Can't Wait Wednesday: The Queen's Sister by Carol McGrath

 

For this week's Can't Wait Wednesday hosted by Tressa at the book blog, Wishful Endings, I'm featuring, The Queen's Sister, by Carol McGrath. It appears to be a stand alone novel but I know this author for her popular trilogies about earlier queens. Anyone who loves historical fiction about the tudors will want to try this one. It tells the story of Elizabeth Seymour, a sister of Anne Boleyn and her attempt to distance herself from King Henry VIII's court to no avail. She is caught up in the events concerning the other sister, Jane and "dark plots and secrets" of the court. I'm sure it is exciting fiction and I always like authors who take more obscure people and bring them to life. 

Historical Fiction

June 4, 2026

Book description courtesy of Goodreads

A mother, a wife, a woman of substance...

At nineteen, Elizabeth Seymour is already a mother, has been recently widowed, and seen her Queen, Anne Boleyn, lose her life. Against the wishes of her father, she heads North, away from Wulf Hall and the court in London to Yorkshire, determined to establish a new beginning as a landowner and business woman. As her family in Wiltshire curry favour with King Henry, aided by Thomas Cromwell, Elizabeth makes Kexby Manor her home, finding loyalty among her people there.

Soon, news comes to Elizabeth of the King's desires for her sister, Jane and while her brother, Edward, encourages her own betrothal to Gregory Cromwell, son of Thomas. It is a happy second marriage for Elizabeth, but it brings unwanted involvement in the dark plots and secrecy of the court, while in the wider country, changes in religious practice threaten to alter the traditions and values of all she has known.

The Queen's Sister vividly imagines the story of the woman possibly portrayed in Hans Holbein's beautiful painting 'Portrait of a Lady,' and is a colourful, meticulously researched novel of Tudor life behind the scenes.

Top Ten Tuesday: May Flower Themed Books

 

This week's theme for Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, is May flower themed books. This could be interpreted so many ways but I thought I'd list ten books with flowers in the title.  If you are interested in the book click on the link to view it in Goodreads. The only one of these I've reviewed is number 3 but I might need to add some of these to my tbr pile. I found it so interesting how many books have "rose" in the title. I'd never noticed.

Happy reading y'all!

1. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

2. Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews

3. The Thistle and the Rose by Jean Plaidy

4. The Rose Apple Tree Mystery by Ovidia Yu

5. The Rose and the Thistle by Laura Frantz

6. The Wars of the Roses by Dan Jones

7.  Red Rose of Anjou by Jean Plaidy

8. Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick

9. The Flame and the Flower by Kathleen Woodiwiss

10. Tudor Roses: From Margaret Beaufort to Elizabeth I by Amy Licence

Stacking the Shelves #88

 

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Reading Reality. It's a place to showcase any books I have purchased, borrowed, or been lucky enough to have been given an advance copy of. Hope you find something that looks interesting to you or that makes you remember a favorite book you need to finish. Happy reading y'all!

The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey 

(Inspector Alan Grant Book 5)

Libby Borrow

This author sounds familiar but I didn't realize she had a story about a detective searching for the truth about Richard III and the Princes in the tower. He is laid up in bed with a broken leg, bored out of his mind and after seeing a portrait of Richard he becomes obsessed with finding the facts. Written in the golden age of detective fiction it is arranged like a typical "following the clues" novel. Sounds fun!

Highgate Rise by Anne Perry (Charlotte and Thomas Pitt Book 11)

Libby Borrow

I have been making my way through all of Perry's books for years. This is the next one and luckily Libby has all her books, audiobooks too, so reading and listening to them is easy. In this installment of the Pitt novels, a doctor's wife dies in a fire and Pitt tries to determine if it was deliberate. Once again, his wife Charlotte helps him by gathering her own evidence in the upper circles of society. These books are consistently well written, historically accurate, and follow the characters in a way that makes them best read in order. I absolutely love them and highly recommend them if you love historical mysteries that are a little dark but not gruesome. 

Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou: A Marriage of Unequals by Amy Licence

Kindle purchase: $2.99 this week

I thought this author only wrote fiction. I'd seen her books and have them on my tbr shelf but didn't realize she also had some non fiction history books. Now I'm wanting to read everything, lol! This one is interesting in its take on the relationship between Henry and Margaret which I've always pictured as a mother/son type feel due to Henry's mental illness. I hope she has some new insights into their private life and how Margaret coped with the constant uncertainty of his very serious problems.

