Read under the title "Blood Royal", rather than the alternative title of "The Queen's lover" this is the fictionalised story of French Catherine, her marriage to English King Henry V and her long term friendship with Owain Tudor. It's is the offspring of the latter marriage that ultimately become the Tudor family, producing Henry VIII.

Other reviewers complain about the apparent falsehoods in this story - I have no idea whether the plot lines are true or not. But it can be certain that in a male dominated world, where women (even Queens) have little power and only that be granted to them by even inferior status men, then some of the plot devices here are likely to have some grain of truth. Then again, this is classed as fiction, not fact!

There are some things that dont quite ring true - was Owain and Catherine's friendship allowed to flourish that easily, and once found out, allowed to continue? But then again, they did marry in real life, so if not this way, then how? [return][return]On the whole an enjoyable book ( )

I found it to be fairly slow paced, and had a disappointing ending. I admire her strength in what she went through, but thought she should have been more of a Queen. ( )

I picked this up cause I was really curious about Catherine and Owen, after all they spawned the Tudor dynasty!

It was interesting how the author imagined Catherine and Owen came to be together. I like how they met in the early days of their youth and the story ended on a high note...with their marriage
As interesting as the author imagined the interactions between the two over the years....I honestly did not like the two of them at all! Catherine was such a pushover, and chose the most inconvenient and varied times to push her will. She was so cut-throat in making sure her marriage negotiations with Henry went through, that she threw her younger brother Charles under with the taint of bastardy upon his head. Like sure, I know you are reeling from the los of Owen and wanted some comforts but come on! So damn cruel. And when she humiliates Owen over and over again, he keeps coming back like a well trained puppy. Owen claims to only serve in her household as a promise to Henry, but really I am sure his motives are much deeper than that... beside what Catherine can bring (wealth, titles, etc), could they really have been in love? Well this story makes it seem like they genuinely loved each other, but I think it was more like Owen loved Catherine and Catherine loved the stability and protection Owen provided.

Yeah so anyways, Catherine managed to get her way with her marriage, but she becomes to wishy washy with everything else! From deferring to her mother the Queen, to listening to the English council as to how to raise her son and the ceremonies. Like seriously, what happened to your back bone? The one that helped you land this marriage?! And when she finally spoke up for Joan of Arc, it was like whatever, took you long enough to do something but even then she was like a spoiled brat and clearly had no understanding of the political dangers she was in...despite Owen doing everything to keep her out of it.

Overall, it was an ok read. I think maybe if Catherine was portrayed and maybe developed in a better light, I may have been more sympathetic towards her. But as far as I'm concerned, she is a complete brat and utterly useless (when she clearly had a brain that she choice not to use most of the time). ( )

Despite the generic title and that I picked it out of the bargain books at B&N, The Queen's Lover really impressed me with its depth of atmosphere and character. You can read the rest of my review here ( )

Way too long. It didn't seem too romantic that Catherine loved Owain all the while she was plotting to get Henry V to marry her. Also, the history lesson got confusing. ( )