Books 1 & 2

I am terribly behind on my reading goal right now. I'm just barely finishing up book #2 and it's already the end of the month (uhm,  it's the end of January guys, when did this happen???) but I think I'm already 1.5 books ahead of my book count from last year! 

At the beginning of the month I flew home for a few days for a quick trip to Michigan (it was lovely) and I picked up a bunch of books (and stashed them in my carry on). My dad asked as he dropped me off at the airport, "Do you have books in here?!". He was kidding. 

So, I have plenty of material, just not the motivation. I'm trying though. 

Also, I have a confession. I already broke a rule. I started reading 'Pride and Predjudice' and just couldn't finish it guys. I tried. I really did but it took me hours to read a few pages and I had no idea what was going on. So, I'll try again later in the year, but I had to move on or I was going to get stuck on the first book of the year and then I would be really mad at myself. 

So, the real book #1 I read was Philippa Gregory's 'The Red Queen'.

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I've always loved historical fiction, the Tudor period in England, and all things Royal related. The Other Boleyn Girl is one of my favorite movies. The Red Queen is the second in Gregory's "The Cousins War" series and even though I read this series out of sequence, it wasn't like I missed anything. In fact, this one takes place before the first book in the series does, so they're not a typical series in the way you usually read them. 

The Red Queen focuses on Margaret Beaufort, who was the grandmother to Henry VIII. Margaret was convinced from a young age that she had a higher calling in life. She idolized the young French Maid Joan of Arc and believed she was a special chosen woman of God. She would rather spend her life in a nunnary than get married and she tries to protest when she is given in marriage to Edmund Tudor at the young age of 9. She becomes a mother at 13 and a widow shortly after. Like her belief that she is destined for something more noble, she believes her son, Henry, is destined for something more noble too. He is raised by her brother-in-law Jasper even after she remarries again and leaves her beloved son behind.

I loved this book. It was rich with detail and humanized the plight of a young woman that, in her time, was seen no more than a human bargaining chip and a piece of property. She started out an an innocent, obedient daughter and blossomed into an intelligent, political mastermind that was highly responsible for placing her son on the throne. If you like historical fiction, this is for sure a must read. 

I'm currently reading, and about to finish, the third book in the series The Lady of the Rivers, about Jacquetta Woodville, who was the mother of Elizabeth Woodville, wife of King Edward IV.

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 I haven't reached the end, but this one has been entertaining as well. It's set before The Red Queen but they both cross the same time period around the middle of the book. 

I should be finished with this one this weekend. 

Up next is The White Queen which is about Queen Elizabeth Woodville, the daughter of Jacquetta.