ARC Review: My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows, and Brodi Ashton

My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows, and Brodi Ashton
Genre: YA Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Humor
Published June 7th 2016 by HarperTeen
Format: eARC
Length: 512 pages

The comical, fantastical, romantical, (not) entirely true story of Lady Jane Grey. In My Lady Jane, coauthors Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows have created a one-of-a-kind fantasy in the tradition of The Princess Bride, featuring a reluctant king, an even more reluctant queen, a noble steed, and only a passing resemblance to actual history—because sometimes history needs a little help.

At sixteen, Lady Jane Grey is about to be married off to a stranger and caught up in a conspiracy to rob her cousin, King Edward, of his throne. But those trifling problems aren’t for Jane to worry about. Jane gets to be Queen of England.

I don’t even know where to start with this review. There’s so many things I want to talk about but, to sum up, this book was absolutely amazing. I didn’t really know what to expect when I first started reading this book, but I ended up loving it so much. It was funny, it was quirky, and it was romantic. It made me laugh and swoon, and everyone needs to read this book.

MY LADY JANE follows our three main characters in shifting POVs. We have Edward the Sixth, sixteen-year-old King of England, who is dying. There’s also Lady Jane Grey, a fellow bookworm, and Gifford, or G, Jane’s love interest. This novel is especially interesting because not only does it rewrite history but it also includes fantastical elements in it—particularly the E∂ians, who are persecuted people who can shift into animals. Thus, the conflict between the E∂ians and the Verities (very non-E∂ians) made this concept so interesting, and I loved how this story unfolded.

The characters were phenomenal. All of the characters were so funny and had their distinct personalities, which was incredibly entertaining to read about. Edward is, of course, the sheltered and soft king, but throughout the novel, he undergoes some major character development and learns to do things without people doing it for him. I loved Jane and G as well; both of them are not very fond of each other when they first meet and I appreciated their developing relationship throughout the book without it seeming too forced.

“It’s a dreadful way to die,” Mary continued. “You cough and cough until you cough your lungs right out.”

“Thank you. That’s very comforting,” he said.

There is also some romance in this book, but it didn’t really overshadow the plot and/or humor. The pace of this book made it easy to keep reading without it dragging, and although there were a few parts in this book that seemed a bit confusing or went a little too quickly, they don’t take away from my overall love for this novel. 

Overall, this book is now one of my favorite books of this year. It’s pretty long but I flew through this book so quickly that it didn’t feel that long at all. This book is guaranteed to make you laugh (or at least chuckle), so go pick up a copy now!