Week 33 Review: The Dead Queens Club

From Goodreads:
Mean Girls meets The Tudors in Hannah Capin's The Dead Queens Club, a clever contemporary YA retelling of Henry VIII and his wives (or, in this case, his high school girlfriends). Told from the perspective of Annie Marck ("Cleves"), a 17-year-old aspiring journalist from Cleveland who meets Henry at summer camp, The Dead Queens Club is a fun, snarky read that provides great historical detail in an accessible way for teens while giving the infamous tale of Henry VIII its own unique spin.

What do a future ambassador, an overly ambitious Francophile, a hospital-volunteering Girl Scout, the new girl from Cleveland, the junior cheer captain, and the vice president of the debate club have in common? It sounds like the ridiculously long lead-up to an astoundingly absurd punchline, right? Except it's not. Well, unless my life is the joke, which is kind of starting to look like a possibility given how beyond soap opera it's been since I moved to Lancaster. But anyway, here's your answer: we've all had the questionable privilege of going out with Lancaster High School's de facto king. Otherwise known as my best friend. Otherwise known as the reason I've already helped steal a car, a jet ski, and one hundred spray-painted water bottles when it's not even Christmas break yet. Otherwise known as Henry. Jersey number 8.

Meet Cleves. Girlfriend number four and the narrator of The Dead Queens Club, a young adult retelling of Henry VIII and his six wives. Cleves is the only girlfriend to come out of her relationship with Henry unscathed—but most breakups are messy, right? And sometimes tragic accidents happen…twice…

My Review:
I loved reading this book! Just the idea of King Henry and all of his wives in a modern day setting, I've read something similar before, but with him and Anne, and this was mainly set afterwards, with a few of the different wives-though they're girlfriends in this modern retelling.

One thing I loved about this book were the chapter headings, she's a journalist, and they were dramatic and talking about what was going to happen in the chapter, and I really enjoyed reading them, they were a lot of fun!

This is a modern day retelling of King Henry, a historical figure-we know the story of him and his wives. To have those relationships be dating instead of marriage because they're teenagers, makes sense. That some of the girls are still dying...I had to know what was going on! 

I was conflicted. On one hand, Cleves and Henry had a really solid friendship. On the other, there's mounting evidence that he had something to do with these girlfriends ending up dead. I loved watching her learn more about Henry, and what was going on, and how it ultimately went down! 

This was a really fantastic read, and I can't wait to read more by Hannah Capin! 

Author: Hannah Capin
Read: August 17th, 2022
Source: Edelweiss/Library
Reason Why: Sounded really great, and it's a 2022 Retelling Reading Challenge, DAC Book and a SAC Book!
Publisher: Inkyard Press
Published: January 29th 2019

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars