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nerdyfangirl's review against another edition
5.0
After reading Lee's take on Mary, Queen of Scots, I had high hopes for what she might do with Queen Mary Tudor. Bloody Mary is one of the most hated and reviled monarchs in English history and Lee has uncovered a side of her that shows Mary as a sympathetic character.
I'm not usually a fan of prologues, but as soon as I opened the book and started reading I was hooked, and it was the prologue's doing. From then on everything just kept getting better. Mary was not a vicious woman, determined to kill all who stood in her way. She was a caring queen who wanted to save her people; an obedient daughter; a loving wife; and, above all, she was a devout Catholic determined to do God's will.
Her Mother's Daughter is the heart-wrenching tale of Queen Mary Tudor and how her unfaltering faith ultimately destroyed her life. There were times, many times, when I wanted to reach out to Mary myself in an attempt to console her. How could anyone possibly think ill of such a woman? She was merely standing by her beliefs, and she treated the Protestants the same way her fellow Catholics had been treated when her father Henry VIII split from Rome. With every page, Mary's side of the story becomes more real and believable until it ends in one swift, sad moment that leaves you wishing there had been more at the end, at the very least for Mary.
Things really started to pick up in the last fourth of the book, not to imply that the rest of it was slow, and I couldn't put it down. I watched as the Queen's life fell to pieces around her. I wanted nothing more than to cry for her, with her. She had done nothing wrong, yet life seemed determined to beat her down.
Julianne Lee provides a beautifully written depiction of one of the world's most infamous women that makes you question Mary Tudor's reputation as the queen everyone knows as Bloody Mary. I loved this book, as sad and wonderful as it was.
I'm not usually a fan of prologues, but as soon as I opened the book and started reading I was hooked, and it was the prologue's doing. From then on everything just kept getting better. Mary was not a vicious woman, determined to kill all who stood in her way. She was a caring queen who wanted to save her people; an obedient daughter; a loving wife; and, above all, she was a devout Catholic determined to do God's will.
Her Mother's Daughter is the heart-wrenching tale of Queen Mary Tudor and how her unfaltering faith ultimately destroyed her life. There were times, many times, when I wanted to reach out to Mary myself in an attempt to console her. How could anyone possibly think ill of such a woman? She was merely standing by her beliefs, and she treated the Protestants the same way her fellow Catholics had been treated when her father Henry VIII split from Rome. With every page, Mary's side of the story becomes more real and believable until it ends in one swift, sad moment that leaves you wishing there had been more at the end, at the very least for Mary.
Things really started to pick up in the last fourth of the book, not to imply that the rest of it was slow, and I couldn't put it down. I watched as the Queen's life fell to pieces around her. I wanted nothing more than to cry for her, with her. She had done nothing wrong, yet life seemed determined to beat her down.
Julianne Lee provides a beautifully written depiction of one of the world's most infamous women that makes you question Mary Tudor's reputation as the queen everyone knows as Bloody Mary. I loved this book, as sad and wonderful as it was.
wireless_wizard's review against another edition
4.0
This book was pretty slow-going at some points and I felt that the ending was a bit corny. Other that, though, it was a very good book. All too often in books regarding the Tudor family, Mary's point of view is largely ignored. This was an enlightening book in regards to how Mary must have felt thoughout the events of her life.
prairiedances's review against another edition
2.0
Not a fan of this one. The book is basically a long, drawn out exercise for the author to tell me Mary's life story. The characters are one-dimensional and I hated the 'Bloody Mary' front and end tags.
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