Penelope

Penelope was hoping to show off her new lover to Elizabeth Holland, but he had written her a note saying "Not sure if i can make it to your party tonight. My apologies, if this is the case. -HS"(pg 32) Penelope had singled out Elizabeth holland as her principal rival and thus her only possible best friend. After receiving this note she went into a rage that was not entirely fair to her maids helping her to get ready. Isaac Phillips Buck was Penelope's right hand. a better way to describe him would be her partner in crime. Penelope was wearing her signature color, red of course to the grand reveal of her families grand new home. She was certain that the Schoonmakers couldn't not come to Richmond Hayes' ball. He would be arriving shortly, she knew it! She was right and soon after Henry Schoonmaker walked through the intricate archway. She walked to greet him and as she left she called to Buckie, "Thats the man I'm going to marry."

Diana

Diana Holland is Elizabeth's younger sister. She is known to misbehave, so at the Hayes party she is being followed, but she manages to write a note in the ladies' dressing room and slipped it to Webster Youngham's assistant. Her note said "Cloakroom, one o'clock. Bring ciggies." In the cloakroom, she was looking for her French Lieutenant's coat. She had come dressed as the heroine in her favorite novel, Trilby. She appears for the first time as an artist's model dressed in a petticoat and slippers but of course Diana could not get away with that. She was surprised that she got away with the simple cotton bodice and red-and-white striped skirt she had come in. As the clocked clanged one, she felt the chest of a man and a pair of hands on her hips. She tried not to smile to much as she turned around to face James Haverton because this was the most exciting thing that had happened to her all night. "I hope you brought cigarettes." (pg 25) she said. He told her how much trouble he could get into for doing this, mischief shining in his eyes. she liked that. "You're pretty"(pg 26) he told her. she thought about the facial features she shared with her beautiful sister and how different they looked. She had small features and a round mouth like all the Holland women. but unlike her sister she had dark hair, she liked to think that it added a certain mystery. and her eyes, they were described as vivid. And like her sister she had her mothers chin. she hated her chin. "Oh I'm all right." He handed her a cigarette, "You're more than all right" she asked him if he was an architect was he also an artist? he asked why and she said, "Well to kiss of course." 

The Luxe by Anna Godbersen- Elizabeth

It is 1899 in Manhattan, filled with scandal and drama. Everything Diana and Elizabeth do is under the microscope. The book opens at Elizabeth Holland's funeral. All of New York's finest are there. All of her family. Except one. Her sister Diana has not yet arrived so the procession starts and when the church door bands open and Diana runs in with a fading smile there is cause for suspicion. Why would she be smiling at her sisters funeral? The book is told from the perspective of five people: Diana Holland, Elizabeth Holland, Penelope Hayes , and Henry Schoonmaker and Lina Broud. 

Elizabeth has just returned from a summer in Paris and she has barely gotten off the boat when her mother forces her to a costume party at the Hayes' new home on Fifth avenue. At the party Louisa Holland claims that everyone has been asking about her. She says it would be a good thing is one of her daughters dance partners would propose. Elizabeth responses by saying "Well, you are lucky I'm still so young, and we still have years before I even have to begin picking one of them." "Oh no... the one thing we do not have is time." (pg 12) Elizabeth gives her mother a strange look and goes to dance with Percival Coddington. As soon as Mr. Coddington approached her, she realized that he was dressed in a shepherd costume; just like she was. Percival could not dance, he could barely walk without tripping. But being the lady she was she danced with him and tried to make small talk. As she turned to give her mother a reassuring look, she saw her standing with two men. One was her father's accountant and the other was William Schoonmaker. While she danced with Mr. Coddington, Elizabeth was thinking about what seems to be a lover. She wonders what he has been doing while she was in Paris. 

new moon

Edward is gone! I cant believe it. And neither can Bella, just recently has she started to pretend to live, but nothing gets past Charlie, her father. He is worried about her, ever since Edward left Bella cant seem to want to do anything. But on a visit to Port Angelo with her one time friend Jessica, Bella sees some men that look strangely familiar, like the men that were once following her but Edward saved her from that one, and he was no where to be found. Why would he care anyway? But as she gets closer to the men, she hears an angry voice in her head, could it really be him…. It sounds so real… and so close. It seems that a rush of adrenaline and danger brings out this hallucination, if that is what it is? Bella cannot wait to hear his voice again, it lets her remember without the pain, the hole in her chest doesn’t get any bigger. so this can’t hurt can it? Not now at least, she will pay later with the nightmares of nothingness, nothing but the trees, because he left but that doesn’t stop her from searching still and that is the scariest part and why she wakes up screaming every morning. Danger must be the key that triggers these hallucinations. So Bella goes in search of just that: danger. It may not bring him back, but at least its not painful. So when Bella happens upon some motorcycles for free she decides to fix them. All mechanics in town are too expensive and anyways if she went in town then Charlie would find out. So she decides to pay a visit to a family friend. Jacob Black. He seemed eager enough to help the last time she saw him, and he was a good mechanic and Bella has been saving up for collage, just in case Edward decided not to change her into a vampire; which doesn’t seem likely seeing he is no longer around. Bella brings the broken motorcycles to La Push, the small reservation just outside of Forks, to ask him to help her fix them. And so begins Bella and Jacobs friendship, but is that all it is to Jacob?

