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The Queen Rival In the Court of Henry VIII Henry VIII Court Diane Haeger Books

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The Queen Rival In the Court of Henry VIII Henry VIII Court Diane Haeger Books

I've read a gazillion books about Henry VIII, his court, and his wives. I watched all the movies, new and old, and the Showtime TV series. In all these books and movies I've come across Bessie Blount many times, but no one ever took the time to tell her story. When I saw this book was about to be released I was SUPER excited, and it absolutely lived up to my expectations.

Bessie Blount, while certainly not the first mistress of Henry VIII, was definitely a favorite of his. Even before she bore his only son (well before the arrival of Edward, his son with Queen Jane Seymour), Henry had a deep fondness for Bess. Their affair lasted for 8 years...a significant amount of time for Henry to spend with any woman. In fact, the only other woman he spent so much time with (besides Catherine of Aragon) was Anne Boleyn, but she wasn't his mistress. She held him off sexually for 9 years until finally becoming Queen (though she gave into him shortly before then since she was pregnant at her coronation). But I believe the only reason Henry waited so long for Anne was so he could finally have her. I doubt he would have bothered breaking with the church and making her Queen if she'd given into him from the very beginning...but I digress.

We meet Mistress Blount as an 11 year old girl still at home in Kinlet. We follow her from her very first naive days at court, through her love affair with the King of England, the heartache of birthing the kings only son and having him taken away from her so he could be raised properly at court. We see her through her first marriage, then her second, and finally, the death of her precious boy which leads to the final page of her relationship with Henry VIII. While I personally think this story leaned more towards the fiction side, I thought it was very well done, and it was VERY hard to put down.

Some parts seemed a wee bit unbelievable to me, like the way Henry would act around Bess, or conversations they would have...it seemed so far from the Henry I feel I've come to know over the years, but that's the point of Historical Fiction, is it not? To bend the story sometimes for entertainment sake, while keeping the basic facts true. Ms Haeger has done an excellent job with Bess's story, and I absolutely recommend it. Especially for anyone interested in Tudor novels. The story of Bessie Blount is NOT one you'll come across often (or EVER!), so it was a pleasure to read about a time I love from a very different perspective. I'll absolutely be keeping an eye out for future novels from Ms. Haeger, as well as checking out some of her past books. I read Courtesan: A Novel by her a while back and absolutely LOVED it, so I'm excited to see who else she's written about.


Tags : Amazon.com: The Queen's Rival: In the Court of Henry VIII (Henry VIII's Court) (9780451232205): Diane Haeger: Books,Diane Haeger,The Queen's Rival: In the Court of Henry VIII (Henry VIII's Court),Berkley,0451232208,Biographical,Historical,Biographical fiction,Blount, Elizabeth,Catharine,Great Britain - History - Henry VIII, 1509-1547,Great Britain - Kings and rulers - Paramours,Great Britain;Kings and rulers;Paramours;Fiction.,Henry,Ladies-in-waiting - Great Britain,Ladies-in-waiting;Great Britain;Fiction.,Mistresses - Great Britain,Mistresses;Great Britain;Fiction.,1491-1547,AMERICAN HISTORICAL FICTION,England,FICTION Biographical,FICTION Historical General,FICTION Romance Historical Tudor,Fiction,Fiction - Historical,Fiction-Historical,FictionBiographical,FictionRomance - Historical - Tudor,GENERAL,General Adult,Great Britain,Historical - General,Historical fiction,King of England,,Ladies-in-waiting,Ladies-in-waiting - Great Britain,Ladies-in-waiting;Great Britain;Fiction.,Mistresses,Mistresses - Great Britain,Mistresses;Great Britain;Fiction.,Spain,VIII,,historical fiction; historical; tudors; royalty; biographical fiction; historical romance; romance; british history; elizabeth i; medieval; henry viii; renaissance; love story; historical fiction books; historical romance books; historical fiction novels; romance novels; fiction books; fiction; romance books; england; tudor; marriage; biography; love; war; drama; family; historical fiction for children 9-12; mystery; 18th century; american revolution; wwii; relationships; friendship; shakespeare; adventure; victorian; sisters,historical;romance;historical romance;love;historical fiction books;romance novels;romance books;historical fiction novels;alternate history;historical fiction;fiction;novels;fiction books;historical novels;books fiction;books historical fiction;historical romance books;england;tudors;tudor;royalty;marriage;elizabeth i;medieval;mystery;war;british history;henry viii;historical fiction for children 9-12;drama;family;american revolution;wwii;adventure;time travel;shakespeare;renaissance,FICTION Biographical,FICTION Historical General,FICTION Romance Historical Tudor,FictionBiographical,FictionRomance - Historical - Tudor,Historical - General,Fiction - Historical,1491-1547,Great Britain,King of England,,Ladies-in-waiting,Mistresses,VIII,,American Historical Fiction,Fiction,Historical fiction

