REVIEW: The White Princess (Cousin's War) by Philippa Gregory

Blurb:

Caught between loyalties, the mother of the Tudors must choose between the red rose and the white. 

Philippa Gregory, #1 New York Times best­selling author and “the queen of royal fiction” (USA Today), presents the latest Cousins’ War novel, the remarkable story of Elizabeth of York, daughter of the White Queen.

When Henry Tudor picks up the crown of England from the mud of Bosworth field, he knows he must marry the princess of the enemy house—Elizabeth of York—to unify a country divided by war for nearly two decades. 

But his bride is still in love with his slain enemy, Richard III—and her mother and half of England dream of a missing heir, sent into the unknown by the White Queen. While the new monarchy can win power, it cannot win hearts in an England that plots for the triumphant return of the House of York.

Henry’s greatest fear is that somewhere a prince is waiting to invade and reclaim the throne. When a young man who would be king leads his army and invades England, Elizabeth has to choose between the new husband she is coming to love and the boy who claims to be her beloved lost brother: the rose of York come home at last.


My Review:

Philippa Gregory is one of my all time favorite authors of historical fiction. I have read every one of her books, and have yet to be disappointed. She is able to bring historical characters to life in a way that makes you believe that things happened exactly as she writes. I also appreciate that she researches her novels so well. Of course she takes some creative license when writing her novels, but overall she sticks with the facts, and creates a story that’s hard to put down.

I loved Elizabeth’s (Henry VII’s wife/queen) character. She’s passionate and loyal; whish is exactly as I would imagine her to have been in real life. Philippa Gregory did an amazing job of brining her character to life in this novel. I wasn’t really a fan of how she portrayed King Henry VII, but that is just my bias. I’ve read so many books where he is described as a loyal, faithful, loving husband to Elizabeth, that it’s hard for me to see him as a jerk, for lack of a better word!

Her descriptions allow the reader to imagine everything that is going on clearly, whether it is a characters dress or personality, or the landscape they are travelling through. I would recommend this novel, and really any Philippa Gregory novel, to lovers of historical fiction. It’s definitely a page-turner.

I give this novel a FIVE out of FIVE stars!

Purchase The White Princess (Cousin's War) Here!

The White Queen by Philippa Gregory

Much like Gregory's book "The Red Queen," I liked it but didn't love it. I enjoyed learning more about Elizabeth Woodville, because it seems the majority of books mention her, but don't really get into much detail about her life. She's pretty much known as the mother of the "princes in the tower," and the mother of the future Queen of England, Elizabeth, who marries Henry VII and unites the Yorks and Plantagenets. She was also known to be absolutely beautiful, and her beauty caused Edward IV to fall in love with her almost at first sight, and marry her soon after, even though she wasn't royalty, and she was a widow who already had two children and was several years older than Edward IV.
I like that Gregory gave an in depth understanding of Elizabeth Woodville, because like I said, I didn't really know that much about her from other books she has been mentioned in. "The White Queen" was well written of course, and I think it was overall historically correct, but there were a couple of things that annoyed me. The first thing that was a little over the top for me, was the frequent references to Melusina. I guess she descended in some way from Melusina, who was some type of water goddess? Anyways, this brought kind of a fantasy element to the book, and it made it seem as though Elizabeth Woodville dabbled in witchcraft. I'm not exactly sure whether she did or didn't, but I'm thinking that people, especially women who were in the public eye, probably tried to stay away from witchcraft and the worshipping of a pagan goddess. I could be wrong on this one, but it was just a little annoying that she was casting spells and crazy stuff in this book! Another thing that bothered me, was the light in which Richard III was shown in. He is portrayed as an evil man who is overly ambitious and a murderer. I understand that there has been much debate on whether or not he killed the princes in the tower, but he really had no reason to do so, the boys had been declared bastards, so killing them wouldn't do anything to benefit him. However, I realize that there is still a huge debate over who would have had the best motive to kill the princes, and it is something that will never be figured out, so while I might be biased in the direction of it NOT being Richard III, there are many others who believe that it WAS him.
She comes across as kind of unlikable in this book, and sometimes it's hard for me to get into a book when I don't really like the main character. That wasn't really the case with this book though, because it was interesting to see who Elizabeth Woodville might have really been, and what she might have really been like. She's a fascinating woman, who obviously was ambitious and charismatic to have won Edward IV's heart, and to have kept it up until his death. Also, the fact that the royalty of England descended partly from her for over a hundred years to come is pretty fascinating.
This wasn't a book that I couldn't put down, but I did want to keep reading it, and to keep learning more about who Philippa Gregory believed she was as a person. I read "The White Queen" and "The Red Queen" back to back, and of the two books, I'd have to say I enjoyed "The Red Queen" more. I feel like Margaret Beaufort's life was more fascinating, and that she was a more cunning woman, who could match wits with any man of her time. I haven't done much research on either of the women these two books are written about, so I don't know how historically correct they are, but from Gregory's other books it seems like she does like to keep things more on the side of historical correctness than not. And although this book wasn't completely riveting, it did pique my interest about Elizabeth Woodville's life, and I have been looking into more books about her.

