As someone who loved learning about Henry VII and his wives (especially Anne Boleyn), this novel was right up my alley in terms of interest. I will say that the novel started out slow and I did not know if I would finish it, but when the action hits, it hits hard and it was hard to put down in the end. The girls are not playing any games when it came to justice! I really loved that this brought a new look to the Henry VIII story and made it extremely easy to relate to for teenagers and connect with the setting being high school and none of the girls being true royalty. I would recommend this book to students who are interested in historical fiction and want new twists or just want a more modern look at history.

Hello, I will be publishing this review to my Instagram, Goodreads, and blog on January 8th,2019. I will also publish it onto Amazon and Barnes & Noble on the publication date of January 29th, 2019. I will add the links to the reviews when they go public, thank you.


Title: The Dead Queens Club
Author: Hannah Capin
Publication Date: January 29th, 2019
Rating: 3 stars
eARC provided by publisher through NetGalley

The Dead Queens Club is a retelling of Henry VIII with high school girlfriends instead of wives. It is told in the PoV of his close friend Annie Marck aka Cleve who is a school journalist. She tries to find out the truth of what happened to his exes before another one bites the dust.

When I started this I didn't know what to expect. Sometimes retellings are great while others fall short. With this one, the high school setting really fits because sometimes high school can feel like a royal court. There is always drama no matter what. I also liked it being about girlfriends because it makes it more relatable. Now a days, there has been a lot of talk about women empowerment and women coming together  to support one another. The author does a great job building up the relationships between the girls all the way up until the end. The titles for the chapters were interesting because they were meant to be like news headlines.

The reason I'm  not sure about it is because there was a lot going on. It was like the movie Mean Girls but on steroids and it was just a little too much for me at times. I also wasn't a fan of the writing style. I did end up reading it in one sitting because I just wanted to know where it was going so obviously it wasn't all bad!

If you want to go on a crazy ride of high school drama, mean girls, and deadly relationships this book is for you!

I received a copy of the Dead Queens Club from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked the idea of this novel and maybe I wasn't in the right mood for this one when I tried reading it. I just couldn't connect with any of the characters and the timeline was a little jumbled which left me feeling disconnected from the book. I might revisit this book at a later date because a book that has a high school setting and is a retelling of Henry VIII is so genius that I want to love this one.

I received a copy of the Dead Queens Club from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.It's really lovely to read a book by someone who loves history as much as you do. I really liked the attention to detail and how lively the characters were. There were a few parts that made me cry.
I really liked Annie Marck. This book is not just a historical retelling but a rumination on toxic friendships and internalized misogyny.
Long live the Queens.

An intriguing reinvention of the wives of Henry VIII, down to Henry the magnetic jock's football jersey number being 8. Some of the parallels were fairly obvious, some had me itching to google details (but alas, I was reading this on a plane and so my phone was stuck on airplane mode right along with me). This modern take is only slightly less deadly, but thankfully comes with a healthy helping of feminism just robust enough to be vocally against slut-shaming. For those who enjoy drama, there is plenty of it, and I really wasn't quite sure where the plot was going multiple times. It certainly ended up in a place different than I had originally expected, although I am thankful for how it went.

I received an eARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Dead Queens Club was pitched as Mean Girls meets The Tudors and as a modern retelling of Henry VIII and his six wives, except Henry is now a high school senior and it’s his six girlfriends.

There will definitely be readers that love this one. Unfortunately, I did not. The book struggled with two main things: characterization and pacing.

This is a very lengthy debut for a contemporary: 464 pages. If a YA contemporary is going to be this length, it needs to have excellent pacing. This story did not. At times, the story dragged out, and the death alluded to in the summary doesn’t happen until more than a third of the way through the book. When this character dies, it was treated as an “oh well, that happened” by the main character Cleves even though Cleves called that character one of her two best friends. The only exploration of grief from the loss of a friend is from Parker, Cleves’ friend. Parker is far more interesting and more hellbent on revenge, convinced that Henry was responsible for that death as well as two previous deaths, and that’s what drives the rest of the story.

As for the main character Annie “Cleves,” this is where characterization seems to be a particular struggle. In a throwaway line, we learn that Cleves was adopted and is Chinese. She has a sister who is mentioned only a few times and is almost never seen on page despite living together. Cleves is infatuated with Henry and is unsure of what she wants to do for college. She also is very much into breaking down the different standards for the female gender. And that’s about it. Her character is very one-dimensional, and I felt very apathetic towards her because the author never gave me much of a reason to be rooting for her or to even care about her.

