Member Reviews

Thank you to Netgalley and the author for allowing me to read this!

I have loved all the other books in this series! This book instantly drew me in, I got to explore through the eyes of our main character and this is always my favorite way to discover these details of the story and, it was done very well in this book. I really enjoyed this book and the plot. This author did amazing. I loved the writing style.

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If you’ve watched & enjoyed the series on TV called Reign than this book is definitely for you!! Oh Mary, how I love thee!! I loved this audiobook. The narration truly brought this story to life. Mary’s character was told so well!! Her character was so well developed! I couldn’t stop listening to this one and can’t wait to get my hands on book 2.

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3.5

If you have been following along with the other books written by these authors and keeping up with the “Lady Janies” but in a new series then you’ll likely want to jump into this one and give it a go. It’s pretty much in the same vein and is quite similar in some ways, though it is telling a different story in many ways as well.
In this tale, it’s Renaissance France where there are a whole lot of strange goings ons including mice, plots, poisons, and one very central queen.
Mary, queen of Scots is also the jewel of the French court but she’s also a bit of a mouse, literally. She is an Eðian or shapeshifter. Now, that’s not exactly a good thing since being a mouse could cause one to lose their head! The only good thing is that Mary has some very trusted friends and companions to fall back on.
Speaking of which there is Francis. Francis is her betrothed and great friend. He’s also the next in line to be king. When a terrible thing happens and the current king meets his maker in a very suspicious way Mary and Francis are thrown into a world of conspiracies, treason, lies, and so much more. All the while Mary must make sure her deepest secret stays safe.
This book is alright. As I mentioned, if you liked the first ones you should be good with this one as well. I thought it was decent. It’s well written if not a bit over the top silly. I mean it does rewrite history in a silly way that doesn’t make any sense at all really so it can’t not be silly.
I went back and forth with the audio and the book and I have to say I think that the audio was more enjoyable than straight reading in this case. The narrator is absolutely fantastic and one that just gives each and every character their own personal voice and personality so when you are tuned in to that the story comes alive and the strange silliness becomes a lot funnier. I definitely recommend checking out the audio if you can.
All in all this is an alright book. It definitely should have more readers and reviews than it does. It’s a fun story and just so far-fetched you get to step out of the world for a while and see things in a way that absolutely could never have happened but would have allowed for a better outcome for those it’s based on.

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Okay...I'm in. I will read anything this trio decides to write. I have read the first of their Lady Janies series and now this one and BOTH have been 5-star reads for me. I love the hilarious nature of their writing and the way the story mixes fantasy and historical fact. It's just so much fun to read and listen to.

These books are BIG, but they definitely don't feel like it. The pages just fly by. I didn't want to put this book down and found myself intrigued and highly entertained. I laughed out loud at more than one point in the story and also stayed up way too late reading. Double thumbs up.

I honestly find myself amazed that this is written by three authors. The writing is seamless and feels like one cohesive voice. I appreciate the flippancy of the writing and how there are often nods to modern culture or other items in history. It's like having an Easter egg hunt in your novel.

I originally tried reading this using the synthesized voice audio and quickly found that it was not for me. I need feeling in my reading and the awkward cadence and tone of the AI audio grated on me somewhat. However, the actual reading and the completed "real person" narrated audio were both fantastic.

These quirky novels are right up my alley and I loved this read. Now, if you'll excuse me...I have to go track down the two Lady Janies reads I haven't gotten to yet...

* Disclaimer: I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. *

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Another great novel by this amazing group of authors. I loved it.

Mary Queen of Scots is engaged to Prince Francis of France, and her life is going great! She has an lovely group of ladies in waiting, is best friends with her fiance and has two uncles that watch out for her and assist her in her queenly duties. But Mary has a secret, she is able to turn into a mouse on command, which comes in very handy when she needs to spy on people. However, court is never as it seems, and since Queen Mary is in line for two thrones instead of one you can bet people are plotting her demise.

