I always felt sorry for Mary because of the upheaval and turmoil her father caused her. As well as the cruelty because he kept her away from her mother.
Yet, she was his daughter and did her own cruel things as queen.
Inwardly Imthink she just wanted to be loved and was eagerly searching for that love and approval from anyone who would give it to her.

The Passionate Tudor: A Novel of Queen Mary I is the third and final book in Alison Weir’s Tudor Rose series. This last installment is told from the perspective of Mary Tudor, Henry VIII’s oldest surviving child. Although Alison Weir isn’t particularly fond of England’s first queen regnant, I think she does a wonderful job of portraying how a once-promising princess became the queen history remembers as “Bloody Mary.” I found myself mourning the person Mary might have been if not for her father’s relentless obsession with securing a male heir—an ambition that allowed nothing and no one to stand in his way.

The Tudor Rose series takes place in the same fictional universe as The Six Queens. While I enjoyed the scene between Catherine Parr and Henry VIII on the first anniversary of Catherine Howard’s execution I from both their point of view, I can’t help but wish for a series that explores this era from multiple perspectives, similar to George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. Chapters focused on a single viewpoint character can sometimes slow the story’s pace, whereas shifting perspectives could keep the momentum going.

Since I’m making wishes, I’d also love to see Alison Weir write a series set during the Wars of the Roses—one that explores the period through the eyes of its women. Their stories are rich with drama, power struggles, and intrigue, and I have no doubt Weir would bring them to life brilliantly.

The Passionate Tudor see Alison Weir at her best. She steps outside her excellent books on the wives of Henry to explore the complex and frequently misunderstood life of his first daughter, Mary. Although it is hard to find empathy for a person known best as "Bloody Mary", Weir attempts to give us a much more human look at this complex woman. Through the use of historical fiction, Weir gives us a look at a woman who was often misguided and misled. I enjoyed this book for its attempt to create a more complete picture of this woman viewed as a villain in history.

Alison Weir is one of my favorite authors so when I saw that she was writing a book about Queen Mary I immediately went to request a copy on Netgalley. Weir does not disappoint giving us an inside look at what was going through the mind of this "bloody" queen. What I appreciate most about Weir's works is that she uses true historical fact to inform her writing. This is very clear in passages where Mary is reacting to the events around her. The details that the events have and the words that the characters in the book say are not only interesting but incredibly informative. I appplaud Weir for taking on this project and can not wait to see what she has ready next.

Look im all for a historical fit film book, but make it about the tudors and im all in,
As someone who loves all things tudor, I always want to know more about Mary, his eldest daughter and yes this might have been fiction, but still didnt make me love it any less, and in all great Historical fiction there is always some truth,

I loved everything about this book and the way the author made it seem so real, I was instantally hooked and was lost in the pages, the characters and the world she had built, and yes again all from some truth in history,

This is an excellent book about Queen Mary I. As a huge fan of Alison’s work, I was thrilled to see her take on Mary, and the book did not disappoint. I’ve always wanted a deeper dive into Mary’s story, and this delivered in every way.

The book begins with Mary’s childhood, showcasing a life full of both highs and lows—many of them prolonged and deeply challenging. From her close bond with her mother, Catherine of Aragon, to her fraught relationship with her father, Henry VIII and later her relationships with her siblings, Mary’s story is one of resilience and complexity. Alison portrays her as a dynamic and unique figure, particularly as the first queen regnant of England, a role that brought both triumph and turmoil.

Does Mary truly deserve her notorious reputation as "Bloody Mary," or has Alison redeemed her in the eyes of history? You’ll have to read the book to find out—but I promise, it’s a compelling journey worth taking!

Alison Weir has written plenty of excellent books covering Tudor England, so fictionalizing the life of ‘Bloody’ Mary would seem to be right up her alley. But her fiction is usually a bit better than this, and the dry, stiff prose and info-dump-style explanations make the book slow going. But it also has a fire in its belly, and when it gets away from dully relating historical events it really sings.

Following Mary Tudor from her birth to her death, The Passionate Tudor covers many steps in Mary’s life, from her time as an innocent princess and Henry’s only living heir to the deposition of her mother and her removal from the line of succession to her eventual ascension to the throne. Weir takes the time to humanize Mary, giving her depth as a person and grounding her religious fervor in her close relationship with her mother and Catherine’s goal of uniting Mary in marriage with a Spanish prince. Her close relationship with her sister, Elizabeth, which soon becomes bitter and fraught, as well as those with her brother, father and many of her stepmothers play out in an interesting way. Eventually, Mary’s dream of reinstating Catholicism as the religion of the English and marrying a Spanish prince come true – but the reality she faces does not match the fantasy she’s lived with for so many years.

