Blog Tour and Book Excerpt for "Nothing Proved"
- DK Marley
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
Book Title: Nothing Proved
Series: Regina
Author: Janet Wertman
Publication Date: May 19, 2025
Publisher: Janet Wertman
Pages: 376
Genre: Historical Fiction
Nothing Proved
by Janet Wertman
Blurb:
Danger lined her path, but destiny led her to glory…
Elizabeth Tudor learned resilience young. Declared illegitimate after the execution of her mother Anne Boleyn, she bore her precarious position with unshakable grace. But upon the death of her father, King Henry VIII, the vulnerable fourteen-year-old must learn to navigate a world of shifting loyalties, power plays, and betrayal.
After narrowly escaping entanglement in Thomas Seymour’s treason, Elizabeth rebuilds her reputation as the perfect Protestant princess – which puts her in mortal danger when her half-sister Mary becomes Queen and imposes Catholicism on a reluctant land. Elizabeth escapes execution, clawing her way from a Tower cell to exoneration. But even a semblance of favor comes with attempts to exclude her from the throne or steal her rights to it through a forced marriage.
Elizabeth must outwit her enemies time and again to prove herself worthy of power. The making of one of history’s most iconic monarchs is a gripping tale of survival, fortune, and triumph.
Buy Links:
Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/bM8Vrk
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Author Bio:
By day, Janet Wertman is a freelance grantwriter for impactful nonprofits. By night, she writes critically acclaimed, character-driven historical fiction – indulging a passion for the Tudor era she had harbored since she was eight years old and her parents let her stay up late to watch The Six Wives of Henry VIII and Elizabeth R.
Her Seymour Saga trilogy (Jane the Quene, The Path to Somerset, The Boy King) took her deep into one of the era’s central families – and now her follow-up Regina series explores Elizabeth’s journey from bastard to icon.
Janet also runs a blog (www.janetwertman.com) where she posts interesting takes on the Tudors and what it’s like to write about them.
Author Links:
Website: https://janetwertman.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janetwertman/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/janetwertman
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Janet-Wertman/author/B01CUSMWFA
Book Excerpt:
March 20, 1549
Elizabeth glanced out the library windows, half to stare into the distance and summon a word for her translation – and half to check whether anything had changed since the messenger’s arrival about a half hour before. His green livery meant he was sent by the Council.
Thank God they had left her Ascham. Elizabeth prayed this message was not taking him away to serve the King. She needed the mental exercise of her lessons for calm as much as she needed physical exercise to dissipate her nervous energy. It terrified her to contemplate her future after all the damage done to her inherently shaky reputation.
From her chair in the corner, Lady Tyrwhitt sniffed and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. The gentlewoman had served three queens without learning decent manners. At least it didn’t distract her: the woman focused on her needlework all day, every day. Someone had once told her she had talent at it, and ever since she had clung to what was likely the only compliment she ever inspired.
Everything that woman did or said irritated Elizabeth. Some women could not put a foot wrong; Lady Tyrwhitt could not put one right.
Elizabeth forced herself to calm down. At least the needlework kept Tyrwhitt occupied enough that she did not try to talk to Elizabeth. Not that Elizabeth would be stupid enough to choose work that lent itself to that. She did translations, wrote poetry, or played her virginals to forestall a conversation that would only annoy them both.
Finally, Elizabeth heard the sound of boots in the hallway, and Robert Tyrwhitt was at her door. “Yes, my lord?” she asked.
“I have news from the Council,” he said.
His voice twanged with mockery. Or was she just imagining it? She said a quick prayer anyway as she steeled herself to receive the message.
“Thomas Seymour met his just end on Tower Hill this morning.”
She kept her face impassive as the day dimmed to grey. In her mind’s eye, she saw the man she would have married, watched him kneel and touch the sides of the block before laying down his head. She saw the executioner, wearing a black leather mask, raise the axe.
Elizabeth forced her attention away from the horror and back to the room, back to her own danger. A danger she had brought upon herself. She should have known better. I will never marry, she had said so many years ago. Where had that wisdom gone?
“They say he was angry and unrepentant,” Tyrwhitt said.
Lady Tyrwhitt stabbed her needle into her cloth. “He was a wicked man who gave his wife many shrewd taunts. The realm is well rid of him.”
Such savagery merited an answer; the news merited a response. Elizabeth could not defend him, but she would not condemn him. “This day died a man of much wit and little judgment,” she said.
Lady Tyrwhitt resumed her sewing. Her husband nodded pensively.
“Is that all?” Elizabeth asked, hoping he would leave. She wanted to hide her face in her translation so her grief would not betray her.
“Your servants are to be released,” Tyrwhitt said. “And my wife and I will be leaving soon. The Council is eager to put this incident in the past, where it belongs.”
Lady Tyrwhitt harumphed, but for once Elizabeth cared nothing for her coarse noises. Thomas Seymour’s execution had ended the bloodlust. They were recalling her gaoler and releasing her servants. Everything would return to what it was before the nightmare began. So why did she still feel sick?
“May they rejoin my household?” Elizabeth’s voice was little more than a croak.
“Kat Ashley should not serve as your governess,” Lady Tyrwhitt said.
Elizabeth’s temper snapped at the woman inserting herself where she did not belong. “It is for the Council to decide, not you,” she said.
“She is not fit to protect you. Because of her, there is a rumor abroad that you are with child by the Admiral. She—”
“With child?” Elizabeth’s words came out as a scream. “That is a vile slander.”
She reined in her outrage: hysteria was not helpful. Summoning all her inherent authority, she kept her voice calm. “How did it come about? How could you, who have been with me, who know the truth, allow it? How—”
“You see how she should not be your governess?” Lady Tyrwhitt said.
“In fact, I am too old for a governess,” Elizabeth said, reminding herself she would soon bear no more of Lady Tyrwhitt’s venom. It was the truth: Kat would be a much better lady-in-waiting than a governess, a better friend than advisor.
“The Council has not yet said they may return,” Tyrwhitt said.
Elizabeth drummed her fingers on the table. She needed to address this. They had acknowledged her innocence; they owed her its full measure. “I shall write again to ask,” she said. “And for a proclamation to clear my name.”
“You can’t stop people from talking.”
“I cannot stop them, but they will stop themselves if they know their gossip to be shameful slander.”
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Thank you so much for hosting Janet Wertman today, with an enticing excerpt from her fascinating new novel, Nothing Proved.
Take care,
Cathie xo
The Coffee Pot Book Club