If I had not been approved for the eARC, I wouldn’t have finished this.

So much potential but fell flat.

3.5 stars

Divorced, beheaded, died. Divorced, beheaded, survived.

Annie Marck aka Cleveland aka Cleves is certain of one thing—Henry is her best friend and she's his right hand man. No matter what girl he's dating. And he's dated quite a few.

But strange things keep happening to Henry's girlfriends, and Cleves might be at the center of it all...
~
Okay, so lemme tell you what I loved.

I absolutely adored the Henry VIII parallel into modern day high school.

It works so damn well.

Granted, there are a couple of tweaks (compressing the timeline, girlfriends instead of wives, how Anna Boleyn and Katie Howard die, what happened to Jane), but so much 16th century gossipy goodness is packed into this story and there's a healthy dose of Shakespeare that I was in historical hog heaven the entire time.

There are just so many easter eggs planted throughout the story!

The Tower Anna Boleyn dies in. Henry's fitness and then his horrible, never-ending leg injury that he got doing a stupid stunt that Anna and co. goaded him into trying. Catalina Tortuga of Archibald-Callaway. That so many of the place names in Lancaster, Indiana, correspond to actual locations in Henry VIII's England. Cleves being Henry's bestie/sister and pretending like the marriage/relationship never happened. Many of the secondary and tertiary characters named like members of Henry's court. And on and on and on. None of these goodies are spoilers, btw.

I loved Cleves' snark and her voice. She's smart, but unfocused (more to that later) and has no freaking clue what the hell she's going to do after high school, and is low-key freaking out about it since all her friends have high flying plans and she's got nothing (sooooo relatable) besides tagging along with whatever Henry does (not so relatable but I can see it). She's also definitely got a heavy streak of sarcasm and a very interesting sense of fashion, so even if you have literally no clue why the God King himself would want her as a bestie, you're entertained by her zippy remarks.

And I really liked the climatic last portion of the story. It was tense, thrilling and as much chaotic as you would expect given what happened.

So what I wasn't so thrilled about:

Like Hamlet, Cleves might be smart, but she is indecisive as fuck. She takes her sweet time making her decisions, and she jumps about here and there with her actions and thoughts and comments, making her one hell of an unreliable narrator because you're never exactly sure what side she's really on. She whines about not being editor and hating Cat Parr who is editor, but makes a gajillion crappy editorial decisions, undermines Cat's authority at every turn and exhibits very few qualities that would make me feel like she could even have gotten into Overachiever's Camp in the first place.

In short, you want to smack her across the face and yell at her to focus and actually be the objective investigative reporter she claims to be.

Plus, aside from the thrilling last 10%, the entire last half of the story bogs down with the weight of Cleves' indecision and waffling. I really feel like a solid 100 pages could have been snipped away as cleanly as Ann Boleyn's head and nothing would have been lost from the book.

So reasons to read this book:

1. A creative historical Henry VIII gossip fest in a high school setting and it works
2. Feminist history that puts things into perspective
3. (view spoiler)
4. Snarky heroine and found-friends girl gang.
5. Fluff with a nice dose of teen craziness and gore.

I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

This book was a party that I was way too excited to go to, and then once I got there it wasn't as great as I'd hoped, but I still had fun!

As someone who was far too obsessed with all things Tudor back in high school, all you have to say to me is "King Henry and all his wives, but set it in high school" and I'm sold. The story follows Anne, aka Cleves, the new girl at Lancaster High, and her best friend, Henry, football star and notorious serial dater. Even with minimal knowledge of King Henry VIII, you know how the rest of the story goes. But, what would've happened if all of his wives banded together to enact their revenge? The book reads as The Tudors meets John Tucker Must Die, and was truly a wild ride from start to finish.

The characters in this book are beautifully fleshed out and vivid, and are what truly carried the story for me. Each one of them had unique personalities and I never had trouble telling them apart, which is important when you've got such a big cast. I especially loved Parker, she was complex and layered and had such a unique perspective, interesting backstory, and crucial part of the plot. Truthfully, I would read just an entire book about her.

I also loved how well the little historical details were weaved throughout. From Henry's leg injury, to Anna's necklace, and how each girlfriend's backstory tied into one another. Condensing a large chunk of a country's history into one small town and a high school is a difficult task, but, the author made it seem easy and fairly seamless. The plot really didn't kick in until about the halfway point of the book, the first half reading as extensive backstory and exposition. But, once the action (and heads) finally started rolling, I went from struggling to get through it to finishing the the book in a matter of hours.

