Mary, Queen of Scots has been betrothed to Francis, the heir of the French throne, since they were children. They are best of friends and know all of one another’s secrets— including that Mary is an Eðian and on occasion turns into a mouse. They are lucky in their commitment because they like each other and it’ll be years before they are to be wed. When the king dies unexpectedly, they must marry hastily and secure the throne while trying to evade those who are vying to steal it, all while keeping the peace between the Eðians and Verities back in Mary’s own Scotland. All in a day’s work as a Queen and King.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperTeen for this advance copy in exchange for my honest review! I have read all of the Lady Janies series and was ecstatic to read this latest novel from Hand, Ashton, and Meadows. It absolutely didn’t disappoint! Returning to the land of Eðians, we get to know Mary, Queen of Scots and her lively ladies in waiting. Mary herself is an Eðian and trying to conceal her secret. Like many of the leading ladies in these novels, Mary is strong willed and self possessed. Francis is sensitive and plays a lovely support to our heroine. Though at times absurd, I would argue that My Contrary Mary might prompt young readers to look up the actual history to understand the context in which the book is written. The story is propelled by the wit and modern day references peppered throughout this reimagined history. Clever as ever, this book is especially fun in audio because it reads like theater. Very fun, as always. I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy history, theater, and period pieces.

I loved My Lady Jane and was pleasantly surprised to find that this story takes place in the same world (with some late appearances by the characters from MLJ). The humor from the first three books is there along with the sublte pop culture references that always make me laugh. I thought they were done really well in this book. I liked the story and it made me want to look up more information about the real Mary. My only complaint is that it is on the long side (500 pages) and toward the end I'm a little ready for it to wrap up.

The Lady Janies have done it again! My Contrary Mary is their latest historical retelling, this time focusing on Mary, Queen of Scots, and it is just as fun, fresh, sometimes irreverent and often laugh out loud funny as the books in their "Jane" series. I loved all of the puns and the humorous references to so many modern day popular films, like The Lion King, Frozen, There's Something About Mary, etc. I wasn't very familiar with Mary, Queen of Scots, history aside from her beheading so I enjoyed learning a bit more about her through this blend of fact and fantasy, and of course it was a fun reading in the sense that the Janies give her life an alternate ending.

Just a note: I originally started listening to the digital audio arc of this book and gave up on it. With a book like this that is meant to be so lighthearted and funny, the humor was unfortunately falling flat with the synthetic voice. I actually waited for the publication date and checked the e-audiobook out of my local library. With actual narrators with proper accents and inflections, the audiobook is a pure delight and the humor shines through properly.

If you enjoy Tudor history, creative and sometimes irreverent retellings, and laugh out loud humor, I highly recommend My Contrary Mary. My Lady Jane is still my favorite book from the Lady Janies but My Contrary Mary is a close second.

I love how this was set back in the same world as My Lady Jane, which was my first Ladies Janies book and got me hooked. It was so good to be back in the world filled with Eðian! The author has taken an already interesting historical account of Mary, Queen of Scots, and gave it some awesome twists. Can we please make sure these 3 always continue to write stories like these? They are so much fun and definitely one of a kind. The Lady Janies have created another masterpiece. You will not be disappointed. There is romance, humor, betrayals, and friendships. It's a fun book and a quick read!

I loved this book. I went into it with high expectations because I loved The Lady Janies series so much. Seriously I re-read that series every couple of months. So my expectations were super high and luckily this one lived up to those expectations!

This book follows Mary, Queen of Scots.. who happens to be a shapechanger. LOVE this twist btw. Honestly there is alot that happens and I can't really tell you any of it with out spoiling it.

If you enjoy quirky humor and retellings of history(HAHA) that aren't accurate, then pick this book up. You will not be disappointed. There is romance, humor, betrayals and friendships. It's a fun book and a quick read!

