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

Synopsis from Good Reads:

Edward (long live the king) is the King of England. He’s also dying, which is inconvenient, as he’s only sixteen and he’d much rather be planning for his first kiss than considering who will inherit his crown…

Jane (reads too many books) is Edward’s cousin, and far more interested in books than romance. Unfortunately for Jane, Edward has arranged to marry her off to secure the line of succession. And there’s something a little odd about her intended…

Gifford (call him G) is a horse. That is, he’s an Eðian (eth-y-un, for the uninitiated). Every day at dawn he becomes a noble chestnut steed—but then he wakes at dusk with a mouthful of hay. It’s all very undignified.

The plot thickens as Edward, Jane, and G are drawn into a dangerous conspiracy. With the fate of the kingdom at stake, our heroes will have to engage in some conspiring of their own. But can they pull off their plan before it’s off with their heads?

What a delightful surprise this book was! I have to admit that I was originally not the least bit interested in this title. I am not a fan when fiction focuses on real historical figures. I’m not a history buff by any stretch of the imagination (I could not tell you one single thing about the real lives of the inspiration for these characters), but it just always bugs me when fake words and situations are given to real people. I also thought the whole fantasy element of people turning into animals (Eðians) was just weird to have in historical fiction. But then I kept seeing glowing review after glowing review and decided to finally see what the fuss was about. And now I understand!

I have never read anything by any of these authors before, but if the rest of their writing is as clever as this I am definitely checking them out. I laughed so much during this book! Out loud even, which almost never happens. Each chapter is given to Edward’s, Jane’s, and Gifford’s point of view and the narrators of the story would occasionally interrupt with some (often humorous) insight, explanation, or random comment. Though I did enjoy the Edward and Gifford’s chapters a little more than Jane’s for the most part, I was never sad when it came time to shift POVs.

I loved the friendships and the romances. Gifford and Jane were so easy to ship and their interactions were always so humorous and/or sweet. I liked the friendship between Jane and Edward and how much they cared about each other. I also liked the growing relationship between Edward and Gracie, who Edward meets when he’s forced to flee the castle.

The only thing that kind of brought the book down for me was that the pacing got a little slow at times. Though I enjoyed the characters so much that it didn’t really matter what they were doing, I did wish the plot would advance a little more quickly on several occasions.

Overall, I really loved this book. I absolutely loved the humor and the banter between characters. Though I was initially hesitant of the historical components and the Eðians, both ended up really working for me. I definitely plan on checking out more from these authors (I did see on Good Reads that though this book is a standalone, they are planning on collaborating on more books about other famous Janes). I think My Lady Jane is one of my favorite books of the year and definitely recommend it!

Overall Rating (out of 5): 4.5 Stars