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Lethal Devotion
Queen Mary I, finds her way into the life of, Suzanne Foster, but in an unlikely way. She becomes tangled in the many webs of Suzanne's life, unable to be seen by anyone other than Suzanne and her six year old daughter; Sadie.
Although in ghostly form, Mary must find her purpose before she can pass on to the other side.
As her love grows for this present day family, she does not trust Suzanne's husband and his so called Devotion for her. Devotions can be lethal. Suzanne's life is much more twisted than Mary would anticipate, and she will soon discover the link between them. But will it be too late, or can she save Suzanne from her ill fated enemies?
Although in ghostly form, Mary must find her purpose before she can pass on to the other side.
As her love grows for this present day family, she does not trust Suzanne's husband and his so called Devotion for her. Devotions can be lethal. Suzanne's life is much more twisted than Mary would anticipate, and she will soon discover the link between them. But will it be too late, or can she save Suzanne from her ill fated enemies?
346 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 1, 2013
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9 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 7, 2017
The premise of this book offered a lot of scope for an interesting story. The book describes an American family and the problems in the couple’s marriage with the mistress and her plotting. Queen Mary’s ghost is a friend of the wife’s and the book is a narration by her.
But the story was weak and the book had plenty of issues. First thing I noticed is that it is a very misogynist book and hence certainly not my kind of story. A six year old child wanting to get married badly and worrying about how to kiss is as bad as it can possibly get. A wife worrying about being discarded for not ‘giving’ her husband a child is a very primitive attitude. Was this story supposed to be set in America or Afghanistan? The wife seems to have no job, no hobbies, no friends, nothing to do except worry about producing babies. Add to it obsession with thin women and it did make me grate my teeth very often.
Queen Mary’s presence in the story is inexplicable. Where did she come from? What was her role in the family? Why is she even there? I would say not enough research has gone into Mary’s character. She calls King James Bible the ‘word of god’ – it was a result of the Protestant Reformation! She deeply desires thin bodies and loves the smell of coffee – in Mary’s time, women with filled out bodies were seen as good because they were thought to be able to produce babies effortlessly. As for coffee ... it wasn’t in England for a long time after Mary died. It is also not explained why Mary is in America at all!
There were plenty of plot holes too. Apart from Mary’s presence not being explained, why was it so important for the mistress to have the wife’s baby? There is no explanation of why she plots and plans to grab someone else’s baby. Why not have your own baby and failing that, adopt? The entire story falls apart on this point and on the fact that it seems unrealistic that some American guy would want a son so badly. I also do not understand why Angela wants to have Suzanne’s child. There is no background of psychiatric disorders or anything else that could make the attitude plausible. Being evil is not an explanation for anything. And why did she suddenly give up being evil in the last chapter? There is no motivation behind anything she is doing.
It’s not just historical research that is not done, but basic facts about breastfeeding has been ignored too. If your plan is to kidnap a baby you love and want from its mother by killing the mother, poison is not the smartest thing to use considering she is still breast feeding. There is also a scene where the mistress, not the birth mother, is breast feeding the baby – by taking pills. As far as I know, breast milk can be induced in women but with extensive hormonal treatments, not by popping a pill at the last minute. Nothing about this was ever mentioned earlier or later.
Finally, I found the characters pretty flat. Mary does nothing but play voyeur and even watches the couple having sex! She already classifies the husband and mistress as evil right at the start, and this gives the characters no space to develop over the length of the novel. The little girl does nothing but act at being a dumb doll and the wife is forever crying about babies. She doesn’t even get upset when Mary invades her privacy again and again. The author needs to develop some more friction in her characters. It is managed well with Peter who worries about his actions, but the women are just sitting there being either ‘good’ or ‘evil’. Mary has no character whatsoever – she doesn’t even seem very Catholic.
On a positive note, I found the writing style was good. The plot had good possibilities, and I hope the author can learn from her mistakes and weave a better story next time. The second half of the book was certainly better than the first where nothing happens except women wailing for babies. There is certainly talent here; I just think a little more work is needed.