Unfortunately, I did have some issues with the writing and the narrator's voice. It often felt like the writing was working too hard to be quirky and overtly snarky or sarcastic, full of hyphenated, conglomerate words and improbable dialogue. It pulled me out of the book constantly and kept me from really getting invested until the action became more intense.

If the narration had been toned down I feel this book would have completely knocked me out of the park. It was still a fun read, but it didn't quite live up to all my expectations, which could easily have been my own fault. If you love well-done characters, murder mysteries, and high school antics, definitely check this book out!

I was excited to read this book, but unfortunately it did not meet my expectations. The idea was great, but it just didn't work for me. The main,problem was the pacing. It was soooooo slow and long. I get the need for the backstory but literally nothing happened for,the first half of,the book. And don't get me started on Cleveland. She drove me nuts with her willful blindness and constant excuses on Henry's behalf. Not a winner for me.

The synopsis of this story sounded amazing because I loved the Mean Girls movie, buuuuut I have to say that I didn’t like this book. I’m not sure if it’s the writing style or the way that Cleves is portrayed. Or it could have been the story being a little slow. Or maybe because its an historical book and I haven’t really read many, I don’t really gravitate toward those type so maybe that’s why I didn’t like this one? I’m not sure.

This is a retelling of Henry the Viii and his six wives but with a high school twist. Which I think is a cool way to put a twist on it. Cleves is Henry’s 4th girlfriend, then one day when 2 of henry’s girlfriends end up dead from mysterious accidents. That’s when Cleves and the other girlfriends start to piece everything together and try to catch henry in the act.

I don’t want to give this a bad review, but I must. Again, I loved the premise of the story but for me it just didn’t fall though for me in being a great book

I was so fraking excited about this book when I first learned about it. I am a HUGE Tudor enthusiast, like crazy. I've read biographies about them (a lot of Elizabeth I ones because I find her really badass) and watched the movies/TV shows, I love this drama infused bunch. So I was ecstatic when we received the ARC for The Dead Queens Club by Hannah Capin. And Holy Hole in a Doughnut!

It was fantastic. 
Imagine the Tudors meets Mean Girls with a touch of Gossip Girl and that is exactly what The Dead Queens Club is! Hannah Capin decided to bring this story to the 21st century and OH! MY! GOD! it works so well! Henry VIII was essentially a girl crazy teenager, why did I never see it before?!?!?! Nothing is forgotten in this book, the author hits all the little details, it’s so well done that I wanted to scream cause of how awesomely good it was. The setting is perfect. Who knew that bringing these iconic characters in a more modern  era would match the story so well. All that plotting and gossiping is perfect for high school. 


The plot is a tad slow but starts moving at a faster pace more towards the end. I really didn’t mind the pacing because it allowed me to discover the characters and watch every detail of this brilliant retelling unfold. The author even managed to get in his injury that left him with a bad leg and the way it’s done is clever. 


Our main girl is Annie aka Cleves, nickname given by Golden Boy himself , since Annie is from Cleveland (get it? Anne of Cleves like as in wife number 4). She is this fun, sarcastic - quirky character with a Rolodex of pop culture references that I can only applaud. Cleves is a feminist, calling out slut-shaming and fighting to find the truth, even if she might not like what the truth is. She’s always been my favourite of all the wives and I’m so happy on how the author decided to portray her in The Dead Queens Club. It felt true to what I know and relate to Anne of Cleves. All the Queens resemble some aspects of their historical counterparts and this books is very much for them. Hannah Capin gives these women a voice.


Oh and Henry... what to say about Henry. Golden boy, human magnet, egotistical chauvinist - Hannah Capin really kept true to what I know and love about King Henry VIII. OK, yes he's a prick but I can't help but love him - though I wouldn't have wanted to be one of his girlfriends. Not everyone gets out of a relationship with Henry and lives to tell the tale. 

If you are like me and are a fan of The Tudors and every scheming person affiliated with them, chances are you will love this book. It kept me wanting more and I just didn’t want to put it down. Hats off to Hannah Capin who was able to make me love these characters even more than I already did. I can’t wait to see what she does next, I will definitely be checking out her next book ,which is supposed to be a Lady Macbeth retelling (Helleth Yeah!). Let me leave you with these words of wisdom: Ugh Jane Seymour!