What’s fascinating about The Passionate Tudor is the way the story is divided, with half focusing on Mary’s life before her reign and half on her reign and death, which gives us a decently balanced look at her life. Peeking at early romances, harsh imprisonments and deep loses, it makes Mary a more interesting character than she often appears in Tudor and Elizabethan fiction, where she is frequently flattened out into a Catholic fanatic haunted by her phantom pregnancies. Here, frustrated in her complicated love for Phillip and forced to cope with political machination for the five years before her death, following her is fascinating process.

But there’s a surprisingly high amount of heavy-handed discussions that come straight out of the ‘As You Know, Bob’ school. Characters directly musing to each other out loud about their pasts, world events and other situations in the world’s stiffest way usually doesn’t happen in one of Weir’s novels, but here, there’s so much of it felt like I was taking an open book history test; there’s no natural flow to it. Which is why The Passionate Tudor ranks at the lower end of a B; it’s compelling but alarmingly dry. Hopefully, Weir’s next novel will return her to a more engaging place.

The Passionate Tudor is the third book in the Tudor Rose Series and is a wonderful addition to the series.

This book tells the story of Queen Mary I life. Mary's life is turned upside down when her parents' divorce. It could not have been an easy life for her to live with a Henry VIII as the King, her father desperately wanting a male heir, and having her faith as Catholic taken away as her father creates a new church to be able to have his way in all things.

It is easy to have sympathy for her until she becomes Queen and embarks on her religious persecution.

I enjoy reading the history of England with its Kings and Queens. This was no different. This is a long book over 500 pages, but there is a lof of history to tell. If you love the history as much as I do, it is well worth the time to read it.

I am not sure why I waited so long to read this historical fiction about Queen Mary but hands down a 10/10! I am obsessed with all things Tudor and Alison Weir always delivers. Thank you for the ARC!

Alison Weir's "The Passionate Tudor" is another excellent work to add to her huge body of work. In this, the focus is Queen Mary I Tudor aka Bloody Mary. Weir presents her whole life through Mary's eyes. As one who is a fan of Tudor history, I am quite familiar with the events of her life. However, one doesn't get the emotional impact of these events when reading about them in narrative form. Here is where Weir excels - conveying the feelings of the main characters, thus giving them a more nuanced portrayal.

I must say, I've always found Mary Tudor to be a bit rigid. Yes, her cozy world was upended by Anne Boleyn's presence in her father's life. However, her utter refusal to acknowledge the changes that happened did her a disservice. A little give may have enabled her to have improved her relationship with her father and possibly tolerate Anne.

Another aspect of her, which Weir wonderfully demonstrated, was her almost fanatical Catholicism. While I will never agree with how Henry VIII broke from the Catholic Church just to get his way, I also do not believe Mary was right in being so dogged about returning England to the Catholic faith. I feel she used it as a crutch to punish anyone who may have remotely welcomed Anne as queen.

Finally, I think she was grossly jealous of her sister Elizabeth. She was never deprived of time with her mother the way Mary was. She didn't garner the same level of adulation that Elizabeth. This is probably the reason why she could never truly love her as a sister. She could never see past her hatred of Anne.

All said and done, it was an excellent book. I'm hoping there will be two more books, one about Edward VI and one about Elizabeth I. I look forward to those.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for access to this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC copy of this book.

In sum, if you like other Alison Weir books, this one will be right up your alley. It covers the lifetime of Mary I, from tudor princess, then not, then back to Tudor princess, and eventually queen. Weir's style of writing is easy to follow and understand; she does take some liberties with Mary's story (like having a thing with Chapuys - that was just weird to read), but it's tough to write historical fiction and fill in those pieces when there are so few primary sources to pull from. Overall an enjoyable book to read - nice addition to the myriad of other Tudor fiction Weir has written.

The Passionate Tudor is an extensive novel of historical fiction about the life of Mary I. Weir begins the story in Mary's childhood and covers her life. If you aren't familiar with Queen Mary I highly recommend that you read this one. The reader learns of her lonely and frightened childhood, her relationship with her half-sister Elizabeth, her marriage, mysterious pregnancies, and the horrific campaign that earned her the nickname Bloody Mary. Very well-written and absorbing, Weir makes Mary and her troubles relatable and sympathetic to the reader.

