European Royalty discussion

Philippa Gregory's new book, The Red Queen, will be out in a month...
I came across the cover on Amazon today and WOW is it ugly! Take a look

The Red Queen: A Novel

I'll be reading it as soon as it comes out - I am #2 on the hold list at my library :)
I'm not expecting it to be great, but I did like The White Queen well enough (I gave it 4 stars) so I figure the follow up might be fun.
Anybody else planning on reading this one?
Misfit - I know YOU are dying to read PG's take on R3...lol!

I'll be reading it...I've pre-ordered a copy :-).

Not expecting a lot but there are so few books on Margaret Beaufort that I just have to take a peek. Not sounding so good from what I've already heard, but we shall see...

I also liked The White Queen, it was a page turner if nothing else, but I know that puts me in the minority. A minority of two now :-).

The woman on the cover very much reminds me of the actress who plays the mother of the little boy in The Sixth Sense - the scenes near the end where she's driving in the car and Cole tells her about seeing dead people. The resemblance is almost uncanny!

Toni Colette?

That's her. Stick this picture on the face of the model in The Red Queen and its fairly similar.
http://images.allmoviephoto.com/1999_...

Yes, I'll be reading it - the curiosity will kill me if I don't. I'm #14 on the hold list but the county has 50 or so copies on order so I'll have my hands on a copy as soon as they come in. I think I heard mention that Margaret is obsessed with Joan of Arc in this one. Aiyee, that might be worse than the heading pounding mulusine references and the whistling up storms :p

I will definetly be reading it. If for nothing else, than to give me a new person to read everything I can about. One of the reason's I joined this group was because I was running out of books to read too quickly, and this just opened up a lot more to me. I have never read anything based on Margaret Beaufort, so I am excited. She seemed like quite a woman.

I sort of gave up on PG after I tried to get through 'The Other Queen' and couldn't. Perhaps I'll give 'The White Queen' a chance and then read this one.

Elizabeth, I will never look at the cover the same again! Toni Colette for sure! I haven't read "The White Queen" yet. It is in my pile. I will order "Red Queen" in August. Philippa always holds my interest, so I'm sure I will love it.

I will be interested to see what she does with R3 as well. There really isn't much out there on Margaret so it will be a new view point.

Misfit ~ Joan of Arc???? OH lordy...

Robin wrote: "I will be interested to see what she does with R3 as well. There really isn't much out there on Margaret so it will be a new view point.

Misfit ~ Joan of Arc???? OH lordy..."

Robin, that's what I heard mention of somewhere. HFO I think. I can't wait :)

I am pretty iffy about it. I liked most of her Tudor books and read all of them, but I really was not fond of The Other Queen or The White Queen. So I think I will let ya'll read it first and then I will judge from there...

Her Tudor books were some of the first books I read in the HF genre and I own all of them. I always wonder if I go back and reread those books if I will like them as much.. Oh well, too many other good books to read for the time being!

I was just ifffy about The White Queen (gave it 3 stars) but am pretty curious about this one--I'll be reading it :)

Annie - I thought The Other Queen was PGs WORST. Bleck.
The White Queen was much better.

Allie - I know what you mean about re-reading...
I LOVED The Constant Princess and really like The Other Boleyn Girl, too, but they were some of my first in the genre. I often wonder if I would like them as much were I to try them again. It will probably be a long time before I find out! I've nominated TCP for our group read a couple of times, but it keeps losing, lol

I just received this in the mail today as part of PG's blog tour. I'll be diving into this as soon as I finish typing.

Need to see when I'm supposed to post my review.

I got my copy in the mail yesterday and I finished my other read I started it today. I also felt the same way about The White Queen, I gave it a four because it was amusing to see Elizabeth actually nice. I have been waiting for this one just to see what PG does with Margaret. I am only a few pages in and the opening is a Joan of Arc vision that Margaret is seeing while praying. Her obsession with Joan is already clear, mostly because Margaret hears that Joan can hear and see angels. PG is going to play Margaret like she is a vassle of god like Joan of Arc. All that and I am only 5 pages in it.

