I really wanted to like this because I love Richard III and Anne Neville, but this book was very lacklustre.
First off, PG says in her author’s note that Elizabeth Woodville is her favourite - something which I found painfully obvious in the book. She may be a “witch” but she is so beautiful that Anne can’t help but love and feel sorry for her. She clearly should have stuck to pro-Woodville novels because it’s clear that she doesn’t really care about Anne (or Richard for that matter).
The characters were flat, the plot line dragged, and I struggled to find a single likeable character in the entire novel. So much of this was completely fictional or based on rumours that either have no evidence to support it or have been proven false. And yet, with so much of the plot line factionalized, why was it so boring? Even the witchcraft was boring - probably because it was so repetitive. I also felt that she could have spent more time on Anne as queen and made it interesting… but no.
The reason why this is two stars is because I actually did like some of the scenes and there were things that were historically accurate (like Anne married Richard, had a son, became queen, etc). Overall, I’m just disappointed because I was expecting better.