Reviews and Comments

Oh man, this one was kind of intense.

Jules is down on her luck -- laid off from her job, came home to find her boyfriend cheating on her, and now collecting unemployment while sleeping on a friend's couch. Then she gets an opportunity that seems too good to be true. She finds a job as an apartment sitter that pays her an absurd amount of cash to stay in a luxury apartment overlooking Central Park. So what if there are a lot of intrusive questions about her lack of family or anyone else that might come looking for her? And so they have a weird requirement about sleeping in the apartment every night with no visitors allowed? And what's with the interest in her medical history?

But then Jules starts talking to another apartment sitter in the building, and the next day, the girl disappears. Can Jules find out what really happened to her new friend before she suffers a similar fate? Even if you lock every door, you can't stay hidden when an old Gothic building hides lots of other secrets…

I devoured another Riley Sager book in about a day, and I probably would have done the same with this one if work hadn't gotten in the way.

Mia is a high school junior who likes watching true crime documentaries, not the rom-coms her friends pick out on movie night. But then her older sister needs Mia to find a date for her upcoming wedding, so Mia's friends come up with The Meet Cute Project to see which one can find Mia the perfect date. Mia really just wants to focus on her math club and swim team activities, not to mention navigating family relationships when her sister has suddenly turned into a bridezilla. But along the way she learns a few lessons when the perfect wedding date turns into something more.

This was a free read this month on the Riveted by Simon Teen web site. I had a little trouble getting into it at first, but after chapter 4, I was able to keep reading straight until the end. The setting threw me off a bit. This felt like it takes place in a small town but is actually set in Chicago. Other than the references to Lake Michigan views and the Riviera Theater, I didn't get the sense of an urban landscape. But that is a small nitpick.

It's difficult to imagine in the modern television and Internet era that the United States president could suffer a massive stroke and his first lady would act as chief executive to keep the White House running for two years. But that's exactly what Edith Wilson did in the final years of her husband's presidency as a vice president more interested in his paid speaking career stayed away from the executive office.

The author provides a solid background into Woodrow Wilson's courtship of Edith Bolling Galt and the assistance she provided him after their marriage. Before the stroke, Edith functioned as his executive assistant or even as a co-president, receiving access to wartime briefings and discussing the course of action that President Wilson should take. It was an effective preparation for her to become steward of the presidency once her husband was incapacitated.

I did find the structure of this book confusing as chapters alternated between the Edith Wilson "presidency" and past events in the lives of Woodrow and Edith. However, these flashback chapters did provide background for events that happened later, including the pre-stroke indicators suffered by the president.

We all know what happened after Edward, Prince of Wales, met Wallis Simpson. But what about the women that Edward was involved with before Wallis, and what might have been if Edward had chosen one of them? This book gives us a much better understanding of Lady Rosemary Sutherland-Levenson-Gower, Freda Dudley Ward, and Thelma Furness.

One of my own areas of interest is the social work of the daughter and daughters-in-law of King George V and Queen Mary. Princess Mary volunteered as a nurse during WWI, organized a Christmas gift for all the soldiers serving in the war, and served as patron to the Girls Guide. Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon helped care for wounded soldiers at her childhood home, Glamis Castle, before going on to marry the future King George VI. Lady Alice Montagu Douglass Scott promised to dedicate her life to public service after a near drowning at age 14, and got the opportunity when she married Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester. Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, a Romanov descendant, requested that Russian seamstresses be employed to work on her wedding dress and continued to serve the crown after the death of her husband, the Duke of Kent. Even Wallis worked for the Red Cross and promoted infant welfare during Edward's stint as Governor-General of the Bahamas.

Lady Rosemary would have fit in splendidly with this esteemed group. She assisted with her mother's charity work from a young age and was working as a nurse in a field hospital when she first became involved with the Prince of Wales. The fact that she was the daughter of a Scottish aristocrat, like Elizabeth and Alice, would have been an interesting coincidence! (Princess Marina referred to her sisters-in-law, who husbands outranked hers, as "those common Scottish girls.")

Unfortunately, the king vetoed Rosemary as a choice of bride for Edward because of her relations. Her mother was about to divorce her second husband, and her aunt had demanded money or else she would publish love letters written to her by Edward VI. Rosemary would go on to marry a viscount and continue her life of public service until her untimely death in 1930. Edward never again linked to an eligible single woman, as Freda, Thelma, and Wallis were all married women.

Freda also embraced public service, starting The Feathers Association to help the poor and hungry during the Great Depression. During her relationship with the prince, she provided a sounding board for his ideas and provided stability and encouragement. If she had been single, she would have made an excellent consort.

I'm racking my brain trying to think of something positive to say about Thelma Furness, but the only good thing she really did was to introduce Edward to a wittier woman than her, Wallis. But it's interesting to note that during her relationship with Edward, Thelma got on well the Duke and Duchess of Kent and often socialized with them. The same could not be said of her successor.

This was a fascinating biography of three women set up in two parts to show the before and after of their relationships with the Prince of Wales. I also found it to be a quick read.