3.5 Stars

I've read quite a lot of books about The Tudors over the decades, so you might say I am all Tudored out at this point. However, this piece of historical fiction was written by veteran British royal author Alison Weir, so it was hard to say no to reading this. But at over 500 pages, it was a bit of a dirge crawling along in excruciating detail through Mary Tudor's childhood as she watched her father King Henry VIII abandon her mother Queen Katharine (of Aragon), marry Anne Boleyn (then sign her execution warrant), marry Jane Seymour (then watch her die after birthing their son Edward), marry and divorce Anne of Cleves, marry Katherine Howard (then sign her execution warrant), and marry Catherine Parr- his final wife. At about the 65% point (and 5 hours to go) I surrendered and skimmed ahead to the poignant topic of Mary Tudor's false pregnancies and eventual death. I didn't learn anything new, but perhaps I'm just not the audience for this kind of book anymore. Call me a cynic, but it just seems like the same subjects keep being rehashed and repackaged with new titles and covers.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group who provided an advance reader copy via NetGalley.

Wow, is this book detailed! Of course, when most people gloss over Mary as a bloodthirsty [bleep] whose bored husband continually ditched her, it's not hard to give her sufficient attention.

(Sorry for not reviewing this here sooner...I thought I got it from the UK site.)

The cover of this book grabbed me immediately seeing that Alison Weir is the author. She is the most accomplished knowledgeable person on the Tudor reign. So it is my opinion she is the only person who can give a definitive story of Mary’s life and times. The novel also is able to capture the human side of Mary from the very beginning and having to watch her father set her loving mother aside and forcing an annulment. Which, in turn, made Mary illegitimate. Anne did not produce a male heir either and because of the evidence that would be brought before Henry, an other annulment was requested and approved, thus making Elizabeth illegitimate too. The girls would become close sisters. their father would marry again and would have a son. Henry makes his Will and Act of Succession. His heirs are first in line Edward and his sisters in order, followed by their heirs. Edward, in his youth, would ascend the throne councillors to guide him and make decisions. Once he was of age, he made the Protestant faith the faith of the land. Mary was beside herself with Anger.for she believed true faith was the one of Rome and always would be the true faith. She was so passionate in her faith, in time, she would find that her sister stood as adamant in her Protestant faith. Edward’s Will would declare his cousin, Jane Gray to be in line of his succession. He also wrote a document to disinherit his sisters. Mary would have to fight Jane to ascend the throne. The people adored Mary and would overthrow Jane easily. Mary would go on to become queen but, she was not a strong, in charge person, often depending on her guidance from her mother’s King of Spain or the ambassador from Rome. Later she would depend on her husband for all decisions because she didn’t trust her councilors. In actuality her husband wasn’t good for England norm her, the way All this changed my perception of Mary, but in my opinion she still deserves the moniker “Bloody Mary”. I would definitely recommend this be in libraries and a must read for English classes. Special thanks to the following for allowing me to read an early e-copy and allowing me to give my own honest opinion:
#NetGalley
#PenguinRandomHouse Ballentine Books
#AlisonWeir
#ThePassionateTudor
Publication Date: April 28, 2024

I love Weirs novels and this one is no different. She has done a fantastic job of bringing Mary the 1st to life for us.
I simply couldn't put this one down until I finished it.
Mary has quite the story! Wow! I feel that I've gotten to know her so much better than I did!
It's no wonder that she became who she was in the end! Poor girl.
Although I will say, she does have her father's temper and it definitely showed!

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Ballantine Books for the arc!
Once again Alison Weir does it again! I have yet to find a book that I don't like that is written by this author. The level of research and the depth of the characters that she writes about is astounding.
I also really appreciated the author's note. A must read.
Highly recommend this book!

I did not know much about Queen Mary I, England’s first female monarch. Weir does a good job of taking us from her happy childhood through the torment of being separated from her mother and on through her reign which is ultimately considered a failure. She had strength but was often overrun with doubts, easily influenced in some things but staunch and unrelenting in others, ultimately being remembered as Bloody Mary. I think Weir does an excellent job of fleshing out the full cast of characters and giving a real sense of time and place.

