Carole's Monday: This son of York by Anne Easter Smith

Author: Anne Easter Smith 

Title: This Son of York

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: ebook

Publication Date: November 10th 2019

Where I Got It: My shelf (Given to me by the author/publisher for my honest and unbiased opinion)

Richard III. A man. A king. A legend.

He ruled England for only two years, but the legacy of Richard III remains both fascinating and divisive.

From his childhood in the intensely loyal and close-knit York family to his rise as a thoughtful but troubled ruler, This Son of York is a passionate and deeply personal account of the life of Richard III. A man who loved his family and his country. A king who struggled to overcome the challenges not only of a turbulent time but his own human frailties. A legend whose true life is only now coming to light.

Inspired by the discovery of Richard III's grave and its revelations, award-winning author Anne Easter Smith brings together her decades of intense research, five celebrated novels on the Wars of the Roses, and her sustained passion for Richard III in this culminating book on the last Plantagenet king.

Been an eon since I read a book by this author and this came out about Richard...so I couldn't resist giving this a try.

This follows Richard from childhood until his death on the battle field. This is inspired by the discovery of Richard's grave recently, so we get to have little glimpses of the team who uncovered the body. 

I have always been back and forth about Richard. I never believed he was the monster that is portrayed but was he a saint? Absolutely not. He was a man of his time for sure, but I don't really believe he killed his nephews...but did he know the truth? Probably. Who knows? 

The author is really good and I enjoyed the other book by her. I really must read more. She has such a way of bringing these characters to life and absorbing you into the story and the drama. She makes these characters complex and human. Love it!

Even though I have my doubts about Richard, I really enjoyed his story here. She didn't butter him up to be a hero or a villain. He felt real to me and this version is my favorite of him. I did even pity him at the end there. Poor guy. Lost everything. He was so disrespected in his death. Darn that Henry. BUT you can understand why Henry just wanted to bury him and forget about him. 

At first I wasn't a huge fan of the glimpses of the modern day uncovering of his grave. As we did get closer to the end I appreciated it then. 

Overall, I really did like this story. I was completely absorbed into the story and our characters. Richard felt so real and this was my favorite version of him. This is a must-read if you have any sort of interest in the War of the Roses. I'll stamp this with 4 stars.  

Review: Queen by Right - Anne Easter Smith

History remembers Cecily of York standing on the steps of the Market Cross at Ludlow, facing an attacking army while holding the hands of her two young sons. Queen by Right reveals how she came to step into her destiny, beginning with her marriage to Richard, duke of York, whom she meets when she is nine and he is thirteen. Raised together in her father’s household, they become a true love match and together face personal tragedies, pivotal events of history, and deadly political intrigue. All of England knows that Richard has a clear claim to the throne, and when King Henry VI becomes unfit to rule, Cecily must put aside her hopes and fears and help her husband decide what is right for their family and their country.

My thoughts:

If I am gonna be totally honest I never liked the Neville clan, so to read about Cecily was interesting, and I did like her, most of the time.

Cecily Neville is in this book quite lucky as her arranged marriage was wonderful and filled with awesome sex. Got lots of babies too (though maybe she should have kept a closer eye on her brother killing babies.) But this book does not deal with that, it deals with her upbringing, her marriage and up to the point when her son Edward is made king.

The book is interesting even if I have heard the story so many times before, but still I can't keep track of every Somerset, Beaufort and everyone else. So it does always feel new because of that. Quite the tale and I enjoyed the rich setting.

But some things did annoy me. Her obsession with Joanne d'Arc and how Joanne gave her a prophecy. And the biggest issue was how she met Jacquetta Woodwille and disliked her at once. Jacquetta did not do anything but every time they met Cecily looked down on her with her snotty proud nose. This was put there so that when Edward married Elizabeth Cecily own feelings = "prophecy" would ring true, Jacquetta is no good and not the others either.. But the truth was that every time it happened it made me dislike Cecily, she was such a bitch and it always took pages for me to get over it. And she thought something about high airs too, but if J really would have wanted to be high up then wouldn't she have gone for something better than Woodille? But in this book Cecily has her feelings and yup, bitchy. She distrusted the queen's kindness in the beginning too cos of Jacquetta. I can go on and on. Cecily was called proud Cis and cos of those things that sure made me see it, even though the reader was not supposed to see it like that. We were surely supposed to see that aha Woodwilles = evil scheming lot. Just like every Lancastrian in this book were bad, you know babykilling bad (not that they did, but you get the point) and Yorkists are Gods. Not that I mind, I am a bit of a Yorkist...at a point in the war.

Sheesh, how I went on! But it just annoyed me every time. Still it lasted only for a few pages and then I could enjoy the book again. I just wished there had been a reason and not a feeling. Sure feelings are good, but here it was just put so it could be showed later on to ring true.

Conclusion:
A nice historical, recommended to fans of the era.

Cover:
Nice :)

Genre: Historical fiction
Pages: 494
Published: 2011 by Touchstone
Source: Won :)