Customer Reviews

The Boleyn Wife

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I started out enjoying this book, but as I progressed my enjoyment waned. The entire book was taken up with nasty sex scenes and Jane spying on them. It wasn't that there was too much sex in the book, it was that it was so BAD. Sex scenes should be titillating, not repulsive. I can't imagine how Jane could stand watching all this sex when I barely wanted to read about it. But I didn't feel sorry for Jane, because she was such a completely unlikeable character, always either wailing or spying. The final straw came when Anne of Cleves returned to court after Katherine Howard and Henry were married, and it turns out that, yes folks... Anne of Cleves likes girls!

Disappointed with this book. A little too sided for my taste with not a lot of historical accuracy. If you just want a quick read, fine but books in Historical Fiction should stick with the history part. Jane was a figure that did change the course of Tudor history but some of the details are way off. If you read for history - do not buy this book, if you read to enjoy and don't care about the history aspect - this would be OK.

All I can say is that I was extremely disappointed when I realized this is Brandy Purdy's original novel "Vengeance is Mine" with a new title and book cover. The story itself is worth five stars as it is an excellently crafted work and I remember being unable to put down the original. Unfortunately, if you have already purchased or read the original; you will more than likely be a bit upset when you realize this is just a reprint. The book description on Amazon makes no note of this, nor does the book jacket. You will only find a statement regarding this as a post by Brandy Purdy on her Amazon Authors page.

I have a small fortune invested in books related to Tudor history and Tudor fiction and would have rather spent my money on something I haven't already read or own.

I am extremely disappointed in the way the publisher handled this!

Vengeance Is Mine: A Novel of Anne Boleyn, Katherine Howard, and Lady Rochford--the woman who helped destroy them both.

I have to agree with another reviewer who called the sex scenes depicted in this book 'pornography'. Personally, I don't have a problem with pornography and I don't judge those who do. The problem for me is that the graphic nature of the sex scenes is so at odds with the subject matter. If you want to write a pornographic novel that's fine. If you want to set it in Tudor times that's fine too.

SPOILER ALERT



Trouble starts when you use actual historical characters--such as Anne of Cleves and Kathryn Howard to play out a lesbian encounter. Bizarre barely describes my reaction to reading the first few sentences of that scene. After that I skimmed to the end.

The entire novel is strange to me. I can't call it badly written in terms of language--there are actually some good descriptive moments (not involving sex), but the main character is so unappealing (I'm thinking intentionally so) that I found myself wondering why the author didn't just write another book about Anne since she came off the most sympathetic of all the characters. Jane Parker was just so over the top nasty I couldn't believe even Tudor society wouldn't have noticed and locked her up in the Bedlam Hospital for the Insane on page one.

This is another book that was originally published under a different title with a different cover. I understand publishers are looking for anything to feed the hunger for more Tudor/historical novels, but I think they could have spared us this a second time.

I, too, had looked forward to reading a fresh tale about the much abused, little known Jane Parker Boleyn, and I too had the haunting feeling that I had read all this before- because I had, not so long ago! The Boleyn Wife is just a reprint of Vengeance is Mine, published in 2008. What a lame way to collect revenue!
The story brings up all the dark myths and ugliness about Anne, and adds gratutious sex in a banal manner; it wasn't that good the first time around, and then to re release it just two years later seems desperate on the part of the author and the publisher. I intend to keep her name in mind for books to avoid in the future!
Much better books: Joanna Denny's, Jane Boleyn: The True Story of the Infamous Lady Rochford and Eric Ives work on Anne,
[[ASIN:1405134631The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn]]
Antonia Frasiers work, The 6 Wives, is balanced, accurate, and enjoyable, too.The Wives of Henry VIII

I was really looking forward to reading The Boleyn Wife, as so little has been written regarding Jane Boleyn, wife of George and sister-in-law to Anne. I found the book to be well-written, with good details and vivid picturing, but about fifty pages into it, I had a feeling of deja-vouix - I had read it before. I collect and read novels about the Tudors and when I checked - sure enough - I had a book entitled Vengeance is Mine - written by Brandy Purdy, just published 2 years earlier by iUniverse Press. Word-for-word it was the same book. Needless to say, I feel cheated that I spent money on a book I already had. I enjoyed the story and the book - I just think buyers should be made aware.

