New to Dawson's writing, I enjoyed this novella which swept along reimagining witch, Ann Boleyn's rise to Queen. Ann's fellow Witches' loyalty to each other is tested through this twisty turny plot. A quick, fun read about sisterhood, empowerment, love and tenderness between women and navigating a patriarchal society in Tudor Britain.

Sad this wasn’t a bit longer!! I really loved it and the cover is iconic!! Love juno dawson. Can’t wait for what’s next.

This was a lovely novel on love, sisterhood and feminism full of tenderness and understanding. The use of language was perfect for setting the mood. I enjoyed every last bit of it.

Another AMAZING book from Dawson - this book took us back in time to see the creation of HMRC - it was amazing. I loved getting to see how Anne acted amongst witches and the story just swept me away, I could easily have read a full novel based in the tudor court with witches about. I am even more excited for the next book in the HMRC series!

Finished this delightful novella today: it’s a great companion story to Juno Dawson’s Her Majesty’s Royal Coven stories and it focuses on a witchy Anne Boleyn and her coven as they scrabble for leverage within the monarchy whilst also evading the era’s pesky witch finders. Had a lot of fun reading this short, sweet and fiery book, would recommend if you like the HMRC series and/or like your fiction on the witchier side 🧙‍♀️ 🧹 🐈‍⬛


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A fun novella from Juno Dawson, taking us back to Anne Boleyn and the start of the coven. The plot was gripping and I enjoyed the story, although it didn’t really cover the founding of HMRC, which is what I thought it would be about. You could definitely read this one without having read the others and not miss out.

Oh wow! Another book (short novella) to add to the series Her Majestys Royal Coven by the extremely talented author Juno Dawson. I absolutely loved it and I’m now starting the series again!

What an excellent novella to add to the series. I absolutely adore Tudor history and this was such a fun twist on a beloved queen. The writing was beautiful as always

Queen B will enchant you and trap you in her spell.

Another great instalment of Her Majestys Royal Coven by the super writer Juno Dawson. My teen granddaughter loved this series so she read it with me. There are not enough superlatives to say how much she loves it. Personally I just thought it was well written and great entertainment.

trigger warning
<spoiler> grief, misogyny, internalised homophobia, trauma, being held captive, being poisoned, fire </spoiler>

The Queen is dead, long live the Queen!
Anne Boleyn has been beheaded. The accusation: Witchcraft. Now, her coven is reeling, trying to come to grips with what happened and trying to find out why she was betrayed. Who betrayed her is clear.

So we have a bunch of real people who inspired a fantasy novella set in the world of the Her Majesties Royal Coven series. I am no scholar who is versed in Tudor England, so you'll have to look elsewhere for an analysis of which facts were mangled, which represented fairly, how accurate the depition of life is. I am afraid I can't even name all the women who were married to Henry VIII at one time or another.

The writing is familiar, and we have queer people here as usual and it is interesting to see them explore their queerness in such a restrictive setting. Not only do they have to deal with their internalised prejudices, but also have to remain cautious at all times because even being suspected of not being hetero can bring you into dire circumstances.
But somehow I got the feeling that I prefer the author's writing in a modern setting, where there is more variety to themes that can be introduced, characters and settings that can be explored.

While I like to have this story in my brain now, I don't think you need to read this. You could just stick to the main novels and I'd only recommend this one to people who are very into reading stories set at that time and place, or who are very completionists about their reading.

The arc was provided by the publisher.

3.5 stars

After book 2 of HMRC left us on a cliffhanger, Juno Dawson is making us wait even longer by taking us back in time 500 years to where it all began. Anne Boleyn, witch.

This isn't necessarily an origin story for Her Majesty's Royal Coven, it's almost a pre-prequel and it feels like I've read the start of a new series, which makes me believe there may be at least one more book set in this century that shows how HMRC actually came to be. An origin story is what I wanted, and to be honest I think this should have been a full length book that continued after the ending. Because it's so short, there is not enough time for the plot to simmer so things happen very quickly and it feels like Act 1 of a longer book.

That's not to say I didn't enjoy it! I do like Juno's writing style and her characters are always fun to read. But nothing happens here that is not explained in the blurb. In terms of the actual plot, you could pretty much just skip this and read the blurb.

I enjoyed revisiting this world and the book was an entertaining and feminist reimagining of the life and death of Anne Boleyn, I just question why this book exists at this length and would have much preferred to see a longer version of this

I absolutely adored Queen B, the spellbinding prequel to the Her Majesty’s Royal Coven trilogy by Juno Dawson. As a huge fan of the series, I couldn't contain my excitement for a story centred around the intriguing figure of Anne Boleyn, it is pure genius!!

Lady Grace Fairfax, a member of Anne's coven, takes us on a thrilling journey through the treacherous Tudor court, filled with betrayal and revenge. The seamless blend of historical facts with fiction kept me on the edge of my seat, especially as we witness Anne's rise and tragic fall through Grace's eyes.

This novella not only provides a fresh perspective on real events but also showcases the importance of sisterhood within the coven, a theme that resonates throughout the HMRC trilogy. From Anne's beheading to the witchfinders hunting them down, the stakes are high as Grace seeks to uncover the traitor among them. There some iconic moments, like when Grace takes full control of her fire element. With King Henry VIII's witchfinder on their trail, Grace must rise from the ashes (wink) and fight for survival in a world where witchkind is facing extinction.

Queen B is a must-read, I could so easily see this as a TV series! I'm so hungry for the next instalment.

Thanks to Netgalley and HarperVoyager for the arc.