Thank you Inkyard Press and Netgalley.  ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

Disclaimer: I received this ARC courtesy of Inkyard Press through NetGalley. I am grateful for the opportunity to review an ARC for my readers, but this will not influence my final rating. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and based solely on the book. 

I'm afraid this will not be the glowing review I so wanted it to be. I'm going to get into each major factor that lowered my rating so you can judge if this book is something you want to check out, because OH. MY GOD. the ending (or the last 150 pages that I call "the ending") was a psychological, mess-with-your mind masterpiece. Have you ever watched Pretty Little Liars? The wrap-up for this book was the most epic PLL season finale, with extra sass mixed in. 

The first thing that didn't mesh with me for this book was its beginning and then somewhat muddled middle. The Dead Queens Club summary makes Cleves out to be a determined investigator in the deaths of Henry's exes. In reality, Cleves is Henry's best friend forever (they're really, really close, okay?) who will follow him anywhere, anytime. She's confronted with his "suspicious" past by several characters and vehemently denies his culpability for a loooong time. The actual sleuthing in this book is done by her friend Parker, and a few of Henry's other exes. Cleves just kind of ... narrates? Which honestly, she does really well. Her spunky snark is a favourite protagonist voice style of mine.

The second thing I struggle with was the entire feminist aspect of this book. Cleves is a self-proclaimed feminist. As a writer on the school paper, all she wants is to include anti-slut shaming articles. She frequently calls out fellow students for masochistic remarks. But she herself is very problematic. Notably, she:

Refers to one of Henry's exes, Jane, as "a girl so boring that looking at her picture for eight seconds cures clinical insomnia." Throughout the book, Cleves bashes Jane for being extremely boring and forgettable. (Feminism is about supporting each other!)
Puts down women who work hard (uses a mocking nickname students create for her friend, Parker, and bullies her editor-in-chief for having strict deadlines) and pranks Henry's exes/her friends without needing cause. (Some of the pranks were mean.)
At the end of the book, Cleves gets together with the girls she has mocked and sees them for their strengths. But this is at the end of a 460+ page book. I felt she could have seen the error in her ways a little sooner? 

Third thing! This is a very specific dislike within the book. A comment was made within Cleves' narration that made me incredibly uncomfortable. To give some context, one of Henry's exes was named Anna Boleyn. She is one of the dead exes. A year ago, there was a party at "the Tower," a piece of real estate (still under construction) and some fireworks were somehow placed under it. The fireworks went off, the building blew up, and Anna was the main suspect. 

"But I don't care, because the only thing I need right now is to forget about Ms. Parr and Judas Rochford and Anna bin Laden and every Lancaster kid."

I don't want to assume to know what the author was thinking with this line. I just don't think it's an appropriate joke. 

My dislikes did overpower a lot of the good in this book, because the last two made me uncomfortable and the first one disrupted my reading flow. At first I didn't know what was going on, and then I didn't like the message the author was sending, and then I got near the end and FINALLY I was enjoying things and I was really getting into everything! But I was spoiled at that point. 

Capin has a great idea here. A retelling of Henry VIII? I was in from the start. Henry's character is truly well done, I give major points to his development throughout the story. The way the girlfriends/exes weave in and out of the story really felt like a historical drama gone teen TV show. I'll for sure be looking up the life of Henry VIII now, I can say that. 

I struggled for a long time to choose a rating. Ultimately, my discomfort with the amount of slut-shaming done by a so-called feminist, as well as the joke/comment Cleves makes, led me to keep this at a 2.5 crown. Three on official rating sites. 

Posting to blog Jan 10: https://bookprincessreviews.wordpress.com/
Posting to Goodreads Jan 10: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2629641523

I'm not a big history buff, but I watched The Tudors series on Netflix several years ago and was hooked.  Given, it was highly dramatized, but you can't tell me there weren't clandestine meetings, backstabbings, political maneuverings, and power plays during that time.  And then, of course, there was Henry and his wives.  When I saw this book, I was instantly curious about a modern day retelling - in high school, no less.

The author is very clever in how she created her characters based on the historical figures, bringing the queens, Henry, and some of their acquaintances into modern day.  Cleves, based on Anne of Cleves, who was queen for a few short months, is Henry's best friend.  Like Henry VIII, this Henry has a wandering eye and a long string of girlfriends.  Loosely paralleling their historical relationship, Cleves and Henry date for an awkward couple of weeks, but decide they're better as friends.  Cleves is blindly loyal, awkward, and her snark had me chuckling several times.