Forgot to mention the cover I got is different but almost the same. Same woman but text is different, it is UK ARC. I am going to upload my cover asap for anyone who wants to check it out.

I didn't like the male point if view in the other queen and would have preferred Elizabeths take on it.

I've still to read the White queen, along with The captive queen by Allison weir, the confession if catherine de Medici(sp?), the Tudor wife, the mistress of Rome and Nefertiti.

Lizzy wrote: "Forgot to mention the cover I got is different but almost the same. Same woman but text is different, it is UK ARC. I am going to upload my cover asap for anyone who wants to check it out."

I received one unexpectedly in the mail today from the publisher and its a regular hardback with the cover shown on Amazon.

I received the one Lizzy has posted.

Gem H aka *Dhelirious* wrote: "I didn't like the male point if view in the other queen and would have preferred Elizabeths take on it.

I've still to read the White queen, along with The captive queen by Allison weir, the confes..."

I am one of the few who liked The Other Queen. Gem that is quite a line up.

Tanzanite wrote: "Lizzy wrote: "Forgot to mention the cover I got is different but almost the same. Same woman but text is different, it is UK ARC. I am going to upload my cover asap for anyone who wants to check it..."

Maybe I will get lucky and get the regular one too. I hope so it matches my White Queen, I am trying to convert to hardbacks starting with PG and Robin Maxwell. It is one of the big style paperback covers.

Robin wrote: "I received the one Lizzy has posted."

Are you going to read it soon?

Lizzy wrote: "Gem H aka *Dhelirious* wrote: "I didn't like the male point if view in the other queen and would have preferred Elizabeths take on it.

I've still to read the White queen, along with The captive qu..."

Apart from that I did like THe Other Queen, being from Scotland and all!

Yeah I do have a bit of catching up to do. I've been trying to knock off some of my PNR books. I think after this month I'll switch to my Historicals.

Oh, and I just added The Confession of Katherine Howard to my amazon wishlist.

Lizzy wrote: "Robin wrote: "I received the one Lizzy has posted."

Are you going to read it soon?"

I will probably be done with it today. Lol!

I will probably be done with it today. Lol!"

Is it that short?

Robin wrote: "Lizzy wrote: "Robin wrote: "I received the one Lizzy has posted."

Are you going to read it soon?"

I will probably be done with it today. Lol!"
Right on your a devourer! I got side tracked last night and did not get much reading done. But since it is over 100 degrees outside today I am hiding with my book.

Gem H aka *Dhelirious* wrote: "Lizzy wrote: "Gem H aka *Dhelirious* wrote: "I didn't like the male point if view in the other queen and would have preferred Elizabeths take on it.

I've still to read the White queen, along wit..."

Gem H aka *Dhelirious* wrote: "Lizzy wrote: "Gem H aka *Dhelirious* wrote: "I didn't like the male point if view in the other queen and would have preferred Elizabeths take on it.

I've still to read the White queen, along wit..."

Cool I am not alone in my love for the other queen, I loved PG description of Mary "teeth like a kitten". I bet it is beautiful this time of year in Scotland.

Misfit wrote: "I will probably be done with it today. Lol!"

Is it that short?"

No...I'm just a very fast reader. :) And I am now done. But reviews aren't supposed to be posted until next month. Lol.

I added The Confession of Katherine Howard to my to-read today - it looks good! Thanks for mentioning it :)

So...Robin...
How did you like it? Can you tell us that?

Mandy wrote: "I added The Confession of Katherine Howard to my to-read today - it looks good! Thanks for mentioning it :)

So...Robin...
How did you like it? Can you tell us that?"

Well, it was pretty good (for PG hehe).

