Mary, Bloody Mary & Beware Princess Elizabeth by Carolyn Meyer

Mary Bloody Mary by Carolyn Meyer : 4 / 5
& Beware Princess Elizabeth  by Carolyn Meyer : 4 / 5

Goodreads (Mary bloody Mary) : Anne was a witch; I never doubted it. Month upon month I lived in terror of poison being slipped into my cup. Yet an hour before the blade bit into her flesh, they say she prayed for my forgiveness. Would I have forgiven her? No. Never. Mary Tudor's world falls apart when her father, King Henry VIII, abandons her mother and marries his mistress, Anne Boleyn. Banished to a cold lonely castle, far from family and friends, Mary wears rags instead of silk and longs for her old, privileged life at the court. Her humiliation is complete when Anne orders her to serve as maid to her half-sister, Elizabeth, the new princess and heir. Yet even as she sees her future snatched away, Mary is determined to reclaim her destiny... Blood is thicker than water- unless the kind decrees otherwise.

Goodreads (Beware Princess Elizabeth) : Imprisonment. Betrayal. Lost love. Murder. What more must a princess endure? Elizabeth Tudor's teenage and young adult years during the turbulent reigns of Edward and then Mary Tudor are hardly those of a fairy-tale princess. Her mother has been beheaded by Elizabeth's own father, Henry VIII; her jealous half sister, Mary, has her locked away in the Tower of London; and her only love interest betrays her in his own quest for the throne. Told in the voice of the young Elizabeth and ending when she is crowned queen, this second novel in the exciting series explores the relationship between two sisters who became mortal enemies. Carolyn Meyer has written an intriguing historical tale that reveals the deep-seated rivalry between a determined girl who became one of England's most powerful monarchs and the sister who tried everything to stop her.

My review : Don't know if I already mentionned this on my blog but i'm kind of an history geek and I just love british civilization so i'm always excited to read a book based on history. I want to read more historical book in 2012 by the way (I'm going to sign up for a challenge this year if I can) ! I'm fascined by the Tudors dinasty. I got these two books for christmas as well as a book about the Tudors in general and the dvds about the tv show that I rewatching during my christmas break so I was really in a "Tudors mood" when I was reading these two books. Well at first I was a little disappointed when I discovered that these two books were focusing on Mary and Elizabeth's childhood but thiking about it afterward it was a really good and new thing ! Mary and Elizabeth's childhood were not easy. Mary was humiliated by Anne Boleyn her father's new wife especially after Henry divorced Mary's mother Catherine of Aragon and seperated the two of them. With Mary Bloody Mary we can try to understand why she became the infamous figure of Bloody Mary and the severe and cruel actions when she took when she was queen and that was really interesting. I've always loved Mary I I don't know why... I know that she did horrible things when she was queen in the name of the catholic faith but I has always been drawn by her. Beware Princess Elizabeth was an awesome book as well. It was even better than the first one I think. In this book we get to see what happenned after Henry XVIII died, the short reign of her brother Edward and the dreadful reign of her sister Mary. It was also interesting to see how Mary treated her when she was on the throne and how Elizabeth grown into a woman who was going to be one of the most famous and loved queen in the history of England.
These two books are also very good because they contain a lot of historical facts. Carolyn Meyer indeed knows this period very well and I learned many things while reading them.
I wanted also to read this book because I've always been fascinated by the story of these two half-sisters and I was happy to learn more about it. Fun fact : My name is Marie and my little sister name is Elisa from Elizabeth ;). So I recommend these books to everyone who want to know more about Mary and Elizabeth Tudors.
I really liked these two first book in the young royal series. I think i'm going to read more books by Carolyn Meyer this year I especially can't wait to read her book about Mary the Scots which is going to be released this year.