I liked this quite a bit. The premise I found intriguing, in fact I had been awaiting this book. Queen Anne Boleyn does not have the miscarriage that sends her to the tower and eventually her death. Instead she does not lose that baby a healthy son, Prince Henry William is born, the future King Henry XIV. The author more or less pulls it off. I had to stop reading and research the politics of the time to get a feel for the setting. Once I returned to the book I read it in 2 sittings. It is an easy and interesting read. I enjoy the picture of Queen Anne and Lord Rochford old and Elizabeth as she might have been had her father not murdered her mother and gone on a wife shopping spree. Still I feel Princess/Lady Mary is poorly written and conceived and she seems to have marriage to Anne soften Henry VIII. I look forward to the second installment this fall. ( )

As a devotee of the historical fiction genre, you come across a lot of Tudor books. Years ago, I decided to stop reading them altogether, but somehow they still manage to slip into my TBR piles. It's to the point where I have a tag on Goodreads, "Not Another Tudor Book."
And so, when I heard about this book, with a fresh storyline, I thought that it sounded like the perfect excuse to read another yet Tudor book.

In this alternate history, Ann Boleyn gave birth to a son, changing history, saving all of those would-have-been Tudor queens from death. Her son, William, is now ruling as king. It is certainly an interesting concept, and one that had me intrigued.

Everything about this book was fairly average, from the writing to the plot to the characters. Unfortunately, despite the fresh storyline that left Andersen with vast creative license to pursue different avenues of "what ifs" and twists in history, the plot quickly falls into dull and predictable stereotypes. I mean, the most exciting things happening are a love triangle involving The Most Perfect Woman Ever (yawn) and this "mystery" about how someone is plotting to overthrow the king, and the characters wondering who it could be.
It's not the worst choice... and I have definitely read books where these plots are done to enthralling perfection. But... really? Andersen could have explored any avenue, any well known Tudor character and had an opportunity to speculate endlessly about what might have happened. She could have gone anywhere. And this is all that she came up with?

The writing style was not the best, and the characters were pretty badly written, especially the girl who two men are vying for, because of course they are, because she is the most flawless, perfect, dazzlingly beautiful, amazing, fascinating person to have ever walked the earth. That is literally how she is written and fawned over constantly by the author - it was strange and annoying.

I am giving this book 3 stars, although that is perhaps a bit generous, because there was nothing actually horrible here (except the perfect angel character), it was all just sub-par, missed opportunities type of writing.

Despite the interesting twist in history, this one ended up being an un-original disappointment. I can't see myself reading any of the other books in the series. ( )

I enjoyed this much more than the endless books rehashing the grim murders by the Tudors from all possible points of view. ( )

This was an easy read. The love triangle annoyed me to no end and the friends to lovers thing really only feels genuine when it is happening between two people, and not two people that both want a third person.

Additionally the writing style did feel a smidge simplistic. This is not a bad thing just surprising for an alternative history book. Which are usually so convoluted that you can't think straight for weeks after reading them.

All in all it was enjoyable and I will be continuing this trilogy. ( )

This was an easy read. The love triangle annoyed me to no end and the friends to lovers thing really only feels genuine when it is happening between two people, and not two people that both want a third person.

Additionally the writing style did feel a smidge simplistic. This is not a bad thing just surprising for an alternative history book. Which are usually so convoluted that you can't think straight for weeks after reading them.

All in all it was enjoyable and I will be continuing this trilogy. ( )