Book Review: BY ROYAL DECREE by Kate Emerson

Fresh onto book shelf’s everywhere “By Royal Decree” is the third installment in Emerson’s series “The Secrets of the Tudor Court”. I love this series it is one of the few that I stand firmly by and continue to be awe stuck by each and every book. My favorite aspect of the series is they all focus on all the side playing courtiers. In Tudor times the courtiers would rise as fast as they would fall and Emerson seems to focus on all the people I have been curious about but never had the option to explore more until now. Emerson changes the view of the Tudors making it fresh and new all over again because it is always from a point of view I never saw before.

Elizabeth Brooke also known as Bess grew up in a large family in a nice castle her father was Lord George Brooke, 9th Baron Cobham of Kent. He served under King Henry VIII and Henry was fresh back on the market for a new queen. Henry called upon all the nobility to send their pretty eligible women to court to have a banquet with him. Basically Henry wanted it easy and he rounded up all the pretty girls of town and made them eat dinner with him. Henry scoured the women for his sixth and final wife. Bess had been brought to court just for the banquet and she narrowly dodged Henry and her curiosity got the better of her and she stumbled upon her hating nasty aunt Dorothy making out with an abruptly handsome man. The handsome man would turn out to be not just any man but Lord William Parr. His sister would become lucky number six for King Henry which would put the family name Parr in high favor. I have to admit that I always have been curious about the brother of the famous final wife of Henry’s. I now understand that with William and the constant shifting of England current religious grounds he was forced into constantly being judged and re-judged again depending on who reigned as the current monarch. It is no easy task getting and holding a royal decree because it can be over turned just as easily as it was given.

Before Bess came into the picture William Parr was married at a young age and spent one night with his wife before returning to court. Shortly after that his wife ran off with a man of the church and had a whole hoard of illegitimate brats. William was allowed by Henry VIII to keep his wife’s title and was technically divorced. The catch with the decree was that he was not allowed to remarry until his first wife died. This would officially put the handsome William Parr completely off limits to the beautiful fresh to court Bess. But how can we tell the heart who it loves? Bess asked the same question and try as she might she could not replace him with one of the Dudley boys. Bess knew she needed real love, passionate love, the kind of love that only William Parr could give her in this life. The only problem in their way was that everyone around them kept on dying and nothing in England in the 16th century stayed the same for too long. The petition to win the Royal Decree would work with Henry but what did the future hold with a boy king and more turbulent times ahead?

4.5/5 Another beautifully written Tudor secret love that before I never even knew existed. It was everything I could have hoped it to be and more. This one was unique from the previous novel because it went past Henry VIII into Edward, Jane Grey, Mary and Elizabeth. The series had never done that before and I felt it was a natural progression in the series. Some of you might know I love Robert Dudley he is one of my favorites and this book is filled with the Dudley’s. It really opened my eyes to their lives and their family situation. I enjoyed that this book focused more on the older brothers that were infatuated with Bess. I cannot wait for the next one on the Duke of Buckingham sister titled “At The Kings Pleasure” which is slated for release in 2012

FTC- Sent by the author

PG-13 Sexual Reference

Amazon

Early Mailbox Mondays

Secrets of the Tudor Court: By Royal Decree by Kate Emerson

Signed finished copy.

"AS TEMPESTUOUS AS THE TUDOR MONARCHS THEMSELVES, THE SECRETS OF THE TUDOR COURT SERIES HAS BEEN CALLED “RIVETING” (BOOKLIST) AND “WELL DRAWN” (PUBLISHERS WEEKLY).
 
Charming. Desirable. Forbidden. Brought to court with other eligible young noblewomen by the decree of King Henry VIII, lovely Elizabeth “Bess” Brooke realizes for the first time that beauty can be hazardous. Although Bess has no desire to wed the aging king, she and her family would have little choice if Henry’s eye were to fall on her. And other dangers exist as well, for Bess has caught the interest of dashing courtier Will Parr. Bess finds Will’s kisses as sweet as honey, but marriage between them may be impossible. Will is a divorced man, and remarriage is still prohibited. Bess and Will must hope that the king can be persuaded to issue a royal decree allowing Will to marry again . . . but to achieve their goal, the lovers will need royal favor. Amid the swirling alliances of royalty and nobles, Bess and Will perform a dangerous dance of palace intrigue and pulse-pounding passions.