My review can be found on Litsy with my handle @Deblovestoread. I gave this book 4 🌟on The Storygraph.

Thank you to the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

As a fan of Ms. Weir's books, I was thrilled when I had the opportunity to read The Passionate Tudor. Once again, the author draws the reader in with her writing style and her knowledge of the time period. I am not a Mary Tudor fan, but I felt myself feeling sorry for her. The interactions between Mary and Elizabeth were well done. It was interesting to read that Mary was a mother figure to Elizabeth in those early years.

Mary's religion is a driving force behind most of her decisions. We see this when she finally becomes queen and tries to turn England back to Catholicism. We see her love for her religion, how she leans on it, and also how she becomes a radical when she tries to destroy the heretics.

I highly recommend this book for Tudor fans or those that enjoy Alison Weir's writing. It will not disappoint.

Born from young King Henry’s first marriage, his elder daughter, Princess Mary, is raised to be queen once it becomes clear that her mother, Katherine of Aragon, will bear no more children. However, Henry’s passion for Anne Boleyn has a devastating influence on the young princess’s future when, determined to sire a male heir, he marries Anne, has his marriage to Katherine declared unlawful,

The Passionate Tudor
by Alison Weir
Pub Date: May 28 2024

brands Mary illegitimate, and banishes them both from the royal court. But when Anne too fails to produce a son, she is beheaded and Mary is allowed to return to court as the default heir. At age twenty, she waits in vain for her own marriage and children, but who will marry her, bastard that she is?

Yet Mary eventually triumphs and becomes queen, after first deposing a seventeen-year-old usurper, Lady Jane Grey, and ordering her beheading. Any hopes that Mary, as the first female queen regent of England, will show religious toleration are dashed when she embarks on a ruthless campaign to force Catholicism on the English by burning hundreds of Protestants at the stake. But while her brutality will forever earn her the name Bloody Mary, at heart she is an insecure and vulnerable woman, her character forged by the unhappiness of her early years.

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 was familiar with Alison Weir because my former grad school advisor once mentioned her as someone she knew, but I had never read one of her books before this. This book was unfortunately not my cup of tea. I'm not sure if all of Weir's books are like this, but this one is very much a "this happened, and then this happened, and then this happened, and then this happened..." account of Mary I's life, and a rather boring one at that. Mary I was a fairly interesting person in reality, but you wouldn't know it from Weir's book. But... if you're interested in reading nearly 500 pages of boring drivel about a naïve woman not doing much at all, this is the book for you.

"The Passionate Tudor" is an excellent addition to the Tudor Rose series by Alison Weir. This book, which chronicles the life of Queen Mary I, the first Queen Regnant of England, humanizes an often maligned figure. Beginning when she is young and going until the moment right up until her death, the novel works to gives us insight into what psychology might have led to the decisions that have given her the enduring title of "Bloody Mary".

Inherently, Mary was written as a sympathetic character in much of the novel. Though I disagree with a number of her viewpoints Catholicism-wise, I found myself sympathizing with her and rooting for her all the same. She showed a great deal of courage and perseverance under extreme odds as well as admirable faith. You can really see how Mary is a combination of her father's and Katherine of Aragon's personalities (were Katherine invested with the kind of power as Heir and Queen that Mary ultimately is).

However, as Weir noted in her author's note, I find that sympathy wanes rather quickly once she becomes Queen and embarks on her religious persecution. In this way, Elizabeth I was much wiser than Mary I - perhaps learning a lesson from her sister - in that she came up with the enduring compromise of the English Church. It did get me wondering, with all the similarities between Mary I and her mother, how Katherine of Aragon might have handled such matters. Might she, Katherine, have turned out as hated where she is now remembered so well in history? Just got me thinking.

