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A review by thebookberrie
Gilt by Katherine Longshore
bRUH I READ THIS IN 2012 wHAT?? I have literally no memory of this place?? Anyway, a couple of months ago I grew quickly obsessed with the musical Six after hearing a bit of a song on tiktok so I looked it up and listened to the rest of the soundtrack and I gotta say, I'm still listening to it months later. Absolute bangers. So then like a normal person I spent more time than I want to admit on a wiki and other media related dive into King Henry VIII but more importantly, his wives. Which lead me to this book.
Gilt is about a girl named Kitty and her best friend Catherine Howard, who manages to woe the King of England. Cat has always wanted to go to court and be surrounded by parties and gilt and Kitty as her shadow has always wanted it too. The court isn't everything they dreamed about though- it's a nest of vipers and is filled with secrets and affairs that could end deadly.
While I have zero memory of ever reading this book before, I had a two star rating but reading it now and actually knowing who the characters are and the history really changed the entire story. While there are some inaccuracies, it was fineee. Most of my enjoyment of this book honestly did come from the musical and that's the tea. It gave me what I was looking for when I picked this up which was drama in the Tudor court so that's fun. I enjoyed how the story progressed too, and it goes pretty fast. A lot of the language and how people would talk to each other was way too modern though like someone was legit called "bitchy" and I had to stop reading and just think for a second.
A major thing that bothered me was the way this story was told though, and Kitty herself. I absolutely HATE ~friend of famous historical character~ books. I want this story told from Catherine Howard's POV not her too pure for this world boring ass friend. I want HER thoughts and feelings not seen through the lens of someone who judges everything she does.
Kitty's main purpose in this book was to be the purest and most honest character around, just to make Cat look like a selfish asshole who never cared about anyone else and that was just trash. It was too much and Kitty was an annoying watcher and follower, and her romance was lame. The book basically begins with her watching a rape happen too like go off I guess.
That's another thing: I did not like how Cat was portrayed in this book. I know she's a girl who lived hundreds of years ago and so much was lost to history so we'll never know what she was actually like but I don't like to believe she was an unloving awful person. She was a teenage girl who was abused and was a victim of grown men that used her from a young age her entire life until she lost it because she dared to fall in love with someone else. To say she never loved anyone and was just a spoiled brat who cared only of herself and gold, no thanks.
But I'm no historian and a lot of my feelings were born from a 7 minute song. I just have strong feelings because out of all the the ex wives, I feel sorry for her the most.
Gilt is about a girl named Kitty and her best friend Catherine Howard, who manages to woe the King of England. Cat has always wanted to go to court and be surrounded by parties and gilt and Kitty as her shadow has always wanted it too. The court isn't everything they dreamed about though- it's a nest of vipers and is filled with secrets and affairs that could end deadly.
While I have zero memory of ever reading this book before, I had a two star rating but reading it now and actually knowing who the characters are and the history really changed the entire story. While there are some inaccuracies, it was fineee. Most of my enjoyment of this book honestly did come from the musical and that's the tea. It gave me what I was looking for when I picked this up which was drama in the Tudor court so that's fun. I enjoyed how the story progressed too, and it goes pretty fast. A lot of the language and how people would talk to each other was way too modern though like someone was legit called "bitchy" and I had to stop reading and just think for a second.
A major thing that bothered me was the way this story was told though, and Kitty herself. I absolutely HATE ~friend of famous historical character~ books. I want this story told from Catherine Howard's POV not her too pure for this world boring ass friend. I want HER thoughts and feelings not seen through the lens of someone who judges everything she does.
Kitty's main purpose in this book was to be the purest and most honest character around, just to make Cat look like a selfish asshole who never cared about anyone else and that was just trash. It was too much and Kitty was an annoying watcher and follower, and her romance was lame. The book basically begins with her watching a rape happen too like go off I guess.
That's another thing: I did not like how Cat was portrayed in this book. I know she's a girl who lived hundreds of years ago and so much was lost to history so we'll never know what she was actually like but I don't like to believe she was an unloving awful person. She was a teenage girl who was abused and was a victim of grown men that used her from a young age her entire life until she lost it because she dared to fall in love with someone else. To say she never loved anyone and was just a spoiled brat who cared only of herself and gold, no thanks.
But I'm no historian and a lot of my feelings were born from a 7 minute song. I just have strong feelings because out of all the the ex wives, I feel sorry for her the most.