Philippa Gregory (Prolific today, ain't I?)

I finished Philippa Gregory's The Queen's Fool yesterday. I enjoyed it, but not as much as The Other Boleyn Girl.

I found the heroine rather irritating. She loved everybody and it just didn't work for me. She was devoted to Bloody Mary, she admired Elizabeth, she was infatuated by Robert Dudley, her true love was her fiancé. She was on all sides at once.

I guess the particular problem I had was the admiration/love for Elizabeth, who was portrayed in numerous unflattering ways: yet as readers we were expected to accept that her charm swept all before her. By being told it did, rather than shown, (which seems to be a pet hate of mine :D).