Audiobook Review - Anne Boleyn: A King's Obsession

I've been "ooh"ing and "ahh"ing over this title for quite some time. I ever had an eProof of this YEARS ago, but I wasn't as well read in historical fiction back then and, after a chapter or two, I put it down and went "This isn't for me"

Fast forward till now and I keep looking at the Six Tudor Queens series and going "I really should try again", and I had a spare Audible credit to use before I cancel my account with them (for now). Then the news broke that Channel 5 in the UK were doing a three part thriller based on Anne Boleyn's last few months starring Jodie Turner-Smith in the title role, which causes a bit of controversy as Jodie is a black actor playing a white historical figure. (Here's the link to the trailer, if you're curious)

Now, I am very intrigued and excited to watch this three-parter so I went "Sod it!" and bought the audiobook, planning to listen to it before the show aired. Just so I have some of the key information straight in my head.

Now, we all know Anne Boleyn and a little of her story. She is the woman who Henry VIII divorced Katherine of Aragon and broke England from the Vatican for and, in many adaptions (ranging from HBO's The Tudors to The Other Boleyn Girl and Wolf Hall), we are told she was a temptress, desperate and hunger for power and no-one will stand in her way, or a woman who fell in love with the wrong man. We never got the same version of her and even historians have different interpretations.

So having Alison Weir, a public historian who has written many non-fiction novels and now fiction (many set in or around the time of the Tudors), tell each of Henry VIII"s wives for their point of view will make fascinating and gripping reading, right?

eBook Review - The Tower Is Full of Ghosts Today

I have been in two minds about doing a write-up over this. But I am thinking of reading this series (I do have the second book in the series, which follows Anne Boleyn, on my kindle due to NetGalley) so I wanted to read this to see if I could click with the author's writing style.

In this (very) short story, we join Jo at modern day Tower of London where she takes a group of tourists round the Tower. But she becomes enchanted by the tour guide, who knows with accurate historical knowledge about Anne Boleyn's time in the Tower...

This is a free eNovella so I knew it was a marketing ploy. But what annoyed me about this was the length of the short story. The story itself was only 12% (only a few pages in total). So, the rest (88%) was either copyright, content, information about the author and the opening chapter of the three novels within the series (Katherine of Aragon: The True Queen, Anney Boleyn: A King's Obsession and Jane Seymour: The Haunted Queen).

I decided that I wasn't going to read the opening chapters as I am going to read at least one novel within the series so, what are my thoughts on the short story.

Truth be told, it was ok. But it was very short and quite abrupt. There was no resolution and even though it featured/hinted at ghosts, it wasn't that spooky. I think this would have been better if there was more padding to it, more resolution and less marketing.