If I was going to compare books to chocolate, as I often due to annoy my friends, this would be like a shake from Godiva with a lot of whipped cream. Perfectly enjoyable and entertaining but not life altering or a chocolate necessity.
Vicky Darling is expected only to marry raise a family be a wife and have no opinions or desires. She’s living back in Edwardian England when women are fighting for the right to vote. Vicky doesn’t really let this bother her so long as she can be an artist and go to college. After posing nude in Paris and that getting back to her family naturally she runs into several large obstacles. She’s brought home and immediately paired off with a man who will take her. Vicky however is not about to let this stop her and in order to get into the Royal Art Academy she becomes involved in the suffragette movement and meets a too good to be true police officer.
I enjoyed the book a great deal because I liked Vicky and related to her. Sure she starts off spoiled selfish and careless but that was the time period. Less than nothing was expected of her. And yes she’s a little selfish with people’s feelings including Will and some of her suffragette friends. But I found that believable part of the journey was watching her grow and learn and discover things on her own. She’s also willing to put the work and time into chasing her dream. The story does a great job also making her father and would be father-in-law absolutely awful. Of course that could be that I couldn’t quite step out of my own time period where they were concerned.
Sadly I have to admit I don’t know a great deal about the time period or the suffragette movement but the book sets it all up quite nicely including the protests, the arrests, the crowd scenes and the force feeding the women in prison. Great atmosphere there- I enjoyed the different female characters she meets and it made me want to read more about the time period.
My only knock on the book is that Will, the cop/love interest was almost a little too good to be true. He helps the suffragettes, he helps her with her art, he’s an artist himself, he has a wonderful family and on and on. But then again maybe I’m being picky against Prince Charming. Of course it would have been nice if he had any flaws whatsoever. Vicky has hers after all.
I have been trying to get away from young adult novels recently but I’m glad I picked this one up. Victoria Darling was a likeable main character and I enjoyed and would recommend her story.
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