I loved HMRC Books 1 and 2, so I was eagerly anticipating this prequel, and it did not disappoint! Set during the reign of Henry VIII, notorious for executing several of his many wives, the story revolves around the iconic Anne Boleyn. In this reimagining, she is portrayed as a witch determined to bring her people to power. The narrative is rich with conspiracy, ambition, and betrayal, making Queen B a compelling feminist and sapphic novel. It was fascinating to witness the early stages of the creation of Her Majesty's Royal Coven and how they were already shaping the modern world. Juno Dawson excels at crafting complex and endearing characters, particularly her portrayal of strong women.

Prequel novella in the HMRC series. Interesting move from current day urban witch fantasy fiction back to 1536. Juno Dawson uses the history around King Henry VIII and his wives as the setting for the original formation of Her Majesty’s Royal Coven. She has very cleverly integrated actual fact to her fictional (well who really knows) story. Thank you to Harper Collins UK, HarperFiction and NetGalley for the ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.

In the prequel to Her Majesty’s Royal Coven, we begin with the events immediately after Anne Boleyn’s execution. We follow Grace, Anne’s friend and lover, moving between the days after and the days before the execution, as she and the coven try to judge the state of the court in the days of a new queen.

Queen B tells the story of how the coven formed, and how the coven needed to stand together as they discover the true reason for Anne’s execution, meet a witch hunter, and enact revenge on a traitor.

I’m a big fan of HMRC and the sequel, Shadow Cabinet, and Queen B allowed us an insight into the beginnings of the coven, however I didn’t enjoy it as much as the others in the series. HMRC and Shadow Cabinet follow a group of witches that were friends growing up. They have an air of lightness and humour surrounding them, having grown up with each other. They know each other, they have history and inside jokes. Although the story has a lot of moments of drama and tension, a dilemma that needs to be solved, we still have these light moments to draw us out of the darkness.

Queen B doesn’t have this in the same way. It is a novella, only 161 pages, and in those pages, it seems like it’s revenge and tension and mistrust and betrayal. The women didn’t grow up together, they are in Tudor court surrounded by people that don’t say what they mean and the deep historical misogyny. There were moments of kindness between Grace and Anne, but besides that very little in the way of relieving any tension brought on by the plot.

I might have gone into this expecting a novel and not a novella thanks to GR lying to me and saying it was 400 pages long?!? So, this may be the reason why I didn't wholly love this, especially after loving the first book in the series. This novella throws us back to a time when the Coven was simply a vision, a wish in the minds of the Witches of Court. Told in alternating POV's and flashbacks, it shows how Her Majesty's Royal Coven came about through Anne Boleyn's rise to power and the fallout of her beheading. It's a story that shows the beauty of love, but also the danger of loving blindly and, although I did enjoy the story, I didn't love it.

The story is told from two POV's, both Ladies in waiting for Henry VIII's Queens; Lady Grace Fairfax, a newer member of the Court, someone who was sent there by her husband, but saw it more as an escape. A witch who has been told to hide her power or risk her life, when she gets first invited into Anne's coven she finds herself quickly seduced, by both the freeing feeling of being able to use her magic and by Anne herself. And, Cecilia De La Torre, a second witch and member of the coven, and the person who ends up taking the blame for the Queen being beheaded. We spend significantly more time with Grace, but neither character really stood out to me, neither the two POV's, nor the side characters were distinctive enough in voice or actions for me to easily differentiate between them, so I was constantly confused as to who was who.

I think this all just felt a little rushed for me. The story starts in the aftermath of Anne's beheading and then flits between past events, and the aftermath. This might have worked better in a full novel, allowing us time to bond and empathise with the characters, but it just made the 'present' events feel too rushed. I didn't feel like we got enough time with our characters to really get to know them, their motives, wants and needs. Maybe if you knew more about the politics at the time, the members of the Court, it might have been a bit more enjoyable, but the story felt too hurried, every plot point too propulsive, and because of that I never really got into the story.

It wasn't bad. It just didn't grip me in the way I expected. I do think this would have worked so much better as a full novel, but I am hoping that we get one featuring Elizabeth's reign with her being the first Queen for the Coven. It's a fun addition to the 'universe' that Dawson has created, but I don't really feel it added anything important to it.

Queen B has been one of my most anticipated reads of the year, so to get a review copy felt like Christmas! Luckily, this lived up to the expectations I had.

The characters and the way they interact make perfect sense - a rarity in books about this time period even when authors have triple to room to manage it - and the way these women see the world, work through it and try to find some freedom to love, influence the world and have a meaningful place in it is brilliant.

The explanation offered up here for the execution of Anne Boleyn is honestly one of the more believeable I've read 🤣 it makes sense - for these characters and in this world, and I will happily adopt this alternate historical explanation as pure fact.

I was hoping to see more of the setting up and early days of HMRC. We see the beginnings of organisation into what will eventually become Anne's legacy to witchkind at the end of the book and so I hope that we get to see further historical books from this world out of Juno - Elizabeth as High Priestess book 2? The early HMRC vs King James and the Pendle Witch Trials book 3? Please, keep them coming!

The origin story I needed. I absolutely loved the Tudor setting and the peril created by the witchfinders. Despite being short this story packs a punch and is full to the brim with emotion and drama. I loved the portrayal of women, it’s a feminist celebration. Overall a great edition to the series. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC. This is a voluntary review of my own thoughts.

I have loves the other books in this series and I really enjoyed this one, it wasn't as good hut it wad still a solid, fun read that I got through really fast I am so excited for the next book in this series to come around !!

I absolutely loved this prequel to HMRC.

I think this book was the perfect length, a lovely short read, giving us insight to life before HMRC.

Plus a sapphic love story??? And it involves Anne Boleyn

This is book 0.5 and is set in the Tudor times and effectively, we see how some of Henry’s wives were in fact witches.

Also there were so many betrayals in this book.

A heads up to any readers whom it may upset, there is mention of miscarriage