This was a really good novella following the origins of HMRC. I enjoyed the historical input of a well known time period and characters to introduce the foundation of this series. It was a quick and easy read that reminded me how much I enjoy Juno Dawson's writing style. I am really looking forward to the continuation of this series and hope we don't have too long to wait for the next instalment!

I have read a bunch of Anne Boleyn fantasy retellings and this was definitely one of the best. Focusing not on Anne herself but on one of her ladies in waiting Grace Fairfax, this book is less about witchcraft and more about the relationships between women finding fraternal and romantic love in a world set to control and repress them. And yeah, there's also witchcraft! Which is not only fun but also traversed by social inequality! What else could I ask for!

A prequel novella to the Her Majesty's Coven series this is an interesting take on the history of England and re-imagining of the life of Anne Boleyn and her ladies in waiting. Whilst it doesn't zip along as much as the HMRC books it provides an intriguing alt-history perspective. (Copy received from Netgalley in return for an honest review).

Oh my days, what an absolute joy of a book. I loved HMRC and didn’t think they could be bettered until I read Queen B. It was wonderful to read about the founding and exploits of the Coven in 15th Century Britain and about Grace and Anne and it sets the background brilliantly. The only negative is that I WANT MORE! We definitely need to know more about Elizabeth for starters :)
I cannot wait to read more about Coven history and highly recommend them.

This was an entertaining interlude for those of us eagerly awaiting the third book in the HMRC series. It was great to go back to the origins of the coven and I loved the Tudor setting. The relationship between Anne, Grace and Cecilia was fascinating, although I would have liked a little bit more fleshing out of Cecilia and Grace's interactions. Overall, I enjoyed my time with this one.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I read HMRC before this book, though it could be easily read as a stand alone. I think HMRC sets up the world building and understanding of the witches and their powers that does add another layer to this book though.

With both books I couldn’t stop talking about how clever they are. They take history and rewrite it but it is done flawlessly. I cannot rave enough about them and I’m so excited to finish the series.

I truly enjoyed this book, and would recommend it to anyone!

This novella is a fun prequel to the Her Majesty’s Royal Coven series by Juno Dawson, exploring “what if Anne Boleyn was a witch”. The focus is on other members of the coven before and after Anne’s death, rather than Anne herself. Great for fans of the series and historical fiction.

Great story with all the drama and rounded characters expected from Juno Dawson. Very different setting from other stories in this series but you can see the connecting thread being woven. Can't wait for the next Her Majesty's Coven

I love Juno Dawson's writing and in particular her HMRC series. It was a particular treat, whilst waiting for the next instalment to be given the origin story for the witches. Lively, compelling and fascinating. I loved the blending of the historical and fantasy genres. Smart writing that grips you and doesn't let up. My only sadness was that this was just a novella. I wanted to keep reading.

I will greedily gobble up anything and everything to do with Juno Dawson’s HMRC trilogy, so this novella was very much appreciated by me. Queen B is a prequel novella that adds to the lore of the fantastic world Dawson has crafted in the original series, and packed such a punch in less than 200 pages. Full of witches, subterfuge and sapphic pining, it has everything fans of HMRC could ever ask for, set to a Royal Tudor backdrop. With multiple references to Anne Boleyn and her coven in the OG series, I’m really glad we got to find out more and it was fascinating to see the parallels to the witches in the modern day. It has made me even more excited for Book 3.

Thank you to HarperCollins UK and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC. All opinions are my own.

Queen B. is the prequel to Her Majesty's Royal Coven series. The story is set in the 1500s and revolves around Anne Boleyn and her coven. It was a nice addition to the HMRC series. It was too quick for me and I like to learn more about the whole witchy storyline but I enjoyed it too. I can't wait to read the next installment. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an early copy. I'll post my review closer to the publication date.

Today we want to share a bookreview for Queen B by Juno Dawson!🖤
Queen B is a novella in the Her Majesty's Royal Coven series. It is actually a prequel set in 1536 following around Anne Boleyn.
We follow multiple perspecitives and multiple timings before and after her death as we see her form the coven, get close to the king and end up killed. Which is not a spoiler as the book opens with her death.
I am so in love with this witchy series, while the rest of the series is set in our time, I loved the historical settings and the athmosphere it added to this story.🙌
I dont want to say too much as it is only a novella but if you are on the fence please try this book or the first book in the series. I think you can totally dive into this blind. It is perfect for a witchy evening with tea and candles.🕯

Queen B was an interesting novella about the origin of Her Majesty’s royal coven, showcasing how the coven came to be from the dreams and ambitions of Anne Boleyn and how even after her death her legacy still lived on.

