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.

Very interesting book and enjoyable to read. I've read many books on Henry VIII and all his wives, but this one gave me a perspective I had not read before, from the point of view of Princess Mary, later "Bloody Mary." I appreciated her side of this saga, told from the perspective of a child and then young woman. She comes across as much, much more sympathetic than that of the shrewish queen that has become part of her general narrative in what we "know" from history.

Recommended for history buffs, especially those interested in the Tudor period.

I've always had an interest in reading and learning about the Tudors. I had heard so much about Mary's life but was still surprised by some of the things I read. Totally engrossing, this kept my attention throughout. I wasn't initially aware that this was book 3 in the Tudor Rose Trilogy, so I think it reads just as well as a standalone. I appreciate how Alison Weir is so good at weaving together historically accurate information into a historical fiction read. For any fans of Alison, fans of the Tudors, or just great historical fiction in general, I would definitely recommend this one! Thanks so much to Alison Weir, the publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this e-arc.

This is book three in the Tudor Rose series, and this edition focuses on Mary I.

I love reading about all things Tudor and feel like Mary lived a very interesting life. It seems like she's often overshadowed by her father and sister and often made to be the villain for her persecution of protestants. I enjoyed how this book showed Mary in a different light and redeemed her.

She lived, though, so much, and Alison Weir does a fantastic job bringing her to life in this novel. As always, her writing has a fantastic way of drawing you in and making history come alive.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Alison Weir's "The Passionate Tudor" is a spellbinding journey into the heart of one of history's most captivating dynasties. As someone deeply fascinated by Tudor history, delving into this book felt like stepping back in time and immersing myself in the lavish courts, turbulent politics, and tumultuous romances that defined the era.

Weir's storytelling prowess is unmatched as she brings to life the larger-than-life figures of Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, and Elizabeth I, among others. Through her vivid descriptions and meticulous research, I felt transported to the corridors of power where decisions of state were intertwined with personal ambitions and desires.

What sets "The Passionate Tudor" apart is Weir's ability to humanize these historical icons. She not only recounts their political triumphs and scandals but also delves into their loves, heartbreaks, and personal struggles. It's through these intimate glimpses that the Tudors cease to be distant figures in history books and become complex individuals with whom I could empathize and understand on a deeper level.

I found myself engrossed in the intricate web of alliances, betrayals, and shifting loyalties that shaped Tudor England. Weir's narrative unfolds with all the suspense and drama of a captivating novel, making history come alive with every turn of the page.

For anyone passionate about history, especially the Tudor period, "The Passionate Tudor" is a must-read. It not only provides a comprehensive overview of the era's political landscape but also offers poignant insights into the human condition and the enduring legacy of one of England's most iconic dynasties.

The Passionate Tudor is another winner by Alison Weir!

The Passionate Tudor, a depiction of Mary I of England, gives life and humanity to the first ruling Quien of England that I have not seen in any other works regarding Mary I. This book, told from Mary's point of view, takes us through her life, her take on the happenings of her life, and culminates in giving us a story that's a true masterpiece whereas other works have left me wanting more or asking questions about where,some of her decisions came from.

The Passionate Tudor is a work that will be loved by those intrigued by the Tudor Court, English history, and really any other lover of powerful women portrayed in historical fiction. When it comes to lovers of Alison Weir, this is a must read!

A very well researched book. Made Mary Tudor a more sympathetic character than she has been portrayed before. The storytelling goes from the beginning of her life to the end and does it flawlessly.

From GR:
In Alison Weir’s masterful novel, the drama of Mary I’s life and five-year reign—from her abusive childhood, marriage, and mysterious pregnancies to the cruelty that marks her legacy—comes to vivid life.

I love historical novels, especially about royalty!

I appreciate the publisher and NetGalley for giving me an ARC. I'm basing this review off of the plot description.