This book was absolutely fantastic. You have history, comedy and a great storyline. This story is set in the same world as My Lady Jane by the same authors, so if you haven't read that book yet I would recommend reading it first so you don't get spoilers. Other than that I would highly recommend this book to all readers, specifically fans of history. I also highly recommend the audiobook version as well, the narrator has an amazing voice and really brings the story to life.

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I really loved My Lady Jane and found it to be funny, have an interesting plot, and contain cute romances. So I was really excited that this new book would take place in the same world. Unfortunately, this book was a big disappointment. First off, I did not find the humor to work at all. It almost felt like when you watch a comedy movie that is really hilarious, and then they decide to do a straight to tv sequel reusing the same jokes with a weak plot.

The characters in this were not interesting to me at all, which also meant I had couldn't care less about their romances. It didn't help that I felt no chemistry between any of the romantic pairings.

I really wanted to see more about the edians and how they would work in a country where they are persecuted. But I felt like the shape shifting was hardly even a plot point in this book, and didn't have the whimsy of My Lady Jane.

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My Contrary Mary is the first in the Mary series, which is a spinoff of the Janes series. The first Mary to be featured is Mary Queen of Scots who quickly appears in My Lady Jane.
Mary is living in France and plans have been made long ago for her to wed the French Prince Frances. They have grown up together and are best friends. When the wedding is moved up rather quickly, life at the french court get increasingly difficult. It also doesn't help that Mary is sometimes a mouse in a kingdom that is adamantly anti-shapeshifter. With the help of Mary's lady's, four other ladies named Mary, and the daughter of Nostradamus they must protect their rule and each other.
These books do a great job of blending history and fantasy elements seamlessly.

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From the trio that brought us the Janes series comes a magical new historical comedy starring the young, infamous, Mary, Queen of Scots. Remember the shapeshifters from My Lady Jane? Our Mary is a shifter, a condition that is a closely guarded secret from both her home court and the French court where she resides. She's betrothed to the future king of France, but believes their eventual marriage is some time in the future. She and Francis are surprised to learn a date has been picked and it's soon. As they prepare for the big Mary and her ladies in waiting, all also named Mary, get caught up in a deadly royal scandal. This cheeky historical rewrite is a rollicking good time.

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I loved all of the Jane Series from this trio- so I was so excited to get to dive into this one.

My Contrary Mary is about one of the greatest Mary’s of all time- Mary, Queen of Scots.

As with the previous series, these books seek to rewrite history for these famous females and make it better. There may also be additional magic and characters and current pop culture references. This is definitely not a true story.

I thought this was such a fun take for Mary and would be great for those who are also fans of shows like Reign. Much like the show- this book skirts history but I really wish it had happened like the book.

I look forward to the next in the series and meeting the next Mary to be saved!

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I enjoyed this more than I thought I would!! I'm not a huge historical fiction reader but I was very excited to pick this up. This is a retelling of Mary, Queen of Scotts. Now I'm horrible with my history so I certainly will not be speaking to the historical accuracy but as far as the book goes, what a great adventure! I loved the little magical elements sprinkled in, the cast of characters, and the storyline from start of finish. I also enjoyed the cutins from the authors, it reminded me of the Lemony Snicket books in that case.

I originally received this as an audiobook through NetGalley. It was mentioned that the audiobook would be a synthetic voice since it's just for the material. Since I picked this up after it was released, I did check out the audio book while I was reading along with the physical book. It was narrated by Fiona Haringham who did a great job! There were so many characters and different accents and I felt like each character was distinct enough.

It looks like these will be a series like the Lady Jane series and I'm excited to pick up the rest of the books!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Audio for a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

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This was so good! Why did it take me so long to read this one? What a great first book by these ladies and I really enjoyed that. Ik I was going to love it but not this much. There was a plot twist I didn't see coming and I didn't knew anything about queen mary of scott. But thanks ladies for making me learn! Five out five stars a more detialed review coming soon....

