Lucy Worsley

'You are my sister now, ' Victoria said, quietly and solemnly. 'Never forget it. I love you like a sister, and you are my only friend in all the world.' Miss V. Conroy is good at keeping secrets. She likes to sit as quiet as a mouse, neat and discreet. But when her father sends her to Kensington Palace to become the companion to Princess Victoria, Miss V soon finds that she can no longer remain in the shadows. Miss V's father has devised a strict set of rules for the young princess, which he calls the Kensington System. It governs her behaviour and keeps her locked away from the world. He says it is for the princess's safety, but Victoria herself is convinced that it is to keep her lonely, and unhappy. Torn between loyalty to her father and her growing friendship with the wilful and passionate Victoria, Miss V has a decision to make: to continue in silence, or to speak out. By turns thrilling, dramatic and touching, this is the story of Queen Victoria's childhood as you've never heard it before.

My Name Is Victoria

Miss V. Conroy is good at keeping secrets. But when her father sends her to Kensington Palace to become the companion to Princess Victoria, Miss V soon finds that she can no longer remain in the shadows. In an engaging, immersive tale, Worsley spins one of England's best-known periods into a fresh and surprising story.

Wren Hardwick

Thank you to NetGallery for providing me an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

Two girls named Victoria. One is the princess and is held under the thumb of Sir John Conroy, and the other is the companion of the princess placed there by her father to keep an eye on the princess. With the strict living arrangement, the girls find comfort in each other even though they are not completely satisfied with their lives.

I first want to state that this book comes out (again?) on 05/08 and if you like historical fiction books, this book will probably be right up your alley! I like some historical fiction, like The Infernal Devices, The Dark Days Club, and some others but I am not someone who goes out looking for historical fiction. I say that because I want you to go into my review knowing that I am not a big H-Fiction fan and this was written by someone who just thinks they are okay and not the best thing to happen to man-kind.

So, anyway, this book was dragging for me. I am not sure if it was because there wasn’t a lot of action and that the plot was lacking some for me, but for some reason I found myself enjoying it enough to keep going, but had to force myself to pick it up each time instead of reading one of my other books. I take complete blame for that though. I went into this book knowing it wasn’t going to have huge fight scenes and such, but for some reason I was still waiting for them. 

The characters weren’t very three-dimensional, but felt as if they had a lot of potential to be so. I found myself caring for the girls and hoping things would turn around for them, but it was more of how an acquaintance feels for someone, and not how a friend would feel, if that makes sense to anyone but me.

I believe this is based off of real-historical events and settings. I’m not a huge history-buff, so I know very little about Queen/Princess Victoria and what all happened during her life. This was very enlightening on what could have happened though. The author, of course, has creative liberties and might have changed a few things, but I believe she tried to stick to the main story as much as she could. 

To conclude, I think if I was a bigger fan of historical fiction, I would have enjoyed it more. So I will give this an even three star rating to show how on the fence I am about it.

Erin 

Despite the fact that I studied history in university and have a keen personal interest in royalty, I know very little about the reign of Queen Victoria. I knew she grew up isolated, and because of this was likely unprepared for what ruling would consist of. I knew about the Kensington system, and how she was so far down the line of succession it is almost comical that she made it to the throne at all. But that's about how much I knew, in a nutshell.

I have to admit, this book didn't seem all that special at first, The writing was okay, but nothing phenomenal. It promised an interesting story though, so I stuck with it. I got super frustrated with a lot of the characters rather quickly however. Miss V. Conroy seemed so daft, and every time she got frustrated with Victoria for not understanding that Sir Conroy and the Duchess of Kent had everyone's best interests at heart, I wanted to shake her by her shoulders. But, I have an entirely different perspective, one that is a) over 150 years later, and b) not that of an easily manipulated child. But I also got upset that Victoria was not all the princess I had made her out to be in my head. She seemed boring and ungrateful and hateful and I could never tell if she even wanted to be friends with Miss V. Conroy in the first place. I had to remind myself that this is only a story, and only one person's interpretation of what may (or may not have) happened.

The best part of this book is definitely the twist at the end, hands down. I found myself getting frustrated with the author, who was having Miss V. Conroy fall in love with Albert instead of the princess. What is the point of having these two characters be perfect for each other, only to rip them away from each other because we are bound to the laws of history? In another way, it also was simultaneously intriguing because I couldn't figure out where the story was going from there. In the end, the twist of having the two girls switch places made absolute perfect sense. Miss V. Conroy was way more regal than Victoria ever was, with the addition of actually wanting to be in the position, and having fallen in love with the man set aside for the princess to boot! In the end, it made the rest of the mediocre book make sense - everything that I had a problem with funneled nicely into the story of having the much more suited Victoria take her place on the throne. And it makes the book worthwhile, because as I mentioned, it wasn't really anything special before then. I'm still not sure I would consider this a good book, however, but definitely decent, if only because it dared to present a solution to a dilemma that veers away from historical precedent. It's unique because of its twisted story line, but not necessarily because the writing offers a special experience. Nevertheless, it would probably do for a reader that isn't too bothered by fantastic writing, but yearns for an simple, enjoyable read. I certainly don't regret picking it up.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Ellen Ivey

'You are my sister now,' Victoria said, quietly and solemnly. 'Never forget it. I love you like a sister, and you are my only friend in all the world.'Miss V. Conroy is good at keeping secrets. She likes to sit as quiet as a mouse, neat and discreet. But when her father sends her to Kensington Palace to become the companion to Princess Victoria, Miss V soon finds that she can no longer remain in the shadows. Miss V's father has devised a strict set of rules for the young princess, which he calls the Kensington System. It governs her behaviour and keeps her locked away from the world. He says it is for the princess's safety, but Victoria herself is convinced that it is to keep her lonely, and unhappy.Torn between loyalty to her father and her growing friendship with the wilful and passionate Victoria, Miss V has a decision to make: to continue in silence, or to speak out. By turns thrilling, dramatic and touching, this is the story of Queen Victoria's childhood as you've never heard it before.

My Name Is Victoria

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