Make no mistake - this high school is just as socially treacherous as Henry the VIII's court, with suspicious deaths and characters falling out of favor.  Scheming, plotting, and gossip abound, making up a large portion of the book, but occasionally don't do much to advance the story.  All the back and forth is difficult to follow at times, but once the book hits the 75% mark, things move along quickly.

I didn't enjoy this read as much as I'd hoped, but that's more me than the book.  I'm not a big fan of Mean Girls and erratic high school drama, but judging by other reviews, many readers thought The Dead Queens Club was fabulous.    

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

As much as I loved the author’s witty writing and this book’s beautiful cover, I thought the main character’s POV didn’t completely capture my attention. I just felt so disconnected from the story. Needless to say, I couldn’t care less. I’m guessing that I’m not much of a history buff (in regards to this retelling) so I failed to appreciate the story as a whole. I thought maybe I should look up the “The Tudors.” And I found the history more interesting compared to this novel.

The characters in The Dead Queens Club were archetypal, sort of what you would find in almost every high school related book or movie. The humor in this book reminded me of one of my favorite YA books (Trouble is a Friend of Mine by Stephanie Tromly). But for some reason, I still find myself putting this book down.

I think I would have enjoyed this book if it were written in 3rd person and if it were to be more of a plot-driven novel. The writing overall felt like a “stream of consciousness” style, which I didn’t really care for. The problem with this is that some readers may OR may not like the voice of the main character. Additionally, I thought that Cleves tried to portray herself as “a feminist that doesn’t really take things seriously” even when the situation calls for it. I also think she was supposed to be "quirky" but I think it really didn't do anything for her character. I’m not sure if I like her? I actually don’t have any strong opinion about her character nor any of the characters in this book.

I guess it really depends on the reader’s preference or what they want to get out of this book. I mean, I did like the concept of this book but my interest can only go so far. For some reason, I have to like the characters in some way before I could actually be invested in the story. And while there is nothing wrong with Cleves, I just don’t think I will be able to finish reading this book because of how the novel was set-up. However, there were interesting and humorous titles in every chapter (which I liked).

All in all, I thought this was an okayish (decent) read but at the same time I felt that it really wasn’t for me. I think I wouldn’t recommend this book to those who are looking for “fast-paced” stories. But if you're curious about the retelling of "The Tudors" portion, I recommend giving this book a shot.

DNF at 65 pages.
This made me feel scatterbrained while reading. The main character Anna aka Cleves is all over the place. In her inner monologue down to how she interacts with Henry.

Even with me only reading 65 pages, this was problematic and a hot mess. Henry would rather listen to a rumor about his girlfriend and let the guys decide that she’s only “hookup material” instead of “girlfriend material”. I really don’t have time to read about a douche like this.

It also doesn’t really tell you if there is a difference in time. They just give you whiplash with past and present and want you to keep up. I hope they change that in the final version.

I’m so let down because I’ve been wanting to get my hands on an arc of this book for a while now. The synopsis sounds great but I just can’t.

I really don't know how I feel about this book. I enjoyed it a lot mostly, but also it just feels so long. It was really fun to read while listening to Six: The Musical though, and there's so many little details that are pretty cleverly thrown in there. The length is really the main thing working against it in my opinion. I wish it were like a hundred pages shorter.

The description of this book drew me in, on goodreads, someone mentioned that this book was a cross between Henry VIII and Mean Girls. I think I went in with too high of expectations because of this, or maybe the writing was too convoluted to understand. Either way, I was not impressed by this one.

Cleves is obsessed with her best friend Henry. He’s everything she’s not. Henry is cool and popular and people are inherently drawn to him. Perhaps because he oozes charm, or he’s good looking, or people just seem to trust Henry. But Henry also has a bad streak with his ex girlfriends. They always seem to cheat on him or break his heart. So Henry enlists the help of Celves to get back at them, through pranks to embarrass the girls.

But Cleves is uprooted to Henry’s town and thrown into his school and inner circle. Cleves becomes torn between what Henry has told her and what her new friends tell her about events in their small Indiana town.

There is a lot of back and forth in this book, but it is not done well. You get confused because there are not distinct chapters distinguishing the past and the present. Instead, flashbacks are in the middle of chapters and you have to pay attention to what is taking place.

This book is also a giant cliche, every high school troupe you can think of rears its head at some point. From the girl swooning over her best friend, to the popular jock getting together with the cheerleader. If you like (pointless) high school drama, then this is the story for you.