One point of minor issue I had with the book is that there are a great deal of explanatory passages. While I understand the necessity of covering a vast amount of historical material in a short period of time to get the plot continuing, it got a little too much for me at some points. I would have liked it if more dialogue were used to explain some pieces here and there, if possible.

Overall, I am pleased to see Weir adding another excellent novel to her monolithic body of work, and congratulate her on such a tour-de-force. If anyone could take on Mary I and make her sympathetic - or at least comprehensible - it is Weir. 4.5 stars rounded up to 5. Thank you to Weir and NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

#ThePassionateTudor #NetGalley

"The Passionate Tudor" by Alison Weir delves into the tumultuous life of Princess Mary, daughter of King Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon. Raised to be queen, Mary's future is thrown into uncertainty when her father's passion for Anne Boleyn leads to the annulment of his marriage to Katherine, branding Mary illegitimate. Despite enduring hardships, including banishment from court and the execution of her mother, Mary eventually ascends to the throne. However, her reign is marred by religious persecution, earning her the infamous title of Bloody Mary. Weir's novel vividly portrays Mary's journey, from her troubled childhood to her tumultuous reign, revealing the complexities of her character and the legacy of her rule.

This was my first novel by Alison Weir, and I greatly enjoyed it! I was also unaware that this was the third in the Tudor Rose trilogy, but I don't think that impaired my enjoyment at all. I did feel like the writing was slow in the first third of The Passionate Tudor, more of a sequence of events happening to Mary, rather than her feeling like a character experiencing them. I recognize that that might be how Weir writes, which I'm new to, and also that her work consists of chronicling an individual's entire life. I felt like Mary came into her own as a character and as an enjoyable perspective to read from when she finally ascended the throne, which makes sense thematically with her coming into power. As a history student, I can say that I'm definitely the target demographic for this type of book, and consequently would understand why someone might not enjoy it as much as I did. Even so, I wasn't overly familiar with this period of English history, so the story itself was new to me, in the sense that I was not expecting certain events, or perceiving the writing as overly-autobiographical. Overall, I really enjoyed my first entry in Alison Weir's expansive catalogue. I'm definitely going to look into another one of her works to pick up soon! Thank you for giving me access to this early!

The Passionate Tudor: A Novel of Queen Mary I
by Alison Weir is a great historical fiction that is the third book in the Tudor Rose series.

I just loved Alison Weir and have thoroughly enjoyed every book of hers that I have read. This is such a great series to expand on (the first two being: The Last White Rose and The King’s Pleasure) after delving into the six book series of the Queens of Henry VIII.

Mary I is such a person full of contradictions: momentous yet limited, passionate and zealous yet narrow-minded and judgmental, a heart that started out so full of love and joy to give others yet starved and withered in the end. Her life is fascinating yet mundane and tragic. She was misjudged but yet some of her actions really did support some of the rumors made common knowledge.

Not very often does Mary I get the spotlight, and so many things that took place in her life are glossed over, yet Ms. Weir gives us an excellent fictional narrative that allows Mary I to have her moment and her day to let us all know more about what made her the monarch, woman, and the person we now reflect on today.

5/5 stars

Thank you NG and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Ballantine Books for this wonderful arc and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication on 5/28/24.

I devoured this book! Even though it is a work of fiction, it’s based on a real person. I’ve always hated Mary I as she was known as “Bloody Mary.” This story showed me that there was more to her than that and I feel more sorry for her than anything else. Four stars because it was a really long book and there were a few times it was repetitive.

This is the third in the Tudor Rose series, and my favorite! This tells the story of Mary I, the first daughter of Henry VIII and the queen who eventually became known as "Bloody Mary". She was also the first woman to successfully claim the English throne, an impressive feat that I think is often overlooked given the rest of her legacy. 
*
I've read a ton of nonfiction and historical fiction about the Tudor era, so I went into this knowing a lot about Mary I, but still felt like I got a new perspective of her life. This does a great job of showing how the tumult throughout her life could have affected her, and led to her making the decisions she made. 
*
I would have liked to have seen a little bit more of the persecution of Protestants, she's responsible for a lot of deaths but it felt like a very minor part of the story. 
*
All that said, I very much enjoyed reading this! If you're into this time period, I would definitely recommend reading (although be warned - it is long and very detailed, I think it could be boring if you're not really excited about it). This is part of a series, but it can absolutely be read as a standalone.

