Dark Queen Rising by Paul Doherty
Stacey • August 6, 2019
England during the 14th and 15th Century was a bloody mess of wars and a pretty serious game with the throne. The 100 years war really took its toll on England and all its people. The war of the roses, the infamous battle between the Lancastrians and the Yorks was the pivotal turning point for England as a whole.
Fast forward to the tail end of the war and we find Margaret Beaufort. Ruthless, intelligent and the matriarch of the Tudor dynasty, knows she could never take the throne in her own birth right so pins all her dreams on her malleable son Henry.
During this time being a Lancaster may as well be wearing a bright neon sign saying traitor to the throne right here. This still did not stop Lady Margaret.
I adore historical fiction. It’s been my go to genre for quite some time. I am well versed in the Tudor dynasty and have a vast knowledge base starting with the war of the roses, all the way to the death of Elizabeth I. I half wondered if this would be a blessing or a curse and it turned out to be a curse for the author. There are some pretty acute inaccuracies in the historical parts of the book. They did grate on me a bit, I have to be honest but for for the most part, the writing is good enough for me to overlook the inconsistencies. The beginning of the book didn’t flow well for me, way too much talking and no story building. I hated that. Building into the story would have been better. I rather felt that the first chapter was picking up from somewhere else. It felt like I was starting a book from the middle of the story rather than the beginning.
Margaret Beaufort comes across a little less of a tyrant in this rendition. The author gives her a certain motherly humanity that made her a little easier to swallow. I couldn’t imagine having my only son so far away from me and not knowing if he was going to stay safe or if he was even alive. It must have taken its toll on Margaret being in fear constantly. I really can’t help wondering if the hardening of her heart started as young girl with no stabilty, rather than from all the upheaval with the realm.
When I read the synopsis for the book I was excited! A Tudor murder mystery!! How creative. I felt very let down with the whole story. The whole mystery surrounding the murders were not the star of the book as I was lead to believe. For me, if the part about the murders were removed from the summary, I would have gone in with a different mind set and I think you would have seen a very different review from me.
Instead this book is about a highly ambiguous woman with an ambition to rival any man. You never fully understand if it’s her love for her son that drives her or whether she loves the glory her son can give her by claiming the throne and ultimately, giving her the control of the realm.
‘She was determined to weave the web she wanted..’ That doesn’t sound like a woman who is just trying to navigate her way through a dark time in history. She is actively going against the grain and is putting her life and her sons in mortal danger in the process.
This book switches between the points of view of Margaret and Christopher Ulswicke. Ulswicke was one of only two people Margaret trusted in the world. I actually enjoyed his story more so than Margarets. He's funny, determined and could feel his need to do his very best. He was much more genuine a character than Margaret. He did what he did for the good of his mistress and for someone who kills people, was a much more believable human than Margaret comes across as. Other than the gruesome and overly descriptive deaths being described, there wasn’t much that stood out.
The pace of the book wanes a lot and other times you get far too much information thrown at you. I can still see the potential this book has but for a seasoned reader like me, it didn’t hold the water it should have. There were no twists and turns, nothing to drive you forward to continue to read. I did finish it. It was mediocre at best and a real let down for me. I did a happy dance when I first started to read it. I was excited. By the end I was just glad it was over.
I have never read any other of his work and in all honesty, I probably won’t be seeking his work out again. It’s a real shame that I didn’t have something better to say about this book. I really wanted to love it.
I would give it 2.5 stars out of 5. I even had to go and read parts again because my mind wandered and that never happens to me.