I don’t believe that there are any twists or turns in this book. You can see the ending coming from the beginning. There are attempts at high-stake action, but they all fall flat. The characters are predictable and this makes the plot seem boring. But, everything also feels drawn out. I stopped reading so many times because I was either bored, not invested, or rolled my eyes so much I got a headache. I cannot recommend this book.

I actually really liked this. I got a little nervous when I checked out the reviews before I started reading and realized that this is a modern retelling of Henry VIII and his six wives. I had no idea what to expect but I honestly liked it almost immediately.

I have a few quips that I'm just going to go ahead and get out of the way so that I can gush about the things I loved:

• There are a lot of people to keep up with. In the first 15% or so, I kept getting confused about which ex-girlfriend was who and who was on what side and whatnot. I ended up just making a note about each character to reference if I needed to, but my brain caught up with all of the characters and their story lines after a while and I didn't need the note anymore. However, it really is confusing in the beginning. That was honestly my biggest issue in this.

• Everyone else seems to love Cleveland but oh my god the girl has no sense of loyalty. I still liked her (somehow) but she drove me up the wall. She was one of those girls who seemed really neutral all the time but is actually spilling your secrets and probably making out with your boyfriend.

Okay, yeah, that's it for the bad stuff. Now to the good:

• This is the most clever retelling of anything I've ever read. Granted, I don't do retellings often, so I don't have a lot to compare to, but this was honestly really cool. About half way through the book I got curious about the real Henry VIII and his wives and I looked it all up. Maybe everyone else in the universe knows about him already but I didn't. Capin got really creative with some of the names (considering like half of his wives had the same name) and she really told their story perfectly but with a modern YA twist on it. So, not only did I get to read a great book but I also learned some new history.

• I loved all of the characters so much! Well, except for Henry, but honestly even he is extremely charismatic. I'm not much of a gusher over YA teen boy characters (but shove a manic pixie dream girl trope in my face and I'll probably fall in love), so I was never not onto him thanks to my unclouded judgement. However, I still didn't hate him. I mean he was a total jerk and used Cleve's and is not a good guy but you still want to wish him luck. Does that even make sense? The girls were all so great though. I think my favorite character was actually Parker, though I did love that Cleveland was always calling out her classmates and friends for misogynistic and sexist remarks. Like I said, she has no sense of loyalty, but she will definitely stand up for you if a mean pack of adolescent boys try to come for you with bash words.

• The story was really good. I know I pretty much already said that, but even if you seperate the novel from Henry VIII and it just stands on its own as a regular YA book, it's still really freaking good. I read it all in one sitting even though it's long. I didn't want to put it down for anything and I was rooting for the girls the entire time. Capin managed to capture my heart in a way that not many YA books can do. This isn't fluffy but at the same time still very highschool-y and sappy... just not overly. I think that if I hadn't known about it being a retelling, I would've still really liked it. I might not have noticed how freaking creative Hannah Capin, but I would've enjoyed it nonetheless.

• The writing is done so well!!! I don't know how to rant about it other than say that Capin is just as good of a writer as she is a story teller.

Overall, I'm really glad I requested this from NetGalley. It was an awesome read and I'm going to be on the look out for more books by Capin from here on out.

The Dead Queens Club is one that I wasn't sure how it would land on the rating scale for me, but I'm very happy that it landed more near the top for me. While I love retellings, retellings based on history are something I'm not as familiar with. I tend to steer clear of history based things unless a friend tells me I should read it. This was pitched as Mean Girls meets The Tudors though so I requested it.

I really enjoyed all the characters in the story. I thought they were well rounded and I think they all work well together.

I honestly was expecting a cute story so imagine my surprise when everything started happening!

Note: I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I'm definitely in the minority in giving The Dead Queens Club a low star review. The story line and synopsis sounded intriguing and different. But ultimately, Cleves was not my cup of tea nor was Capin's writing style. I found myself growing annoyed and frustrated with Cleves and her ability to talk in circles. I wanted to shake my Kindle and yell "get to the point!" I think the author was trying to go for a bit of humor and lightheartedness, but it made for a very frustrating and confusing reading experience.

The pace was also very slow. I thought this would be more of a mystery/suspense, but I was a third of the way in and barely anything was progressing there. Instead, a lot of time was spent on Cleves and her relationship with Henry - giving too much useless background information that didn't add anything to the story and only added to my frustration.

Overall, I haven't been this annoyed or frustrated reading a book in a long time - definitely not for me.