Death On Deck by Verity Bright (A Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery) Book 13

 

Publication Date:

March 13, 2023

Genre: 

Cozy Mystery, Historical Mystery

Length:  

300 pages

Series:

Lady Eleanor Swift Mysteries

Book description courtesy of Goodreads

When Lady Swift embarks upon her first luxury cruise she imagines a gilded ballroom, afternoons on deck taking tea and all the delectable food she can eat. But she can’t seem to escape from murder.

Lady Eleanor Swift is all set to spend her birthday with her beau,dashing Detective Hugh Seldon,until he calls to cancel on her again at the last minute. What’s a girl to do? Pack up her staff and her faithful old bulldog, Gladstone, and head off on a cruise to New York, that’s what!

On the stunningly opulent ocean liner Celestiana, Eleanor tries to forget her worries and make the most of her trip. That is, until she sees a man being shot and falling overboard. On closer inspection of the scene, Eleanor literally stumbles over the likely murder weapon. And the nick in the barrel is unmistakeable: this gun belongs to Detective Seldon.

With some discreet digging, Clifford discovers Detective Seldon is aboard the ship on an undercover mission. Eleanor doesn’t want to make waves but she’s sure that something fishy is going on and he’s being framed. To get Seldon off the hook, Eleanor casts her net wide and searches for the real murderer among a sea of suspects including European nobility, Italian opera stars, and American nouveau riche. But does the victim’s expensive gold ring point to a lavish lifestyle or is it a red herring?

When another passenger is found dead in his first-class cabin, a poisoned whisky glass clutched in his hand, Eleanor realizes they are really in hot water. Will the killer be Eleanor’s catch of the day, or will she spend her birthday at the bottom of the sea?

My Thoughts

I wasn't really looking forward to this one because I didn't care much for the location. The whole cruise ship thing cozy mystery style is one I've read recently in other series books but I am working my way through these faithfully and they build on each other. I'm glad I didn't skip it as it turned out to be as good as the others always are!

The mystery involved Lady Eleanor trying to find a killer while also clearing her boyfriend,Hugh,of the murder. She also has to contend with the shadow of Hugh's late wife, which always causes insecurities to resurface. I enjoyed the cast of characters on board the ship from the serious Professor to the opera singer to the mother/daughter duo. We also get glimpses into the lives of the people below deck and those of Eleanor's staff who are staying in second class. The descriptions of the ship are wonderful with a sort of science type theme and it's clear we are being shown a comparison to the magnificence of the real Titanic. 

A second murder later in the story adds to the intrigue and as Hugh is also extremely prone to seasickness, Eleanor is forced to work on her own for much of the time. Of course Clifford, her cherished butler is there to lean on but even he can't do much. Eleanor takes notes, interviews everyone including the staff on the liner, and leaves no one out for suspicion. The ending wasn't terribly surprising or shocking but it was clever and there were plenty of red herrings to keep me guessing throughout.

Another great one from Verity Bright, I highly recommend this series if you want a fun, cozy, historical mystery series set in the early 20th Century to follow along with. It's definitely one of the better written ones with fun recurring characters, witty dialogue, and great descriptions of the times. This author always adds little historical tidbits that enhance the story and I love that!

Can't Wait Wednesday: In the Great Quiet: A Novel by Laura Vogt

 

For this week's Can't Wait Wednesday hosted by Tressa at the book blog, Wishful Endings, I'm featuring, In the Great Quiet, by Laura Vogt. I thought this story looked unique and loved that it is based on the author's ancestors' lives. The Oklahoma Land Rush doesn't get represented in much literature but I've always thought it interesting. This book looks to be part history, romance, saga, and survivalist. It is unlikely to be boring.

Historical Fiction, American Historical Fiction

April 1, 2026

Book description courtesy of Goodreads

A pioneer unwaveringly endures the Oklahoma frontier in an epic adventure about a woman haunted by secrets and searching for home.

A cannon booms at high noon, and the race begins in the Oklahoma land rush of 1893.

Amid the crowd is Minnie Hoopes. Tenacious and fiercely independent, she is determined to endure the brutal frontier and create a life of her own. Guarding her solitude, she distances herself from bordering homesteaders and finds peace under the starry nights of the vast frontier. But this is outlaw country, and Minnie soon has the blood of two gunfighters on her hands. After a renegade outlaw named Stot discovers her secrets, she forms an unlikely friendship with him. With each passing season, Minnie’s past grows more haunting and threatens the future she has risked everything to build. Minnie raced into the Wild West alone, but her grandest journey in the frontier wilderness is one she never saw coming.

Based on the true story of the author’s great-great-grandparents, this sweeping and transportive survival story explores a woman’s connection with the land, her reconciliation with the past, and her elemental search for home against all odds.