Sincerely, The Lioness
I just finished Open Bar by Dan Schorr and here are my thoughts. Serena Stanfield uncovers a long time abusive coach who has been preying on teenagers in the university’s summer softball program. Putting her job online she refused to let it go and joined forces with a junior associate for an investigation firm and a city councillor, they pursue different paths to obtain justice but they have the same goal. Yeah this one was different. It didn’t have the tone I have come to expect from a thriller.. It had a ton of POVs and it felt like the author spent more time on the cover up than anything outside of that and it was a tad bland. There were no twists, it was mostly little ahhh I see moments which really didn’t work for me in this genre. I think it needs to be reclassified because I can see thriller readers being upset with this. It was a compelling read, lots of parts had my mind just spinning and it mostly stood on the triggers to provide the settings. Again, it didn’t fit the thriller genre for me and I went in looking for that and was disappointed. The character development was there though and there was some gifted writing… Real shame! 3.5 stars Grab your copy here >>https://amzn.to/425spKP<< #danschorr #openbar #bookreview #bookalorian #booksbooksbooks #readersofig #litdulterous #tbr #bookinfluencer #netgalley #kindlereader #colorsoft
I just finished The Locked Ward by Sarah Pekkanen and here are my musings. Georgia is in a psychiatric unit… Charged with killing her sister.. The biological daughter of her rich adoptive parents. Their sibling rivalry is well documented in their family and friend circles so no one is surprised.. The only person she will see is her biological twin sister.. The sister that has no idea she has a twin. Amanda goes to visit but she doesn’t expect to hear Georgia whisper that she is innocent. Georgia leads Amanda on a chase to find the truth… but is Georgia innocent or is she the master of manipulation? WOW WOW WOW! That was one heck of a trip!! I don’t even know what to unpack first!! OK Amanda. She knew she was adopted but she didn’t know there was a twin out there. I could imagine how curious she would have been. There was also something a little dark about Amanda. She didn’t have any problems stepping into Georgia’s world to ask questions and it felt like she was a well seasoned liar. Georgia did know about Amanda but it was only for a few months. They were different but the same.. It was a really nice contrast to see them together and what they were up to apart. I liked the plot. I thought it was clever and the ending was a big mindblowing conclusion! I didn’t work it out so that’s always a bonus for me with thrillers. The pace was a touch slow but there was a lot to find out and I think the pace matched the way we found information in the right way. I loved the audiobook narration. I already ordered a copy to have on my shelf. The writing is incredible and I was hooked from the very beginning. The storyline was like an onion, the more you peel back the harder it is to keep watching! It was intense!! The institution was absolutely terrifying so having the balance of the luxury life vs being on the ward… GAHHHH it was absolutely epic. It felt so real! 4.5 stars I loved spending the book feeling wrong footed the whole time!! You can order your copy right here >>https://amzn.to/4lYRPRK<< Thank you to @netgalley @macmillanaudio and @stmartinspress for my gifted ALC and ARC!!! #Thelockedward #sarahpekkanen #thriller #alc
I just finished Forget Me Not by Stacy Willingham and here are my musings. When Claire’s sister Natalie disappeared.. They expected the worst. Days later her blood is found in a car and a man goes to jail for her death… even with her body. 22 years later Claire is an investigative journalist and when her dad calls about her mom… She runs home. When nothing has changed she flees her childhood home and ends up in a seasonal job on a farm…. She never intended to stay but finding a diary by the owner has her so intrigued, she starts to dig and the more she digs… The more she sees that her sister's disappearance and the diary might all be tied together. This book had layer upon layer of twists and it really hooked me from page one. I had the audio and the ebook and I went back and forth between formats. The audio was excellent but I really enjoyed hearing it in my own voice too. I loved Claire. The journalist in her was so nosy and she just couldn’t help herself. A normal person wouldn’t have read a diary they found by accident but that’s not what she did. So we get the story from Claire's perspective and then all the diary entries. It was absolutely loaded with suspense. It wasn’t intense but it was like a low constant thrum. It was awesome. I had the book done in a day. It was a slow burn but it worked so well. Excellent thriller book. 4 stars Thank you to @minotaur_books and @netgalley for my ebook and @macmillanaudio for my alc. Grab your copy here >>https://amzn.to/45Ewvfp<< #forgetmenot #stacywillingham #thriller #fictionaddiction #fictionreader #thrillerreader #thrillerrecs #booklover #bookalorian #lionessofliteracy
