I am finally starting my brief reviews to catch up on my blog. I’m feeling mostly better now, which is fantastic. I’m fifteen weeks pregnant now with Baby Number three. Now I’m just sad looking at this giant stack of books and thinking about how to get caught up!Young Bess is a historical fiction novel about Elizabeth I during her young years from age twelve before her father’s death through her brother Edward’s reign until his death when she was a young lady of twenty. I love reading about Elizabeth’s I life and am looking forwarding to continuing this trilogy by Margaret Irwin.
I often felt while I was reading this book that it should have been called “The Seymour Brothers.” The novel often was centered on the scheming of Tom Seymour, the handsome admiral who married Henry VIII’s widow (Catherine Parr), wooed Elizabeth, and planned to take over England, and his brother Ned, the Lord Protector who wanted too much power for himself. I found their relationship and scheming quite intriguing and actually wanted to read more about them. The only thing I didn’t like is that this seemed to take away some of the time devoted to Elizabeth’s story.
Overall Young Bess is a great historical fiction novel of Elizabeth I’s early years.
Book Source: Advance Review Copy from Sourcebooks. Thank-you!
