★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

historical fiction is not typically a genre I enjoy but I did enjoy this read! while I do feel like this specific family is a story thats been told over and over again, i ate this up. It was fast paced and enjoyable. I rated it 3/5 stars because while I enjoyed the read, I’ve already started to forget the details of it. the writing was a little modern, which took away from the immersion for me. the brother sister thing also made me slightly uncomfortable to read about.

thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me the opportunity to review this!

A delightful story of Katherine of Aragon’s court in turmoil and the mystery of a young girls birth. While she works to unravel the secrets of her own life and the politics of Katherine and Anne’s competing demands. A well developed but quick read I enjoyed.

I am a sucker for a historical fiction that feels like this does.

The writing style makes you feel like you are really reading her letters or journals.

It was a quick read, but highly enjoyable.

I enjoyed this book, it was a nice quick read. It's written as a letter from a mother to her daughter and that format felt really immersive. I always love getting a deeper look into what life was/could have been like for the women of this time period. My only complaint is that sometimes the wording felt a bit too modern for the time it was supposed to be

As someone who loves tudor history, this was a lovely quick read, I enjoyed how the author made you feel like you were living kat's life. The characters were written well and had me invested in their lives. I'm not sure how I felt about the brother sister story line but I flew through this book.

Thank you for letting me read this story and good luck on launch day

The interesting if improbable story of a young woman in the Tudor Court and her relationship with Queen Katherine of Aragon. I hope there will, be more,

This book is a solid 3.5 stars for me.
While the history of King Henry VIII and Queen Catherine is widely known, this story gives us a look into that period of time within that family with an extra twist. I thought the story was great and the additional characters the author added into this historical family and around them were well developed and interesting. A few of the "scenes" I found overly dramatic, almost written like a soap opera script. The book also seemed to be sprinkled with words that I'm not sure would have been used during that time and it kinda screwed with my immersion in the story. A paraphrased example: Crimson and emerald tapestries were hung in the great hall which was starting to get crammed with people. The whole book is written as a letter from a mother to her daughter explaining their family history...would the word "crammed" have existed then? There was a word every few chapters that just seemed too modern to fit.
Any historical fiction book I will pick up and read once. Would I read this one again, probably not. I feel like books on this specific family are a dime a dozen. Would I recommend this book to friends, a specific few that I know would enjoy it, but I wouldn't yell from the rooftops that everyone has to read it.
***SPOILER, DON'T READ PAST THIS LINE IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW***
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I didn't like the brother/sister that turned out to not be related at all and then they fall in love and live happily ever after. That dynamic gives me the ick in any story.

I really enjoyed this novel so very much!
I'm always happy to see a new Tudor novel.
Poor Catherine of Aragon! Her story has always intrigued me. She was my favorite queen but I didn't care much for her daughter.
I just couldn't put this novel down it was so good. I love anything Tudor!
Henry was sure something else! But so was Anne. I think in the end Anne got her Karma.
So did Henry but it was a long while before he did. In fact, Herod sort of reminds me of Henry the way they went about things.
I felt sorry for Kat for being caught in the middle of things. I loved her story from her point of view.
I just can't imagine what being at court would be like. Wow! Scary but yet fascinating.
5 stars for a well written novel that kept me engaged. I highly recommend!
My thanks for a copy of this book. I was NOT to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are mine.