In the meantime, lets move on to Book 3:
Spy for the Queen of Scots by Theresa BreslinMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Why I chose this book: I saw this book at a book sale and we purchased it for the library I work at. I was drawn to the book as I have recently been watching the Netflix show 'Reign', based on the life of Mary, Queen of Scots.
Genre: Historical Fiction
Date Started: 13/02/2016 Date Finished: 17/02/2016
Would I Recommend this Book: Yes, most definitely. I would say this would appeal to anyone interested in historical fiction and would be suited for 14+.
My Review
The story tells us of the life of Mary, Queen of Scots from the view of her closest friend, Lady Ginette (Jenny for short). Jenny realises quite early on that Mary's life is in jeopardy and makes it her personal mission to spy on Mary's enemies at court to try to keep Mary out of as much danger as possible.
Now, I will start off and say that I love historical fiction, but I am not a history buff and therefore do not know the factual in's and out's of Mary's history. For this and other books of the genre, I enjoy them for what they are.....a fictional story based on real life events. As such, I accept that things will be altered or dramatised for the sake of the story.
In terms of this particular book, I felt that the timeline worked well. Again, I wouldn't know if the dates given were exact, but seeing as the exact date was only given for key events, I would imagine they would be correct. The rest of the book was pretty vague, with just the season or month given. I found the book to be realistic to the era and the story believable and enjoyable.
I loved the characters of Jenny and listening to her view of life. The book certainly displays a completely different view of Mary to which the show 'Reign' does. I also enjoyed how the Scots accent that is written in the book. When reading, I was able to read in a Scottish accent, which as a welsh person, I normally wouldn't be able to do.
I read some reviews which slated the love story between Jenny and Duncan. I quite enjoyed it. I do enjoy a love story and I enjoyed the 'will then, won't they' that ran through this. I also liked that we as readers were also left on the edge of wondering if Duncan was a good or bad guy and we only find out at the same time as Jenny as to what side of the fence he sits on.
It has left me with a desire to look further in to Mary's story and read/watch more historical fiction based on her life.
To summarise, if you love historical fiction and/or would like to read about Mary, Queen of Scots, then this book is definitely for you!
Jackie. x
