My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows ~ 491 pages ~ published 6/7/16 by HarperTeen

 

Goodreads Synopsis:

Edward (long live the king) is the King of England. He’s also dying, which is inconvenient, as he’s only sixteen and he’d much rather be planning for his first kiss than considering who will inherit his crown…

Jane (reads too many books) is Edward’s cousin, and far more interested in books than romance. Unfortunately for Jane, Edward has arranged to marry her off to secure the line of succession. And there’s something a little odd about her intended…

Gifford (call him G) is a horse. That is, he’s an Eðian (eth-y-un, for the uninitiated). Every day at dawn he becomes a noble chestnut steed—but then he wakes at dusk with a mouthful of hay. It’s all very undignified.

The plot thickens as Edward, Jane, and G are drawn into a dangerous conspiracy. With the fate of the kingdom at stake, our heroes will have to engage in some conspiring of their own. But can they pull off their plan before it’s off with their heads?

 

What I Thought:

It took me a while to pick up this book, as it was super hyped, and as I’ve stated before I tend to wait to read hyped books. However, as this book is the first in a series, and the second book in the series (My Plain Jane) was just released, I decided it was time to go ahead and give this book a shot. Well, I needn’t have been worried, because this book was absolutely delightful and hilarious!

I have been a really big fan of Tudor history for a long time, but I really have never known a whole lot about Edward’s reign, or what happened in the period between his death and Mary’s ascension to power. Now, allow me to say this, if you are looking for an accurate portrayal of history, this is not the book for you. While it does take actual history into consideration, it is very much a work of fiction. Just so we are all on the same page 😉 Even so, I did learn some things about history that I didn’t know before picking up this novel, which is always fun!

I really enjoyed the format of this book. Each chapter is told from either Edward, Jane, or G’s perspective, respectively, and I loved each and every one of them. All three had so much humor infused into their characters, but in unique ways. Obviously I related the most to Jane, who has her nose in a book so often that her intended literally had no idea what she looked like 😂 She loves literature, and she is super spunky. She is my spirit animal haha

I really enjoyed how they basically replaced the Catholic church and the Church of England with the Verities and the Eðians, again respectively. (The Verities being the school of thought that people should only be people, and the Eðians being the people who can also be animals, and like it that way.) I thought that this helped to make light of the battle waged between these two churches during Mary’s reign, as well as giving this story its own unique twist.

Overall, I highly recommend this book if you like historical fiction, but also like a little bit of fantasy and some silliness thrown in for good measure. It was a fun, fast read that I really loved, and caused a lot of laugh out loud moments! I cannot wait to read My Plain Jane now!

 

My Rating:

5.0/5.0

I gave My Lady Jane 5 STARS! It was cleverly written, extremely funny, and so creative!

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Are you interested in learning more about this book/series? Check out the links below! 

Cynthia Hand’s Website

Brodi Ashton’s Website

Jodi Meadows’ Website

My Lady Jane on Goodreads

Purchase My Lady Jane on Amazon 

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Have you read My Lady Jane? Have you read My Plain Jane yet? What is your opinion of them? Let me know down in the comments! 

Love and happy reading,