Alison Weir, who has written extensively on the Tudor era in both fiction and non-fiction titles, portrays Queen Mary I of England very sympathetically yet fairly. Mary is a hard sell to view very empathetically, especially when she's earned the moniker "Bloody Mary" for her penchant for sending approximately 300 Protestant heretics to burn at the stake. Weir's depiction of Mary as a young princess whose world is completely turned upside down by the arrival of Anne Boleyn into Henry VIII's affections is compelling and realistic. Mary lost her legitimacy and hence her succession to the throne, and watched her mother, Queen Katherine of Aragon suffer humiliation and enforced isolation due to her resistance to give Henry the divorce he demanded. Because of Henry's cruelty, Mary was kept from seeing or communicating with her mother, even when she was mortally ill. Mary also suffered the indignity of becoming baby Elizabeth's caregiver while Anne plotted Katherine and Mary's demise.

Weir shows how all of these events, as well as the lack of a royal spouse for Mary, sent her increasingly towards religion for solace. The comfort Mary finds in religion and going to mass turns into an obsession as she often went nine times per day! To further compound her feelings of inadequacy and discontent Mary was still unmarried, and she watched Elizabeth grow into a young and vital princess who easily turned male heads. This caused tremendous jealousy, which Weir does an excellent job of conveying. This bitter envy also extended to the populous of England because they seemed to prefer Elizabeth as she rode through the countryside to the delight of the people. Mary's resentment festered even into her reign. Weir does try to justify Mary's desire to bring the Inquisition to England by hunting down and executing heretics as a way of giving them a taste of hell on earth in order to spare them the fires of hell in the afterlife. But even with these reasons mentioned a couple of times, it is hard to consider this as the real reason why Mary continued to execute Protestants even when she saw how it was ruining her reputation with her councilors, her people and even the Pope. Power and revenge seem like her true motivations, and even Weir talks about this in her author's note. Mary did indeed have a hard life, and her eventual marriage to Philip II of Spain was not the romantic happy ending she had hoped for either. Her story's ending is tragic and Weir delivers it with pathos. Overall, fans of Tudor England and Alison Weir will truly enjoy this fair and balanced characterization of Mary I.

Like all of Alison Weir's books about this period, The Passionate Tudor is well-told historical fiction that immerses the reader in the intrigue and drama of one of England's most memorable royal times. Her writing remains as impeccable as ever, but I struggled with the pace and length of this book. Perhaps it's that I had a hard time feeling empathy for Queen Mary I (in her readers' notes, Alison Weir confesses the same - perhaps that dogged determination to give her a fair shake is what makes this book drag a bit), but about halfway through I was incredulous that there was still so many wives and an additional king to get through until Mary's reign. And then, once there, well...let's just say my feelings for Mary didn't improve with her ascension. Mary is a challenging subject and Alison Weir tackled her with grace, which is an impressive feat.

This book was so fantastic. In true form, Alison Weir did no wrong here. The history was immaculate, and the story portrayed Queen Mary in a way that I had not seen before - making her extremely understandable, if not a sympathetic character. The character development was amazing, and I was transported to another time, as I always am with her writings. Though it was long, the story sped past and allowed for more insight on my behalf than ever before. I had only really read tales which were far more sympathetic to Elizabeth, or Anne Boleyn, or the wives of Henry VIII. This was something far different and far more interesting because Mary herself was a complicated individual, as is noted in the book. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves well-researched, immaculately written historical fiction.

This ebook was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

As always, Weir's work is well-researched and entertainingly written. A must-read for readers of Tudor period fiction.

*I received an advanced reader copy of this book from NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I read every book Alison Weir writes and I learn something every time. Ms Weir never fails to bring her stories to life and this book is no exception.