It's not a bad read if you just want a bit of light entertainment, but if you are not a fan of Phillipa Gregory books then I doubt you will enjoy it very much. Saying that though, Ms Gregory's cousins war series (The Red Queen/The White Queen) are very readable.

I very much would recommend books by Jean Plaidy, there are many set in the Tudor era. I like 'Murder Most Royal' that is about Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard…I would personally suggest that over The Boleyn Inheritance.

Also, if you think you'd enjoy some historical fiction merged in with a supernatural storyline, then may I suggest any novel by Barbara Erskine.

As for why Ms.Gregory hates Anne Boleyn, I have no idea. It is something we often wonder on this forum. To be honest I don't think she knows herself!  

The Boleyn Inheritence  is okay. I agree wth Mya that it's much better than TOBG. You have to be cautious with PG, and I can no longer read her books. They frustrate me too much. I did like her book The Constant Princess about KOA. Many on this forum have read Nelly Gwynn's book on Anne and love it. I have yet to read it, but I hope to soon. Some authors to check out are: Jean Plaidy, Robin Maxwell, Suzannah Dunn, Laurien Gardiner, and Margaret Campbell Barnes (off the top of my head). I did love Maxwell's The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn. It is how I wish all historical fiction was written. I also liked Alison Weir's Innocent Traitor about Lady Jane Grey.

If you want an accurate account of Anne's life, stick to Ives, Starkey, Lipscombe, and Loades. They've all written excellent accounts of Anne's life, her role in history, and her death. Lipscombe's book 1536 is a particularly interesting take on Anne's fall, and its influence on the remainder of Henry's reign.

Well I just finished reading TBI. I'm going to approach my review as if it were a ficitional book on all accounts. so won't dwell too much on historical accuracies.

I personally thought it was a step down on The Other Boleyn Girl. TOBG had a nice narrative and flow to it. Gregory I feel did not get a grasp on speaking in 3 different voices. Something that I thought Weir did very well in Innocent Traitor. Though it would have been hard to maintain for the duration of the book, I think Gregory did the best job in speaking with Anne Of Cleves voice. She was probably the most interesting character Gregory presented. I had a lot of empathy for Anne thoughout the book and was intrigued to learn and discover more about this forgotten discarded Queen (of course it is up to me to discover the truth of the real Anne).

Katherine Howard came across as extremley dumb and shallow and I struggled to really connect with her character. It seems that Gregory treated the Queen cousins the same in her two different books. With Katherine and Anne Boleyn while reading I thought 'Gee they do deserve the beheading coming their way' and then at the last minute a completer character change allows me to feel sorry for them. Unfortunatley Gregory spent way to much time on other stuff to really explore the discovery of Katherine's betrayal and her last months on Earth. It is a quick change from The land Of Happy to The Land of Katherine The Hated. It felt like my book must have been printed missing some pages.

The portrayal of Jane Rochford was hit and miss. Some of her chapters I felt I was really getting to know the lady and her motivations, while other ones I sat there thinking I've already read this, yes I get it You loved George and you feel bad. There was a lot of repetition with Jane's chapters AND with Katherine's chapters as well. I feel like Jane was only included in the story so Gregory could right some of the wrongs that appeared in TOBG. I will admit that unlike Katherine, I felt sorry for Jane throughout the novel. I've read that she is supposedly the villain of the piece. I didn't get that from my reading, I felt that she was a conflicted woman whose aim in life was to please and do other people's bidding in the hope that her life got better. Jane's ending was very rushed as well, I felt like Gregory was given a page count to stick to and she found herself running out of pages and quickly ended Jane's life. I would have liked more exploration of her craziness and the realzation she was doomed even with her acting crazy.

The true villain of the book is Duke Of Norfolk. I couldn't stand him in TOBG and I couldn't stand him in TBI. Without him, the 3 lead ladies of the book would have had mch happier lives. Not sure if the real Norfolk was like this though.

So in summary, I think this book would have been better with a single voice – maybe Jane's since she served both Queens and was caught up with the downfall of the 2nd. And less repetition, surely her ediotr could have told her she was repeating herself. As a work of fiction, I did end up enjoying it, even if the beginning was very difficult. It has increased my interest in Anne Of Cleves espcially. And it has helped me to not view Jane in such a puzzling light like before, in fact I'm interested in sitting down and reading Fox's biography on her. I would recommned this book to people who would like a bit of light reading. I'm sure there are times some may want to bang their head on the desk, but as an intoridctuon to the forgotten Queens it is quite a good read, but not as good as TOBG.

Now I'm off to start reading The Queen's Fool

This year I decided to try some more historical fiction and have read, or just read a few pages, of some terrible, terrible books. I'll continue to read PG because I really do enjoy the actual historical figures she chooses to write about and then I can hunt down biographies after I am done (and I do get them for free) Otherwise I think I will stick to the classic titles. Margaret Campbell Barnes was recommended to me here. I also managed to get a copy f Wolf Hall which is on my list for next year.

But next time I am down at the $5 book shop I will avoid anything with a bodice ripper cover, or written after the 1960's. I am still traumatised by the Emily Purdy book I read.

My favorite Phillipa Gregory book is The Wise Woman, which I cannot imagine ever calling my “favorite” whilst reading, but by comparison to her others I like it.  It just makes you hate the protagonist more and more as the book progresses, then neatly patches everything up in an epilogue.  Come to think of it, TOBG was more enjoyable, but at least The Wise Woman is correctly billed as fiction without all the extra Gregory self-congratulation.

To those who liked Robin Maxwell's Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn I recommend Mademoiselle Boleyn, which I've been told was written expressly to combat the “evil Anne” meme of Gregory.  Follows her from childhood, through the French court, to the day she arrives back in England.  

Much as I love Alison Weir's historical books (Lady in the Tower, Children of Henry VIII, etc.) I tried to read her historical fiction Captive Queen, about Eleanor of Aquitane, and had to put it down almost halfway through.  Too much sex, described in such a way that it made me think of one of my grandparents trying to describe hot sex.  Just ew.  I put the book down because it made me uncomfortable, which has NEVER happened before.

Jean Plaidy's Murder Most Royal is great, IMO.  It gave deep insight into Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard's thoughts and motivations using only historical sources (albeit some dubious ones, such as Anne's disputed letter from the Tower), which to me comes much closer to what Philippa Gregory says that she does.  We get an Anne who acknowledges her mistakes and seems more likeable for it, and a Catherine who cannot fathom her own mistakes, which again increases her likeability.  

I'm reading The Arrow Chest now.  I loved The Virgin and the Crab so I have high hopes for this.  So far so good!