The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory

I really enjoyed this book by Philippa Gregory. I might be a little biased, because I pretty much love anything that Philippa puts out, but I thought it was pretty cool to get a new perspective on Margaret Beaufort. All of the other books that I have read that she played a major part in, or that she was mentioned in, portrayed her as an evil woman who more than likely had a hand in the two little princes murders (the princes int he tower). I had always thought of her as heartless, and unloving. This book portrays her as the opposite of what I had learned/read of her previously.

In "The Red Queen" she is shown to have pretty much lived for love of her son, and ambition for him to take the throne of England as the future King Henry VII. As the reader, you are given a glimpse into the pain and loss that she went through as the mother of the future King of England. Her son, Henry, was separated from her for most of his childhood and raised by her late husband's brother, Jasper Tudor. She gave birth to Henry when she was only 14 years old, and her husband died before he was even born. As I read the book I stopped viewing her as an over reaching, overly ambitious woman, and began to view her as a loving, devoted mother, who only wanted what was best for her son, and would do anything to make sure her son reached his goals.

Maybe she did have a hand in the death of the princes in the tower, maybe she was over reaching and overly ambitious when it came to getting her son on the throne of England, but I don't think she did it for herself, I believe that everything she did, good or bad, was for love of her son.

I would definitely recommend this book if you are interested in the Tudors. Obviously, this book gives a reader insight on how the Tudors came to be. It was a little slow at times, and if you know nothing about the Tudors or about the time period this book takes place in, then you're probably going to be a little bored and a little loss. I loved the book, but while I really enjoyed the book, because of the new perspective it gave me on Margaret Beaufort, it wasn't my favorite Philippa Gregory book. I'm glad that I read it however, and even though it wasn't a book that I couldn't put down, it did keep me interested for the most part. As always Philippa Gregory's writing style is amazing, and her descriptions make it possible for the reader to really imagine the castles, people, and gowns within the book. I wouldn't read it again, but I did learn a lot from it!

Wideacre by Philippa Gregory

Ok, so Wideacre is kind of a series that Philippa Gregory did, and it's amazing! You probably should be open to reading about some seriously twisted stuff in order to like the series though! It's made up of three books; Wideacre, The Favored Child, and Meridon. I do believe it takes place during the 1700's in England. Gregory has a knack of being incredibly descriptive without the reader even being aware of it. Her descriptions flow so smoothly, and fit so well into the story that as a reader you aren't trying to skip through the descriptions and get to the good stuff. She does it effortlessly, and it's evident in all of her books. I've read every one of her books, and although I may not love all of them, I do think they are all well written!

Anyways.....Wideacre deals with a brother and sister, and the sister, Beatrice Lacey's, obsession with the land, and her dismay over the fact that because she's a girl she can never own the land in her own right, even though she feels as though she is the rightful owner b/c of her love and understanding of the land and it's people. In order to get what she believes is rightfully hers she schemes and lies and ends up destroying herself and everything around her trying to get what she wants, the land. Philippa gives the reader such a good view of Beatrice's mind, and why she's doing the things she does, that it's hard to see her as evil, even though she obviously does become evil by the end. It shows how Beatrice's obsession with Wideacre essentially pushes her to insanity. I just love Philippa Gregory's writing style. At the end you're not rooting for Beatrice, but you understand her.

There definitely are some pretty hot sex scenes in this book, which Philippa has in many of her books. It's a little twisted b/c there is incest in this series, so it is a little shocking at first. I've actually read this series twice, and I rarely read books twice unless I absolutely love them. It was just the right mix of history and drama to make it impossible for me to put the book down!