Cover Image: My Contrary Mary

My Contrary Mary

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Member Reviews

This is one of my favorite books. Since reading the ARC, I've read (and listened) to it several times. My Lady Jane, the book the precedes this, is one of my favorite books so I knew I was going to love this one. It concerns Mary Queen of Scots, giving her the happy ending that was robbed of her in life. Everything about this book is enjoyable from characters to plot to the writing. It's historical fiction with fantasy, humor, and a whole lot of heart.

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At Tome Student Literacy Society, we have a list of language and content criteria for the books we select for our annual book award list, the It List. Upon our reading of this book, we encountered content that it did not meet our specific criteria. Due to this, we elected not to finish this book for review purposes for our organization. We would like to thank the publisher for the opportunity to review an e-book of this title.

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4.5 stars! I had a great time with thos story. I especially loved all the modern day Easter eggs. I would have liked Ari and Liv's relationship to have been more intrical to the storyline because it felt like it was just added to check boxes.

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Yet another banger from this triumphant trio! What I love about these authors is that their characters feel like friends, and this book was no exception!

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Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

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This was good story. Not great, but good. I struggled a bit and I know this is a classic case of, “it’s not you, it’s me,” since everyone I know read it and loved it.

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Not a genre I personally enjoy but I can appreciate the creativity of the story and the importance of the series. I love the gifts on historic female characters with shared first names.

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I loved this one so much! It really kept up the magic from My Lady Jane. Definitely one of my favorites in this series.

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Set in the same fantasy version of our world as My Lady Jane, Mary Queen of Scots has the secret ability to change into a mouse. This leads to an incredibly entertaining alternate history #YA take on a real period of history. It made me want to learn more about the real Mary Queen of Scots while also laughing at random Titanic and Princess Bride movie references. Additionally, the authors give Mary a happier ending than the true story.

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A fun read that dives back into the world of My Lady Jane.

I was excited to go back to the world of My Lady Jane, as though the other books in the series were good they just didn't have the sparkle of the first one. It was a fun read, and I liked the aspect of breaking the 4th wall and modern pop culture references that were true to the original formula.

At times the book felt over long, and I wasn't completely invested in the romances.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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I have read several of this series and I'm just not sure what the draw is. Though the premise of putting old characters and people in new events and having them interact is clever, the actual stories are not that great.

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A neat retelling of the history of the Queen of Scotts. Unfortunately, not enough angst in the plot for me to give it more than 3 stars. I enjoyed the character development but was left anxiously waiting for a big plot twist and/angst that ever came.

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I have long loved this fun series. My Contrary Mary was no exception. It reads like a juicy gossip novel but with historical friends. I truly cannot wait to see what happens to our "Mary" friends in the coming books and who will be featured next.

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I loved the Jane series, so I will read everything these authors put out in these series. My Contrary Mary follows the story of Mary Queen of Scotts. This one was a little bit harder for me to slog through than the Jane books for some reason. I enjoyed it, like I have all their other books. It was just hard for me to get into this one. We do get to meet some recognizable characters from My Lady Jane, which was fun. Definitely worth reading if you read the Jane books, it just wasn't my favorite out of the four.

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Honestly didn’t love this book, I’m not the biggest fan of this whole series but I think if I was a little younger reading this I would have really liked it.

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Mary, Queen of Scots, tries to fulfill expectations while also being a contrarian who can happen to turn into a mouse at will. This novel runs just after the events of My Plain Jane, the first in these fantasy re-mix history stories, so it was interesting to revisit the idea of Verity versus Edion, and royals that can also turn into animals but must hide it. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve consumed other stories and shows based on Mary, Queen of Scots, but this novel didn’t really entertain me or hit me in the same way as the Janie books. It still has all the narrator asides and snark, anachronistic jokes, and general silliness, but it didn’t work quite as well for me. I also started wondering if actual teens would even get most of the jokes which seem to be targeted to readers of the authors’ age (me) rather than anything from the last 20 years. I’m still looking forward to the next, but this isn’t the first book by these authors I would recommend to someone.

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Thank you HarperTeen for this eARC via netgalley.

This author trio is at it again! This book follows a young Mary Queen of Scots as she deals with a lot of magic and mayhem. This comedic reimagining of the life of Queen Mary was so entertaining and delightful.

I loved how these authors have creatively incorporated whimsy to these entertaining books. I also appreciated the connection that was made between this book and one of the previous Jane books.

Overall these books are so wonderful to be back in. This book is definitely one of my favorites by them so far!

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I will be recommending this book for purchase as an addition to our school library. Thank you for the opportunity to read.

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I could not love the narrator more. I adore this series as much as Janes so far and I can’t wait to continue it. The casual lgbtq rep, the humor the PUNS and more. Another great one.

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I really loved reading this novel. It was fun, snarky, and loved the idea of Mary and some of her ladies being able to shift form. What a great tool that would have been as a ruler - able to wander about the castle with no one the wiser that you were there checking in on things. As always, a great, fun read from these talented ladies. YA Historical Fiction done right!

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