American Princess by Stephanie Marie Thorton – 448 pages
ARC from Berkley Books in exchange for an honest review
Book Blurb:
Alice may be the president’s daughter, but she’s nobody’s darling. As bold as her signature color Alice Blue, the gum-chewing, cigarette-smoking, poker-playing First Daughter discovers that the only way for a woman to stand out in Washington is to make waves–oceans of them. With the canny sophistication of the savviest politician on the Hill, Alice uses her celebrity to her advantage, testing the limits of her power and the seductive thrill of political entanglements. But Washington, DC is rife with heartaches and betrayals, and when Alice falls hard for a smooth-talking congressman it will take everything this rebel has to emerge triumphant and claim her place as an American icon. As Alice soldiers through the devastation of two world wars and brazens out a cutting feud with her famous Roosevelt cousins, it’s no wonder everyone in the capital refers to her as the Other Washington Monument–and Alice intends to outlast them all.
My Review: 4 stars
American Princess was the perfect mix of learning something new, while being completely entertained. Recently, there’s been a lot of books focusing on presidential wives and daughters. I love this trend. In school we learned so much about the presidents, but not very much about the women who lived in the White House.
Thorton chronicles Alice’s life without holding back. We see the good, the bad and the ugly times she lived through, as well as her sassy, audacious and free-spirited attitude. Honestly, I knew next to nothing about her. In Susan Wittig Albert’s Loving Eleanor, she’s mentioned in regards to her discordance with her cousin Eleanor Roosevelt. Oh how fine it is to read another book that shares the “other” side of the story regarding their relationship. I’m sure there’s plenty more versions of that dislike of one another.
Any book that has me Googling to see if something really happened or yearning to learn more about a particular person makes me happy. It’s also a testament to the author’s writing abilities and stellar research, as she shines a spotlight on this character, who is chock full of wit and whimsy. Don’t get me wrong though, her life was not all roses and rainbows. She dealt with much woe and heartache along the way.
Upon finishing the book, I’ve learned that the author is not only a teacher, but that her passion is writing about the forgotten women in history. I cannot wait to pick up some of her earlier books; lucky for me there’s a slew of them.
Quotes I liked:
A woman is like a tea bag. You never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water. There was no doubt I was getting boiled right now.”
-“Perhaps I should move to Europe and marry a prince, or wed an African warrior and live in a mud hut. Maybe then my parents would finally miss my company.”
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