I was thrilled to be asked to review this book, about a month or so ago.

Anyone who reads my blog / my reviews regularly, know I love British royality, but that I'm mainly into the Tudors - and I was obsessed with the Tudors before it became cool to do so. I had a friend growing up who was obsessed - still is - with British royality, and I guess more than a little of that rubbed off on me.

So I'm the first one to admit, other than the very basics - king gives up thrown to marry divorced woman for love, I know nothing of Wallis Simpson. I think like most people who hear of Edward & Wallis' story, we think of it as a glamorous love story, for the modern age. And this book tells the tale of Wallis life, & what shaped her personality, before she met Edward & became known to history.

Wallis is shallow, vain, a know it all, and it's very hard to like her - but I find myself liking her & rooting for her all the same. She's obsessed with getting married & becoming rich, & is completely blind to the faults of the people around her or the men she's about to marry - hmm, she seems a lot like us, doesn't she? She's not a nice person, but something about her makes you like her all the same, & I greatly enjoyed the book from cover to cover.

My only real negative about the book - after I finished, I read the author's note at the back of the book like I always do, only to find out two of the main characters Wallis interacts with throughout the book, are completely made up. It's a historical fiction book, so of course you know things are made up, simplified, etc., but I was really rather upset to see two main characters be completely imaginary. I would have really liked to have seen the author write the book a little different, but that's just me.

I received a copy of this book for free for my review, but the opinions expressed are my own.