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A review by mbenzz
Secrets of the Tudor Court: The Pleasure Palace by Kate Emerson
4.0
I was really looking forward to this book, it had great reviews and told the Tudor story from a completely different point of view (and no Anne Boleyn in sight!). The beginning was great...after the sudden death of France's King Charles VIII, 8-year-old Jane Popyncourt and her mother leave hastily in the middle of the night headed for England. Once there, Jane is sent to Eltham to be raised with the royal Tudor children while her mother enters the English court, only to die mysteriously less than a year after arriving.
Wonderful! I was completely enthralled, and couldn't wait to find out what the story was! It would take a while to get there though as the whole middle of the novel was very sluggish. Jane's growing up in court, her affair with the Duc de Longueville, trying to get to France only to be denied, and sloooowwwwly finding out little pieces here and there of why her and her mother had to flee France. Very slow-going...this is not a very long book, one I had expected to finish in a couple days, but it ended up taking almost a week because I just couldn't get into it.
Finally though, near the end of the novel (about 78% on the Kindle) things started to pick up. Jane was getting answers to her questions much more rapidly, and the story was falling into place. I was very pleased with the ending and where it all lead to. Overall, a decent book. I liked that it wasn't the same-'ol tired Tudor tale. We're introduced to new players and a new story, Henry and family are more in the background, not the center of everything, which was kinda nice. I just wish it held my attention a little more throughout the middle.
Wonderful! I was completely enthralled, and couldn't wait to find out what the story was! It would take a while to get there though as the whole middle of the novel was very sluggish. Jane's growing up in court, her affair with the Duc de Longueville, trying to get to France only to be denied, and sloooowwwwly finding out little pieces here and there of why her and her mother had to flee France. Very slow-going...this is not a very long book, one I had expected to finish in a couple days, but it ended up taking almost a week because I just couldn't get into it.
Finally though, near the end of the novel (about 78% on the Kindle) things started to pick up. Jane was getting answers to her questions much more rapidly, and the story was falling into place. I was very pleased with the ending and where it all lead to. Overall, a decent book. I liked that it wasn't the same-'ol tired Tudor tale. We're introduced to new players and a new story, Henry and family are more in the background, not the center of everything, which was kinda nice. I just wish it held my attention a little more throughout the middle.