Brought to glowing life by the talented Kate Emerson, and seen through the eyes of a beautiful young noblewoman, By Royal Decree illuminates the lives of beautiful young courtiers in and out of the rich and compelling drama of the Tudor court".

Lily of the NileLily of the Nile by Stephanie Dray

"To Isis worshipers, Princess Selene and her twin brother Helios embody the divine celestial pair who will bring about a Golden Age. But when Selene's parents are vanquished by Rome, her auspicious birth becomes a curse. Trapped in an empire that reviles her heritage and suspects her faith, the young messianic princess struggles for survival in a Roman court of intrigue. She can't hide the hieroglyphics that carve themselves into her hands, nor can she stop the emperor from using her powers for his own ends. But faced with a new and ruthless Caesar who is obsessed with having a Cleopatra of his very own, Selene is determined to resurrect her mother's dreams. Can she succeed where her mother failed? And what will it cost her in a political game where the only rule is win-or die"?

The Darling Strumpet: A Novel of Nell Gwynn, Who Captured the Heart of England and King Charles II by Gillian Bagwell

Finished copy, my arc was cover-less. I was so hoping they would send me a final copy.

 "A thrilling debut novel starring one of history's most famous and beloved courtesans.

From London's slums to its bawdy playhouses, The Darling Strumpet transports the reader to the tumultuous world of seventeenth-century England, charting the meteoric rise of the dazzling Nell Gwynn, who captivates the heart of King Charles II-and becomes one of the century's most famous courtesans.

Witty and beautiful, Nell was born into poverty but is drawn into the enthralling world of the theater, where her saucy humor and sensuous charm earn her a place in the King's Company. As one of the first actresses in the newly-opened playhouses, she catapults to fame, winning the affection of legions of fans-and the heart of the most powerful man in all of England, the King himself. Surrendering herself to Charles, Nell will be forced to maneuver the ruthless and shifting allegiances of the royal court-and discover a world of decadence and passion she never imagined possible".

Kate Emerson, It Just Gets Better and Better and The Boleyn Wife Winner

Kate Emerson is a unique author and I am highly anticipating her upcoming release "By Royal Decree". Kate was kind enough to give some follow up information on some questions on the PDF release of Tudor Women.

"As for Susan Higginbotham's question; will there be a hard copy version"?


The short answer is no, there won't be a print edition. Just as the 1984 book gradually became outdated over 25 years, so this new version is doomed to need updating as newer or more accurate (or sometimes just different) information comes my way. Scholars often disagree on the "facts" so I try to include conflicting interpretations when I find them, or refer readers to the books or articles in question so they can see for themselves. I'll be adding new entries and listing corrections to old ones on the Kate Emerson web pages. In fact, I've already added, some new entries there---women I came across just this month in my research for the next SECRETS OF THE TUDOR COURT book (the one after BY ROYAL DECREE). 

At some point, depending on how many women I add and how many updates I make to the 622 entries in the e-book, I may have to consider either a revised e-book edition or and e-appendix containing the new information. I'm still undecided about how best to do that, but it won't be an issue for at least a year and in the meantime people who buy the e-book of A WHO'S WHO OF TUDOR WOMEN can easily find the new information at http://www.kateemersonhistoricals.com/TudorWomenAdditionsList.htm. 

The thing is, I never know when I'm going to stumble across a new tidbit on one of my ladies---sometimes just a footnote in a book on some completely different topic. And every once in a while I find an entire article or a chapter in a book with information I hadn't come across before. There is no "end" on this project. I consider it my ongoing hobby".

Here is what Kate had to say on Her upcoming release "By Royal Decree"; 

"BY ROYAL DECREE has elements of romance and political intrigue but is primarily a fictionalized biography of a real person. At least that's how I look at it. I invent what I think might have happened to fill in the gaps, but I don't change anything that is known to be true about my heroines. And there's an amazing amount that is know, once you start digging".

 

Amazon also happened to update the info on it too;

"Emerson returns to the Tudor Court in By Royal Decree, where engaged lady-in-waiting Bess must resist  handsome and similarly unavailable Will Parr". 

Giveaway Winner! 

Also today Congratulations to Pricilla who won the draw for a copy of "The Boleyn Wife" by Brandy Purdy. I hope you enjoy the read.