I picked this up due to a posted sale, plus it has many of the things that are my catnip - fictional modern royalty, alternate history timeline, and sparkly things. The book exceeded my expectations significantly, and I greatly enjoyed it and didn't want to put it down for much of yesterday. An excellent surprise!In this alternate timeline, the Unified Kingdom exists in a world where the Wars of the Roses weren't really finished, and the Lancasters have sat upon the throne in an unbroken line in...

If you're going to go to the effort of creating an alternate timeline, then it needs to actually affect the story. There was so little here, other than the one piece of history that needed to change for the set-up. On top of that, the romance didn't feel totally earned. I did love reading the process-y bits around the marriage contract.

I know there have been complaints about Amelia and Arthur not talking, but it is necessary to move the plot along, and I enjoyed her little escapade in Toronto. I would like to see what else happens in this universe.Thank you to Gail Morse for her gift of this book. :-)

This was not what I expected, but the synopsis was not misleading. I don't know what I expected.Peeve time: there is no Gregory I while he's alive. He only becomes I when there's a Greg II. It's why King John is just King John, and why Pope Francis has no number. Argh.I found Arthur frustrating because he would disappear for weeks on end and just be back. At one point, Amelia yells because she's making all these concessions, and he points out that he's making them too (which he is), but they're

I first heard about this in Dear Author's Daily Deals and I was intrigued by the idea.Imagine an alternate reality where the United Kingdom took a different turn in history and the House of Lancaster still rules. Where Ireland is a separate Kingdom and the Yorkists still resent the Lancastrians. Where the North is kept poor and subject to the South. But pretty much everything else is the same.Lady Amelia Brockett is a member of one of the rebellious York families, a York Princess if you will. He...

This book was really interesting. There was a lot going for it -- alternate history, compelling couple, royals, GEORGE. Ultimately the major problem I had with it was the age old trope of "I won't talk to you even though it will solve most of our problems!"Good communication is so key to good relationships and Amelia and Arthur struggled with it so much I feel like the ending wasn't really them learning and growing as "well we've written this much it should end"Ultimately I liked it, especially

Queen from the North is a charming contemporary alternate history romance set in England and involving royals.Picture it, present day England, but an England in which the War of the Roses has never ended. Ireland has happily had no history of invasion or interference by Norman or English lords. (That part does not really come into the story). There is a lot of animosity between the north and south of England, which plays a huge part in the relationship of Arthur and Amelia.Aspiring earth scienti...

I don't know why I even finished this but I also feel terrible about the thoroughly negative review I want to give it because I guess it's vaguely competent but it just didn't work for me.- The worldbuilding didn't feel complete. The characters act as if the division between the North and the South of England is so severe and dramatic that you expect to see news of sectarian violence, but in fact it seems far more peaceful than, say, English-Northern Irish relations. Equally, they're pretty spec...

I was in the mood for a royal romance (gee, I wonder why?) and this was on sale. A Queen from the North is a contemporary romance with alternative history and a bit of fantasy. Sort of. I forget where I came across this book, but I was sucked in by the fantasy and alternate history angles and I was disappointed by both elements in this book. In an England where the Wars of the Roses haven't totally ended, the north--York--feels marginalized from the southern, more Lancastrian parts of England. (...

A slow-burn romance, this alternative history updates the British monarchy with feminist themes, social issues, and LGBTQ characters. (I reviewed it for Library Journal's Self-E contest in 2017)

I read this one after a recommendation from a panel at WisCon 2018, but found it unsatisfying. There are a lot of premises and elements that sound interesting in the description, but aren't really adequately explored in the book itself. There are two authors, and it just doesn't seem like they have the space to follow through on their own contributions to the narrative, let alone integrate each others'. The basic plot seems heavily based, in many ways, on the story of Prince Charles and Princess...

I really enjoyed the alternate history vibe, especially as I am a fan of everything War of the Roses. The writing was wonderful and absorbing, however I couldn't help but feel like there were things left out of the book that made understanding the narrative and AU world difficult. There were allusions to how the AU government worked, but because we weren't sure on exact powers or roles, etc, it just sort of fell flat. Especially since I kept trying to reconcile the vagueness with what I know IRL...

In a slightly alternate timeline, where the Wars of the Roses never ended in England, the enmity between the Houses of York and Lancaster is still present. Lady Amelia Brockett, only daughter of the Earl of Kirkham, born and raised proudly in Yorkshire is not having the best Christmas. Dumped by her boyfriend of two years and rejected by the graduate school she was hoping for, her mother especially seems to see her as the disappointment of the family. Her life takes a surprising and dramatic tur...

review adapted from my texts to Jess last night:it's very unfortunately Not Good. There's a LOT going on, the hero is kind of a dick, and the alternative history is lazy. This had a lot of potential, but ultimately... nah. Read for Ripped Bodice Bingo 2019: royalty

I bought this book because it was on sale in honor of Harry and Meghan's royal engagement. I was a bit iffy about buying a book from authors I'd never read before (what if it was bad? what if it was boring?), but the synopsis was intrigued me.I am SO GLAD I bought this. It was SO GOOD, and it was EVERYTHING I wanted. Ever since the Harry & Meghan announcement, I have been craving tropey royalty romances, but with very specific tropes in mind. And this book delivered on every count. Not only was

This felt a little uneven. At times, I quite liked and admired Amelia. Other times I wanted to either shake her, slap her or both.The worldbuilding was interesting, but I'm not sure how realistic it felt. I did like George, and Edward, and Priya.

I found about the first 20% really delightful. An arranged marriage, an alternate modern day England in which the war of the roses has never really ended and tensions between North and South are running high. At the races a young northern woman Amelia bumps into Arthur, the heir to the English throne . They share an enjoyable few minutes of conversation which Amelia doesn’t think much of at the time but Arthur is needing to remarry, and Amelia might just fit the bill. Initially I really liked th...

A Queen from the North by Erin McRae and Racheline Maltese, published in 2017, is an interesting take on a contemporary romance featuring royals. In this book, set in the present day, everything in the United Kingdom seems mostly recognizable, except the Kingdom is not as united as one might think. In this alternate universe story, England’s War of the Roses never quite ended. Mind you, Richard III, the last York king, was still defeated on Bosworth Field by Henry Tudor’s forces. However, instea...

There is a very specific feeling I get when I’m reading a book that could have been good, maybe even great, and isn’t. It’s the feelings equivalent of the Wilhelm Scream. This book gave me that feeling, enough of it to fill every movie released this year.The book opens with an author’s note that explains the inspiration for the story and the world the story is set in. That is a huge red flag. If you need an author’s note to explain the world of the story, you haven’t done enough writing. And if

This book will stand out as one of the most irritating things I've ever read. The two main characters were awful and stupid, and they spent 90% of this book mad at each other. So romantic. My favorite part of this book was when Arthur and Amelia were in different continents and hardly spoke to one another. (view spoiler)[Oh and that whole pregnancy by the end of the book can just go fly a kite. I literally rolled my eyes when Amelia, who is so pregnant her wedding dress won't fit, decides that s...