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Virgin Widow: England's Forgotten Queen (2010)

by Anne O'Brien(Favorite Author)

3.8 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0778303756 (ISBN13: 9780778303756)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Mira Books

review 1: This is a historical romance. The first half of the book was pretty good, as it develops the main characters, Anne's family, the background of the Wars of the Roses. The rest was not as interesting. I felt it was overly dramatic, really drawn out. On one hand Anne has grown up in the midst of politics and has some exposure to 'the game', but on the other she is totally clueless, always surprised/shocked by the outcome. Perhaps that is to show her innocence and youth, but it makes her rather boring. I would have liked more depth, particularly with her parents and Richard, but that is the limitation of works in the first person. The ending was good but, overall, too sappy for me.
review 2: 2.5I did enjoy this book for the most part. There was quite a bit when it ... moredragged on, and Richard's characterization bothered me a bit. It may have been joking, and I know it wasn't exactly unheard of or even uncommon at the time, but his promise that he wouldn't beat her stayed with me and just bothered me throughout. Despite that, it was good. Anne was a bit annoying at times, but I was mostly alright with her. The writing is alright if not a bit flowery. The ending is what baffled me. To my knowledge there is no sequel. To stop at 1472, the birth of her child, is an odd place to stop. In a normal novel, that would be great. Everything is seemingly resolved. However, historically, the Battle of Bosworth is only 13 years on in 1485, where both Anne and Richard die. If there is to be a sequel, it seems like there will be less to cover than in this novel. If not, then the ending on a sweet note just seems false. In my opinion, from this point on is where things would have gotten very interesting. I suppose first and foremost this is intended to be a romance novel, and so the author didn't want to write in the tragic ending. Even so, I almost feel as if I wasted time reading this rather long novel that could have fit everything in in the same space rather than dragging things on so much then rushing in more important parts. I would have appreciated more descriptions of the battles. Even if it is from Anne's POV and she didn't see any battle, descriptions of her waiting and emotions during the events would have been appreciated. They were pretty much just skipped in this. The 2.5 is due to the strange stopping point, and the lack of historical accuracy in some places. The writing as well leaves a bit to be desired, as do the characters and relationships. The incest between Queen Margaret and Edward of Lancaster was just bizarre. Possible, I guess, but bizarre nonetheless. I honestly didn't see the point to it rather than to explain away the Queen's actions in a strange way. The feminist side of me also condemns this novel. I realize it is written to emulate the lifestyle of the time, but honestly, the prospect of Anne waiting for Richard and longing for Richard and not really doing much else for nearly 700 pages was a bit excruciating. less

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