Let's start with the cover, shall we? The book is Tudor, the dress in the cover picture is medieval. Oops! Then, the history. A major plot point is Anne's extra finger. There is no proof that Ann Boleyn had an extra finger. This was a story circulated by Cromwell at Henry's behest to allow the charge of witchcraft and treason.
I stopped reading after the second chapter. This review is based on the abbreviated reading. (Perhaps the book got better after that. But I doubt it.)

This book was originally published as Vengeance Is Mine, which was supposedly a completely revamped work. I had not planned on reviewing this edition because of those changes, but my library ordered a copy of The Boleyn Wife and I was able to compare the two side by side. While I did see some added text towards the end of the book, for the most part I found quite a lot of it was the same word for word and for that reason I have decided to post my review for Vengeance is Mine here. I do understand that it was the publisher's decision to change the title and not the author's, but I still think it's fair to advise readers so they don't end up buying the same book twice.

This novel is a bit of a different take on the oft told tale of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn - this time through the POV of George Boleyn's wife Jane Rochford. Although Jane loves George, he finds her distateful and prefers the company of his sister Anne, other women and men (poor Mark Smeaton), and finds her solace instead by sneaking around peeping through keyholes and hiding in cupboards to witness the salacious lives of others at court. The latter part of the book covers the period of Katherine Howard's short reign where Jane served as lady in waiting.

Since we've all been Tudor'ed to death and know the basics I don't need to rehash the entire plot, I'm just here to give my two cents on the reading experience. I didn't care for the use of the first person narrative in this one, it really was too much of a stretch some of the places Jane had to be in to *witness* events first hand - and my, oh, my those keyholes were awfully big back in the days. I never really felt that I was inside Jane's head and seeing what made her tick, and while I know Anne had the reputation for her shrewish tongue this just seemed OTT to me - it was all so black and white, I like a few shades of gray.

And lastly, there are the infamous *sex scenes*. Were they as graphic and offensive as I'd heard about? No, but neither were they well written and tasteful either. Anne dressing up as Salome in front of the entire court with Henry Norris in a loin cloth was bad enough, as was the pot of honey scene between Anne of Cleves and Kat Howard but the book definitely flew at the "Little Kitten" bit on page 228.

If you're looking for a very fictional take on Anne and Henry and don't care about historical accuracy this might suit as a quick and easy read, but on the other hand this book isn't going to provide you with anything new on the matter either. 2/5 stars.

Though many books have been written about Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard, relatively few have surfaced about the elusive figure who knew them both intimately, Jane Boleyn. In The Boleyn Wife, Brandy Purdy has brought Jane to the forefront of the sordid tales, giving her a seldom heard voice to relay the events as only an insider could. Whether or not she is a reliable narrator for those events is something the reader will have to decide.

Painted as an obsessed wife to George Boleyn, Jane is eager to divulge the backstabbing and sexual romps taking place around both Anne and Katherine. Jane clearly longs for her husband's love and attention, and she sees Anne as a rival for his affections; it is this rivalry that brings Jane to play the scorned wife in that doomed relationship. Indeed, in both the tragic events of Anne and Katherine, Jane's erratic need to not only belong, but to matter, to those around her showcase the decisions that ultimately cost her her own life as well as the lives of those she loves most.

Purdy has written an interesting novel from the point of view of a lesser publicized figure in the dramas surrounding two of Henry the VIII's wives. I could sympathize with poor Jane and her outcast status; yet I wanted to like her more than I did. A large distraction for me was Jane's repeated hiding in cabinets to view the sexual escapades of others; I felt that these scenes were unnecessary when there was already so much rich story to tell. Ultimately I was left feeling that many of the stereotypes of the people involved had been reinforced when I was hoping for a new take on the tale. I was left cold and unenthused when I should have been intrigued and engaged.

I bought the book with NO idea that this was a reprint of one I already had. Nothing in the book's description or print dates told this.

I'm rather angry at being CHEATED this way. I kept thinking things sounded a bit familiar with one scene in particular making me go "Heyyyyy." But I couldn't check my collection until I got home from a trip.

Sure enough, I HAVE this book. It was formerly titled "Vengence is Mine." The book itself gives no indication in any way that it is a reprint from another book publisher. I'll be writing the publisher to complain.