My Lady Jane ~ Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, & Jodi Meadows

My Lady Jane
by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, & Jodi Meadows
YA Historical Fantasy
Link to Goodreads

Edward (long live the king) is the King of England. He's also dying, which is inconvenient, as he's only sixteen and he'd much rather be planning for his first kiss than considering who will inherit his crown...

Jane (reads too many books) is Edward's cousin, and far more interested in books than romance. Unfortunately for Jane, Edward has arranged to marry her off to secure the line of succession. And there's something a little odd about her intended...

Gifford (call him G) is a horse. That is, he's an Eðian (eth-y-un, for the uninitiated). Every day at dawn he becomes a noble chestnut steed-but then he wakes at dusk with a mouthful of hay. It's all very undignified. 


The plot thickens as Edward, Jane, and G are drawn into a dangerous conspiracy. With the fate of the kingdom at stake, our heroes will have to engage in some conspiring of their own. But can they pull off their plan before it's off with their heads? 

My Review

I have such a hard time giving a book five stars, and I wrestled with this one. I kept trying to talk myself out of it, but I could not find one solid argument for why I shouldn't give My Lady Jane five stars. I loved it. 

My Lady Jane is a humorous and totally inaccurate portrayal of history. The authors continually break the fourth wall to point out a few things or explain some others - which honestly, only added to the humor of it all. At first I thought it would be annoying, but it never detracted from the story. 

I had no idea that King Henry VIII and King Edward were Eðians (humans with the ability to turn into animals). Ok, so that is where some of the inaccuracies come in, but it makes for a great story. Edward was dying and needed to choose his successor, so he marries off his bookish cousin Jane to a horse in hopes that they would have a son. Ok, ok. Gifford (G) is not a horse, he is an Eðian who cannot control his abilities and is a horse from sunup to sundown. Jane and G resent the union; and to make matters worse, Jane ends up on the throne as Queen. But only for a few days... until Mary steals the throne and throws Jane and G into jail until their scheduled executions. 

But guess what! Jane finds out she is an Eðian while she is locked up in jail. She and G escape, eventually run into Edward (not dead) who is in hiding with his sister Bess, and Scottish thief, Gracie. Now that everyone is together, they turn their attention to Mary and her hatred for Eðians. She plans on capturing all Eðians and burning them at the stake. Can Edward, Jane, G, Bess, and Gracie save England? Or will Bloody Mary reign? 

I love how the relationship between Jane and G grows. They only see each other for a few minutes each day as G is a horse by day, and Jane a ferret by night. But in those brief moments, they are able to continually argue with each other - arguments and stubbornness that leads to respect and eventually love. 

Highly recommended! 5 out of 5 Stars!