E-galley Review: My Contrary Mary by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

My Contrary Mary by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows
Series: Mary #1
Published by HarperTeen on June 22, 2021
Genres: YA Historical Fiction, YA Paranormal, YA Retelling
Pages: 512
Source: the publisher
Format: E-galley
My Rating:
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Synopsis:

Welcome to Renaissance France, a place of poison and plots, of beauties and beasts, of mice and . . . queens?

Mary is the queen of Scotland and the jewel of the French court. Except when she’s a mouse. Yes, reader, Mary is an Eðian (shapeshifter) in a kingdom where Verities rule. It’s a secret that could cost her a head—or a tail.

Luckily, Mary has a confidant in her betrothed, Francis. But after the king meets a suspicious end, things at the gilded court take a treacherous turn. Thrust onto the throne, Mary and Francis are forced to navigate a viper’s nest of conspiracies, traps, and treason. And if Mary’s secret is revealed, heads are bound to roll.

My Review:

So I had really always wanted to read the Jane series by these three authors, but didn’t get ARCs in time to review, and then just haven’t had the chance to pick them up. But when I saw this one on Netgalley, and after I binged the tv series Reign about Mary Queen of Scots earlier this year, I knew I had to read it.

As I mentioned, I haven’t read any of the Jane series, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect as I started this. And so at first I was a little unsure how I was going to feel about it as I started reading. But once I got into it, I kind of enjoyed all the little extra bits in the parenthesis, reminded me a little of The Series of Unfortunate Events, but of course for an older reader. I also liked all the little pop culture references, one of the first ones was the “There’s just something about Mary” line. And then there was Nostradamus’s daughter’s visions, those were hilarious!

Also because I had watched the series Reign, I liked even things in this story that made me compare to that, how King Francis and Queen Mary wanted to be more accepting of others besides just their own religions, but at that time how it wasn’t what their nobles wanted, at least in France. I liked the little bits of history woven into the story, and honestly, knowing that a lot had been retold, just like with the tv series, this really made me want to go find a nonfiction historical book on Mary Queen of Scots to read.

It seems we even had one of the Janes show up in this story as well. A lot of fun, and I hope to read on in the series in the future, and possibly go back and read the original three as well.