I just finished A Mother’s Guide to the Apocalypse by Hollie Overton and here are my thoughts. Olivia lives in fear… Of a future they aren’t prepared for… So she preps… She creates a book to help her triples in the future if she is not around anymore… She couldn’t have been more right. When natural disasters destroy the world as they know it, her triples grow up without her. They barely remember her but they find a box of her things which uncovers some of the lies their father had told them… They all set out to find out what really happened to their mother but will they be able to process what they discover? I absolutely loved the format of this book. We get pieces of Olivia’s guide on how to survive the apocalypse, her chats on reddit and to private DM’s. It’s how we learn about Olivia and how she is feeling. The girls are told that she died during a landslide but they later find out things aren’t lining up. Each twin, Rosie, Cassie and Bettie all have POV in the books. They are all very different people and it was interesting to see how they felt about each other in their own POVs and how they interacted away from each other. It was clever. I also enjoyed their dad, Sam’s POV. He has Alzheimer's so catching his lucid and non lucid moments in the book was quite heartbreaking. They all travel back to the USA to find the truth about their mom and because Sam is so ill he has to go too but there are so many secrets and so much to unpack that I am surprised the book isn’t much bigger. I listened to the audio and read my hardcover and it was brilliantly done. I like the plot, I loved the writing and all the characters. It was a lot to cram in and the author did an amazing job of balancing it all. It was seriously entertaining without being heavy. If you are looking for a horror.. This isn;t it. It’s a mystery- Dystopian thriller in my opinion and you will not find anything in here that remotely screams horror. (goodreads lists it as a horror, its wrong) 4 stars Grab your copy here >> https://amzn.to/4lrT1wA << Come check out my podcast on https://open.spotify.com/show/5kKN96RNPNh4uNDZzpIE1A Thank you to @hachetteaudio and @hachetteus for my gifted paperback and ALC #amothersguidetotheapocalypse #hollieoverton #dystopian #bookreview #bookblog #podcaster #bookishblog #readervlog #bookvlog #bookalorian #lionessofliteracy #booksbooksbooks #bookinfluencer
I just finished High Season by Katie Bishop and here are my thoughts. Twenty years ago something tragic happened… Tamara.. Just 17 years old, was found floating face down in the pool. The only witness, her 6 year old sister who testifies that her babysitter, Josie, held her sister’s head under water and was to blame. Trouble is… All these years later, Nina isn’t sure she saw what she saw and now a true crime documentary is going to dig deep into the incident, Nina is invigorated to find out what really happened that night but truth always comes at a cost. I always go in blind and the last time I did that was with a Katie Bishop book… The title and cover didn’t match the intensity of the story hidden inside so I went in knowing to expect the unexpected. This book was set over 2 timelines. The past, on the lead up to the drowning and the present day. I normally feel two timelines tend to get messy and sometimes they are defined enough for you to know you have switched but this worked really well. True crime is a hot topic right now and it was a clever twist to add the documentary into it. Lots of POVs didn’t distract from the excellent plot either. It was very atmospheric. You could feel the tension in this slow-burn mystery. I actually thought the less fast pace worked excellent in building the story to the right crescendo. There's one thing that the author always manages to do… She will serve you up characters who are a total and utter mess but so relatable. You can understand all the characters and find empathy with them all. I loved the setting of the book too! The writing is so eloquent for a thriller and the narration was done to perfection! I switched between my ALC and my hardcover I was sent and even did some immersion reading. It’s not the easiest thing to do but it was so worth it. 4.5 stars and out now Grab your copy here >> https://amzn.to/4mhpJSz << Thank you to @netgalley @stmartinspress and @macmillanaudio for my ALC, ARC and hardcover! #highseason #bookreview #katiebishop #bookalorian #booklover #readerofig #igbooks #booktok #booktube
I just finished Dealing with Feeling by Marc Brackett and here are my thoughts. This book came at a welcome time. As a woman with 2 asd kids and an asd husband, emotional regulation is a hard thing to manage here. I found the book oddly enlightening. I don’t have (I don’t think) issues with emotional regulation but it was interesting to read it from the standpoint of understanding someone else. I really enjoyed reading about Marc Brackett’s struggles himself and I had no idea that he is the director for Emotional intelligence at the Yale center so clearly he knows a thing or two! It was a really interesting book. As an adult you don’t think about your emotional regulation, you assume you have it until someone else points it out. We aren’t born with it, it’s a learned thing and clearly, thanks to this book, it's not too late to fix it. (Thank FFFFFF) There’s tips and tricks to help you with your emotional regulation and it’s so well written. It’s relatable and you feel safe being vulnerable as you read. I definitely learned a lot and it will help me help the people I love to find success in their lives. Thank you to @celadonbooks for my gifted copy Out in September #dealingwithyourfeeling #celadonreads #celadonreader #partner #marcbrackett #nonfiction #selfhelp #emotionalregulation #bookalorian #nonfictionreview #bookreview #readersofinstagram #lionessofliteracy #litdulterous #bookishpodcast #booklover
