Book Review: The Queen's Almuner by Tonya Ulynn Brown

Title: The Queen's Almoner
By: Tonya Ulynn Brown
Genre: Historical Fiction
Pages: 330
Release Date: June 30th, 2020
Rating: ★★★★☆

Summary from Goodreads:

Sometimes loyalty to the queen comes at a cost.

Thomas Broune is a Reformer and childhood friend of the young queen, Mary Stuart. When Mary embarks on a new life in her estranged homeland of Scotland, Thomas is there to greet her and offer his renewed friendship. But the long-time friends grow closer, and Thomas realizes his innocent friendship has grown into something more. Yet he is a man of the cloth. Mary is the queen of the Scots. Both of them have obligations of an overwhelming magnitude: he to his conscience and she to her throne.

When he must choose between loyalty to his queen or his quiet life away from her court, he finds that the choice comes at a high price. Driven by a sense of obligation to protect those he loves, and crippled by his inability to do so, Thomas must come to terms with the choices he has made and find a peace that will finally lay his failures to rest.



Review:

Happy release day to Tonya Ulynn Brown!

Historical fiction has a special place in my heart. Its right along side my Scottish heritage. So, when the two collide, I tend to fall hard. Brown has taken one of Scotland's infamous tragedies and turned it into a story full of love and pain, the lines that a good story is drawn on.

We watch Mary, queen of the Scots, through the eyes of the man who loves her, but could never be with her. If only he had, maybe things would have turned out differently. I ached for Mary and for Thomas as they watch the world tumble in around them. No way out, no hope for salvation. And even though Mary succumbs to her fate in the end, as is true to her natural story, Thomas is there in the end to pay homage to his lost love.

This was an amazing read that anyone with a love for historical events would love. I devoured the story within a day and am honored to have read it.

Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.

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