I just loved the premise, a time-traveling chicklit about the six wives of Henry VIII, and I could not wait to read it, but then… it turns out that I didn’t actually like the novel all that much.

The protagonist, Dolly, a Tudor history scholar, is about to marry six-times-divorced Harry. She’s on her hen night with her girl friends, female relations and all of the ex-wives, when she whacks her head and finds herself meeting the girl friends, female relations and wives of Henry VIII. Each woman has to tell Dolly a story about her life, and at the conclusion of the stories, Dolly will be back her real world, to apply her new knowledge to her regular life.

Dolly, spent a lot of time saying she was an academic and a scholar, while making weirdly childish rhymes. It was odd, even before the time-traveling bit.

Overall, I was thoroughly shocked to find Tudor fiction that I did not enjoy! Although I was excited to read a fun Tudor riff, and I was on board with all the time-traveling and magic, this turned out too zany for me.

Read my full review ( )

This book is definitely not going to be a book for everyone - but for the right person, you are going to love it!

This is a spoof book, a humorous take on the six wives of Henry VIII. You definitely need to be at least somewhat familiar with the Tudor era in order to really enjoy the book. Spears does a great job of explaining who the characters are as she goes along, so if you need a bit of a nudge for some of the minor characters, she'll help you with that. It's meant to be very funny; alas, I didn't find most of the jokes all that funny (the constant rhyming especially drove me crazy; I'm not a two year old), but I still loved the book. It was so, so refreshing to see a lighthearted look at what was actually a controversial time in our history, and it was just so much FUN to imagine all of the wives chattering about gossiping to one another.

So definitely a must read for a Tudor fan with a sense of humor - even if you are like me, and you don't enjoy all of the jokes or puns, you can still really enjoy the book for what else it offers you. ( )

A rather quirky little book. The night before her wedding a woman meets the six wives of Henry VIII in a theme rather similar to A Christmas Carol, but this all focuses on the wives lives and a backdrop to their stories. Not really for history aficionados, but an okay read, if rather simplistic. 2.5 Stars. ( )

I suppose I would describe this as a mix of humour, nonsense, Tudor geekery and chick-lit. The story and ideas were far too outlandish to be taken seriously, and the dialogue was very annoying albeit, I acknowledge, cleverly put together. The various central themes did tie together nicely too, although they made the ending predictable, and the editing was fine - I only spotted a few typos.

However, it wasn't one of my favourite reads. I wouldn't rush out to recommend it to anyone, but I wouldn't say avoid it either, just be prepared for a totally mindless, nonsense read - maybe at the beach, or when you want to just switch off. ( )