In the court of King Henry VIII, nothing is free--
and love comes at the highest price of all.
When Kitty Tylney's best friend, Catherine Howard, worms her way into King Henry VIII's heart and brings Kitty to court, she's thrust into a world filled with fabulous gowns, sparkling jewels, and elegant parties. No longer stuck in Cat's shadow, Kitty's now caught between two men--the object of her affection and the object of her desire. But court is also full of secrets, lies, and sordid affairs, and as Kitty witnesses Cat's meteoric rise and fall as queen, she must figure out how to keep being a good friend when the price of telling the truth could literally be her head.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
Gilt
By Angie
I really liked the beginning and ending of Gilt, but for much of the middle portion I was bored and annoyed. It all starts out with Catherine Howard and Katherine "Kitty" Tylney as teenagers pretending to be courtiers. Catherine wants to be queen, and Kitty just wants to be happy and with her friend. Of course, Catherine gets her wish, but it's not at all how she dreamed it would be. Life at court is messy and full of deception and manipulation, but Kitty is beyond loyal to her dearest friend. Although at times it seems like Catherine only keeps her close to make sure her secrets stay just that.I liked how Gilt was from the perspective of Kitty rather than Catherine. I'm sure most of us are familiar with King Henry's string of wives, but what about the people closest to them? Sure, it's dramatize for the sake of fiction, but it's still interesting to learn more about the lesser known people of the time. Despite being best friends all their lives, Catherine does treat Kitty quite poorly and takes advantage of her loyalty. Then when she's queen, she's even worse, since it's now Kitty's duty as her chamberer to do her bidding. I felt awful for Kitty a lot of the time, because she's forced to keep so many secrets which will eventually be her downfall, because she has knowledge of treason. Catherine is definitely one of those love to hate kind of characters.However, I found myself annoyed with both of them in the middle of Gilt. Catherine could best be described as self-centered and boy crazy at the start, but once she's married to Henry, she becomes incessantly whiny. I could not stand her most of the time! On the other hand, Kitty was too goody-goody and perfect. She always does as she's told and goes along with everything, not really forming opinions of her own. She's also really boring until the near the end when all hell breaks loose.The historical aspects of Gilt are highly fascinating and entertaining, but much of the focus is on romance and sex. Failed romance, but still romance. Catherine has Frances, Henry, and Thomas, while Kitty has William and Edmund. Kitty is the sweet virgin girl waiting for Mr. Right, much to Catherine's annoyance. She thinks she's found that in William, but they have a spat, and she catches the eye of Edmund who ends up being a super jerk! Like really, this dude needs to be kicked in the codpiece. Then she might be fixing things with William, but obviously she's arrested for treason and no one will have anything to do with her. Nothing really comes of anything despite being a large focus of the story. I would have at least liked more insight into Catherine's affairs since she was at least interesting.In the end, I liked Gilt, but I didn't love it. This time in history fascinates me, especially the screwed up antics of King Henry VIII, but this account didn't really do it justice. Kitty just wasn't an engaging narrator. She was the closest to the queen, so she was the best choice in that regard, but what about the girls who watched from the sidelines? Maybe Alice would have been a better choice.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
A wonderful Historical Fiction novel
By Book Flame
It's really hard to believe that Gilt was Katherine Longshore's debut novel, the writing was well perfected and you would think she has been doing this for years. Gilt is set during the Tudor Era and Longshore kept the tale of Cat and Kitty very engrossing right to the very end.Gilt is about Kitty Tylney and Cat Howard who also was in real life the fifth wife of King Henry VIII. The story starts off with the two only dreaming of being part of Court life and then thanks to Cat's charming and mischievous ways their dreams become reality. Cat becomes queen and makes her closest friend Kitty one of her chambermaids. And what follows is a whole lot of lies, betrayal, deception and scandal mixed in with beautiful gowns, handsome men, and lavish parties.If you know history you know things don't end to great for the characters in this book I was actually left feeling a little sad and I hate the fact that I got no closure with Kitty's character as far as her love life went. It was all very bittersweet.As far as the characters are concerned I could not stand Cat she was just so vile, spoiled and rotten to everyone around her especially Kitty who already had no backbone when it came to their friendship and allowed Cat to take advantage of her in well...everything. Kitty was loyal to the core to Cat even at times when she should have been selfish and for once thought about her happiness. When it comes down to it Gilt was centered around their friendship. That is what kept me reading. The relationship between the two girls fascinated me while pissing me off at the same time.In the end I loved reading Gilt. Even though I've been reading a lot of paranormal and fantasy books lately my love for historical fiction still remains. I did know some facts about King Henry the VIII wives but thanks to Longshore and her ability to captivate me with this era after reading the novel I researched more about him and his wives and learned a great deal about them. I highly recommend this book it did not disappoint even with a doormat of a character like Kitty I still found myself rooting for her till the very end.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.I had high hopes for this debut, but it was a bit of a disappointment!
By Darlene
I received this audiobook for review from the publisher. I did not receive any compensation for my review, and the views expressed herein are my own.This historical fiction novel by debut author, Katherine Longshore, takes place during the time of the Tudor Era.Kitty Tylney is the best friend or, more appropriately, servant of Catherine Howard (aka "Cat"), who longs to become a member of the nobility. When the opportunity arises that King Henry VIII is looking for a new wife (after the disastrous and short-lived marriage to his fifth wife, Anne of Cleves), he chooses young Cat who is about 30 years his junior.I feel that I am in the minority here when it comes to my opinion on the book. While I do enjoy historical fiction, I have to admit that I found this novel very hard for me to get into. I surmise that my difficulty in enjoying the story stemmed from my inability to connect with the characters. I do not have to like a character to enjoy the story, but a good author should evoke a strong emotion from the reader, whether it be love and adoration or disgust and revulsion! I felt neither but, rather, was "ho-hum" about the story.Cat reminds me of a spoiled, petulant child who always gets her way. She cares nothing for her "friends," and routinely uses them whenever she fancies to get what she wants. She cares more about her looks, material possessions, and station than anything of real importance. I did not care for her character at all. I even had a hard time liking Kitty, who considered herself a friend to Kat but also did not fool herself that she was more than she was: She had nothing and was nothing without Cat. I wanted to like Kitty, I really did, but I had a hard time respecting her choice to become a martyr for Cat. She always put aside her own happiness and felt she was undeserving of anything for herself.The pace of the book was very slow, and I was rather bored for the most part. However, the last third of the tale picked up, and I was happy to see Cat and Kitty get their comeuppance! Overall, I had high hopes for this debut but was disappointed. It is my understanding that there will be additional books in the series, all featuring different people from the Tudor Court. I am really on the fence as to whether I will continue with the series. My love of historical fiction and the time period makes me want to give it another go, but we shall see.Jennifer Ikeda is a new-to-me narrator, and I thought she was very good. I loved her British accent, and I will definitely look for more audiobooks from her. Honestly, if it weren't for her excellent narration, I may not have finished the audiobook. The audiobook was enhanced with instrumental music to introduce different sections of the book, and I felt that the music was a great tie-in to the time period.MY https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrKaJp3zXUcHJM9YenLScfJJXHyr-SFkCldSgWVhVjP_kQMsnh_SnlVLei_cNljY-H6ckI3GBpAOjuWvxe1ymZ3lXeRe_UH1PImTvL5jglnkTK-d-L8Gyh7Q1PolJd-If5T9QZp-rXheo/s1600/rating.png: 2 stars!! Meh, it was just "ok". Thanks to Penguin Audio for the review copy!