Thank you to the publisher for an early copy of the audiobook. All thoughts an opinions are my own

I will read anything by this author trio. I adore their writing style, their puns and humor, and how they take a historical character and make it their own. My Lady Jane is one of my favorite books of all time. When I found out they were writing a Mary series starting with Mary Queen of Scots set in the same world as My Lady Jane I added it to my TBR without a second thought. This book reminded me of the TV show Reign in the best possible way. I adored Mary. She went through a lot but still remained strong. It was interesting that she's also a shapeshifter. I adored her and Francis together and his character development and seeing him be totally in love with her was great. I thought Ari and Liv's romance was cute as well.

Loved the plot, loved Mary, and absolutely loved the book.
My Contrary Mary was the first book I read by the authors and it turned out to be a surprise (a good one) because I wasn’t expecting much based on the reviews I had read on the author’s narration style. I loved how they twisted some facts (in a good way) and made an already interesting historical event even more fun to read about. I can make some comments about the overall slow pace of the story but the authors more than makes up for that with their palpable sense of humour in the story.
I have already added The Lady Janies to my TBR list and might have bumped them up my list- that’s how much I enjoyed reading the book.
On a side note, this was by far the best synthetic audio voice book I have come across.

Thank you to @harperaudio and @Netgalley for my audio ARC of My Contrary Mary!! 🥰

👸🏻 Mini Review 👑

I am a huge fan of The Lady Janies series. They were all so funny and such a fun twist on historical events. I was especially excited about My Contrary Mary because I loved the TV show Reign and since then have been super interested in Mary Queen of Scots.

This book was just as funny as the other 3 that came before. Our 3 POVs are Mary, Francis, and Ari, short for Aristotle. Mary is the Queen of Scotland but has been living in France with the Queen and King and is betrothed to Francis, their son. She is also an Eðian, which is a shapeshifter and at will, she can turn herself into a mouse. This is most helpful when she needs to find out information. Besides her ladies, which are all named Mary, Francis knows the truth, but no one else can find out.

My Contrary Mary was a wild and super fun ride. I laughed my butt off a ton and really loved the characters. I am definitely going to relisten to the audio because the automated narrator on my ARC was really hard to concentrate on. I gave the book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. If you loved the Lady Janies, you will def love Mary. I can’t wait to see which Mary is next!

This book is not for me. I don’t mind bringing an old story into the present or future. I don’t mind fictional accounts of the past. I do wonder why we must take these interesting people and then just throw away the chance to show why they were actually interesting. I’ve never been a fan of randomly bringing the present into a fiction set in an actual historical time period. We have a choice to really understand that is ruined.

I have been obsessed with Mary Queen of Scots since watching the show, Reign and then doing a deep dive into the real (and very tragic) history of the Scottish Queen. My Contrary Mary is a fantastical retelling about Mary, Queen of Scots. I loved the spin Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows added to this story of Mary being a mouse shapeshifter (aka an Eðian). Mary is in France, where Verities rule and being an Eðian could cost her her life. This secret made for an interesting aspect of the story. The third-person narration was fun and I loved the jokes throughout the book from the narrators. I loved Mary's character in this book and she was very likable. The supporting characters were well-developed and invoked strong feelings from me while reading. The twisted turns the tale took were enjoyable and I found myself wishing they were actual history. I'm excited for this "Mary" series from Hand, Ashton, and Meadows. With the same cheeky humor, this series is bound to be a hit as the "Jane" series was.

⠀

**4.5-stars**

Returning with all the fantastical humor of My Lady Jane, My Contrary Mary follows Mary Queen of Scots as a teenager in 16th-century France. Although she has the title of Queen of Scotland, Mary has actually spent most of her life living in France, where she is betrothed to the Dauphin; future King, Francis.

She has her handmaidens with her, all named Mary, but luckily assigned nicknames so they don't all respond at the same time. Less confusing that way. Mary, our Mary, Mary Queen of Scots, also feels fortunate that she and Francis actually get along quite well; many young people aren't as fortunate with their arranged marriages. #blessed

Just look at Francis's mother, Catherine de Medici. It's pretty clear she despises her husband, King Henry II and frequently plots against him in various ways. Oh, the drama of the royal court!!!

