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Merissa (11593 KP) rated Songbird (The Tudor Court #1) in Books

Apr 13, 2021 (Updated Jul 27, 2023)  
Songbird (The Tudor Court #1)
Songbird (The Tudor Court #1)
Karen Heenan | 2019 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
SONGBIRD is the first book in the Tudor Court series, and we are introduced to the world of King Henry VIII, and his love of music. Bess is sold to the King just before her tenth birthday and, with hard study and lots of practice, becomes a favourite of his. We stay with her as she grows from a young child, to a young woman, with friends and lovers along the way.

Reading about Henry, Katherine, Mary, and the Boleyn sisters, from a servant's perspective made it all the more fascinating. Her life at court is comfortable, but she is still a servant. There is romance for Bess, from Tom, who was with her from the start, to Nick, a courtier currently in favour with the King. Bess has her own choices to make, some of which end up being heartbreaking.

If I had one thing to say, it would be I was disappointed we skipped so much of Henry's reign, but then, if we'd had it all, it would have been enough for more books! A fascinating story, with realism and character development a-plenty. This was a book I thoroughly enjoyed and have no hesitation in recommending, and I am so happy to see there is a second book in this series!

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Apr 13, 2021
  
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ClareR (5542 KP) rated The Other People in Books

Feb 9, 2020 (Updated Feb 11, 2020)  
The Other People
The Other People
C. J. Tudor | 2020 | Fiction & Poetry, Mystery, Thriller
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This is the first book I’ve read by C J Tudor, and if I’d known that she could write such a disturbing, haunting thriller that would follow me around all day, I would have wised up and read her previous books!

Gabe drives up and down a motorway for three years, looking for his daughter. His supposedly dead daughter. Except on the day that she died, he saw her in the back of a car on the motorway. When he got home, it was to find out that his wife and daughter had been murdered in a botched burglary. But Gabe saw his daughter in the back of that car...

Two other stories become intertwined with Gabe’s: Katie, a woman who works in a coffee shop on the motorway, a single mother struggling to support her two children. She sees Gabe regularly and knows his story. She knows something of how he feels, because her father was murdered in another, unconnected, botched burglary nine years before. And then there’s Fran and Alice. A mother and her child, permanently on the run, knowing that if the people who are chasing them actually catch them, they will be dead. Quite how these people are connected is at first a mystery.

And then there’s the girl that Alice sees in the mirror, and the Other People...

Boy this was creepy. I LOVED how creepy it was. And there’s an underlying menace throughout the book. This is precisely my kind of book - and it’s well worth a read!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin for my copy of this book to read and review.