The historical part was actually pretty well done, with a clearly researched background and a general sense of a distant past, and as usual I really loved how Juno Dawson built her fascinating characters and their complex, messy and sometimes heartbreaking relationships.

My only issue with this novella is that it probably would have been way more enjoyable if it was a full-length novel instead: it was an entertaining story but often felt a bit rushed, both in terms of actual action and characters' interactions.

Still, it was a nice addition to the HMRC universe, and I definitely recommend the read to fans of the series.

Take a bow Juno Dawson! A great ending to a great series of books for young adult females! The cliffhangers were nicely resumed and it was good to see how their relationships have continued to grow and develop and having got to know the characters it was nice to be with them again! Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened. Thank you Juno Dawson for dreaming this up and taking it out to the world

So glad to be back in the world of Juno Dawson! A fantastic prequel to HRMC! It was great to see how the world she has built was orginally come about from the Tudor times.

Juno Dawson never fails to amaze me with her books. I loved the first two books of "Her Majesty's Royal Coven" and now
"Queen B" takes us back to the original coven and what intrigues and challanges those brave women had to face. I could
barely put this book down, Juno Dawson has such a remarkeable talent for drawing the reader in immediately, also due to her
fascinating characters.

It’s 1536 and the Queen has been beheaded.
Lady Grace Fairfax, witch, knows that something foul is at play – that someone had betrayed Anne Boleyn and her coven. Wild with the loss of their leader – and her lover, a secret that if spilled could spell Grace’s own end – she will do anything in her power to track down the traitor. But there’s more at stake than revenge: it was one of their own, a witch, that betrayed them, and Grace isn’t the only one looking for her. King Henry VIII has sent witchfinders after them, and they’re organized like they’ve never been before under his new advisor, the impassioned Sir Ambrose Fulke, a cold man blinded by his faith. His cruel reign could mean the end of witchkind itself. If Grace wants to find her revenge and live, she will have to do more than disappear.
She will have to be reborn. Another compulsive read from an author who seems to do no wrong. I absolutely devoured this one… You will want to clear your afternoon to read this one straight through, so riveting are the twists and turns. Recommended

Why oh why was Queen B not 5 times longer. I absolutely adore anything Juno Dawson writes and the HMRC series is a particular favourite of mine. Queen B was a wonderfully magical novella with the same addictive prose as you’d expect but with the new twist of the period backdrop. Truly would read many many more books in the historical setting and cannot wait for whatever comes next for JD.

3.5 stars

QUEEN B is set five hundred years before HER MAJESTY'S ROYAL COVEN and reimagines a world where the accusations of witchcraft levelled at Anne Boleyn were real.

The book is told on two timelines - a chronological one after Anne's death as the coven reacts and tries to protect itself while hunting down the traitor who betrayed Anne, and a series of non-chronological chapters showing Anne's rise to power and her relationship with Grace.

It is an interesting take on the situation and I did like that the focus was on the aftermath not the build up to Anne's death. That's a commonly taken approach so this felt pleasantly different and let the coven dynamics be explored when contending with grief as well (though the "then" chapters let you see the tensions seeded much earlier.)

There are several historical inaccuracies, changing relationships to fit the narrative of a coven hiding in England. Also this book trots out the whole "corsets are oppressive and so rejected by feminists" nonsense (corsets don't exist at this point either - we are only at the very beginning of stays.)

The novella tries to marry the witches into the (effectively still) (Early Modern) Catholic mindset, though it's not always convincing. It feels accurate from the witch hunter's perspective but the women's discussions of it and their approach to balancing the two beliefs felt rather jarring. Margaret de la Pole's brief appearance felt very much like a shoehorn approach to marrying the two.

In all, it was entertaining and different to the rest of the series, but it felt like a bit more care could have gone into the world building.

I loved reading Her Majesty’s Royal Coven so I was very excited to read Queen B, the wickedness, danger and secrets was so compelling and had me gripped.