Duchessina by Carolyn Meyer.

In which Catherine de'Medici, a young duchess, lives with her aunt in the big Palazzo Medici. But a lot of people hate the Medicis and when Catherine is 8 a mob is at the gates and are threating to get in and tear the place apart they escape dressed as boys in a dung cart. After all that, Catherine is taken to a convent with mean nuns. For months she lives there in dread. Soon a mysterious man comes and brings her to a very nice convent where the nuns are not mean but loving. She makes friends and lives there for 4 years. When the pope tells her to come to to him she must obey and leaves sadly. When she gets to the Vatican she learns that is going to marry the young French Prince Henry who hardly ever notices her. She lives the rest of her in the French palace as Queen Catherine de' Medici of France.

After reading this book I like Catherine much more than I did before (another book I read made Catherine look really bad). She and Henry had 7 kids together who all had their turns to be king or queen. Sadly, King Henry did not love Catherine but a lady named Diane de Poiters and when he died Catherine banished Diane from court. I really liked learning about Catherine de' Medici and her childhood.

Recommended for: people who like drama, nuns, and the Medicis.

Loving Will Shakespeare by Carolyn Meyer.

In which Agnes Hathaway lives with her family in her cute cottage, but much too soon a sickness sweeps across the county and takes Agnes' mother and unborn baby. Her father remarries a mean woman named Joan who does nothing but scold Agnes and her sister, making their lives miserable. Then young Will Shakespeare comes back from a trip all grown up and tells Agnes about his dreams of being a poet. When the time comes for Agnes to marry, her father is dead and her stepmother has betrothed Agnes to her yucky nephew Hob. She gets out of marrying him, and marries Will (who calls her Anne).

I liked to read the story of Anne Hathaway. In this book I learned a lot, like that Anne's real name was Agnes (even my mom didn't know that!) and that Will was 7 years younger then Anne. Their marriage was not a happy one, since Will was hardly ever home and only came home for like two weeks out of the year. Poor Anne and kids! In the end she did outlive him by 8 years.

Recommended for: people who like love stories, and Anne Hathaway.

Doomed Queen Anne by Carolyn Meyer

In which Anne Boleyn catches the eye of King Henry VIII (not necessarily a good thing!) In this book we follow Anne from her teenage years through her flirtatious years at court, to marrying the King and becoming Queen of England, to losing her head. Dang, what a life!

I have mixed feelings about Anne Boleyn; one part of me thinks, "Poor Anne" while another part of me thinks "What a sneaky little brat!" She didn't originally set out to become Queen, but she was selfish and greedy, so once she met Henry, it easily became her goal. When she gave birth to a daughter instead of a son (what a failure!) she became frantic to have a son and ended up going a little cuckoo. I really enjoyed this story about Queen Elizabeth's mother, and I bet you will too.

This is in the Young Royals series.


Recommended for: people who like large plots, scheming women, and stories of crazy families.

Patience, Princess Catherine by Carolyn Meyer

In Which Catherine of Aragon leaves Spain to start her new life in England. She marries Prince Arthur, an extremely nice boy who dies far too soon. Catherine becomes friends with Arthur's younger brother Henry, which is a good thing because her father-in-law is VERY cruel. We learn in this book how Catherine and Henry fall in love and become King and Queen of England.

One of the first things I learned from this book is that Catherine's real name was Catalina. I think it's terrible that these women making foreign political marriages had to give up EVERYTHING, including their first names! I would hate to be forced to give up my name just to get married! Everyone knows about Henry VIII and his six wives, and I really enjoyed learning the beginning of the story in this book.

This is in the Young Royals series.

Recommended for: people who like girls who don't give up, the Renaissance, and love stories.