Title: My Lady Jane (My Lady Janies #1)
Author: Cynthia
Release Date and Publisher: June 2016, HarperTeen

Date Finished: July 8, 2017

Star Rating: ★★★★★

Synopsis:

The comical, fantastical, romantical, (not) entirely true story of Lady Jane Grey. In My Lady Jane, coauthors Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows have created a one-of-a-kind fantasy in the tradition of The Princess Bride, featuring a reluctant king, an even more reluctant queen, a noble steed, and only a passing resemblance to actual history—because sometimes history needs a little help.

At sixteen, Lady Jane Grey is about to be married off to a stranger and caught up in a conspiracy to rob her cousin, King Edward, of his throne. But those trifling problems aren’t for Jane to worry about. Jane is about to become the Queen of England.

My Review:

“No horse jokes,” he said.
“My lord, I apologize for the horse joke. If you put down the book—unharmed!—I will give you a carrot.”
He brandished the book at her. “Was that a horse joke?”
“Neigh.”
“Was that a horse joke?”

I’m a huge fan of Cynthia Hand’s books, so when this book came out, I immediately wanted to read it and know that I will never be disappointed with any of her works – and I was right! I only read one book from the other two authors, but I remembered how much I enjoyed them. The book is just so sweet, light, funny, and amazing that I was able to finish it quickly!

This book is a mix of all things I love in books – history, fantasy and a lot of sarcasm and comedy. I’ll be featuring the things I love about it below.

History – I really love reading historical fiction novels, and I love them even more if it’s featuring the English monarchs. I actually had to Google-search Lady Jane Grey to find out if everything about her is true, since we don’t really heard a lot about her compared to other English queens. So I was surprised that her life story is featured in the book with a lot of twists and turns. I also love how other important characters in the real Jane Grey’s life was also included in the story. I even like the part where Mary and Elizabeth were also included, since we all know those two are the most memorable monarchs of England – with Mary being “Bloody Mary”, and Elizabeth the queen that ushered the Golden Age into England. I just really enjoyed the historical aspects of the book A LOT. Even the war between the peoplee and the ongoing dispute between France, England, and Scotland were also included! As a person who loved Reign, I was so amused when Mary Queen of Scots and Prince Francis of France were given a few scenes, since I imagined them a lot like the actors that played their parts on the show.

Oh, also Gifford! I actually liked how they changed Gifford’s name from the original one because the old one is a bit mouthful and hard to pronounce at times. Gifford or G works.

Fantasy – I LOVE LOVE LOVE THE FANTASY! I was having a hard time imagining how the authors would pull off a fantasy concept in the original story. And we got the Edians and the Verities! If you know the original story, we all know that it’s basically the Protestants and the Catholics. The Edians are the Protestants and the Verities were the Catholics, since the English were in constant move on hunting down all the Edians. It even got more intense when Mary was the one who was finally on the throne and she had all Edians executed – thus being called Bloody Mary.

I really loved the concept of the Edians, because it would be so awesome to change into animal forms whenever you feel like it. But that wasn’t the case in Gifford’s situation – as he’s a horse in the day and a man at night. I enjoyed G’s chapters a lot, especially whenever he’s in horse form, because his character is still intact as a horse, and I’m laughing at a lot of moments when the horse comes out of the man.

Now for my favorite Edian – Jane. I kept wondering why there was a cute animal at the spine of the book, and then we find out that she can transform herself into a little cute ferret! I loved how she enjoys describing herself as a ferret, and all the amazing ferret capabilities she has. You would never imagine a fierce ferret until you meet Jane. Just like G, Jane’s character is still present even in her ferret form.

And lastly, the humor – If you love a good laugh in a book, then this book is perfect for you. While there were serious parts, there were also a lot of funny parts. I can’t remember how many times I’ve laughed in random places and in the night while reading this book. The characters are hilarious, the scenarios are funny, and the sarcasm between all the characters are wonderful. My favorite parts will always be the ones where Jane and G are fighting and teasing each other endlessly until they start making horse and ferret jokes.

You guys NEED to pick up this book! You wouldn’t regret it!