I really enjoyed this book which traveled back in forth through time from Medieval England to today. ( )

There is so much going on in this book that's it hard to know where to begin.

Ellie is a modern girl in Canada studying towards her doctorate when she gets a strange assignment :"Was Ann Boleyn a woman or a witch?". OK she begins her research and goes right down the rabbit hole.
In parallel we read a story about the real Ann Boleyn that we know about who is sent off to France as lady in wait(ing) to Henry VIII's sister who is going to marry into the French royal line. While in France Ann meets Margurite of Navarre (A real historical figure) and enters into her training in "The Craft"

So the two stories go on and this is a long book rich with the details of research. In the modern day there is a murder mystery and a cadre of kooky old ladies and Ellie discovers her own connection to the Boleyn line and her own heritage of witchcraft.

The curse is laid in the past and dealt with in the future and there are some good scenes in here. But the characters don't really engage and a romantic sub plot just seems trotted out well, because.

I enjoyed the Ann Boleyn scenes a lot more to see Ann's growth and development as a character. This is book one of a proposed trilogy so I assume we will see Ann marry Henry and see how that works out.

Liked it but it needed editing. Would read the next one when it comes out ( )

I received this as a Library Thing Early Reviewer Book and am posting an unbiased review. Once again we come across a novel with alternating points of view moving between the historic character of Anne Boleyn, and the present day character of Ellie Bowlan. Ellie has serious issues - not only have her parents and one grandmother disappeared when she was younger, but she lives with an almost compulsory loopy second grandmother, Her father was a university lecturer and Ellie is - of course - highly intelligent and over-achieving and self doubting and currently working through the well known "Imposter Syndrome" of the post graduate researcher.

We learn quite a lot about the doctoral process at Queens University - Kingston Ontario (a real university). Ellie is set a research topic "Anne Boleyn Woman or Witch?" and given one month to research and write it. Surprise surprise there's a catch - several in fact not least that Ellie is a direct descendant of Anne Boleyn, and someone wants lots of old historical info for nefarious purposes of course.

The story is well written, well researched, has lovable goofy characters who have Ellie's best interests at heart and crazies who don't. Work your way through to the end, this is the first of a series of novels that I have marked as collectable. ( )

Ellie loves history and is embarking on her defense of her Comprehensive History final for her PhD. When she receives her question for her defense she is shocked: "Anne Boleyn: Woman or Witch?" What kind of a question is this for her PhD defense? As Ellie begins to dive into her research of the doomed queen, she begins by focusing on Anne the woman and is intrigued by what she finds. However, as she begins to research about Queen Anne's accusations of being a witch, Ellie is shocked to her core by what she learns...both about Anne Boleyn and Ellie's own family.

This really was a great book! I literally could not put it down! I believe there may be more in this series in the future and boy do I hope so! A great fictional spin on the life of Anne Boleyn and how she may have been handed her fate as Henry VIII's most notorious queen. ( )

I received a copy of this book through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program in exchange for an honest review.

I had requested the book because I find anything about the Tudors interesting. But like many reviewers I did not like the chapters going back and forth between the past and present day. The characters in the modern chapters were made to sound more like tweens than college-age students, and their plot-line was too predictable.
The chapters about the past could have been more interesting had the author not made it so obvious that Anne was to be a witch. Especially including the sixth finger, which in the book is a full finger rather than a hint of a nail which is described on contemporary descriptions (and even some historians doubt it existed at all). I think if the author had just written of them having a common skin mole it would have sufficed.
I was also but put by the suggestion that Elizabeth gave birth to a bastard child, although I understand that was necessary for the plot.

That being said, if this is to be a trilogy, I would still read the other two volumes, not just because of my intense interest in the Tudors, but because I am wondering where the story will go from there. The fact that it is a quick weekend read is a plus. ( )