The Last Debutantes
A Novel
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The Last Debutantes
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Narrated by:
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Ann Marie Gideon
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By:
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Georgie Blalock
About this listen
Fans of The Kennedy Debutante and Next Year in Havana will love Georgie Blalock’s new novel of a world on the cusp of change...set on the eve of World War II in the glittering world of English society and one of the last debutante seasons.
They danced the night away, knowing their world was about to change forever. They were the debutantes of 1939, laughing on the outside, but knowing tragedy - and a war - was just around the corner.
When Valerie de Vere Cole, the niece of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, makes her deep curtsey to the King and Queen of England, she knows she’s part of a world about to end. The daughter of a debt-ridden father and a neglectful mother, Valerie sees firsthand that war is imminent.
Nevertheless, Valerie reinvents herself as a carefree and glittering young society woman, befriending other debutantes from England’s aristocracy as well as the vivacious Eunice Kennedy, daughter of the US Ambassador. Despite her social success, the world’s troubles and Valerie’s fear of loss and loneliness prove impossible to ignore.
How will she navigate her new life when everything in her past has taught her that happiness and stability are as fragile as peace in our time? For the moment she will forget her cares in too much champagne and waltzes. Because very soon, Valerie knows that she must find the inner strength to stand strong and carry on through the challenges of life and love and war.
©2021 Georgie Blalock (P)2021 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 16
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 16
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 16
Cleo Jaffray was an American. A war in Europe had nothing to do with her. She told herself that right up until the man she loved went missing in Poland and Cleo was forced to turn to the only person who might be able to help—her aunt Daisy, the US Minister to Norway. Daisy Harriman has never shied away from a challenge, be it canvassing for women’s suffrage or driving Red Cross ambulances in WWI, so as only the second woman ambassador, she is determined to prove the naysayers wrong and succeed in her post.
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5 out of 5 stars
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History & Great Story Combo
- By Ann on 04-08-25
By: Alix Rickloff
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The Orphan of Cemetery Hill
- By: Hester Fox
- Narrated by: Lauren Ezzo
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 66
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 61
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Story4 out of 5 stars 61
Tabby has a peculiar gift: She can communicate with the recently departed. It makes her special, but it also makes her dangerous. As an orphaned child, she fled with her sister, Alice, from their charlatan aunt Bellefonte, who wanted only to exploit Tabby's gift so she could profit from the recent craze for seances. Now a young woman and tragically separated from Alice, Tabby works with her adopted father, Eli, the kind caretaker of a large Boston cemetery.
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4 out of 5 stars
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It was a good story
- By LYSO129 on 12-13-23
By: Hester Fox
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All the Summers in Between
- By: Brooke Lea Foster
- Narrated by: Emily Ellet
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 24
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 24
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Story3.5 out of 5 stars 24
When wealthy, impulsive summer girl Margot meets hardworking and steady local girl Thea in the summer of 1967, the unlikely pair become fast friends, working alongside one another in a record store and spending every spare moment together. But after an unspeakable incident on one devastating August night, they don’t see one another for ten years…until Margot suddenly reappears in Thea’s life, begging for help and harboring more than one dangerous secret. Thea can’t bring herself to refuse her beloved friend—but she also knows she can’t fully trust her either.
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3 out of 5 stars
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It takes perseverance to finish.
- By KS Parker on 03-10-25
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Lady Flyer
- By: Heather B. Moore
- Narrated by: Nancy Peterson
- Length: 14 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 10
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 10
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Story5 out of 5 stars 10
In the quiet town of Houghton, Michigan, sixteen-year-old Nancy Harkness discovers a passion that ignites her heart in ways she never expected. The arrival of barnstormer pilots brings more than just the thrill of their daring stunts; it brings the promise of adventure. Nancy vows she will be a pilot someday. Years later, as the dark clouds of World War II gather on the horizon, Nancy’s dreams take a new and daring turn. With unwavering determination, she envisions a squadron of female pilots. Yet, her path is far from clear.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent historical book!
