Thank you to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for sending me a free advanced reader copy of this book for an honest review.

As soon as I read Vicky’s review of this book, I knew it needed to be placed front row center on my TBR. I’m no Tudors historian, but I love me some Henry VIII, from Showtime’s The Tudors to Margaret George’s tome The Autobiography of Henry VIII: With Notes by His Fool, Will Somers.

The premise is simple: Henry VIII drama transported to a modern high school setting. These high schoolers are the cool you can only dream of—oodles of money, absent parents, an arsenal of witty one-liners on their lips. We’re treated to first person narration by the MC, Cleves, who is no-holds-barred hilarious. Let’s get real: nobody talks like this in real life, but it doesn’t really matter, since you just want Cleves to keep on spitting jokes. Also be prepared that there are some near break-the-fourth-wall moments; for some readers this is all in good fun and for others this might get annoying.

“I don’t give a flying fuck whether or not you slept with him.”
“Really?”
“Really. We’re done talking about guys, okay? Let’s pass the damn Bechdel test.”

If you’re looking for a standard whodunnit, this isn’t it. Really this book is all about character development, voice, and teen drama. Yeah, there are some dead queens and a finger-pointing blame game, but the sleuthing is kept pretty minimal until the end… This being said, I will say that the end does get intense, in an awesome way. I got actual chills. Yet the multidimensional characters and rock-solid voice are the real reason to open this book. I’m very curious to read the author’s future works; will we see a modern adaptation featuring some other infamous historical figures? Julius Caesar, perhaps? The Medicis? I’m game if Capin is.