This was an interesting historical look at the royal scandal of Bertie, Prince of Wales, falling in love with an Irish actress, Nellie Cliffden. I hardly knew anything about this period of British history, and it was a good, somewhat fictionalized picture of it. The story showed the desperate background and degradating circumstances that led Nellie to the startling relationship with the prince. It did a good job of making her a sympathetic character, with real affection in the relationship. There was a "villain" who orchestrated their relationship, and later got his comeuppance. The end was sad (as the affair ended abruptly) but in its speculation of what happened to Nellie, had as close to a happy ending as real life could hope for. ( )

The premise for this story was intriguing enough to entice me to request this through the LTER program. Based on general historical facts - including the then Prince of Wales' reputation as a playboy and his time spent in Ireland - O'Connor has written a fictionalized account of how Bertie and Nellie may have met, and their blossoming relationship. The story is peppered with intrigue (courtesy of James, a military officer orchestrating the relationship for personal gain) but I struggled to keep my interest. Part of my struggle with this story dragged in place (got a little too bogged down in some mundane details). It also employs a rather simplistic writing style, possibly gearing this one for more of a YA audience? Not sure, but thinking maybe given the very clean romance scenes (sex only occurs "off stage" with no details provided). Lastly, I started getting tired of the characters. While Bertie's Cambridge friend Charles and Nellie's female companion/assistant Sadie exhibit common sense, I cannot say the same for Bertie or Nellie who are portrayed as being frustratingly oblivious to the ramifications of their relationship, even though it was pointed out to them, multiple times. While I am all for intrigue and nothing makes things more intriguing that a third party manipulating people and events for personal gain, even I had to roll my eyes at the lengths employed by James to pursue his self-serving interests. Lastly, which may only be because I was reading an early reviewer copy, I found the story cascades from settings and points of view with no visible reference points (no extra line spacing, section break, etc) to notify reader of the switch. That makes for a bit of a jarring reading experience.

Overall, an okay story filled with enough general information about the royal family, the Irish Famine and the time period and may appeal to some readers of historical fiction, potentially geared more for a younger teen audience. ( )

I received this book via Early Reviewers Giveaway. I was unable to finish this book, I stopped at 65%. The story was uninteresting and the writing simple; geared to a young adult level more than adult. The characters had no depth and I found the structure of the story confusing, moving between two different periods of time. Unfortunately, this wasn't a book that held my interest. ( )

I am not sure what audience this is geared toward. If it’s for middle adult readers then I would say it’s perfect. If it’s for any other age group I would say the writing style is too immature, which is why I think it's perfect for middle readers. I will give the author the benefit of the doubt in that regard, but I'm not sure, which is why I'm giving it three stars. I wasn't familiar with the story at all so that was interesting. I did not feel particularly attached to the characters, though, and thought they were sort of petulant and spoiled (Another reason I thought it might be a middle reader --it seemed like the concept of being in love for the first time and having your family oppose it, regardless of station, might resonate with younger teens). I was very pleased with the ending. At least with James. With Bertie it seemed a little more moralistic about putting country before himself. So I gave it three stars since I really couldn't figure that out. If it is aimed at that age group I might give it four? I don't know enough about the history to comment on the accuracy.

This ebook was received as an ARC from publisher through the Library Thing Early Reviewers program. All opinions are completely my own. ( )

Bertie, Prince of Wales, has no wish to search for a princess to wed and just wants to enjoy himself away from his parents’ watchful, judgmental eye. Introduced to Nellie Cliffden, a notorious actress and “companion” for hire, he falls in love and is drawn into a double life to keep her with him.

The most interesting part of this novel was the history behind it. Bertie did have a long history of mistresses in his life, particularly actresses. It was easy to feel for the young man, who struggled to live up to the expectations of his parents. However, this sympathy did not extend to the actions of Bertie and Nellie when they embarked on an affair.

It would be easy to point the finger of blame at James, who managed the clients Nellie was “companion” to and introduced the couple. However, Bertie and Nellie chose to ignore the warnings of having an affair that would only lead to scandal. There is blame to share all around, and I can’t say I liked any of these people.

The story is written in a simple manner. I didn’t much care for the jumping back and forth in time. It didn’t add much to the story. All scenes where Bertie and Nellie sleep together are mercifully behind closed door, even though we know what they were doing.

Although not a favorite of mine, I would recommend this to readers looking for a historical read based on true events. I received a copy from Library Things for reviewing purposes. ( )