Review Wednesday: The White Princess by Philippa Gregory (The Cousins War Book 5)

The White Princess (The Cousins' War, #5)
by Philippa Gregory (Goodreads Author)

1 of 5 stars

For this review, I thought I'd do something a little different. I've never blogged a bad review before, because I like to stay positive and promote my fellow authors. However, I couldn't skip this review after I'd reviewed the other books in the series. I couldn't bear to relive the fury of reading this book by writing an actual review, so I'm posting my status updates from goodreads as I read this book. Hopefully it will spare you the pain of reading it yourself. 

Reading Progress

10/22	marked as:	currently-reading
10/22			10.0%	"So far, this character seems like a whiny spoiled brat. Hard to sympathize."
10/22			25.0%	"It bothers me how blatantly the author takes sides. She doesn't like Henry, so she tosses in a rape to make the reader hate him. And beyond annoyed w both Elizabeths calling Henry a usurper while conveniently overlooking the fact that Richard was, too! Going to try to finish, but this one will be tough."
10/23			30.0%	"Having some serious problems w how things are presented here. Why does Elizabeth force her daughter to marry Henry and become queen, only to try to dethrone the king? Makes no sense whatsoever. Don't believe it."
10/24			35.0%	"the authors blatant bias towards the Yorks makes me root for the Tudors. #epicbackfire."
10/25			40.0%	"Despite your best attempts to make Henry VII look completely humorless and loathsome, the historically noted rebel-turned-kitchen boy scene was included. Thank you for not ignoring a piece of factual info bc it didn't fit your fictionalized characterization."
10/26			50.0%	"Okay, either Henry is paranoid that there's a York boy out there, or he killed the York boys. You cant have it both ways!"
10/28			60.0%	"oh poor poor Elizabeth...her husband doesn't love her enough. Um hello! She doesn't love him at all, and roots for her brother she hasnt seen for 20 years, who wants to kill her husband! Beyond ridiculous."
10/28			70.0%	"Oh, the horror! A king plans to marry off his children for political advantage! THAT'S never happened."
10/29			80.0%	"According to this book, E. is a whiny, selfish hypocritical bimbo and Henry is a barbarian. At least she's trying to make them interesting."
10/29			85.0%	"Let's see how many times E. can act all shocked and horrified by a marriage w a 12-15 yr age difference...after she jumped in bed w her MARRIED UNCLE! Disgusting hypocrite."
10/30			90.0%	"So the Tudors only had girl heirs because Elizabeth CURSED them? BajahahaHahahHAHAAHA!!!! SO freaking hilarious."
10/31			95.0%	"so illogical in every way that its just plain nonsense."
11/01			100.0%	"Time to find another royal author."

Review Wednesday: The White Queen, by Philippa Gregory (Cousin's War Book 1)

The White Queen by Philippa Gregory
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I mistakenly started with the second book in this series, which I may have to read again after reading this one. But I enjoyed this one so much more!

Gregory has a great talent for bringing to life all these historical characters, filling in their lives with drama, romance and intrigue. Yes, we are talking about Henry VIII's grandmother here, but don't expect any grandmotherly-ness. The book is full of court intrigue, politics, and lots and lots of romance. It wasn't quite as spicy as something like The Other Boleyn Girl, but her writing has come far since then (adverbs are scare here, thank goodness).

The only complaint I had in this one was that I wanted a more satisfactory answer to the unsolved mystery of the son's disappearance from the tower. But I guess since no one knows what happened, she left the reader with the same frustration we have to this day. I found it interesting that she kept Richard alive, and I have a feeling we'll be hearing from him in The White Princess. I'll be looking forward to it!


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