The Queen's Secret: A Novel of England's World War II Queen

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P.S. Highly recommend a parallel story about Winston Churchill’s wife – Lady Clementine by Marie Benedict. Also the concluding message of the story with this secret and others is...keep secrets from your husband. So that was disappointing on top of a million disappointments.

The whole story of Edward abdicating the throne and being removed from his Royal duties creates a lot of interest. Were all fascinated by the Royal family and it has to be one of the most famous families in the world. Queen Elizabeth was the matriarch of her family, she supported her husband during WW II, when he died she supported her daughter Elizabeth when she became the Queen of England. Karen Harper uses theories regarding the queen mother’s parentage and her relationship with her husband Bertie in her latest book and some of story seemed a little farfetched to me?What did I just read? I thought the first book was okay.But this book was really bad.The story dragged till the end and the ending was so underwhelming.First book had a plot and character development even though it was slow.But this book ruined it. Shadow/Lilac had a purpose in the first book. But here she has nothing, literally NOTHING to do other than worry about producing an heir while pining for Cal. I thought Cal and Lilac were good in the first book but here both were so annoying being jealous and arguing all the time.Whatever danger/mystery they had was solved just like that in the last moments with lazy writing.And when we talk about lazy writing how can we not mention Hansen.What was he doing in the whole book? And Hansen and Rhema? Seriously? Was it REALLY necessary for them to end up like that without any development? I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. My thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins.

So, despite the oversaturation of world war II novels, which I’ve been avoiding for a long while now, I decided to give this book a try. AND besides all of these ridiculously stupid plot points, NOTHING ELSE HAPPENS. It's the most boring WW2 book I've read since All the Light We Cannot See. The writing was the equivalent of speaking in a monotone, there was no emotion. I ended up skimming lots of it because it just did not hold my interest. In compliance with FTC guidelines------I received this book free from a Goodreads Giveaway in exchange for an honest review. The content of this review is not influenced by that fact. The feelings expressed are solely mine. I sincerely appreciate the chance to read and review this book. Elizabeth, our "Queen Mum" has always been a figure of great interest to me. I was aware of how profoundly loved she was by her subjects in the UK. And, I was drawn to the twinkle in her eye and her obvious high spirits. So, I looked forward to reading Karen Harper's historical novel about her life with the King during WW2.So the "big secret" revealed in chapter 1 is that Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon was the offspring of her father and the family's French cook. Here are the real life facts presented as proof this ridiculous theory: 1) Her middle name is Marguerite, the name of the supposed cook. (I mean is it possible they just liked this name?) 2) The family referred to her and her younger brother as "the Benjamins." According to the story (and I discovered that this came directly from the ridiculous The Queen Mother book, solidifying my belief that Karen Harper did absolutely no research) biblical Benjamin was the son of Israel and his wife Rachel's handmaid. Ha, so there's the alleged proof that Elizabeth and David were the product of a similar union. But a very very simple glimpse inside the Bible would show that Benjamin was actually the son of Israel and Rachel. His wife. I don't know the real reason they were called "the Benjamins" but I'd practically guarantee they were called "the Benjamins" because they were a good bit younger than the rest of their siblings, because that's the actual truth of Benjamin in the Bible. A smidge of Biblical knowledge blows the whole theory out the water. I loved ‘The King’s Speech’, but Elizabeth’s personal life is not the focus of that story. I also enjoy ‘The Crown’ on Netflix, but once again, the Queen Mother’s personal life is not the primary focus of that series, either. I’m also not really a ‘royal watcher’, despite my recent interest in the history of the monarchy.

The way the snippets of her childhood or past or legend of monster of Glamis are injected into the story shows a very well-thought-through writing.That's about as much as I can dredge up in ways of something positive. If you did not enjoy the characters of the first book, I can assure you that they do not get any better. Cal and Shadow spend the entirety of the book pining after each other to no avail. I think they have one conversation. When they are not thinking about each other, they are literally just not thinking. Seriously. Their internal monologue can be reduced down to "Ooh, I wonder if I can see Cal/Shadow, and ooh, I wonder if I can get Cal/Shadow to be jealous, and ooh, I wonder if I can just get Cal/Shadow alone for a moment."

Elizabeth is appointed commandant-in-chief of the women’s services. Now, just the beginning of the war, the exhaustion is already touching her from all the public visits, inspecting preparedness for war. This story is about the Queen Elizabeth II's mother, who for the time period when this novel takes place was married to the king and therefore she was a queen. Slightly confusing and since they are both characters in the book, I'm just going to refer to the older Elizabeth as the Queen Mother because that's what people called her for the remainder of her life after her husband died. This story takes place during World War 2 and one of the things the author does well is show how the queen was involved in many of the meetings that took place between her husband, the king, and other government officials. Often, when her husband was unavailable, she took his place at the briefings. The story also provides a nice look at what was going on in England during the war. Unfortunately there isn't a good flow to the story. You get some interesting facts but if I was going to describe the overall story I would use the word dull. This book piqued my curiosity because it was about the Queen Mother, a member of the royal family I don’t know much about. She is supportive in her husband’s political decisions and is one of his closest advisors, often looking over his speeches.Her books for adults include the novel Cat’s Meow, the anthology Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys and the tongue-in-chic handbooks How to Become Famous in Two Weeks or Less and The Fashionista Files: Adventures in Four-inch heels and Faux-Pas. We learn of Elizabeth’s early life and how she met the kings brother David. Bertie proposed to Elizabeth three times before she accepted his proposal. We learn why, but why didn’t she tell Bertie her most dreadful secret? Despite being called the most dangerous woman in Europe, she has a soft side. She is a caring mother to her children and a caring queen to her people in trying times when good word or warm smile can mean so much. She has her weaknesses and struggles as well. She feels miserable as a wife, at least at times, and its cause is rooted in the past event. – This cause gets repeated quite a lot, especially in the second part of the book. It could be curbed a bit.