It is completely from her (Margaret) point of view until the last couple of chapters where it has to be from other view points so there is no confusing jumping between characters.

I have no problem with the way PG handles Richard III and I was very worried about that.

I hated Margaret. Hated her. I wanted history to change just to take her down a peg or two. Her belief that God's will is her will got old after two pages.

Other than that, not too bad considering.

How was That Upstart Henry Tudor?

Mandy wrote: "I added The Confession of Katherine Howard to my to-read today - it looks good! Thanks for mentioning it :)



I keep swithering on ordering, but I'm on an economy drive and ihave a few historical fiction books to read first. I think I'll try to knock off at least two, then buy confessions of catherine Howard. It is on my amaon wishlist though

Misfit wrote: "How was That Upstart Henry Tudor?"

You honestly don't see him that much. And I got the feeling he wasn't as impressed with his heritage as his mother. Lol.

Well, I'm excited to read it. I'm NOT a fan of Margaret...hopefully she will be fun to hate :)

Mandy wrote: "Well, I'm excited to read it. I'm NOT a fan of Margaret...hopefully she will be fun to hate :)"

That would be cool :)

Mandy wrote: "Well, I'm excited to read it. I'm NOT a fan of Margaret...hopefully she will be fun to hate :)"

She is quite easy to hate actually.

Yipee.

The cover wouldn't be too bad if it wasn't for the turtleneck....

Sara W wrote: "The cover wouldn't be too bad if it wasn't for the turtleneck...."

Looks like I'll get my hot little hands on it this weekend second hand.

This is listed as a giveaway on Goodreads.Go and enter.

im a huge gregory fan!irrespective of wether the stuff she writes is true or not!since i havnt read so many books yet i think i love her books!

I finished it yesterday, and since I didn't get it from the publisher I'm under no constraints to keep quiet. While I liked the idea of the story from Margaret Beaufort's POV, the first person didn't work well since much of her time is stuck out in the country. Those letters with treason spelled out all over them were a bit of a stretch. In the end, she had to resort to 3rd person a few times (especially at Bosworth), and I liked it better when she did that. Margaret's piousness and obsession with Joan of Arc also wore thin - as repetitious as the Melusine sitings in TWQ.

Lizzy, I enjoyed The Other Queen also. You are not the only one.

As for The Red Queen...I just started it and yes, Misfit is right. The Joan of Arc part is so far over played. I'm all of 30 pages in and it is mentioned "I'm guessing" 15-20 times already.

I'm only about 15 pages in and I'm so sick of the thing I can hardly stand it.
If little Margaret were mine, I think I'd have abandoned her to a convent. What a pain!
I'm a PG fan...at least, compared to most of this group! I've really enjoyed a few of her books.
This one sucks, though. Like, bad. Not sure I'll be finishing it.

I'm almost finished The Red Queen, and must admit, I quite like it :-).

The Joan of Arc thing didn't bother me at all (though I expected it to!) and a lot of her behaviour seemed like normal teenage stuff to me. What did bother me though, was when she was in her twenties and still behaving in the same way!

There are bits of it that I've really liked, while other bits not so much, but I think it's going to turn out to be a 4 star read for me. (Ummm...should I really admit to that? LOL.)

Jemidar wrote: "I'm almost finished The Red Queen, and must admit, I quite like it :-).

The Joan of Arc thing didn't bother me at all (though I expected it to!) and a lot of her behaviour seemed like normal teena..."

Nothing wrong with that. Everyone will react differently, even to PG. I still think she needs to lose the repetiveness though. We readers are smart enough to get it the first time.

Jemidar wrote: "I'm almost finished The Red Queen, and must admit, I quite like it :-).

The Joan of Arc thing didn't bother me at all (though I expected it to!) and a lot of her behaviour seemed like normal teena..."

I gave it four stars too (wish we had a scale of 1 to 10 instead). I didn't particularly agree with her depiction of Margaret's character, but I thought she did a good job of depicting her.