- By sherri e. on 09-24-24
By: Heather B. Moore
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Sisters of the Great War
- By: Suzanne Feldman
- Narrated by: Lauren Ezzo
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 58
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 53
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 53
August 1914. While Europe enters a brutal conflict unlike any waged before, the Duncan household in Baltimore, Maryland, is the setting for a different struggle. Ruth and Elise Duncan long to escape the roles that society, and their controlling father, demand they play. Together, the sisters volunteer for the war effort - Ruth as a nurse, Elise as a driver.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Sisters, war, and romance
- By Lindsey Wuest on 12-09-21
By: Suzanne Feldman
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The Other Windsor Girl
- A Novel of Princess Margaret, Royal Rebel
- By: Georgie Blalock
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Gideon
- Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 335
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 288
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 288
Diana, Catherine, Meghan...glamorous Princess Margaret outdid them all. Springing into post-World War II society, and quite naughty and haughty, she lived in a whirlwind of fame and notoriety. Georgie Blalock captures the fascinating, fast-living princess and her “set” as seen through the eyes of one of her ladies-in-waiting.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The Other Windsor Girl
- By Kerri on 11-23-19
By: Georgie Blalock
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The Cookbook Club
- A Novel of Food and Friendship
- By: Beth Harbison
- Narrated by: Orlagh Cassidy
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 365
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 320
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 317
Margo Everson sees the call out for the cookbook club and knows she’s found her people. Recently dumped by her self-absorbed husband, who frankly isn’t much of a loss, she has little to show for her marriage but his "parting gift"—a dilapidated old farm house—and a collection of well-loved cookbooks. Aja Alexander just hopes her newfound friends won’t notice that that every time she looks at food, she gets queasy. It’s hard hiding a pregnancy, especially one she can’t bring herself to share with her wealthy boyfriend and his snooty mother.
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5 out of 5 stars
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An Enjoyable Slice of Life
- By Lindapet2 on 11-09-20
By: Beth Harbison
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Remember Me
- A Novel of the Spanish Civil War
- By: Mario Escobar
- Narrated by: Zach Hoffman
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 103
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 92
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 92
Amid the shadows of war, one family faces an impossible choice that will change their lives forever. From best seller Mario Escobar comes a 20th-century historical novel of sacrifice and resilience inspired by Spain’s famed Children of Morelia and the true events that shaped their lives.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing book
- By Armando Goiz on 03-04-23
By: Mario Escobar
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The Chanel Sisters
- A Novel
- By: Judithe Little
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 822
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 729
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 725
Antoinette and Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel know they’re destined for something better. Abandoned by their family at a young age, they’ve grown up under the guidance of nuns preparing them for simple lives as the wives of tradesmen or shopkeepers. At night, their secret stash of romantic novels and magazine cutouts beneath the floorboards are all they have to keep their dreams of the future alive.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Straining Against Convention
- By Dan Collins on 05-15-21
By: Judithe Little
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The Girl They Left Behind
- By: Roxanne Veletzos
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,985
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,790
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,783
On a freezing night in January 1941, a little Jewish girl is found on the steps of an apartment building in Bucharest. With Romania recently allied with the Nazis, the Jewish population is in grave danger, undergoing increasingly violent persecution. The girl is placed in an orphanage and eventually adopted by a wealthy, childless couple who name her Natalia. As she assimilates into her new life, she all but forgets the parents who were forced to leave her behind. They are even further from her mind when Romania falls under Soviet occupation.
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5 out of 5 stars
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I cried and cried...
- By IamLOVE on 01-23-19
By: Roxanne Veletzos
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The Naturalist's Daughter
- By: Tea Cooper
- Narrated by: Corinne Davies
- Length: 13 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 14
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 14
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Story4 out of 5 stars 14
Rose Winton wants nothing more than to work with her father, eminent naturalist Charles Winton, on his groundbreaking study of the platypus. Not only does she love him with all her heart, but the discoveries they have made could turn the scientific world on its head. When Charles is unable to make the long sea journey to present his findings to the prestigious Royal Society in England, Rose must venture forth in his stead. What she discovers there will change the lives of future generations.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Copper’s best one yet
- By Corrie Coldwell on 08-28-24
By: Tea Cooper
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House on Endless Waters
- A Novel
- By: Emuna Elon
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 485
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 430
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Story4 out of 5 stars 422
Renowned author Yoel Blum reluctantly agrees to visit his birthplace of Amsterdam to promote his books, despite promising his late mother that he would never return to that city. While touring the Jewish Historical Museum with his wife, Yoel stumbles upon footage portraying prewar Dutch Jewry and is astonished to see the youthful face of his beloved mother staring back at him, posing with his father, his older sister…and an infant he doesn’t recognize.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Interesting, worth the listen, but not great.
