Blog Tour: Roses Have Thorns

Author: Sandra Byrd

Genre: Life, history…which sounds boring, but isn’t.

Series: Ladies in Waiting

Number in series: 3^rd

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 9.5

Type: Historical fiction

Number of pages: 317

Time period: 1564-1603

Publisher and price: Howard Books (a division of Simon and Schuster), $14.99

My overall opinion: Oh, it was good! It was so much fun (and so interesting) to get to know Queen Elizabeth I a little better. I really did feel like I knew her pretty well by the end. And I love the cover too – more in person than online. The purple and gold are very stunning, and the entire trilogy looks so lovely all together on my shelf! Elin/Helena, the main heroine, is a lady in waiting to Elizabeth I and turned out to be a fascinating woman to “journey” with through this book, as she was telling the story herself (does that make sense?). I’m definitely sorry to see this series end – they are the best Tudor era fiction I’ve found. However, I do recommend them mostly for about age 16+ as they do occasionally deal with some more mature content – nothing explicit though.

The characters were all quite understandable and believable; perhaps the Queen most of all. At the beginning and end of the book are several informative family trees, plus an author’s note to wrap everything up. Sandra obviously put an amazing amount of research into this! One thing that I came across was that towards the beginning (page 52), one of Elin’s jobs was to warm the Queen’s bed every night for her. Yes, that means Elin got in, lay there until it was warm, then got out right before the Queen went to bed. If I were Queen? I’d get a bed-warmer. SO HANDY for cold nights. Anyway, that’s one thing that I’ve always rather wanted but never knew people did.  

All in all, a great book where you’ll learn history in a fascinating, memorable, and fun way!



Now, ready for the good part? I have not one but two giveaways! The first one is for Roses Have Thorns itself -- your very own copy. And the second? A lovely necklace from Belle on a Budget! Note that since the necklace is handmade, it may not look exactly like the one in the picture. Please note that BOTH of these giveaways are US only. Feel free to enter them both, and best of luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I find that the second giveaway isn't showing up like it should...if there's a link saying "a Rafflecopter giveaway" just click on it and you can go enter the same as you would if it was working just right! :)


a Rafflecopter giveaway