Tuesday, August 13, 2013

HF Tours Review and Giveaway: Queen's Gambit by Elizabeth Fremantle

Title: Queen's Gambit
Author: Elizabeth Fremantle
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publish Date: August 6, 2013


Why You're Reading This Book:
  • You're a historical fiction fan.
What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "Widowed for the second time at age thirty-one Katherine Parr falls deeply for the dashing courtier Thomas Seymour and hopes at last to marry for love. However, obliged to return to court, she attracts the attentions of the ailing, egotistical, and dangerously powerful Henry VIII, who dispatches his love rival, Seymour, to the Continent. No one is in a position to refuse a royal proposal so, haunted by the fates of his previous wives—two executions, two annulments, one death in childbirth—Katherine must wed Henry and become his sixth queen.

Katherine has to employ all her instincts to navigate the treachery of the court, drawing a tight circle of women around her, including her stepdaughter, Meg, traumatized by events from their past that are shrouded in secrecy, and their loyal servant Dot, who knows and sees more than she understands. With the Catholic faction on the rise once more, reformers being burned for heresy, and those close to the king vying for position, Katherine’s survival seems unlikely. Yet as she treads the razor’s edge of court intrigue, she never quite gives up on love."


My Two Cents:

"Queen's Gambit" is a fascinating reimagining of the life of Katherine Parr, Henry VIII's last wife and the one that survived him. This book is an engaging story that will appeal to those historical fiction lovers who want to see another Tudor queen who hasn't been covered quite so much as the likes of Anne Boleyn.

Katherine Parr was incredibly interesting to me. Before she married Henry VIII, she had been married twice before. In the book, we only get small slivers of what her life was like with her previous husbands. I thought it was so interesting to read about how she because Henry VIII's wife. At this point in time, his jig was up and many were incredibly leery of him potentially picking a new bride.

Fremantle takes some artistic license with Katherine's story (i.e. the story of Katherine's daughter, which I really liked and also the story of her maid, Dot, which I also really liked). I thought that the artistic license really brought a lot to the story. The writing of the book was interesting. You get an omniscient perspective of the characters and the story. You know what various people are thinking and what their motivations are but it isn't overwhelming. I think this is a really hard thing to do. Often I feel like the omniscient perspective can go too much into the telling rather than showing realm but Fremantle really makes it work in here.

Overall, I thought this was a great story and it definitely whetted my appetite to read more about Katherine Parr in the future.



Giveaway:

Two lucky winners will each win a copy of the Queen's Gambit. Fill in the form below for your choice!

  
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Follow the Rest of the Tour:

Monday, August 12
Feature & Giveaway at Passages to the Past
Tuesday, August 13
Review & Giveaway at A Bookish Affair
Review & Giveaway at Flashlight Commentary
Wednesday, August 14
Review at The Library of Alexandra
Review & Giveaway at Confessions of an Avid Reader
Thursday, August 15
Review at From Left to Write
Friday, August 16
Review & Giveaway at Unabridged Chick
Monday, August 19
Review & Interview at A Chick Who Reads
Tuesday, August 20
Review & Giveaway at Book-alicious Mama
Wednesday, August 21
Review at The Happy Booker
Thursday, August 22
Review & Giveaway at Oh, for the Hook of a Book!
Friday, August 23
Review & Giveaway at vvb32 Reads
Interview at The Happy Booker
Monday, August 26
Review & Giveaway at Peeking Between the Pages
Tuesday, August 27
Review at Sharon’s Garden of Book Reviews
Wednesday, August 28
Review at Medieval Bookworm
Thursday, August 29
Review at The Musings of ALMYBNENR
Friday, August 30
Review at The Tudor Book Blog
Monday, September 2
Feature & Giveaway at The True Book Addict
Interview at Layered Pages
Tuesday, September 3
Review at CelticLady’s Reviews
Review & Giveaway at The Maiden’s Court
Wednesday, September 4
Review at Booktalk & More
Interview & Giveaway at The Tudor Book Blog
Thursday, September 5
Review at A Book Geek
Friday, September 6
Review at History Undressed
Review at Impressions in Ink
Review & Giveaway at Drey’s Library
Review & Giveaway at Always with a Book
Monday, September 9
Review at She Is Too Fond of Books
Tuesday, September 10
Review at A Bookish Libraria
Review & Giveaway at Let Them Read Books
Wednesday, September 11
Review at So Many Books, So Little Time
Thursday, September 12
Review at Closed the Cover
Review at WTF Are You Reading?
Review at Carole’s Ramblings and Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell
Friday, September 13
Review & Giveaway at Books in the Burbs
Review & Giveaway at A Dream Within a Dream
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11 comments:

  1. Katherine Parr has been one of the two wives of Henry VIII that I have most admired; the other being Anne of Cleves.

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  2. I love all things Tudor and I find Catherine Parr just fascinating as she went on to live a pretty full life after Henry VIII's death (unlike many of his wives :)). Thanks for the chance to win a copy of this book!
    candc320@gmail.com

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  3. This historical is fascinating. Many thanks for this feature and giveaway. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

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  4. I'm Henry the 8th I am...Henry the 8th I am...I am...

    Sorry, that songs just gets in my head every time I see anything that relates to him. I'm on this tour Sept 12th and I can't wait to read it. I love novels like this.

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  5. I know so little about this wife, I would love to read this, thanks.

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  6. I have read mixed reviews about this one but I'd still like to add it to my reading pile.
    Thanks

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  7. I haven't anything about Katherine Parr before! When I read in your review that she had to skilled and careful in what she did and she still succeed despite the obstables then I really want to read this book!!!


    CarolNWong(at)aol(dot)com

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  8. This one is on my 'want to read' list so I'm glad to see it is getting good reviews!

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  9. I have always been intrigued by Katherine Parr and how she escaped death as Henry's sixth wife. Looking forward to reading this one.

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  10. Thanks for the giveaway! The Tudors are one of my favorite families to read about!

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  11. already added to my Wish List!!
    thank you for the giveaway!!

    cyn209 at juno dot com

    ReplyDelete

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