quarter 2 outside reading post 1

So i guess i have given into reading Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. The book started off rather slow, but now it is picking up the pace and i am now as much in love with Edward as Bella is. i love the fact that he dazzles everyone around him and doesn't even notice. In chapter eight, Bella decided to go dress shopping with her friends Jessica and Angela for a dance that she isnt even going to. after spending the day shopping Bella tells the two other girls to go off and look around Port Angelo, while she goes in search of the book store. After finding the lame book store, Bella goes in search of a slightly more practical looking store. A few wrong turns late and there are some mysterious, slightly scary men following her. 

Edward to the rescue. 

but it is not the Edward he wants her to know, he is angry and trying to keep himself from going into a murderous rage. he tells Bella to distract him with something completely random. she goes on to rant about her assumed date with Tyler to prom, and is upset that even Edward knew about this lie. Once calmed down, Edward takes Bella to the italian restaurant where Bella was to meet Angela and Jessica for dinner, but upon arriving, jessica and angela are leaving. this works to Edward's advantage and he offers to take Bella home. the waitress that is serving the two is going out of her way to catch Edward's attention, but he doesnt seem to notice. He asks Bella to share her theories about him, but she is to embarrassed to share and asks him how he found her. Edward "hypothetically" tells Bella that he can read minds, but for some reason cannot read hers. Why is Edward so drawn to Bella, when he obviously knows being around her is bad news? i guess i will just have to keep reading. i'll keep you posted.

outside reading

For this post I have decided to write a letter to the main character of the novel, Mary Boleyn.

 

Dear Mary, 

Why do you put up with your evil and manipulative sister? Why don't you just leave court to be with your husband and children? I know in the Howard family, it is family before anything else, but it seems like you are unhappy at court, and lets face it you are no longer as young as you were when you were in the kings favor. I know in your heart that you would rather be back at your new home Williams farm. So why not just leave in the middle of the night with your new daughter and Katherine and Henry. No one would know where you went and I doubt that anyone but George would notice for at least a week. I know things are bad at court anyways, the king having Anne followed by a witch hunter. The Howard family is no longer favored either, it’s the Seymors turn now. Anne is very upset that the king doesn’t want her company anymore and would do anything to be back in it. So when she miscarriages in front of the king and the entire court, this lost child cannot be covered with an excuse, like the last ones. There is much suspicion around Anne’s circle of friends. Just last week that stable boy was taken into custody, and no body has a clue why. So my advice to you Mary is to leave town and don’t look back because what you see will haunt you for the rest of you days.

 

Good luck to you and your twisted family!!

The Other Boleyn Girl pt. 4

Mary is in love again, but it is a forbidden love. He is William Stafford and he is a stable hand for Mary’s uncle. But with Anne married and pregnant with the king’s child, Mary thinks that nobody will notice if she leaves, because she is so very unhappy at court since William left. So she takes of, unaccompanied, and goes to find her one true love.  After riding for days on end, Mary finally reaches her destination. When William first lays eyes on her he thinks that she is there because she was banished from court for some reason and is only then coming back to him, but he is sadly mistaken. She tells him that nothing is wrong at court, she just couldn’t stand not being with him and she wants to be married. William warns her, “I have nothing,’ he warned me ‘I am a nobody as you rightly said.” But Mary didn’t care, and at the moment they were nobodies together. The next day the local priest married them. But the happiness couldn’t last forever; Mary was soon called back to court by her sister and new Queen of England. Anne was about to go into labor and needed the help of her sister.  So Mary, forced to come home, but with that newly wedded glow about her returned to court. When Mary arrived, Anne was going into labor. But Mary was surprised to see that princess Mary, Queen Katherine’s daughter, was there to help with this oncoming, foreseeable difficult labor. The whole country was waiting to see if this new queen could give Henry the heir he had thrown he way for. 

