were the character’s annoying and flat the plot was just wow. I didn’t think I would find such a weird plot like this in a YA contemporary novel, but I did. Henry was dating this one girl but cheated on her with another girl. Henry is all about power you see. He uses the girls he dates as status builder as he tries to fix the town he lives in that’s failure was cause by his father’s factory shutting down. All of the kids are super rich and act like they were in politics. But this is only present in parts of the novel when we are back in time. That’s another factor. This book switches between present time, to the time where they are at camp together, to where Henry’s girlfriends are still alive. And you’ll never guess how his girlfriends died. Apparently someone brought explosives to a high school prom. There’s this big mystery on who did it and why. But it’s too much drama for high school like seriously.
Overall I hated this book. I don’t know if it got any better because I didn’t finish it and nor do I want to. I would recommend this book for a younger audience but I’m not for sure how well they would take it either.
This book was terrible and I don’t usually say that often. This book didn’t seem like it had any real potential and that saddens me. I always try to find the positive things about a book even if I hated it. I’m not for sure if I can come up with any but we will see as I go along with this review if I can come up with anything.
To start off this review let me just say I did not finish it. I tried so hard to finish this book but I just couldn’t torture myself any longer. I stopped reading this book at 30% and trust me when I say I was pushing myself even before that to keep reading.
I thought I would like this book because it mentioned Mean Girls in the summary. But looking back on the summary again I am disgusted with myself for requesting this book.
The main character Cleves is by far one of the most annoying characters I had meet in 2018. She has zero dimension to her. She’s supposed to be this big jokester but honestly I don’t find her funny at all. She just annoying. She’s best friends with this guy who’s the “king” of the school she just moved to a year or two ago. She’s apparently the only girl he’s dated that something bad hasn’t happened to her. She’s an aspiring journalist who doesn’t stick up for herself half the time and relies on others to do it for her. She then gets anger for what they do to try to help her. Seriously why can’t she just help herself. She’s all about feminism but yet she doesn’t take those values to heart.
Henry the so called “king” is prick in my opinion. He rather listen to rumors about his girlfriend and dump her than actually ask her if they are true. He’s had so many girlfriends and I can’t believe one of the reasons he decided to dump one of the girls was because she was religious and didn’t want to sleep with him yet. This is a big hell no from me. Guys or girls should always respect decisions of their partners and not make fun of it. If he didn’t want to be with her just for that sol reason then he’s got more issues than what I thought.
Not only were the character’s annoying and flat the plot was just wow. I didn’t think I would find such a weird plot like this in a YA contemporary novel, but I did. Henry was dating this one girl but cheated on her with another girl. Henry is all about power you see. He uses the girls he dates as status builder as he tries to fix the town he lives in that’s failure was cause by his father’s factory shutting down. All of the kids are super rich and act like they were in politics. But this is only present in parts of the novel when we are back in time. That’s another factor. This book switches between present time, to the time where they are at camp together, to where Henry’s girlfriends are still alive. And you’ll never guess how his girlfriends died. Apparently someone brought explosives to a high school prom. There’s this big mystery on who did it and why. But it’s too much drama for high school like seriously.
Overall I hated this book. I don’t know if it got any better because I didn’t finish it and nor do I want to. I would recommend this book for a younger audience but I’m not for sure how well they would take it either.