The Boy King: Book Review and Giveaway

Review at a Glance

• Title: The Boy King
• My Rating: 4.5
• Genre: Historical Fiction
• Format: Paperback*
• Publication Date: September 30, 2020
• Author: Janet Wertman

Similar To

Where Butterflies Go Book Blurb

The Unsuspecting Reign of Edward Tudor

Motherless since birth and newly bereft of his father, Henry VIII, nine-year-old Edward Tudor ascends to the throne of England and quickly learns that he cannot trust anyone, even himself.

Edward is at first relieved that his uncle, the new Duke of Somerset, will act on his behalf as Lord Protector, but this consolation evaporates as jealousy spreads through the court. Challengers arise on all sides to wrest control of the child king, and through him, England.

While Edward can bring frustratingly little direction to the Council’s policies, he refuses to abandon his one firm conviction: that Catholicism has no place in England. When Edward falls ill, this steadfast belief threatens England’s best hope for a smooth succession: the transfer of the throne to Edward’s very Catholic half-sister, Mary Tudor, whose heart’s desire is to return the realm to the way it worshipped in her mother’s day.

AMAZON | BARNES AND NOBLE

Giveaway

The Boy King REVIEW

As a quick reminder, here is my rating structure:

• 1 star: Did not finish
• 2 Stars: Finished but I do not recommend
• 3 Stars: Liked but could use some improvements
• 4 Stars: Loved this book!
• 5 Stars: Rare. The unput-down-able, binge read obsession.

My star ratings are also based also genre based. I compare all books with books of the same genre. While I would love to believe that my love of books in general transcends all bias, there are genres I prefer over others.

I’m human.

Example: If I read a mystery novel and think it deserves a 5-star rating, then I have compared it to other mystery books, and determined it to be one of my absolute favorites. The unputdownable mystery.

This will hopefully keep me from comparing Outlander, a personal obsession of mine, with the experience of reading The Hate You Give. Both 5 star books for me, but completely and totally different. I couldn’t even try to rate them against each other, so I don’t. Makes my life easier. 🙂

My Thoughts About The Boy King

If you’ve ever watched The Tudors, then you might know what happens in the first two books of this series, but what about once Henry VIII exits stage left? What happens then?

Well, for fans of The Tudors, Janet Wertman has stepped in to shed some light on this turbulent time.

I actually ended up reading all three books in this series. Due to the historic nature, there is no need to read each book to understand the previous one, but it was great getting the whole story in this complicated family tree. So you can pick up any of these, or all of them, and be just as entertained.

I loved the shifting perspectives, as each installment represented a different aspect of the Seymour family. Henry VIII has always attracted historic attention, but I never really knew that much about his 3rd wife, who died shortly after birthing his only son. I knew even less about the short reign of Edward, since Elizabeth and Mary seemed to eclipse his short time on the throne.

These are totally binge worthy books that read like modern family dramas. There’s a slightly eerie quality of impending doom simply because the reader knows the fate of each character. Add to that the suspicious and often sinister quality of the royal court, and The Boy King is easily a gothic look at the history of the Tudor monarchy.

While I wouldn’t necessarily categorize this as a mystery, I mean we all know what happens, there was a mysterious quality to the story. I could feel that Edward never quite knew who or what to trust.

If you read these notes, please read the author’s words at the end. Helps clarify the historical accuracies. Loved getting a history lesson and not even realizing it.

Recommended For…

Would highly recommend for anyone who likes historical fiction of any kind.

About the Author

Janet Ambrosi Wertman grew up within walking distance of three bookstores and a library on Manhattan’s Upper West Side – and she visited all of them regularly. Her grandfather was an antiquarian bookdealer who taught her that there would always be a market for quirky, interesting books. He was the one who persuaded Janet’s parents to send her to the French school where she was taught to aspire to long (grammatically correct) sentences as the hallmark of a skillful writer. She lived that lesson until she got to Barnard College. Short sentences were the rule there. She complied. She reached a happy medium when she got to law school – complicated sentences alternating with short ones in a happy mix.

Janet spent fifteen years as a corporate lawyer in New York, she even got to do a little writing on the side (she co-authored The Executive Compensation Answer Book, which was published by Panel Publishers back in 1991). But when her first and second children were born, she decided to change her lifestyle. She and her husband transformed their lives in 1997, moving to Los Angeles and changing careers. Janet became a grantwriter (and will tell anyone who will listen that the grants she’s written have resulted in more than $30 million for the amazing non-profits she is proud to represent) and took up writing fiction.

“There was never any question about the topic of the fiction: Janet has harbored a passion for the Tudor Kings and Queens“

There was never any question about the topic of the fiction: Janet has harbored a passion for the Tudor Kings and Queens since her parents let her stay up late to watch the televised Masterpiece Theatre series (both The Six Wives of Henry VIII and Elizabeth R) when she was *cough* eight years old. One of the highlights of Janet’s youth was being allowed to visit the Pierpont Morgan Library on a day when it was closed to the public and examine (though not touch!) books from Queen Elizabeth’s personal library and actual letters that the young Princess Elizabeth (technically Lady Elizabeth…) had written.

The Boy King is third book in the Seymour Saga, the story of the unlikely dynasty that shaped the Tudor era. The first book, Jane the Quene, tells the story of Jane Seymour’s marriage to Henry VIII; and The Path to Somerset, chronicles Edward Seymour’s rise after Jane’s death to become Lord Protector of England and Duke of Somerset (taking us right through Henry’s crazy years). Janet is currently working on a new trilogy about Elizabeth, and preparing to publish her translation of a nineteenth century biography of Henry. And because you can never have too much Tudors in your life, Janet also attends book club meetings and participates in panels and discussions through History Talks!, a group of historical novelists from Southern California who work with libraries around the state.

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*Thanks so much to Janet Wertman and HFVBT for my copy of The Boy King in exchange for an honest review.