“For the people who feel like they have to be perfect, And for France: were sorry for what were about to do to your history, but it was your turn, ”
After another two years of anticipation, I finally got the chance to read My Contrary Mary, It didnt disappoint, as per the usual with the Lady Janies!
I thoroughly enjoyed the humor, playfulness, and fun of the book.
Mary, Francis, and Ari were all characters that were easy to root for, Like other readers also believe, I found the pop culture references and Aris visions quite comical! Of course, it was a joy to see cameos from My Lady Jane characters.
I cant believe its been so long though since Ive read the first book, A bit crazy to think about, Also, another shoutout to a pretty cover!
Now, for the long awaited tradition of listing some of my favorite quotes from this book! I knew that I couldnt list every single one I found, and there was one in particular I thought was hilarious but couldnt list because of the subject of it.
If yall have already read this story, you know what Im talking about!
”In the back of one such courtyard was a butt.
No, dear reader, not the backside type of butt, but an archery butt, which is the thingy with the bullseye on it that archers shoot arrows at.
At the moment, Mary was concentrating on the butt, ”
”Nostradamus raised a finger, The first and most immediate threat is the biscuits, ”
”All of this will be yours, the king had said, Everything the light touches, He said it regularly. ”
”Henry loved being king, He always said when he was Francis age, he just couldnt wait to be king, ”
“Should we ban baguettes as well the queen asked Nostradamus, No, Your Majesty. That would be madness. Oh, to be French. ”
”Mary loved babiesshe loved to hold them and kiss them as that was part of the job description, as a politician, but she also liked handing them back to their mothers when they began to cry.
”
”Both younger boys clapped, Francis couldnt hit the target, Charles IX said,
Mary looked at him, Is that true
I couldnt dare to harm dear Bash,
Whos Bash
They named the target dummy Bash
Hes cute, Mary looked at the boys,
Why did you name the target dummy Bash
Mama said we werent allowed to name him Francis, Charles IX said,
Francis mouth twisted. Im not sure how I should feel about that, ”
”Mon Dieu, She was going to barf, Or she was going to slap the king of France, Or she was going to faint because she couldnt breathe, Because corset. ”
”Your narrators here again, It turns out men were the first to wear high heels, which proves our theory that all torturous contraptions worn now for the sake of beauty were first invented and then discarded by men.
But, lets be honest, those heels made Francis calves look amazing, ”
”Mary came to stand next to Francis, Well, she murmured softly, that was awkward, Indeed, it was. In fact, history books would later agree, saying, Overall it was perhaps the most awkward and least convincing coronation day in French history.
To which your narrators must wonder, if five hours of ceremony and singing and anointing isnt enough to convince people, what the heck is”
”The British are coming! cried one of James men.
They will never take away our freedom!
Another man shouted, just an instant before he was engulfed in a flash of white light and emerged as an angry boar.
Remember the Alamo! yelled someone else, even though the Alamo hadnt been invented yet, ”
All in all, an entertaining story, Ill definitely be reading the next installment!
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Wow! The cover and synopsis were entirely a surprise! Maybe we'll get some cameos from My Lady JaneI'll read any story the Lady Janies write.
Another awesome cover and can't wait to read it next summer! Enjoyable historical novel that doesn't take itself too seriously,
Mary Queen of Scotts is a notrious historical figure, I would become more obsessed if I had more free time,
The authors create a contemporary tale present day culture referenced to provide humor not to mention the digs at the French as well as aristocrats.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, I played the audio version just an automated version, while myyo daughter did school work, She enjoyed listening especially the presence of potions, This was so good! Why did it take me so long to read this one What a great first book by these ladies and I really enjoyed that.
Ik I was going to love it but not this much, There was a plot twist I didn't see coming and I didn't knew anything about queen mary of scott, But thanks ladies for making me learn! Five out five a more detialed review coming soon, Oh, what a chaotic mess this book was
I love that these authors are super consistent in their chaos no matter what the story is.
The characters were a hot mess, and for the firstI was worried this book would end up as boring as my Calamity Jane, but it picked up and got pretty interesting.
My Plain Jane will be my forever favorite from this project, but this one is a close second, I especially loved how all of Aris visions were pop culture references,
If you like a chaotic, fantastical reimagining of history and want a HEA for Mary Queen of Scots, this is for you.
Cute!
Mel This one was fun, I love that the authors didn't take themselves too seriously, The narration was fantastic.
The addition of magical elements added fun to an otherwise macabre story, While reading this one, I couldn't help but think of the TV Show Reign, That was definitely who I was picturing as Mary,
I see that the authors will be tackling Marys of the past, and I can't wait to read Bookfeaturing
Mary Shelley!
A fun historical, literary jaunt.
Solid Stars. Books inDays
Book/
Thanks to Netgalley and Harper Collins for the ARC! It has not affected the content of my review.
I have just finished this and it was glorious, I didn't know we'd be returning to the same world that their first book was set in! I've missed those Eðians, You can read this without having read My Lady Jane first, but I would reccomend doing it anyway because that book is wonderful.
That makes this book an unofficial sequel,
I suppose we should have seen it coming, though! The last time we visited Elizabethan England or thereabouts with these authors, it was full of royals and suchlike shapeshifting into animals and causing political turmoil, all while having lovely teenage angst.
Why should the story of Mary, Queen of Scots be any different I still haven't read My Calamity Jane, but My Lady Jane was by far my preferred outing by these authors in their first series.
It was funny and smart and silly, and so is this one, You also learn a lot! I mean, it does require sifting between the historical truth Francis, the Dauphin of France did in fact die of an ear malady, King Henry did die in a joust, Mary's uncles were royal troublecausing leeches at court and the alternate history the Catholic and Protestant religious wars and conflicts have entirely been replaced by Eðian shapeshifters vs.
Verity nonshapeshifters conflict instead.
I quite liked how these three ladies rewrote history for Mary and her friends and family, just as I liked how Jane Grey's history was rewritten in My Lady Jane.
And we get some cameos from characters from that series! Which did not feel gratuitous, The pop culture references were a little much for me this time, but I think that might have been different had I had a normal listening experience see below.
There's also a truly hilarious gag where the daughter of Nostradamus who is a POV character keeps making prophecies that no one understands, and that is because she only seems to be able to predict the plots of movies made four hundred years in the future.
I listened to the ARC copy of the audiobook, which I did not realize before I requested it would not be read by a person, but by a synthesized computer voice.
It wasn't the best listening experience, although it was surprisingly not bad! The software they're using is pretty good at pacing and inflecting tone, to the point where if you weren't paying attention you might think it was a real person, but real narrators can understand context and character and nuance, and thus, I missed out on a lot of key character performance that true narrator would bring.
Lesson learned, audio ARCs are not for me! I'm not sure who they got to do the real audio, but I will forever be sad that it won't be Katherine Kellgren RIP whose narration of book one made me fall in love with it.
Also, this little tiny man voice kept inserting at almost inaudible levels at weird moments, "HarperCollins," for copyright reasons, so that was disconcerting.
I'll definitely be buying my own copy to sit right beside its sister on my shelf, .