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32. Young Bess by Margaret Irwin...

March 15, 2010
FTC Disclosure: My ARC of Young Bess was provided by Sourcebooks for this review. I am an IndieBound and Amazon affiliate, and any purchases made by clicking on the cover or the links provided may result in monetary compensation.

young bessAbout the book:
Growing up in the shadow of her mother, the infamous Anne Boleyn, young Princess Elizabeth has become a master at dodging the constant political games and deflecting the unpredictable royal whims that threaten to topple her precarious royal perch. But when her distant father, tyrannical king Henry VIII, dies, the future brightens for Elizabeth. She moves in with Henry's last wife, Catherine Parr, and Catherine's new husband, Tom Seymour--the uncle of Elizabeth's brother, the new king Edward VI.

Handsome Tom, however, is playing a risky game. Marrying a widowed queen is one thing; flirting with the king's daughter and second in line to the throne is another. As the adolescent Elizabeth finds herself dangerously attracted to him, the tragedy that looms ahead seems inescapable. Elizabeth will have to summon the strength to claim her royal destiny, even if that means facing her future alone...

drey's thoughts:
I had to read Young Bess when it was offered--I am captivated by Elizabeth, the Princess who would one day be Queen. And Margaret Irwin's portrait of the young Princess is at time in her life when everything is so uncertain and topsy-turvy, never really knowing who--if anyone--can be trusted. From her father the King, who used to love her, to the older sister that her mother's plots turned from Princess to bastard, to the younger brother who becomes King under the protection of his uncle. Throw in a surviving stepmother, a stepfather who pays too much attention to her, and a cast of characters who all had their own reasons for being nice--or not--to the Princess, and you have a story of a young woman who somehow manages to gather her wits and keep her head. Literally. Which is almost a miracle, considering the times.

I am looking forward to the next installment--Elizabeth, Captive Princess, coming out in October.

drey's rating: 3.5/5 Very Good

Title: Young Bess
Author: Margaret Irwin
ISBN-13: 9781402229961
ARC: 381 pages
Publisher: Sourcebooks, 2010
Purchase at IndieBound, Amazon

Challenges: 100+, Pub

2 comments:

bermudaonion said...

Whew! That almost sounds like a soap opera!

drey said...

lol! I think the lives of English nobility was most definitely a soap opera!! Soooooo many plots and sub-plots and multi-plots and... Oh yeah. Beheadings. They sure liked to separate the heads from the shoulders, didn't they?

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