The King's Rose

Catherine Howard is to be King Henry's newest bride. Only 15 years old, she has caught the eye of the King just after he has sentenced and executed his last wife - Anne Boleyn.

But Catherine has a dark past and is not the virgin wife that Henry is expecting. She plays her part, but, as we know from history, she is doomed to fail him.

I love the insight this book gives into how Catherine may really have been. She was barely a young woman when she wed King Henry and she already had a history of a past lover and a potential engagement to her cousin. But one does not turn down the King. Her family assures her that if she burns the past, it will not come to light.

Unfortunately, they are wrong. She sins before and during her marriage to Henry and, while reading this, you start to understand just how much of a child she really is - how much she doesn't really know what she is doing.

I love the romance in this. The character that Libby portrayed in this novel is a girl just coming into her age and not expecting at all the turn of events that lead her into becoming Queen of England. I really ate this book up, the romantic and political intrigue of the royal family and court life thrilled me to no end.

If you love historical fiction, romance and royal families, you'll love this novel.

4/5 Roses