Thursday 14 June 2012

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 :)

55 comments:

  1. LOL you sound like me when I am reading sometimes. Something just bugs me (even if it is only a few pages) and I feel the need to talk about it. I can even really really really like the book and still be annoyed about that one little part :)

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    1. Exactly :) I like the book but then there is that little thing and I really want to talk about it. This is why I want a bookclub ;)

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  2. So I feel like I read this book a million years ago so I don't remember all the deets but I do remember how much I liked the Joanne d'Arc connection!! It amused me -- she reminded me of early news junkies (like me!). Your reviews always crack me up -- you're so passionate whether you like or dislike something -- it makes me gleeful!

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    1. It was not that I minded it, I got it, I more disliked the whole prophecy thing and how she saw something more then.

      Lol, I am happy to be passionate about books

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  3. You are a Yorkist? Where is your white rose then? A nice review !

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    1. I fear so, but I tend to switch sides during the war ;)

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    2. A wise strategy, my lady. That's why you survived! ;)

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    3. You have to be sneaky when it comes to things like this ;)

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  4. Don't tell anyone, but I slightly lean toward the Yorkist side of the conflict. hahaha.

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    1. I will not tell anyone, scchhhhh *looks around for Lancaster spies*

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  5. Glad you liked it despite the annoying part :)

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  6. wow Cecily sounds like an upsteting character... I confess I don't read a lot of historical books but I have some. It's the reason I'm so picky about this genre.

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    1. I am picky too, I like certain eras more, certain places, certain things, lol

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  7. I dislike characters who look down their nose at people, so it's a safe bet that I would not like her very much. What I do like, love even, is the cover!

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    1. The cover is so pretty! And she doesn't always do it, but when it comes to that one person..always

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  8. Is it bad that I have no opinion on the Lancastrians vs Yorkists?

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    1. Chris!!!!! *shakes head* You must pick a side!

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  9. I've never read anything from Cecily's point of view so this sounds interesting. I've heard some not so great things about this, and her books in general, but reading from her point could be worth it.

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    1. Since this is the only one I have read I really can't judge. But yes she takes liberties

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  10. I don't mind you going on about what you didn't like.. or rather bugged you. It's part of the whole reading experience. Btw, it seems that being a Lancaster is a bad thing lately ... ;)

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    1. >Yes those poor Lancastrians, they do get all the blame.

      I sure can go on and on..and on

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  11. Sounds like an interesting story, that's for sure.

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  12. This one sounds interesting. Thanks for sharing your thoughts :)

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  13. I'm not much of a history reader. But thanks for the review. SOunds like the character had a few hang-ups... ;) Thank you!

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    1. I do love my history books, next to fantasy they are what I really love

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  14. I've read a fair amount in the War of the Roses time frame but still get confused LOL. and I haven't read anything from Cecily Neville's point of view so that would be interesting.

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    1. I always gets confused. Everyone is named the same thing, peeps keep dying and someone takes over and..confusing

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  15. Sounds like an interesting read!

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  16. I've never heard of her! I need to have Cliff Notes for the royal families!!!!!

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  17. I am not familiar with this time frame, well only a bit. This would be a good book to read to inform me! Thanks for your thoughts, rant and all!

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    1. The war of the roses was one confusing time, I still get confused a bit now and then. Not about the main players and things, but about a few side peeps

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  18. Wow, this makes an arrange marriage sound like fun!

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    1. She sure got lucky, well the author made her so

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  19. i don't know much about this time in history but it sounds interesting! and yeah the upside of arranged marriage, LOL :-)

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    1. ;) She sure got lucky there in this story. friends since childhood, young lovers and happily ever after..until he dies that is

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  20. Couple of days ago I finished a book about Joanne d'Arc and Yolande of Aragon. I think this one could be a good book to read after that one.

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    1. Yes..that book does ring a bell somewhere in my mind. I'd like to read about Yolande

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  21. Nice review, and I hate it when I get annoyed by something the heroine does.

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    1. She showed her bitchy side and I just hate peeps like that. Sure I can dislike people without even knowing why but she questioned even the good things

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  22. hmmm, sounds like it was pretty good even with the problems.

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  23. Not really my thing. You know I wish some would just make one big family tree and list the books that go under each one so I can just read them in some organized fashion. I shy away from these books because I feel like there is always some other book that I should read first or I can't remember if I read a book depicting the same family or whatever. I'm just to easily confused.

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    1. That would be a LOT of books and many about the same exact story, but from different POVS

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  24. I don't think I would be reading this book then... I'm not much of a fan of snotty heroines :)

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    1. To her defense she was only ever snotty at those times she met J

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  25. You certainly sound passionate about this book! I know nothing about this era, so I think I'd have a hard time following it all.

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    1. I have learned since I have read a lot of books from this era lately :)

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  26. I really enjoyed this book as I do this author. I have a few more of her books on my shelf to get to one of these days. You're funny over the whole Joanne d'Arc connection. Lol. I actually liked that part. This book definitely made me interested in finding out more about Cecily.

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    1. It wasn't as it was bad, but the whole thing that Jeanne could see the future just bugged me

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  27. I read this book right after it came out and the part I had the most issue with with the Jeanne de Arc aspect - I can see where the author was going with it, but it just didn't sit right for me. Thanks for the review.

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    1. It was just, yes I would rather have seen it left out. It was just too over the top

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