Victoria - Daisy Goodwin

Victoria by Daisy Goodwin
Genre:  Historical Fiction; Royalty
Pages:  352
Publishing Date:  November 22, 2016

Synopsis from Goodreads:
In 1837, less than a month after her eighteenth birthday, Alexandrina Victoria – sheltered, small in stature, and female – became Queen of Great Britain and Ireland. Many thought it was preposterous: Alexandrina — Drina to her family — had always been tightly controlled by her mother and her household, and was surely too unprepossessing to hold the throne. Yet from the moment William IV died, the young Queen startled everyone: abandoning her hated first name in favor of Victoria; insisting, for the first time in her life, on sleeping in a room apart from her mother; resolute about meeting with her ministers alone.

One of those ministers, Lord Melbourne, became Victoria’s private secretary. Perhaps he might have become more than that, except everyone argued she was destined to marry her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. But Victoria had met Albert as a child and found him stiff and critical: surely the last man she would want for a husband.


My Thoughts:

I received an email about this book from NetGalley.  The cover was gorgeous, and I pretty much love anything to do with royalty – historical, contemporary, whatever.  The fact that the author has also written the screenplay for the PBS series coming January 2017…well, that’s just a bonus.

Despite living in England for a few of my middle grade years, I don’t have as strong a grasp on British history as I would like.  And I went into this book not knowing a lot about Queen Victoria…although I could picture the older her in my head.  So I didn’t have a lot of historical expectations in my head.  Just story expectations.  Daisy Goodwin did not disappoint. 

She can tell a great story.  I was drawn in from page one.  This book was infinitely readable.  I read it on my Kindle as we were traveling over the holidays.  I’ve started feeling carsick when reading on a device in the car.  But that didn’t matter.  I read this book straight through the nausea and headache. 

Goodwin paints young Victoria as an impetuous, headstrong girl.  Which is completely understandable giving her cloistered upbringing.  This book covers Queen Victoria’s 18^th and 19^th years.  Her learning of her position and role in the British government; navigating social expectations and hierarchy; and, really, still becoming herself.  Those figures around her were also interesting and complex.

I think the story covered these years of Victoria in adequate detail.  It didn’t bog down yet also didn’t go so quickly I ever felt lost. 

It is said that Goodwin pulled from Victoria’s own diaries for some of her material.  As I said before, I’m not a history expert.  So if there are historical discrepancies, I didn’t catch them.  But it seemed as if the author’s research was more than adequate to me.

A great read, and I’m looking forward to the coming PBS series.  Oh, and I’m going to go add all of Daisy Goodwin’s other books to my To Be Read list.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy.

The Best of Us - Sarah Pekkanen

The Best of Us by Sarah Pekkanen

Genre:  Women’s Fiction

Pages:  335

Publishing Date:  January 1, 2013



Synopsis from Goodreads:

Following a once-in-a-lifetime invitation, a group of old college friends leap at the chance to bring their husbands for a week’s vacation at a private villa in Jamaica to celebrate a former classmates' thirty-fifth birthday.
All four women are desperate for a break and this seems like a perfect opportunity. Tina is drowning under the demands of mothering four young children. Allie needs to escape from the shattering news about an illness that runs in her family. Savannah is carrying the secret of her husband’s infidelity. And, finally, there’s Pauline, who spares no expense to throw her husband an unforgettable birthday celebration, hoping it will gloss over the cracks that have already formed in their new marriage.
The week begins idyllically, filled with languorous days and late nights of drinking and laughter. But as a hurricane approaches the island, turmoil builds, forcing each woman to re-evaluate everything she’s known about the others—and herself.


My Thoughts:
My book club book for November. 

I had read a previous book by Pekkanen (The Best of Me) that I recall enjoying.  So I was looking forward to this read, and the story certainly was engaging. 

This is a book of friendships and secrets and love.  While these friends are away on a dream vacation, both the best and the worst are revealed.  None of the secrets were especially shattering, most were predictable.  Still, the characters were engaging even though there wasn’t a lot of character change through the book.  I related to Tina and her life, although I only have two young kiddos at home. I can understand the all-demanding nature of being at home with them.  So it was nice to see her get a break. 

I will say that Savannah as a character completely annoyed me.  I could have done entirely without her and her drama.  And the fact that her actions never had consequences…annoying as well.

I liked most of the story although there was a scene or two towards the end that I felt was over the top and impractical.  But I definitely kept turning the pages throughout to confirm where it was all going. 

There was a lot of drinking, some swearing, and some sexual innuendo.  All of those things knock the book down a star in my estimation.

However, the characters and fantasy plot made for a fun read overall.