I just finished Asylum Hotel by Juliet Blackwell and here are my musings. Aubrey ignored the no trespassing signs to get into the Hotel Seabrink to get photos of the abandoned hotel. She never expected to bump into a youtuber called Dimitri looking to do a netflix show on abandoned buildings. After spending the night together, Aubrey wakes to find him gone… He fell off the cliff in the middle of the night. What was he doing walking up there in the dark and has it anything to do with the curse? OOHH this book gave me the CREEPS!!!! I love abandoned buildings so I already knew I was going to adore this book. So much to unpack! There were small storylines weaved over the top of the main one. Audrey wants to know what happened to Dimitri. It’s not easy to believe suicide when you just spent the night with the person. The more she learns, the more danger she is in! I loved finding out about the history of the hotel and the dark secrets that haunt the walls and the legend the townsfolk have of it. Well written and well paced, I was drawn right into the story. I finished it in one sitting and I felt the dark undertones under my skin the whole time. If you are looking for a dark thriller, this is the one!!!! 5 stars Grab your copy here >>> https://amzn.to/3HrEhj9 <<< Come check out my bookish podcast youtube.com/@litdulterous Thank you to @netgalley and @berkleypub for my gifted copy #asylumhouse #bookreview #berkleypublishing #penguinreader #julietblackwell #thriller #thrillerreader #kindlebook #kindlereader #booksonthego #bookalorian #litdulterous #lionessofliteracy #Bookreview #bookrecs
I just finished His First Wife by Sue Watson and here are my thoughts. Sophie wasn’t expected to find love in Sicily after the loss of her husband but she couldn’t help herself when kind, beautiful and funny Emilio, a professor at the university, showed an interest. Even when she finds out he is married she still doesn’t walk away… Even when his wife turns out to be missing… She still doesn’t heed the warning and when a shadowy figure begins to watch her… she doesn’t know what is real or what is just paranoia. I normally love Sue Watson books. She writes fast faced, twisty books but this one wasn’t fast paced and the first half of the book was boring. It was a real shame because I so wanted to love it all. 3 stars for the first part of the book and 9 for the last haha. I didn’t care much for Sophie. She was mildly annoying. In fact, everyone was annoying. The story was what held the whole thing together and the amazing narration. The ending was really solid and if you can get past the first half the magic is in the last half. 3.75 stars Grab your copy today >>> https://amzn.to/4frJMLo <<< Come check out my podcast youtube.com/@litdulterous Thank you @netgalley and @brillianceaudio for my gifted ALC #hisfirstwife #suewatson #thriller #thrillerreader #thrillerbook #netgalley #booklover #bookalorian #litdulterous #lionessofliteracy #bookreviews #bookblog #readerblog
I just finished Doom Breaker VOL 2 by Blue-Deep and here are my thoughts. Zephyr is human… The last one fighting the evil plaguing the earth after the Gods had abandoned it. The war he is fighting comes to an end when he is killed by Tartarus… When all seems lost, Zephyr is reincarnated to save humanity. Zephyr is working on his martial arts skills and magic… His upcoming battle with the Demon lord is coming and having to work with his old rival to stop the cult of Tatarus is steeped in dangers untold. I rarely find the next installment of a graphic novel eclipses the first but this one crushed it. Can I just state that the ending was WHATTTTTTT! What an intriguing place to stop and I was silenting screaming for more. I loved the dragon raid, it was so interesting! I have cemented my love for Zephyr and his character growth was exponential in this volume and watching the changes in his relationship with Altair was a serious highlight! I whizzed through this volume and I am dying to see what happens next! Thank you @webtoon and @wattpadbooks for my gifted copy. Grab your copy here >>https://amzn.to/4mWTdF8<< #Manga #Manhwa #Graphic Novels #FantasyComics #doombreaker #bluedeep #bookreview #versatilereader #bookinfluencer #literacyinfluencer #bookalorian #litdulterous #bookishpodcast #bookrecs
I just finished Doom Breaker VOL1 by Blue-Deep and here are my thoughts. Zephyr is human… The last one fighting the evil plaguing the earth after the Gods had abandoned it. The war he is fighting comes to an end when he is killed by Tartarus… When all seems lost, Zephyr is reincarnated to save humanity. Trouble is it's 10 years in the past and he has none of his physical strength and is branded a slave. It’s a game between gods but can he have his revenge or will he repeat the mistakes of the past? WOW. I was hooked! Have you seen the artwork in this graphic novel? It is on FIRE!!!! Some of the best artwork I have ever seen. I have a real soft spot for Zephyr. He was determined and so fierce and oozed epicness. I was rooting for him right from the get go. I enjoyed just how action packed this volume was. It was go go go all the way through and I loved all the cool battle scenes and don’t even get me started on how magnificent the monsters are. So creepy!! I am so lucky that @webtoon sent me the next volume right away because I would have been jonesing. 4 stars Thank you to @wattpadbooks for my gifted copy Grab your copy here >>https://amzn.to/4mE9ZJz<< #Manga #Manhwa #Graphic Novels #FantasyComics #doombreaker #bluedeep #bookreview #versatilereader #bookinfluencer #literacyinfluencer #bookalorian #litdulterous #bookishpodcast #bookrecs