The Queen Rival In the Court of Henry VIII Henry VIII Court Diane Haeger Books Reviews

WOW! I must say that it's been a long time since I've read a book about the court of Herny VIII that was this good!!!!!!!! The writer makes you feel that you can see and hear each scene as if you were there. I especially love the times when Henry and Bess are intimate with each other, but feeling sorry for the Queen that she has to sit back and watch this going on and can't do anything about it. The writer has taken the time to research the story of Bess and Henry very well and does not alter the chain of events, the way some writers do in thier stories. I will not give the story plot away, but I will say that Bess is finally given a voice of her own. The love between Henry and Bess seems so real, that by the end of the book you will be hollering for Henry to marry Bess and not Anne Boleyn. However,I do wish that Bess and Henry had more interaction with each other instead of her story detailing her life with the two men that come after Henry, but that's exactly what she did in real life. Being mistress to the king did not always end with a crown on her head. Totally worth buying for anyone that wants to know more about Bess and Henry's love affair.
I've read a lot of Tudor fiction books but haven't so far come across one where Bessie Blount was the central character. I enjoyed Diane Haeger's book about Henry VIII's sister Mary, The Secret Bride In The Court of Henry VIII, and so I was anxious to see how she pulled off a story about Blount's affair with Henry.

Blount has never been portrayed as an innocent from what I've read, or a true love for Henry. Still, Haeger makes both these cases in her fictional account, The Queen's Rival. The rivalry refers to Blount giving birth to a son when Henry's then wife, Katherine of Aragon, had not. Henry is so overjoyed that he basically makes their son, Harry, the second most powerful person (boy) in all of England.

While I enjoyed Haeger's writing immensely, I didn't totally buy that Blount and Henry genuinely cared for each other. What I did find believable was that Henry basically "moved on" from Blount when she got pregnant. While he did give their son a lot of honor, he also discounted Blount's feelings about how her son should be raised. But he was Henry VIII and we would expect no less!

I also liked Haeger's take on Henry's possible feelings for Anne Boleyn. Overall, I think Tudor fiction fans will enjoy it.
Mixed feelings on this one. I've always wanted to see an author take on Bessie's story, and it is an easy read that is quite enjoyable at times. But I felt the pacing is sort of odd and left me feeling like I got too much information about some of the less interesting times and not enough for things I would have like to have read more about. As another review mentions too, there are some pretty serious timeline errors, and a few general inaccuracies. The real big turn-off for me though was the portrayal of Katherine of Aragon. I can forgive some liberties in HF, and I know it was probably to make Bessie more sympathetic, but yikes, the way she paints poor Katherine and a few things she had her saying at points made me cringe. She could have written Katherine as she was without making Bessie look too bad for it. Most other characters she did pretty well with, though.
I've read a gazillion books about Henry VIII, his court, and his wives. I watched all the movies, new and old, and the Showtime TV series. In all these books and movies I've come across Bessie Blount many times, but no one ever took the time to tell her story. When I saw this book was about to be released I was SUPER excited, and it absolutely lived up to my expectations.

Bessie Blount, while certainly not the first mistress of Henry VIII, was definitely a favorite of his. Even before she bore his only son (well before the arrival of Edward, his son with Queen Jane Seymour), Henry had a deep fondness for Bess. Their affair lasted for 8 years...a significant amount of time for Henry to spend with any woman. In fact, the only other woman he spent so much time with (besides Catherine of Aragon) was Anne Boleyn, but she wasn't his mistress. She held him off sexually for 9 years until finally becoming Queen (though she gave into him shortly before then since she was pregnant at her coronation). But I believe the only reason Henry waited so long for Anne was so he could finally have her. I doubt he would have bothered breaking with the church and making her Queen if she'd given into him from the very beginning...but I digress.

We meet Mistress Blount as an 11 year old girl still at home in Kinlet. We follow her from her very first naive days at court, through her love affair with the King of England, the heartache of birthing the kings only son and having him taken away from her so he could be raised properly at court. We see her through her first marriage, then her second, and finally, the death of her precious boy which leads to the final page of her relationship with Henry VIII. While I personally think this story leaned more towards the fiction side, I thought it was very well done, and it was VERY hard to put down.

Some parts seemed a wee bit unbelievable to me, like the way Henry would act around Bess, or conversations they would have...it seemed so far from the Henry I feel I've come to know over the years, but that's the point of Historical Fiction, is it not? To bend the story sometimes for entertainment sake, while keeping the basic facts true. Ms Haeger has done an excellent job with Bess's story, and I absolutely recommend it. Especially for anyone interested in Tudor novels. The story of Bessie Blount is NOT one you'll come across often (or EVER!), so it was a pleasure to read about a time I love from a very different perspective. I'll absolutely be keeping an eye out for future novels from Ms. Haeger, as well as checking out some of her past books. I read Courtesan A Novel by her a while back and absolutely LOVED it, so I'm excited to see who else she's written about.