Review: Tarnish by Katherine Longshore

Author: Katherine Longshore
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Page Count: 448 Pages, Hardcover
Date Published: June 18th 2013
Find it on Goodreads: Tarnish
Source: Purchased

Anne Boleyn is the odd girl out. Newly arrived to the court of King Henry VIII, everything about her seems wrong, from her clothes to her manners to her witty but sharp tongue. So when the dashing poet Thomas Wyatt offers to coach her on how to shine at court--and to convince the whole court they're lovers--she accepts. Before long, Anne's popularity has soared, and even the charismatic and irresistible king takes notice. More than popularity, Anne wants a voice--but she also wants love. What began as a game becomes high stakes as Anne finds herself forced to make an impossible choice between her heart's desire and the chance to make history.

Last year, when Gilt was released, I was reintroduced to my love of historical fiction. As a child, I loved reading historical fiction books and I went through a phase where that's all I really did read. But then as I grew older, I wandered into different sections of the school library and discovered mystery novels and contemporaries and of course, more fantasy other than Harry Potter. But historical books were always something that I loved, even after I stopped reading them all the time. And then I picked up Longshore's masterpiece of a book and fell in love again with the concept of reading a story about someone who lived long ago. Tarnish was the same thing. I adored reading about Anne Boleyn when I was in elementary school... I remember this one series of MG books that I loved and one of the books in the series was on Anne and it was in my top 5 favourites. Anne is such an interesting character to read about and Longshore did a beautiful job of creating a story that kept me captivated the entire time I was reading Tarnish.


Anne was such an intriguing character with her strong personality and a past that haunted her at court. Tarnish was an incredible book that I could not put down, no matter how busy I was. It gave me an urge to study Anne Boleyn more and the other characters in this book. I find the Tudors extremely interesting and this book gave me even more reason to feel that way. I'd highly recommend Longshore's books to anyone who enjoys Historical Fiction or anyone who is interested in trying it out!

Happy reading!
~Kristy