The Other Boleyn Girl pt. 3

Mary Boleyn is a newly widowed women. Her husband William Carey and her had just been reunited as husband and wife after years of Mary's affair with the king when Carey came down with the sweat. He warned Mary to go to Heaver with her children where she would be safe while the court was sick. Mary's sister, Anne also came down with the sweat and it almost killed her. To Anne's dismay the king spent the summer with Queen Katherine while she was sick. With Anne's growing health, she begs her sister to return to court with her, although Mary would rather stay at Heaver with her children. Anne explains that she cannot go on living an act all the time, she needs a bedfellow she can trust. Finally, Mary gives in and returns to court. While the girls were away at Heaver there was a secret family meeting held about possibly bringing Mary back to the kings attention, since she is newly widowed. They are worried the king has lost interest in Anne in her absence. Over the next few weeks Anne spends getting the kings eyes back on her. One day in November, Anne asks George and Mary to walk with her by the river at Greenwich place. "I thought I would adopt little Henry as my own son.' I was astounded, i could only look at her. 'You don't even like him very much,' I said, the first foolish thought of a loving mother. 'You never even play with him. George has spent more time with him than you."(page 313) Anne explains that she doesn't want Henry because she likes or even loves him, but to give the king a queen and an heir at the same time, a true Tudor by birth. This also makes Mary less desirable to the king. Mary has no choice but to agree because Anne has had the adoption papers signed and sealed. Mary's son is no longer hers, but her sisters.

The Other Boleyn Girl pt 2

I found a quote that I think is significant to the story so far. Mary Boleyn has been the center of the most glamorous court in Europe for three years now, but the king’s eye is turning to her biggest rival, her sister. Anne is supposed to hold him off during the day and Mary is to please him at night. Although Mary is Henry’s acknowledged lover, for many years now, Anne is slowly stealing him away. Anne has dreams of ruling all of England as queen, her plan is to make Henry fall for her and have him put the rightful queen aside.

 

“So I shall be queen,’ said Anne dreamily. ‘I shall be brother-in-law to the King of England,’ George said, as if he could hardly believe it. ‘And what shall I be?’ I spat. I would not be the king’s favorite, I would not be the center of court. I would lose the place I had worked for since I was twelve years old. I would be last year’s whore. ‘You’ll be my lady in waiting,’ Anne said sweetly. ‘You’ll be the other Boleyn girl.”  (p. 258-259)

 

Anne knows just how to keep the king wanting more, and she has a hard time keeping him off. There is an intense lust between the two and Anne thinks that she can get him to give up his loyal wife of almost thirty years for her. She just needs to play her cards right. But all her sister wants to do is be with her children, at the Howard home in Heaver, but she is even forbidden that. Will the king leave Queen Katharine for the beautiful Anne Boleyn? Will Mary ever find true love again?

The Other Boleyn Girl

The book that I am currently reading is called The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory. I am on page 123 out of 661. The book starts off in the spring of 152; Mary's uncle has said the forbidden out loud, that the King cannot produce a male heir to the thrown. For this he is sent to the block. At the last minute the King Henry is supposed to publicaly forgive him, so those who attend the execution are not expecting to see a murder. But as the ax is raised the king is still seated, and at last the ax falls and the duke is dead. It is a gruesome depiction and Mary tells us that the king needed to show the world that those who speak this atrocity against the thrown. The book continues a year later with the return a Mary's older sister from France. Mary is eager to see her sister, but also to show her how much better she is than her, because she is a lady in waiting to the lovely Queen Kathrine. Mary has always been jealous of her older sister, and before Anne's arrival she even thinks how much better her life would be without her sister to compeate with, and wishes her to die at sea. She then realizes that she could not live in a world without her and is sorry to have even thought of such a tragedy. Although she wanted to show her sister how much better her life is than Anne's she is so happy to see her sister she gives herself away by running to greet Anne. Several days later there is a masque where 5 ladies are to dance with 5 knights, Mary and Anne are both chosen along with their brother George's bethrothel, the kings sister Queen Mary and the kings aunt. At the masque the king asks Mary to dance, but she is supposed to play along with his disguise and not recognize him. When he finally removes his mask, Mary faints. When Mary's family finds out about the kings interest in their youngest daughter, they order her to leave her husbands bed. This is because if she is to become the kings mistress he must know that he has been with only him, so Mary moves to the Queens chamber. I am looking forward to find out how the Boleyn family manipulate their family and friends for the "advancement of the family". 

Hello and welcome!

hi! welcome to my lovely blog! feel free to take a look around and have fun!