Our varied cast of characters doesn't end there however, we also have the infamous seer Nostradamus, along with his daughter, Ari, on Catherine's payroll. Lurking about behind the scenes providing predictions, potions and more!

I should also probably mention that our Mary is an edian, a shapeshifter, transforming into a mouse when it suits her. This is an awfully handy skill for palace eavesdropping, as you can imagine, and has helped our dear Mary on more than one occasion.

Y'all, I'm giddy. This was so much fun. It was everything I wanted it to be. I love the Lady Janies' creative narrative style. It's quirky, funny and full of subtle pop culture references. These authors sure know how to tell a delightful story!

Captivating from the start, if you enjoyed My Lady Jane, I think you will love this just as much. I know I did.

Thank you to the publisher, Harper Teen and Harper Audio, for providing me with a copy to read and review. It was pure fun on the page and I can't wait to meet more Marys are the series continues!!!

The Marys series follows a similar pattern to the Janes series. My Contrary Mary features some of the characters we met in My Lady Jane. This book retells the story of Mary, Queen of Scots with a twist. It was a truly enjoyable audiobook and the narrator does a great job. I can't wait for the next book in the Marys series.

I received this audiobook for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Thank you to NetGalley and HarperTeen for the audio ARC!

I am a huge fan of the Jane series by these three ladies, so I was super jazzed when I found out about the Mary series! I am also a big Tudor family history dork, so the first book being about Mary, Queen of Scots was also very exciting. I was totally ready to dive back into the world of Verities (normals) and E∂ians (shapeshifters).

First, I would like to say that this series consistently makes me laugh out loud. I love the little witty asides, and the clever ways of including current pop culture in a historical novel. The fact that one of the characters has visions that are scenes of movies from our lifetime was funny and clever. This group of ladies also writes so well together. Each author writes one of the three main characters, but they blend together so seamlessly. And I also never know which author has written which character. The writing style of each compliments the others so well.

I really enjoyed all of the characters in this story. I loved getting to learn a little bit more about Mary’s history. I am aware that some of this didn’t actually happen (obviously haha), but you can also tell that the authors put in a fair amount of research in order to make it as historically accurate as possible in this type of alternate history story. Mary was stubborn but very likable; Ari was a little frustrating but also very interesting; and Francis was spoiled but lovable. I liked how each was a flawed character, but you still liked them all. I had my moments with Ari, but they turned it around for me in the end.

I was excited that they took us back into the same world as the first book of the Jane series, My Lady Jane. No spoilers, but you get to interact with some of the characters from that book, which made me squeal with joy when it happened. Getting to learn more about the politics of the Verity and E∂ian world was also an unexpected plus for me. I tend to not really care or enjoy political stuff in my fiction, but it was well done and entertaining here.

I really liked the romance between Mary and Francis, as well as the one between Ari and Liv. They all behaved like teenagers, which was good, since that is exactly what they are. It was believable and precious.

All in all, this was a very funny book with some good historical research and a sweet love story. I am very excited to see which Mary they decide to tackle next! Also, if you haven’t read the Jane series, go get it now!! It will help tide you over until the next Mary book is out!

My Rating:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I gave My Contrary Mary 4 Stars!!

I listened to this book on audio. It was an enjoyable reimagining of what happened to Mary, Queen of Scots. The book itself reads rather young. I would say for 12 to 14 year olds. I do hope that such retellings inspire young readers to look into the actual historical events the book is based on and get them interested in doing a bit of research or perhaps even further reading. 3 out of 5 stars. An enjoyable book for younger readers.

Thank you Netgalley and Harper Audio for an advanced copy of MY CONTRARY MARY by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows. My Contrary Mary is the first of a new series, each book features a famous "Mary" and is in the same universe as the Jane series. This is a retelling of Mary, Queen of Scots with a historical fantasy twist that I had not expected and made my experience different. I am familiar with Mary, Queen of Scot's story through the show Reign but this was unique with the magical/shapeshifting elements. The most difficult thing to "rate" is the fact that the audio arc was a synthetic voice and not an actual narrator which I believe would have increased my rating. Overall, I enjoyed my experience with this book but I wish I had known about the fantasy element prior to beginning.