But the story was weak and the book had plenty of issues. First thing I noticed is that it is a very misogynist book and hence certainly not my kind of story. A six year old child wanting to get married badly and worrying about how to kiss is as bad as it can possibly get. A wife worrying about being discarded for not ‘giving’ her husband a child is a very primitive attitude. Was this story supposed to be set in America or Afghanistan? The wife seems to have no job, no hobbies, no friends, nothing to do except worry about producing babies. Add to it obsession with thin women and it did make me grate my teeth very often.
Queen Mary’s presence in the story is inexplicable. Where did she come from? What was her role in the family? Why is she even there? I would say not enough research has gone into Mary’s character. She calls King James Bible the ‘word of god’ – it was a result of the Protestant Reformation! She deeply desires thin bodies and loves the smell of coffee – in Mary’s time, women with filled out bodies were seen as good because they were thought to be able to produce babies effortlessly. As for coffee ... it wasn’t in England for a long time after Mary died. It is also not explained why Mary is in America at all!
There were plenty of plot holes too. Apart from Mary’s presence not being explained, why was it so important for the mistress to have the wife’s baby? There is no explanation of why she plots and plans to grab someone else’s baby. Why not have your own baby and failing that, adopt? The entire story falls apart on this point and on the fact that it seems unrealistic that some American guy would want a son so badly. I also do not understand why Angela wants to have Suzanne’s child. There is no background of psychiatric disorders or anything else that could make the attitude plausible. Being evil is not an explanation for anything. And why did she suddenly give up being evil in the last chapter? There is no motivation behind anything she is doing.
It’s not just historical research that is not done, but basic facts about breastfeeding has been ignored too. If your plan is to kidnap a baby you love and want from its mother by killing the mother, poison is not the smartest thing to use considering she is still breast feeding. There is also a scene where the mistress, not the birth mother, is breast feeding the baby – by taking pills. As far as I know, breast milk can be induced in women but with extensive hormonal treatments, not by popping a pill at the last minute. Nothing about this was ever mentioned earlier or later.
Finally, I found the characters pretty flat. Mary does nothing but play voyeur and even watches the couple having sex! She already classifies the husband and mistress as evil right at the start, and this gives the characters no space to develop over the length of the novel. The little girl does nothing but act at being a dumb doll and the wife is forever crying about babies. She doesn’t even get upset when Mary invades her privacy again and again. The author needs to develop some more friction in her characters. It is managed well with Peter who worries about his actions, but the women are just sitting there being either ‘good’ or ‘evil’. Mary has no character whatsoever – she doesn’t even seem very Catholic.
On a positive note, I found the writing style was good. The plot had good possibilities, and I hope the author can learn from her mistakes and weave a better story next time. The second half of the book was certainly better than the first where nothing happens except women wailing for babies. There is certainly talent here; I just think a little more work is needed.
July 16, 2013
If I could pick one Tudor to be haunted by it would probably be Queen Mary I and this book allowed me to sit back and imagine what that would be like. I found there were a few typos in the text, but the story was good so I was able to just enjoy the book. It was a really intriguing story, although I sort of guessed at the start what the real relationship between Suzanne and Mary was, but it was still a good read. Some of it was quite sad and I cried at the part when Sadie died (on the train, but I don't think anyone noticed as it wasn't busy.) and went to heaven and Mary was left behind. Nice happy ending though.
August 3, 2013
Mary Tudor is back, only this time she is stuck in a kind of purgatory, a lost place between heaven and earth and is occupied by the lives of the Foster family. Even though the Fosters are a modern-day family, despite the separation of the centuries between their lives and Mary’s time on earth, Mary finds herself reliving the events of her own life through the Foster family and discovers that she has a lot more in common with matriarch Suzanne Foster that she had originally believed…… it’s an emotional roller-coaster with lots of twists and turns and like all good books, it was a shame to eventually come to the end of it!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews