Corrie S

This book was okay. 

It was nice to see Thelma Morgan get her own story (I recently watched a documentary about the Windsors during this time period and she wasn't even mentioned) and it was well-written, but for some reason, I didn't quite connect with the characters. I didn't find Thelma all that relatable and found some of her choices and behavior unconvincing. I can imagine that trying to get inside the head of a real person and then write a story around actual events could be difficult, but it just fell flat for me. I was hoping that the book would focus more on her relationship with Wallis and how she was supplanted by her in David's affections, but the book didn't really delve into that. I think one's enjoyment of this book will depend on what you expect to get from it. 

So I've never read Fifty Shades of Grey, but from what I can tell, this book has much more in common with that than Gone Girl. It started off decently enough, with the chapters alternating between Emma and Jane, two women who at different times are occupying the same house. Emma's chapters, however, had absolutely no quotation marks, so you couldn't easily determine what was spoken aloud versus what were just thoughts. I've seen this before in other books and I have no idea why any author thinks this is a good idea. It's irritating. Though in this case, it helped to remember whose story I was reading -- because as the book wore on, Emma and Jane became indistinguishable. Both were annoying, insipid, and clichéd.

Then, about two-thirds of the way through, the book took a left turn into the absurd and from that point on I failed to recognize anyone as even remotely human. This is not how people in the real world behave. I just wanted it to end after that, not really caring about what happened to anyone. Except maybe Slob the kitten.