My Lady Jane
Authors: Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows
Grade: B
If you know anything about Lady Jane Grey from history you know she got royally screwed. Actually I remember reading her story (the real one not this one) and thinking how much I wanted to just murder the people who set her up it was so awful. So in My Lady Jane (the Owlcrate June book) she’s given a much better edit.
Forced to marry a virtual stranger (who has some large issues of his own) in a plot to steal the throne from King Edward things go very much awry. Plus there’s a man/horse. And shape-shifting. Obviously. And magic. And love.
Jane is a great character. She’s smart. Sassy. Stands up for herself as much she can and makes rules about the proper treatment of her books. Which is something I would so do if I ever get married. But strangely I actually enjoyed King Edward a little bit more. The sad King also gets a better rewrite in this story and I liked the idea of him first; thinking that he was going to die and being really bummed about all the things he didn’t get to do and then knowing that he had been set-up and thinking hey, maybe being King isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Adventure abounds. Lots of side characters- including Elizabeth “Bess” of course. The book is quite fun. It gets comparisons to The Princess Bride. Which maybe… I could kind of see… in some places…
One of my problems was there was only so much I could take of Jane and Gifford’s (her husbands) cutesy, back-and-forth, we all know they’re going to fall in love bickering before I wanted to scream.
It also overstayed its welcome a bit in my read. As much as I enjoyed it I was kind of glad when it was done. The thing with the shapeshifting- I don’t want to give spoilers away- but I thought it wound up way overused and mostly used as a save for a whole lot of characters.
I thought they did a really good job with voice and flow. I was worried about the three author thing but once I got into the novel it didn’t bother me in the least. I believe this is a stand-alone (Hallelujah!) but if they plan on writing more alternative histories along this line I would definitely check them out!
Recommend: Yes. I would put this in the category of summer reads so easily! Plus the cover is so eye-catching and beautiful!