The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory - NKOTB - what I'm reading

I've been putting off writing my review of The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory; I finished it last Thursday (May 8th). I think I was hoping that my opinion would improve. I've read a few of her other Tudor books (The Constant Princess, The Other Boleyn Girl, The Virgin's Lover and The Queen's Fool) and really enjoyed them all except The Virgin's Lover.

It boiled down to the same issue with both of these books. Annoying , uninteresting main characters. The Boleyn Inheritance is written from 3 different points of view; Lady Jane Rochford (she is George Boleyn's widow and gave evidence against him and his sister Anne), Katherine Howard and Anne of Cleves. Of the 3 women, I only found one of the interesting. I really liked Anne of Cleves; she seems to be the only one willing to have and acknowledge her own opinions and desires. Katherine was 15 when she married King Henry VIII and sounds like every other self-absorbed, whiny teenager. Jane does what she's told and there is something else about her that just rubs me the wrong way... I can't put my finger on it though.

On a completely unrelated subject. I have NKOTB fever. I have been playing their new single "Summertime" over and over on my MySpace page. I saw them almost 19 years ago (speaking of whiny teenagers) and I'm excited that they have gotten back together. I wish I could see them in concert, but I doubt that will happen... I still love Danny, used to hate Donnie, now he's my favorite... go figure.

Currently Reading:

• What Your Mother Never Told You by Richard Dudum - for Amateur de Livre
• Dancing Above the Waves by Susan Walerstein - GoodReads find
• Requiem for the Sun by Elizabeth Haydon - 4th in a series that I love!
• When We're in Public, Pretend You Don't Know Me by Susan Borowitz - because I need this book
  

"The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B." Sandra Gulland

"The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B." by Sandra Gulland is an historical fiction novel with (for me) a bit of a twist. It is written in diary form. At first I wasn't sure about reading a 'journal'. I thought it would feel disjointed, I was wrong. The journal hits all of the highs and lows. The feel is even more 'real' given that Ms. Gulland uses not just the dates and places where the entries were written, but also times of day in some cases and partial/entire letters written to Rose. She was known as Rose before she met, then married, Napoleon; he gave her the name 'Josephine'.

Finding out that she had a different name for her first 32 years was just one of many things that I learned from reading this book. "The Many Lives..." is the first of a series. I will definitely be reading the other two in this series.


Synopsis

In the first volume of a new trilogy that combines meticulously researched history and superb storytelling, Gulland recounts the story of a young Josephine Bonaparte, who is destined to become one of the most sophisticated and powerful women in history.

Another review can be found at:
Reading Adventures

Up Next was: "The Prometheus Project: Trapped" by Douglas E. Richards {review coming soon}