Andrea's Reviews > The Boleyn Inheritance

So. This is where I admit defeat and accept that this author simply isn't for me. I tried listening to The Constant Princess and abandoned it because I disagree with the author's characterization of Catherine of Aragon and couldn't suspend my belief far enough to just go with her approach; I abandoned The King's Curse after the first chapter because I disliked the writing; tried this because I liked the idea of reading about Anne of Cleves; and abandoned The Taming of the Queen after the opening chapter because, again, the writing didn't appeal to me. I think it's safe to say that the author's writing just isn't for me. And I'm all for taking creative license (hello, I watched The Tudors and actually enjoyed it sometimes, despite all the historical inaccuracies), so it's all me - not the author.

I liked the beginning of the book, especially how Anne was portrayed. Lady Rochfort I never really cared for and mostly skimmed her chapters. But then, halfway through, little Katherine Howard takes over. I thought I hated the vapid, giggly little teenager on The Tudors. But then we'd need a whole new word for how I feel about this Kitty. Nine (I counted. NINE) of her chapters started with "Now, let me see, what do I have..." and then she would go on and list all the presents she got from the king. Point taken, the author wants to portray her as a materialistic little flirt who would do anything for a new trinket - even kiss a man she is so repulsed by that she has to fantasize about someone else whenever he's near. I started skipping her chapters early on. Most of them were only a few pages short, so I thought why bother with seeing what just happened through her eyes yet again. But once she became queen and her chapters got longer I just couldn't take it anymore and abandoned the book. I think that might have been my biggest problem with the book. The three women for the most part just take turns describing the exact same events from their point of view.