Alison Weir “the passionate Tudor”

The latest novel of my favorite author Alison Weir is about Mary Tudor, later Mary I.
I would totally agree with the title, Mary was the passionate one.
Looking over Mary’s life I have always felt for her, being so harshly treated and stressed in her teenage , formative years. These years brought her illnesses, removed her happiness and undoubtedly altered her adulthood.
Would she be in her loving parents care, and wedded to someone at 15-18, she might have had married life and children.
Rather she endured her father’s wrath, separation from her mother, and very late and unhappy marriage, leaving the world too soon after her accession. In addition, gaining unfair nickname for posterity.
I’m really pleased with recent re-review of Mary’s life and motives, as an attempt to soften her image.
Dr Emma Cahill Marron puts a lot of studies into Spanish monarchy and gives also another angle on Katherine of Aragon and her daughter Mary, from outside of England.
Similar tendency I see in Alison Weir’s novel. She repaints Mary’s image, covering red colors with subtle hues of multiple lighter shades.
As always I enjoyed the novel enormously and highly recommend it.

Another Alison Weir book I couldn't stop reading. I just love the way she tells an incredible story out of the historical periods she writes about. Nobody does it better. The Passionate Tudor was just another example of how I could think I knew a ton about Quien Mary I but Alison will always give me more into the story. I got to say, I was sad when this one was over . Well researched and written, a must read for any history buff.

A compelling and richly detailed exploration of Queen Mary I. The author’s meticulous research and narrative skill bring Mary to life, and humanizes her. The story is rich in historical detail and I learned much about the Tudor court.
Many thanks to Random House and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

In this complicated, fascinating, and incredibly detailed historical fiction novel, Alison Weir turns her familiarity with the Tudors to Mary Tudor, the first Queen Regnant of England, daughter of Catherine of Aragon and Henry VIII, and a proud Catholic. Following her life from her parents’ happy marriage, the King’s Great Matter, his subsequent five marriages, and her half-brother Edward’s reign to her own reign in the 1550s, Weir brings Mary’s entire life to light and speculates on what she may have thought as a Princess of England living history. Broken up into sections corresponding with various stages of her life, Weir’s usual attention to historical information and detail appears and shines through every page. The characterization of Mary’s relationships with various other members of her family (stepmothers and half-siblings) are particularly complex and well-developed, centering Mary’s perspective on everything. Mary herself is complex, and Weir noticeably goes beyond the surface-level depictions of Mary in other works of historical fiction and historical biography. Despite covering decades of Mary’s life, this book does not feel long and is hard to put down once started; Weir’s captivating narrative style and Mary’s world are immersive and engrossing. An excellent addition to her previous historical fiction series, this is an absolute must-read for Tudor and historical fiction fans.

This was a really interesting take on the life of Mary Tudor. She's not seen as an incredibly sympathetic character in history, and history tends to lean in favor of her sister Queen Elizabeth I. However, this book describes her tumultuous childhood in detail, including her separation from her mother, which was so heartbreaking. Her adulthood too, was incredibly sad as she married a man she desperately wanted a fairytale romance with, but didn't get. I love Alison Weir's depictions of the lives of royal women, and they always leave me feeling attached to these characters.

The Passionate Tudor by Alison Weir is Weir's latest historical novel, this one focusing on Queen Mary I. Weir is gifted at writing at the intersection of history and readability. I always leave her books having learned a lot and trusting her research and this book is no exception. Queen Mary comes to power through brutal means and still Weir gives her a note of humanity as she tells her story.

I learned a lot about Queen Mary and her reign and look forward to Weir's next book.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of The Passionate Tudor in exchange for an honest opinion. This book is available now.

The mad, sad, bad Queen Mary Tudor is finally given her due in The Passionate Tudor, the final entry in Alison Weir's Tudor Rose trilogy. Unlike the two previous installments, which focused on Elizabeth of York and Henry VIII, The Passionate Tudor struggles to stay off the ground, dragging in the middle and meandering for too long. Part of this is understandable: Weir's books typically follow the protagonist from childhood to death, and Mary Tudor spent most of her life in one form of confinement or another. But from a narrative standpoint, this lends itself to too much repetition, and the attempt to cram every detail of Mary's life into one book results in much of her story being told directly to the audience, preventing us from feeling the emotional toll of all of it.

As always, Weir writes with a great sense of empathy, making Mary sympathetic even as she grows increasingly deranged and pathetic. There's a delicious irony in how, after years of harassment and punishment for practicing her preferred religion, she then turns heel and does the same to her sister, Elizabeth, without ever registering the hypocrisy. Some key points should have been emphasized more, such as Mary being England's first official queen regnant, and her devotion to burning heretics feels like it comes out of nowhere; prior to then, Mary seemed willing enough to think pragmatically, so her turn to fanaticism is a bit of an awkward jolt. The Passionate Tudor is worth reading both for Weir's historical expertise and the light she sheds on a criminally-overlooked figure, but it could have been a stronger story had it gone through a few more rounds of revisions.

I was fascinated with Alison Weir's Mary I of England in her The Passionate Tudor. I am giving it five stars.