My Contrary Mary is a retelling of Mary Queen of Scots, set in the same world as My Lade Jane!

I have only read My Lady Jane by this trio and really enjoyed it! This one is following my favorite queen so the excitement was real. Really enjoy the writing, the humor and the rewriting lol! I just thought it created some plotholes for itself, and not all the character povs were not as fun all the time. Even though I wanted to like them and I did (mostly). Generally, a lot of fun and recommend these books are lot! 3.5/5 stars.

Thank you Netgalley for an advanced copy of MY CONTRARY MARY by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows. This was my first time have an advanced audiobook—just a computer reading it basically but it was a nice way to get through the book faster and I stopped noticing the computer voice most of the time. Also, I loved all three of the Jane books by these authors and I'm excited for all three Mary books, including this one. Reading this farcical version of Mary, Queen of Scots's life, this time where she gets a happy ending, was so enjoyable. I kept wondering how they were going to pull off a happy ending in this poor girl's life and the answer was they just threw history out the window, Still, it was so much fun, and they kept to true events of history where they could, as far as i could tell. I definitely want to go read a biography about Mary, Queen of Scots now because her life is both very tragic and so fascinating, and I realized I didn't know much about it beyond her tragic beheading and the fact that she was King James's mother.
Just like the previous three Jane books, this book threw in a dash of magic with humor and history—and it even included some characters from the original book, MY LADY JANE, which was fun. Basically, I always love these books and they are an auto-buy for me. I can't wait until the next two come out in the next couple years. I definitely recommend them all!

I received this as an audio galley to listen to for free in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Audio for giving me access.

A story about Mary, Queen of Scots -- I am already sold. Much like the Lady Janies, this takes place in the same world that has magic and Eðians. And our Mary has a secret, she is an Eðian. Hand, Ashton, and Meadows are on another adventure featuring the 'Mary's' of history and boy, they know how to weave a story into a story.

The whole time all I could do was compare it to Reign (TV show) and just imagined those faces as the characters in this story. While Reign didn't have Eðians, My Contrary Mary was even better. The sarcasm and wittiness had me chuckling through out and I already want to read it again.

I received a copy of My Contrary Mary thanks to the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review:
My Contrary Mary is a retelling of Mary, Queen of Scots. Rather than having conflict between Protestants and Catholics, the conflict is between those who believe it is natural for animal spirits to reside within humans and those who do not. Regardless of one's beliefs, there are people who can transform into their animal at will, such as Mary. This is a closely held secret because being able to transform could result in Mary losing Scotland and, potentially, her life.

I liked the characters, especially Mary and her contrariness. The other characters were good, Ari and Francis had a stronger and more unique voice than Mary's ladies, which is likely due to them have a POV and the others don't. I also liked the plot itself. It was interesting and paced well.

As for what I didn't like. The 3rd person omnipotent narrator drove me crazy by the end of the story. At first I thought it was cute, like "haha a contemporary phrase being used in a historical time but phrased like it was the 'first ever use'", quickly became "seriously? why?". There were moments that felt forced to make these contemporary links appear (The Princess Bride, TMI, Titanic, etc.). This took me out of the story on multiple occasions.

I was hoping for something more like Reign or The Other Boleyn Girl but what I got had only hints of Reign that were solely there because they are both about Mary, Queen of Scots.

Overall, I thought the book was fine. Changing from 3rd person omnipotent to 3rd person limited would have made a world of a difference however, but that is definitely a personal preference thing.

This was a fun historical read with a magical twist. Mary Queen of Scotts has always intrigued me. I will always root for a strong female in power and especially in history when so many were repressed. This story stays pretty true to the known tale but I did enjoy that it had the surprise element.