Review: The Queen's Lady

The Queen's Lady by Eve Edwards

Published by Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Genre: YA historical fiction

$17.99 (US hardback)

336 pages

What it's about:



England, 1584.

When beautiful Lady Jane Rievaulx begins her service to the Queen at Richmond Palace, she is thrilled to see the court's newest arrival . . . Master James Lacey.

No matter that Jane was previously courted by the eldest Lacey brother—James is the one who has won her heart. For his part, James cannot deny his fascination with Jane; his plans, however, do not allow for love. He is about to set sail on a treacherous journey to the Americas, seeking absolution for what he sees as past sins. But when Jane is forced into a terrible situation by her own family, only one man can save her. Will Master James return to his lady before it's too late?

My thoughts:

I read the first book in this series, The Other Countess, about a week before reading The Queen's Lady. One of the comments I made about that book is how it didn't feel like it was set in the Elizabethan era. Normally when I think of living in that time and living in the court, I think of it as terrifying. There are spies everywhere, you can be put in the tower, or worse, killed, for hardly any reason at all. Pissing off the queen seems an easy task, and all the other things that go along with that. I can not say it is true for this book. TQL does a great job with showing how much it would suck to live in that time. How women are treated as property and bargaining trades.

This is the story of Lady Jane, aka the lady who was supposed to marry Will in the first book. Now we get to see hers and James' story. I absolutely love Jane. She sticks up for herself! That is incredibly brave of her, especially in this time. She makes decisions to help her friends rather than to help herself. She doesn't let people belittle her, and she is smart. I freaking love her character. Then there is James. He is a fun guy. Always witty and charming. Very likable. We are also introduced to loads of new characters that are also very entertaining and will be showing up in book #3.

I can honestly say that I liked this book much better than the first, though I did love that one as well. The characters are ones you want to root for and become attached to, the drama is intense, and the historical setting is interesting. I'm normally not big into historical books, but I love this series.

My rating: 9/10