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I loved this book. It was a nice mix of historical fiction and fantasy. Loved the audiobook narrator and I felt like I was in this setting. Mary, Queen of Scotland is one of my favorite queens of Europe and this was a nice way of depicting her and her court. Can't wait to read the next books in the series. These authors are going to be on my reading radar The only reason for not a 5-star rating is that it was slow at the beginning.

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Historically, women in power don’t get treated very well. This trio of authors tries to fix that with this fantasy series, focusing on Mary, Queen of Scots.

This is another fun installment in a fantasy series with shapeshifters. This story has a little bit of everything. Humor, fantasy, messing with history, romance.

It’s a fun read, but I got a little tired of the pop culture references, which is a major facet of the humor throughout the story, Some were funny and clever, but others, like a reference to the Alamo were too much for me,

I really like the concept of rewriting histories. And the fantasy aspects made for some really interesting story workings.

The ending was a little abrupt for me, and there was a twist in the last 20 minutes that left kind of a bad taste in my mouth.

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I don’t properly have the words to describe how incredible this book was, but I’m gonna try my best.

For one, I’ve always been a fan of the audiobooks. ‘Cause personally, I think they enhance the story and it’s a better reading experience as a result. Plus, the narrator is fantastic and does an amazing job at bringing each character and the world to life. I would highly recommend reading the audiobooks for this series (and also for the “Jane” series as well).

As for my thoughts on this particular book; this was my personal favourite of all the Janies’ books. It was incredibly entertaining and laugh out loud funny. Plus, I was the most familiar with Mary Queen of Scots before diving into this book. So I knew some of her history beforehand and it was nice for her to get a happier ending here.

Mary and Francis were great characters; I loved reading from their perspectives. They both felt relatable to me considering the fact they’re from the 16th century. With Ari on the other hand, I had a harder time deciphering her. While I did like her at times, she definitely wasn’t my favourite. She kept doing what others told her to do and I just wanted her to stick up for herself more. I also loved her f/f romance with Liv, one of Mary’s lady in waitings, but I wanted more from it.

Overall, this was an incredible start to a brand new series by the “Janies’” and I’m excited to see which "Mary’s" they’ll write next.

I received an audio galley ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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I love this trio of authors and I loved how fun and funny this book was. I listened to the audio, which I didn't love as much as I thought I would, but it's also not the finished product. So don't let that deter you from getting it.

I love that the authors stared this Mary series with Mary Queen of Scots. The way they rewrote history this time was fantastic and I thoroughly enjoyed being back in the world of My Lady Jane. All of the pop culture references were fun to listen to and I loved seeing so many characters from history.

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DNF at 25%! I know I would have loved this if I was 10 years younger, but unfortunately this just wasn't for me. It felt very whimsical. I didn't like the main character and I just couldn't force myself to continue

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As I have read the previous trilogy by the Lady Janies, I absolutely needed to read this next series by them as well! I was so excited to see that I got approved for the audiobook arc and I am not sure what took me so long to actually start it! I fell in love with all of the characters instantly and loved watching their journey unfold in this first installment. The only issue that I really had with this first installment was the random sex scene that popped up that was violent. I wasn't expecting it when it happened and it kind of felt a little forced.

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The Lady Janies went back to their roots with this fun and clever story, set in the world of MY LADY JANE and featuring cameos from those beloved characters as well.

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So clever and so much fun! As with the Lady Janies series, a magical blend of of history and humor with just the right amount of romance thrown in. While Mary Queen of Scotland and her betrothed Francis were both wonderful characters in this story, my personal favorite was Ari, the favored daughter of Nostradamus. Her pop culture prognostications had me chuckling throughout the story. Narrator’s multiple accents added considerably to the listening experience of this story and really helped to differentiate between the French and Scottish players.

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Beautifully narrated and a wonderfully written I was immediately immersed in this storyline. I really love this combination of authors.

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