- By Npleaf on 02-11-20
By: Emuna Elon
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Fatal Inheritance
- A Novel
- By: Rachel Rhys
- Narrated by: Charlotte Hamblin, Roy McMillan
- Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 240
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 209
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 207
London, 1948: Eve Forrester is stuck in a loveless marriage, isolated in her gloomy house, when out of the blue, she receives a letter. A wealthy stranger has left her a mysterious inheritance, but in order to find out more, she must travel to the glittering French Riviera. There, Eve discovers she has been bequeathed an enchanting villa overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, and suddenly, life could not be more glamorous. But while she rubs shoulders with the rich and famous, challengers to her unexplained fortune begin to emerge - challengers who would love to see Eve gone forever.
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4 out of 5 stars
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An enticing story
- By fiction lover on 12-23-19
By: Rachel Rhys
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The Last of the Seven
- A Novel of World War II
- By: Steven Hartov
- Narrated by: Raphael Corkhill
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 62
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 59
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 59
A lone soldier wearing a German uniform stumbles into a British military camp in the North African desert with an incredible story to tell. He is the only survivor of an undercover operation meant to infiltrate a Nazi base, trading on the soldiers’ perfect fluency in German. However, this man is not British-born but instead a German Jew seeking revenge for the deaths of his family back home in Berlin.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Outstanding
- By Bob K. on 10-24-24
By: Steven Hartov
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The Windsor Conspiracy
- A Novel of the Crown, a Conspiracy, and the Duchess of Windsor
- By: Georgie Blalock
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Gideon
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 6
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 5
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 5
American Amelia Montague defied her family five years ago to marry the man she loved, but that decision cost her everything. Disowned by her family, and left a penniless widow after her husband’s death, Amelia becomes her cousin Wallis Simpson’s private secretary in France. With no other prospects available, Amelia has no choice but to succeed, and under their Aunt Bessie’s direction, hopes to have a positive influence on Wallis and the Duke of Windsor. During the next two years, Amelia realizes that not everything with the Windsors is glittering happiness.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Good book felt true to history
- By Catherine Severson on 12-04-24
By: Georgie Blalock
What listeners say about The Last Debutantes
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Susan
- 09-02-22
Frivolous
I kept expecting the story to have some merit., it never happens. The audio performance was good but storyline fell flat.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Allyson D.
- 05-15-24
Enjoyable story
This was an easy listen and I enjoyed it. I loved learning that Valerie and many of the other characters were real people
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Melissa Holden
- 12-17-21
Wonderful characters & great historical references
I really enjoyed this story. The reading made it even more enjoyable.
Well done !
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- HistoryNerd
- 08-09-22
Sophomore Slump?
I greatly enjoyed Ms. Blalock’s “The Other Windsor Girl” and so I was happy to see “The Last Debutantes” pop up in my recommended feed. Sadly, I didn’t find it as enjoyable as the author’s first effort. It wasn’t until the author’s note at the end that I discovered why. While the protagonist Valerie was a real person, very little is known about her, which is unfortunate given the momentous events she must have observed. But it also hinders her character development and the plot line as the author only had a few details and the dates. Being able to invent and embellish the only known details of a historical personage’s life would be a boon for many authors but Ms. Blalock’s narrative suffered as a result. Valerie was not a very compelling heroine. In fact, she could be downright whiny and obsessive. While her origin story was sad, the fear that her supposedly dark secret would be discovered was ridiculous and overwrought. In the end, Valerie was overshadowed by more dynamic and interesting historic figures. There were many times I had to push through this one because the plot was just boring.
I have not given up on Ms. Blalock. Her next book is due out in September and features the Princess Louise, the rebellious daughter of Queen Victoria. Hopefully with a character that is better documented, her third book will be the charm.
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1 person found this helpful