I quite enjoyed this book, but for me had too many fictional characters and ended to early. Still worth a read though ( )

An engaging and absorbing read about one of recent history's unique women. This is a blend of fact and fiction...I suspect more fiction than fact but not having read anything else on Wallis I can't be sure of such details of events. The author's style is a bit interesting, sometimes sentence structure was odd and details were repeated but the stage was set superbly for this sort of fairy tale...except the fairy tale you are waiting for comes *after* the end of the book! As I was nearing the end I kept thinking the story was going to have to end abruptly to get all the details in...only in the last pages did I realize there will be another book to follow! That one I will most surely want to read as well. This is set on one of my most favorite time periods for historical fiction and is detailed quite well with layered stories and details that keep you firmly in the right time and place. ( )

I must admit that before I read The Shadow Queen, I didn’t know much about Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor.

Before I read this novel, Wallis’s life seemed like a fairy tale. A king abdicated his throne to marry her, and she was a socialite from the late 1910s through her death in 1986. However, Wallis not just another silver-spoon. She was driven, ambitious, intellectual, and witty.

Her maiden name was Warfield, a prominent Baltimore family, and although she and her widowed mother were destitute, they relied on the support of her deceased father’s family and lived with relatives.

At school, she would have voted most likely to succeed. The book chronicles her life from birth up until Prince Edward, who was about to become King Edward VIII. It goes into detail about her life as a child, a teenager, the devastating first love who betrayed her, a young woman, and both of her marriages. Throughout the story, Edward is present, having become the fascination of a young friend, and many times, Wallis was either near him or in his company.

Two things fascinated me the most. First, that she was homely, with a square jaw and flat-chested. She was tall and angular. A women who gets around as much as Wallis did usually does not fall in the ugly category. Second, was her sexuality. Although she appeared normal, she was unable to have normal intercourse. Recent research suggests that she was born with a Disorder of Sexual Development, or intersexuality. Fortunately, the novel doesn’t linger on this aspect, but it runs subtly throughout.

I give this novel 5 out of 5 stars. ( )

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. ( )

Read this for my book group. A historical fiction based on the early life of Wallis Simpson up to the point that she meets Prince Edward. WOuld love to see the author make the sequel to this book picking up where she left off to her death. ( )