Mary, Bloody Mary : Young Royals #1 by Carolyn Meyer - Book Review (No spoilers)

"The story of Mary Tudor's childhood is a classic fairy tale: A princess who is to inherit the throne of England is separated from her mother; abused by an evil stepmother who has enchanted her father; stripped of her title; and forced to care for her baby stepsister, who inherits Mary's rights to the throne. Believe it or not, it's all true. 

Told in the voice of the young Mary, this novel explores the history and intrigue of the dramatic rule of Henry VIII, his outrageous affair with and marriage to the bewitching Anne Boleyn, and the consequences of that relationship for his firstborn daughter. Carolyn Meyer has written a compassionate historical novel about love and loss, jealousy and fear - and a girl's struggle with forces far beyond her control."

3 stars ⭐⭐⭐

I liked this book more than I'd thought. The writing was simple and plain, but it presented the story in a straightforward way. The historical events were written clearly, and though the characters were filtered through the likes and dislikes of Mary, overall the story felt unbiased.

I'd wanted to read this book when I'd come across it a few years ago. I picked it up now out of pure interest, and though I do not read historical fiction much, I enjoyed this one and might get into the genre more.

The phrasing felt lacking in certain places. Some sentences were altogether too ordinary, and it felt more like an article or an essay than a book. The author did not do anything very special with the facts and only built a chronological story out of them. The world through Mary's eyes was imagined decently, albeit childishly. Her opinions did not change much as she grew older, and I thought some maturing could have been shown.

The writing was also confusing, because though narrated in the first person, it lacked emotions. Mary speaks as though recounting her childhood, but we do not get the sense that she has experienced all of it first-hand. Her opinions of everyone were very detached, and she felt barely anything in both happiness and grief.

The author skipped years in between because nothing historically important happened in Mary's life during that time. I liked that we did not have to read any extra content, but sometimes I was confused as to exactly how much time had passed. Perhaps the information is not available as to what happened during that time, and the author did not want to make up fictional events to fill the gaps.

The ending was very abrupt. We are told about Mary's reign in the Historical Facts given as the Epilogue of the book, but the narration from Mary's point of view came to an end quite suddenly. The story felt past-paced, but at the same time, nothing much was happening. I wasn't bored, though, and the book was short and enjoyable to read.

It is a good book for children to learn about the history of Mary Tudor.

Summer of Salt by Katrina Leno - Book Review (No spoilers)

Summary

"Georgina Fernweh waits with growing impatience for the tingle of magic in her fingers—magic that has been passed down through every woman in her family. Her twin sister, Mary, already shows an ability to defy gravity. But with their eighteenth birthday looming at the end of this summer, Georgina fears her gift will never come.

No one on the island of By-the-Sea would ever call the Fernwehs what they really are, but if you need the odd bit of help—say, a sleeping aid concocted by moonlight—they are the ones to ask.

No one questions the weather, as moody and erratic as a summer storm.

No one questions the (allegedly) three-hundred-year-old bird who comes to roost on the island every year.

When tragedy strikes, what made the Fernweh women special suddenly casts them in suspicion. Over the course of her last summer on the island—a summer of storms, of love, of salt—Georgina will learn the truth about magic, in all its many forms."

My review

3.5 stars ⭐⭐⭐✨

This book was very different from what I had expected it to be. I enjoyed reading it, but the writing style took some getting used to. I liked the second half of it, though.

The writing was rather informal, and I didn't mind that, but there were a lot of brackets and long winding sentences. It was written in the way people speak, and that sort of made sense because the book was narrated in first-person.

Some events were really weird and left me confused as to what exactly was happening there-

"She took a big swig and then handed it to me, shaking her head from side to side like a dog, with her tongue hanging out and everything."

There were also some inconsistencies in the writing. In the beginning, the author had made it clear that the girls' rooms did not have locks-

"She ignored me when I knocked on her door and even though our bedrooms didn’t have locks, I left her alone."

And yet, later somebody locks Mary's room?

"[The character] shut the door and locked it"

I also couldn't figure out which era they lived in. Sometimes it sounded like an old land, without telephones, but while leaving, Georgina promises to call?

The small island was described well enough, but some parts of it felt very unrealistic. All the girls had long hair, allegedly because their one hairdresser was hard to locate and she did not like cutting people's hair. I also didn't understand why they insisted on having a postman, and the boy living down the road had to post letters to Mary when it was less than a ten-minute walk to the girls' house.

There wasn't much character development either, but the book was short so it didn't matter. The narration style was similar throughout, and there were instances when you could see bits of Georgina's personality.

Mary felt like a distant presence in her life. The little things bothered me- Georgina saying Mary wore 'a' certain dress or 'a' pair trousers instead of the clothes sounding like something she'd seen before. I'm not saying Georgina has to have every piece of her sister's closet memorised, but occasional familiarity wouldn't have hurt. They didn't feel like they were close to each other, though they were supposed to be.

I hadn't expected much from the plot, and the book surprised me on that front. The story really picked up in the latter part, and it went from a usual seaside romance to something of a detective mystery. Prue, Georgina's love interest, wasn't that much of a main character. Georgina's friendships and relationship with her family were given equal importance. The book was fast-paced, and as such a lot of characters and information could be introduced alongside.

The book had a spooky atmosphere, and the author developed that well. Mary had been creeping me out from the start, but rather than throw me off, it was nice that the eerieness was ingrained in her personality.