Reviews tagging 'Death'

My Lady Jane by Jodi Meadows, Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand

16 reviews

tessamcevan's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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dramagirl2003's review against another edition

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adventurous funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

this was sooo good! actually a way better, more fleshed out story than the changes they made for the show

thoughts while reading

part one

1%: i am in fact familiar with the term ethian

2%: grrr, well i don’t, not for mary if she’s gonna be the same as in the show

9%: respectfully, no. i’ll stick to guildford

10%: ha! not even his own right arm. tut tut

12%: ah yes, the dog that is actually an ethian

19%: i love how eating the flowers is supposedly a better idea

25%: little does he know she will one day need to ride him into the sunrise

26%: do. not. bend. the. spine. i could have sworn that was covered by the do not touch rule. dude really knows how to rile a book dragon. she’s really pushing him though 😂

37%: aww this is sweet 🥹

56%: this is how i’d do it for maximum heartbreak: light the fire so jane can see her beloved go up in flames, then behead her so guildford is forced to watch his love die too, before he burns to a crisp himself 😈🔥

57%: “the dog ate my homework” 😂

59%: this is a twist we needed in the show!

part two

60%: yes! i love defenestrating history for the sake of entertainment

63%: gracie likes him!!

67%: oh my gosh, jane’s change cycle really does seem to be the opposite of guildford’s

74%: she should promise to sleep with him if he changes 😉

92%: A TANGLED REFERENCE

Quotes

"Okay, we'll tell them thank you so much for the very kind offer of running the country, but no thank you. I have no desire to honour my cousin, the king's, wishes. Now where are my damn books?"

"Imagine how much money the realm would save if the rulers focused their finances on libraries, rather than wars."
"Not if I were allowed to shop for books.”

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blissofalife's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

A fun read, the narrator on the audiobook was phenomenal! The book itself felt like it needed a little extra editing. There were several side plots that came to nothing and made the middle-ending drag on.

Like the entire side plot with the Great White Bear?? And the number of scenes where Guilford and Jane are just…reiterating that he’s a horse during the day. Very repetitive.

Found this book after binging and loving the series, not upset that the series is drastically different from the book, I enjoyed both of them for different reasons. The tv series was definitely aged up from the book content.

I think I will read more of the books in this series, but I’m gonna take a break. Again, it needed to be shorter.

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lemonwrlds's review against another edition

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adventurous funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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blewballoon's review

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I went into this with low expectations. I have heard good things about the show adaptation that just came out, and I wanted to read the book first. My assumption was that I'd actually like the show more once I saw it, and the book would feel too cheesy, try-hard, and dated, but there would be changes to smooth it out in the adaptation. Now I've got the opposite feeling and I'm wondering if the show will be able to live up to how fun, earnest, and chaotic this book was. I had such a great time! The audiobook narrator sells the hell out of it, she's giving it 150% for every sentence, and it absolutely worked for me. The romance surprised me as well with how sweet and tender it was. I'm sad the book is over, honestly, I really enjoyed the ride.

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belou's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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elizabeth_juliet's review

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I am not one typically drawn to fantasy, but this book had me in its grasp, and I would have finished it faster had I not been studying for midterms! I am typically a historical fiction type of girl, and Lady Jane Grey and that period of English history has always fascinated me and while this was a “(not) entirely true story”, this historical retelling with fantasy flavors bewitched me and left me longing for more after I turned the last page.

Lady Jane is a spunky, short redhead who dances to the beat of her own drum (ie. enjoys spending time reading books rather than chasing romance. Her cousin Edward is king of England, yet he has recently fallen ill with a mysterious sickness, and seeks to solidify his line of succession should he die. Unfortunately for Jane, this means Edward has arranged for her to marry Gifford, a noble boy with a surprising secret. As the three are pulled into throne-stealing conspiracies, they must work together (with a little magically help) to untangle their problems and create their own happily ever after quite different from what is in the history books.

Chock full of jokes and lovable characters, My Lady Jane is sure to keep you laughing and wondering what surprising plot twist is coming next!

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dazed_and_distracted's review against another edition

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2 stars out of 5 from what I have seen. I was very intrigued by the cover, the good reviews and the concept. I had some reservations about playing around in such an absurd manner with the very real tragedy of these very real people, but I was willing to let it slide if the overall reading experience made up for it. Unfortunately it did not. The plot was very slow and the tone (although the humor was spot on for me for about 90% of the time) did not allow me to get close to them, to get invested in what they were thinking and feeling about their situation. Either it should have been more absurd from the start (I hear it gets more so in the later half) or more realistic throughout. Gifford (sorry, I meant G. :) ) was uninteresting even though his horse-condition was advertised as being part of the main intrigue (it was brushed aside surprisingly quickly by Jane). Jane herself was bland and somewhat unlikable. Her love of reading was overdone. It was rarely funny and tiring after a few mentions. Sort of a "we have Belle at home" kind of character. Although I may be biased here, because one of my least favourite tropes when it comes to modern heroines is when the author tries to supplement the lack of characterization by insisting on their love of reading. It's no longer original and seems to me more like an attempt to appeal to the reading community, than actual character building. She also came off as quite shallow: early on there are often repeated jokes about other characters appearances and her being picky about her future husbands looks (the dreaded trait in question is a big nose - oh my!) when one of the few things we get to learn about Jane is that she is often bullied for her appearance (which is conventionally beautiful by the way). Edward was the most interesting and likable of the three leads and I kind of wish this story was more centered around his life (partly because I found the flashbacks to Henry VIII to be the most clever historical humor). However, he too had a recurring joke that started to make me uncomfortable:

Edward has a dog called Petunia (Pet for short) who also turns out to be a shapeshifter. A girl, who is I think about the same age as Edward. And there is some odd sexual tension with this girl who is basically naked around him all of the time, whom he calls Pet and who lives as his dog... It's all taken for laughs, nothing serious, but this was a joke that just didn't land for me. Thankfully she doesn't end up being his love interest as I feared.

I haven't read that much, so maybe some of the problems I listed are rectified later. I am still interested in reading other books from this series, because clearly there is talent here, but I think I will skip the other one set in the edian-verse.

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sapphic_swiftie's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

this was such a fun and unique read! one of my favorite things about it were the dynamic and strong-willed characters!! jane was my favorite with her bookish interests, strength, and relatibility! i also liked the ways her and

gifford's relationship progressed as the novel went on and they got to know each other better!

speaking of which, i just thought the romance in this novel was done well all-around in regards to both the prominent relationships!

i have to say though, this book got really really cringey at some points. i get that it was part of the whole "humor" aspect of the book but sometimes the jokes just didn't land for me. similarly some of the things that happened i found to just be outright ridicuolous and far-fetched. like i understand that it is not supposed to be a historically accurate story and that many creative liberties were taken, but there were points where things just went too far. also the insertion of the narrator's voice at random points in the middle of the story just wasn't exactly for me either.

i'm starting to sound really negative, but truly, i did enjoy it!! i felt like it had such great vibes and i really enjoyed learning the history surrounding the events. i did a ton of googling and learning about henry viii, his wives, and kids (even though no actual historical events were really potrayed in the book) that i even listed to some of the six the musical soundtrack and now want to go see it lol! i also will likely read the next book in the series so i am glad i picked this one up!

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calamitywindpetal's review

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adventurous funny informative lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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