I was between audiobooks last month and trying to figure out what to listen to next when I thought of this delightful book by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, and Jodi Meadows. Having read (and absolutely loved) their Jane series, I couldn’t wait to dive back into their heads.
My Contrary Mary is about Mary, Queen of Scots, and since Mary was the cousin once removed of some of the characters in My Lady Jane, the authors used the same conceit in this book that they used in My Lady Jane. I don’t know why I found that surprising. Maybe because it’s a new series, I expected it to be entirely different from the Jane series, but there was actually a lot of crossover. We even got to see Jane Grey, G, Edward, and Elizabeth for a little bit in this book!
If you’re unfamiliar with My Lady Jane, the authors decided to make the Catholic vs Protestant debate into Verities vs Eðians in which Eðians can turn into animals at will, whereas Verities believe that to do so is against God.
The real Mary, Queen of Scots was a Catholic raised in the Catholic French court and briefly married to the crown prince of France before he died and she headed back to Scotland to be queen there. Unfortunately for Mary, the country started leaning towards Protestantism while she was on the throne, and they didn’t think a Catholic queen was capable of representing them, so she was dethroned. She fled to England, but that didn’t end well for her either.
In this version, Mary is outwardly a Verity, but very, very secretly an Eðian who can turn into a mouse at will. She uses this to travel around the castle and spy on people. Her ladies in waiting all know she’s an Eðian and they’re all secretly Eðians, too. Mary’s betrothed, Francis, also knows their secret, but no one else.
Another entirely fictional character who plays a prominent role in this book is Aristotle (Ari) Nostradamus, daughter of THE Nostradamus, who is working for Catherine De Medici. Ari hopes to take his place one day, but she’s not very good at seeing the future. Every time she has a vision, it turns out to be a scene from a very famous movie, but of course she has no way of knowing that.
What Ari is very good at is potions, which comes in handy, at least when it comes to keeping her employed. Unfortunately, since her boss is Catherine de Medici, her potions are rarely used for good, even when Ari is assured they will only be used for good or “just in case.”
Mary and Francis have been engaged for so long that, although they know they’ll have to get married and rule France eventually, it feels like something far off in the future. Although it’s an arranged marriage, Francis is head-over-heels in love with Mary, but he doesn’t think she loves him back. She totally does, though, it just takes her longer to figure that out.
When the king announces it’s finally time for his son to get married, things happen very quickly and suddenly they’re married. Then the king dies during a jousting match and suddenly they are king and queen of France.
Since she’s still a teenager, Mary relies heavily on her French uncles, who she insists only have her best interests at heart. But what if her best interests just happen to coincide with them getting a whole lot of power by combining France and Scotland into one country, then invading England, dethroning Cousin Elizabeth, and creating an empire? Just as an example.
Also it turns out her uncles have managed to get one of Mary’s ladies in waiting to spy on Mary for them. Mary is used to traitors, but this is one of her oldest and best friends and this betrayal hurts.
When one of Mary’s other ladies in waiting goes missing and she suspects her uncles of being involved, she takes advantage of an invitation to visit their manor so she can snoop around. Not only does she find her missing lady in waiting, still in her bird form, but she finds a whole roomful of other Eðians in their animal forms. They release all of them and nurse the starving lady in waiting back to health.
Then Mary heads to Scotland to talk with her mom one-on-one, only to find out that her mom is dead and her half brother has been acting as regent. Mary also faces off with John Knox to try to get him to see that Verities and Eðians aren’t all that different. Of course she’d be able to silence his objections to her being a Verity if she could just turn into a mouse in front of him, but that would put a target on her back from the Verities, so she sticks to logic. She still does pretty well, but not well enough to overcome his intolerance.
Meanwhile, back in France, Francis is miserable because he never wanted to be king. Without Mary, Catherine has taken over as co-ruler, which means she’s overruling everything he says and making his life miserable. When he finally tries to stand up to her, she has Ari create a potion that could turn anyone into an animal, regardless of whether they’re a Verity or Eðian. She convinces Ari this potion will only be used to protect Mary and Francis, but of course she uses it to turn Francis into a frog. Then she gives Ari some money and orders her to disappear with Francis while she tells everyone he’s dead, puts his younger brother on the throne, and rules as regent.
Eventually, Francis figures out how to shape shift at will. Rather than confronting his mother right away, he heads to Scotland to get his wife back. Just in time, too, because she thinks he’s dead and she’s about to marry her cousin to secure her place on the Scottish throne.
As with the other books by these authors, there are a lot of references to The Princess Bride. I think there was even a reference that came from the book, rather than the movie, which I think is a first for this trio. Maybe by book 4 they were starting to run out of references from the movie. Which makes me wonder if these references came up naturally, or if they had to find ways to make them fit the story.
Either way, I loved listening to this audiobook and can’t wait to read the next one in the series!