(4) YA This biographical novel about twentieth-century American photographer Margaret Bourke-White covers her early life and career in great detail, including her New Jersey schooling, young marriage, and growing skill and confidence as a female photographer in a male-dominated art world. Meyer depicts Bourke-White's life with minimal embellishments; the result is a sometimes-dull and overlong account of a groundbreaking life. Author's note included.

Reviewer: Kristy Pasquariello

(4) YA In 1926, sixteen-year-old Kitty finds her college dreams dashed after financial troubles. She impulsively gets a job as a Harvey Girl, a waitress in restaurants along the railroad, which takes Kitty on an adventure far from home, proving useful fodder for her budding career in journalism. Meyer's historical drama is well crafted if dull at times. An author's note is appended. Bib.

Reviewer: Kristy Pasquariello

(3) YA Meyer's biographical novel sympathetically follows Anastasia Romanova and her siblings as they visit their palaces, experience first romances, and listen in bewilderment to the rumors of political unrest that sift into even their sheltered Russian world during the period spanning 1911–1918. Anastasia's ordinary worries and small joys demonstrate the humanity of young people caught in political upheavals not of their making. Reading list.

Reviewer: Megan Lynn Isaac

(3) YA This first-person reconstruction of Queen Victoria's life from late childhood through the early years of her marriage focuses on the isolation that colored her childhood and her capacity for intense loyalty and strong passions. Meyer ultimately implies that Albert's good sense stabilized Victoria's reign. Sympathetic without sentimentality and informative without overwhelming detail, Meyer provides a plausible window into Victoria's mind. Timeline, websites. Bib.

Reviewer: Megan Lynn Isaac

(4) YA Meyer retells the origin, experience, and fall-out of the Trojan War through the eyes of Hermione, the neglected daughter of Helen of Troy. Hermione's ambivalence toward her infamous mother, her struggle to chart her own destiny, and her own troubled romantic ambitions shape the thin plot that Meyer builds around authoritative explanations of Greek myths, heroic backstories, and dynastic relationships. Bib.

Reviewer: Megan Lynn Isaac

(4) YA Young Royals series. This sympathetic, sometimes flat novel focuses on the first half of Mary Stuart's tempestuous life. Mary's first-person narration presents the young royal as a lively girl devoted to her friends. With each passing year, she experiences more manipulation and betrayal but is too unfamiliar with the politics of the French, Scottish, and English families involved to understand the dangers she faces.

Reviewer: Megan Lynn Isaac

(3) YA Royal intrigue and cutthroat politics abound in this work of historical fiction. Ruler and seductress Cleopatra relates the events of her life from age ten through twenty-two; an epilogue summarizes the ensuing years and her death. Brief chapters and confident first-person narration provide readers with an intimate (highly fictionalized) view of one of history's most fascinating, charismatic, and mysterious female regents. Timeline, websites. Bib.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(4) YA Young Maria Antonia must become Marie Antoinette and marry the French dauphin. Each chapter title is an instruction: "Perfection must be your goal." The story of her reign as queen, and her ultimate execution, is told through her eyes and with a sympathetic point of view. While Marie is well developed, other main characters are less so.

Reviewer: Lauren Aimonette LIang

(4) YA Meyer's fictionalized biography provides a first-person account of Charley's schooling, family life, romantic disappointments, and adventures on the HMS Beagle. Meyer admirably refuses to idealize Darwin, but his struggles with church doctrine and antipathy toward slavery sit oddly with his stereotypical observations of thieving and naked natives. An author's note parsing fact from authorial liberty would have been useful. Bib.

Reviewer: Megan Lynn Isaac

(3) YA Weaving together fact and fiction, this story imagines the life of Mozart's sister. Herself musically gifted, Nannerl is nonetheless eclipsed by her virtuoso brother, her talent squelched by their overbearing father. Meyer portrays Nannerl as a winsome heroine who suffers and overcomes innumerable disappointments in both her musical career and personal life. The historical setting is richly displayed.

Reviewer: Marika Jeffrey

(3) YA Young Royals series. Sumptuous details of sixteenth-century Italy and France enhance this tale of young Catherine de' Medici, the beleaguered wife of King Henry II of France. Meyer convincingly humanizes Catherine, showing how her childhood days as a political pawn could have shaped her unpopular actions as queen. The text is equally rich with history and narrative.

Reviewer: Juliet S. King

(4) YA While this fictional autobiography of Anne Hathaway (a.k.a. Mrs. William Shakespeare) plays fast and loose with the facts, the novel, which chronicles Anne's life until Shakespeare leaves London for Stratford, provides an interesting snapshot of sixteenth-century England. The powerlessness of women in society is starkly portrayed in this richly detailed novel.

Reviewer: Jeannine M. Chapman

(3) YA Young Royals series. While many know about Catherine of Aragon and her infamous divorce from Henry VIII, few might know of the years of uncertainty she endured between the death of her first husband, Henry's brother, and her second marriage. Catherine details court life, her lack of money, and the events that finally secured her marriage in the believable voice of a frustrated, powerless teenager.

Reviewer: Jeannine M. Chapman

(3) 4-6 Royal Diaries series. When Kristina's father discovered that his newborn child was a girl, he declared that she would be king. Kristina's strong, determined character is captured in this fictionalized diary, which details life in the castles of Sweden in 1638, Kristina's extensive studies, and her training as a prince. Back matter includes a family tree and a historical note.

Reviewer: Jeannine M. Chapman

(4) YA Young Royals series. From her cell in the Tower of London, Anne Boleyn recounts what has led to her pending execution. At age six, she was sent to be trained at court in the Netherlands, a year later she is asked to join the court of the French queen--where she learns how to play the game of courtly love--and then perfects her game at Henry VIII's court. The first-person narration is engaging, though the believability of secondary characters is limited.

Reviewer: Jeannine M. Chapman

(4) YA Young Royals series. While this fictionalized first-person account of Elizabeth I's treacherous road to the throne at times veers away from historical accuracy, it provides an engaging introduction to one of history's most compelling figures. This Elizabeth perhaps has more knowledge of behind-the-scenes dealings of court and council than the real Elizabeth was likely to have had, providing readers with necessary background information.

Reviewer: Jeannine M. Chapman

(3) 4-6 Royal Diaries series. This is the fictional diary of Isabel of Castilla, who later sponsored Christopher Columbus. Dreading marriage to King Alfonso V of Portugal, she schemes instead to marry the younger Prince Fernando of Aragón. The writing flows well and is age appropriate, and Meyer makes a distinction between history and fiction in the appended historical notes. A family tree and glossary of characters are included.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(3) 4-6 Royal Diaries series. This fictionalized diary set in Russia in 1914 doesn't play on the myth that Anastasia escaped and lived, but instead concentrates on the Romanovs' daily life. This is an engaging account that sheds some light on the real Anastasia. A lengthy section at the end contains a historical note, family tree, glossary of characters, and black-and-white archival photographs.

Reviewer: Jeannine M. Chapman

(3) YA Although obviously sympathetic to Mary Tudor, King Henry VIII's oldest daughter, this is an engaging account of Mary's childhood and early adulthood. Long before she ascends the throne, Mary is dismayed by the way her mother is discarded by Henry after failing to produce a male heir. Jealous and bitter, Mary is nevertheless full of determination and strength. The period is well evoked, although the history lesson in this fiction is definitely one-sided.

Reviewer: Cyrisse Jaffee