I thought it would be fun if I made a blog independent of here. :) 

So...enjoy! 

xx

I read the first book in this series...and let me tell you...I can't wait for this one or the next one. It's such a fun AU series...I wish it had all happened! 

I wrote a review and you can find it below; The Boleyn King.

Let me begin by saying that I wanted so very much to love this book and I did at first but then it began to drag on...and on...and on. I cannot possibly imagine enduring all the suffering that she did. She certainly did go through a lot and as person suffering from bipolar disorder, it could not have been easy. 

I wanted to be able to relate to her, however, she was quite unlikable I found. She was such a conflicted individual and I found I often wanted to reach into the book and smack her because as a child/young woman, she was intolerably rotten. Spoiled rotten and over-privledged...granted, I know that is how she was raised, but I just couldn't believe her. And how she hooked Lincoln into marrying her...I know that this was just a dramatization but how dreadful of her. Also, I didn't like how she complained about being poor. She knew when she married him that they'd be poor. Yet, hey, let's go blow money on gowns that she didn't need! Let's buy furniture for the house they didn't have yet!  Let's force Lincoln to work even harder and have nothing to show for it since people didn't regularly pay him. 

I do appreciate the details; I like to hear about the hustle and bustle of towns, the detail of attire and I will give the author as much credit for that as I possibly can. Sadly, that is about as much praise as I can give and even that can be too much of a good thing. The scenes were repetitive; such long paragraphs about Mary Todd Lincoln feels and those way too frequent dream sequences...ad nausium is the term I'm thinking of here. 

All in all? Just...no. I did not enjoy this book and that's a shame...there was so much potential. 

I genuinely dislike "self-help" books. I'm not going to lie. I have not found any that I find helpful to me. This is just me, of course, but this one caught my eye because I saw Phaedra on one of the cooking (or was it a decorating?) shows I watch, she was a guest and I was charmed by her manners and the grace she has. I don't recollect what show it was that I saw her; I don't watch the Housewives shows, they aren't my taste. This was a woman who seems to have it together. So, when I heard about this book, I figured, "why not?"</p>

I was graciously provided an advance copy from NetGalley and as soon as I finish, I will be sure to write my review. I'm hoping this doesn't disappoint.&nbsp;</p>