The Secret Keeper (Ladies in Waiting #2) by Sandra Byrd -- Review

About the Book

The author of To Die For returns to the court of Henry VIII, as a young woman is caught between love and honor.  
Juliana St. John is the daughter of a prosperous knight in Marlborough. Though her family wants her to marry the son of her father's business partner, circumstances set her on a course toward the court of Henry VIII and his last wife, Kateryn, or Katherine Parr.
     Sir Thomas Seymour, uncle of the current heir, Prince Edward, returns to Wiltshire to tie up his business with Juliana's father's estate and sees instantly that she would fit into the household of the woman he loves, Kateryn Parr. Her mother agrees to have her placed in the Parr household for "finishing" and Juliana goes, though perhaps reluctantly. For she knows a secret. She has been given the gift of prophecy, and in one of her visions she has seen Sir Thomas shredding the dress of the king's daughter, the lady Elizabeth, to perilous consequence.
    As Juliana learns the secrets of King Henry VIII's court, she faces threats and opposition, learning truths about her own life that will upset everything she thought she once held dear.

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Books in the Series

About the Author

After earning her first rejection at the age of thirteen, bestselling author Sandra Byrd has now published more than forty books. 

Sandra's new series, Daughters of Hampshire, historically sound Gothic romances, launched in 2015 with best-selling Book One: Mist of Midnight. That book earned a coveted Editor's Choice from the Historical Novel Society. The second book in the series, Bride of a Distant Isle, released in March 2016 and has been selected by Romantic Times as a Top Pick. Her latest nonfiction title, The One Year Home and Garden Devotions, published on October 1, 2015.

Check out her contemporary adult fiction debut, Let Them Eat Cake, which was a Christy Award finalist, as was her first historical novel, To Die For: A Novel of Anne Boleyn. To Die For was also named by Library Journal as a Best Books Pick for 2011 and The Secret Keeper: A Novel of Kateryn Parr, was named a Library Journal Best Books Pick for 2012. 

Sandra has published dozens of books for tweens and teens, including the best-selling, The One Year Be-Tween You and God, Devotions For Girls. 

She is passionate about helping new writers develop their talent and their work toward traditional or self-publication. As such, she has mentored and coached hundreds of new writers and continues to coach dozens to success each year via novelcoaching.com 

Please visit www.sandrabyrd.com to learn more or to invite Sandra to your book club via Skype.

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Authors' Pinterest Board for The Secret Keeper

Review

This story is about Katherine Parr as told from the view point of Juliana, a young women that is placed in the Parr household to assist Katherine, or Kate as her friends call her.  Juliana becomes good and fast friends with Kate and assists her not only with her wardrobe, but in keeping her secrets as well.  Kate gains favor with the King and although she loves another, when the king proposes, she accepts and Juliana goes with her.  With richly written and researched details and delightful characters, Sandra Byrd’s book two in the Ladies in Waiting Series is a brilliant story that readers will not want to miss.  I would recommend this story to readers that are interested in historical fiction and Tudor England and European history.
 
Series: Ladies in Waiting
Genre: historical, Tudor Period, European literature
Publisher: Howard Books
Publication date: June 5, 2012
Number of pages: 338
 
Content Rating: PG-13, brief sexual content
Book Rating: 5 stars

Other books in the series:
1-To Die For
3-Roses Have Thorns

A review copy of this book was provided by the author and an audiobook borrowed from the library.