Status Updates From Katheryn Howard: the Scanda...

It’s not as easy to get into as the others, but it’s certainly well researched and gives an interesting voice to a person who has never seemed to have one!

Katheryn finds passion in the arms of one man, but soon finds herself the apple of the king’s eye, which poses a problem for her. While at Court, she watched the downfall of Henry VIII’s marriage to Anne of Cleves and is ushered into her own secret union. While she is happy to stay with the king, she deceives when it comes to her virginity, which could pose a problem. Secret meetings may also be troublesome for her!

Weir’s latest is a great depiction of Henry VIII’s next wife and her scandalous life. Young Katheryn Howard lost her mother at six and was shipped off to live with an aunt. There, she grew up with strong morals and yet always wanted to make something of herself. While she had some teenage dalliances, she tried to hold firm and remain pure. When chosen to be the Queen’s Lady in Waiting, her eyes were opened to much.

Fascinating so far, I've appreciated getting to see this insight. Katheryn's misguided decisions, the loving relationship between her and Henry. I wasn't sure when at 50% she was crowned that it would have too much book left for the pacing from previously but it's done well so far!

while I've always been controversial on how I feel about Katheryn Howard, I am finding that I am starting to understand some of the reasons contributing to her turning out the way she did.

💦1542 . . . Isabel knelt beside her, her head in her hands, her body shaking with the force of her pleas to the Almighty to spare her sister. "She is so young!" she wept. In all the anxiety of the past weeks, Katheryn's birthday had been forgotten, even by herself. She was twenty-one now. It was too young to die. 💦

♥️"I have this gold medal struck to commemorate our marriage," he told her and placed it in her hand. It was embossed with Tudor roses and true lovers' knots entwined, and carried the inscription: HENRICUS VIII: RUTILANS ROSA SINE SPINA. "What does it say?" . . . "It says you are my red rose without a thorn," 🌹

She had just noticed Tom Culpepper among the gentlemen attending the King, and he had smiled at her. 💥

It was at Yuletide that Katheryn first saw the King. . . he was taller and broader than everyone else, magnificently dressed in cloth of gold and black velvet, and laden with jewels. Oh, but he was so old—and fat! Katheryn was shocked. He was nothing like his portrait at Lambeth; it must have been painted years ago, when he was a slim and handsome young man, the envy of all.

So mesmerize by Katheryn Howard's life 💎⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The year was now 1539 😢

At times I feel like I am reading an historical romance novel. I do wonder about the details of the goings on among these young girls and women during Henry VIII’s reign as they lived in group settings in care of family members or patrons.

Engrossing book!

Hmmmmm....my opinion of Weir’s skills as a novelist change with every work of fiction she writes. While I liked some of the books in this series, this one is a little too (bad) romance-novel. Will finish it though...

Boring and silly.

And I’m shouting at Katheryn to confess her pre-contract with Dereham, she would be saved then

‘Lust weighed little now in the scales against fear and shame, exposing her love for Tom as the tawdry, sinful thing it was. She could not imagine how Henry must be feeling, especially if he had discovered what had been going on - and so soon after he had publicly thanked God for blessing him with so virtuous a wife! What a fool she had made of him!’

‘She had thought herself happy, married to Henry, and in many ways she was. But he was old and she was young, with the clamorous blood of youth coursing through her veins - and she had known passion. Seeing Tom, talking to Tom, had awakened something in her, something she thought had died.’

I am actually quite enjoying this, Katheryn is growing on me. I feel like she is maturing throughout the book, she actually seems to care for Henry. She isn’t in love with him, but she does feel some guilt for having deceived him and is quite happy with him at this point. I never really thought about that possibility, but I guess she was pretty much being doted on and being given whatever she wanted.

‘“I have never seen such honour, purity and maidenly behaviour in a young lady.”
A great lump of guilt rose in Katheryn’s throat. They had, all of them, colluded to deceive him - and there was nothing to be done about it. Too many hopes rested on her. Well, from now on, she would be all those things he admired. What had happened in the past did not matter.’

Don’t like the portrayal of Jane Boleyn in general, as there is no proof she had an unhappy marriage and wanted her husband and sister-in-law dead, but did not expect this to change, as Weir portrayed her like this in the second book. One of the first things she says in this is that she is glad they are dead and that they deserved it. However, she does seem friendly and like a mother-figure to Katheryn at least.

‘She felt sorry for the poor Queen. Had Anne of Cleves any idea what awaited her at the end of her journey? King or no, this ageing, obese man had little to offer a young woman. She even found herself feeling pity for him because of what he had once been and what he was now.’

‘She had been asking herself again why she should not have a lover. Some of the girls here passed from one gallant to another. She was fed up with being virtuous. There was no marriage on the horizon for her, nor ever would be if the Duchess went on forgetting to bestir herself. Why should she not enjoy the pleasures of love here and now? She would never want any man as much as she wanted Francis.’

I’m not sure they would have thought of Manox as being in a ‘position of trust’ back then, that is more of a modern idea

‘This was more what Katheryn expected to hear, the kind of response that suitors gave in love stories, in which the heroine was always aloof and unattainable, or might just condescend to giving a kind look or a gentle caress. Clearly, Mr Manox understood this, even if he had got carried away to begin with. And, she had to admit, so had she, until she came to her senses.’

‘What harm was there in having high spirits, enjoying a laugh with the other girls and loving fine clothes? So what if she baulked at doing tasks she didn’t like, such as mending hems, making tarts and helping in the still room, the kind of things Mother Emmet deemed suitable occupations for a young lady? And did God really mind so much that she was not always in chapel when she should be?’

‘the prospect of being banished to the Dowager’s inn, and having to say farewell to Margaret, who was going with Father to Calais. Then they would be across the sea and so far away... The thought brought tears to her eyes. If seemed that all those she loved best were taken from her: Mother, Aunt Margaret, Isabel and now her stepmother. Was she to be spared no one who cared for her and looked to her needs?’

Proof copy

"How beautiful you look when you're angry."

Will any Romance cliche be left unused?

'Before she knew it, they were rolling together, fully dressed, on the bed, mad for each other. "Be mine!" he urged.'

Ok, I'm skimming now...

"Let me feel the secret parts of your body!" he begged, his kisses hot and urgent.
"No," Katheryn protested. "We might get carried away." 😉