The Boleyn Secret: The Secret is its Boring

The Boleyn Secret tells the story of Katherine Carey the daughter of Mary Boelyn and the niece of Queen Anne Boleyn. When Katherine is 12, she attends Anne with other ladies and attends her execution. Katherine is horrified by what she witnesses and is convinced her uncle Henry is a murderer sending an innocent woman to her death. While the Boleyn family fell from favor, Katherine becomes a companion to her cousin Elizabeth. Their bond is as close as sisters. When Katherine’s mother Mary lay on her death bed, Mary shares a shocking secret… Henry isn’t her uncle he’s, her father.

The Boleyn Secret was lacking

Listen, I’m a huge fan of Alison Weir, but she has a dud or two here and there and unfortunately, The Boleyn Secret falls into the dud category. The theory about Katherine possibly being Henry’s child had been around forever. The idea to turn it into a novel was exciting. Unfortunately, The Boleyn Secret reads like a rehash of past novels Alison had written over the years. While I liked that Katherine was savvy enough to not believe the gossip about her aunt and it’s understandable her hating the King, that was the only interesting thing about her. I found myself thinking Why should I care about her? I also found it odd that she was written to be determined about believing Henry was evil, yet she easily became a Protestant for her husband and she’s now this devout Protestant. It didn’t seem like she thought for herself. (Or maybe that’s my Catholic bias showing.) Maybe if this book was shorter, I might have liked it a little bit more. Or if this was about a different historical figure entirely. The Boleyn Secret will be available on May 26^th wherever you get your books.