(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 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

(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

(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