Originally posted on Forever Young Adult 24 April 2018

BOOK REPORT for My Name is Victoria by Lucy Worsley

Cover Story: Big Face: Historical Edition
BFF Charm: Yay
Swoonworthy Scale: 4
Talky Talk: Jane Austen Jr.
Bonus Factor: Dash
Relationship Status: LYLAS

Cover Story: Big Face: Historical Edition

I have a lot of feelings (mostly negative) about Big Face covers, but I have to admit, this one is clever. While I can’t go into details without getting spoilery, I can say this cover gets a cool nod of approval from me for its ability to capture an integral part of the story with subtlety.

The Deal:

At 11 years old, Miss V Conroy, daughter of royal comptroller Sir John Conroy, is brought to London to live at Kensington Palace and be the companion of Princess Victoria. Miss V (whose name also happens to be Victoria) is quiet, shy, and well-behaved—the exact opposite of Princess Victoria, whose bad behavior is only worsened by the fact that she must abide by the Kensington System. The System is a set of rules developed by Sir John as a means of keeping Victoria safe from any would-be assassins who might hope to usurp her claim on the throne, but is mostly a way for Sir John to control everything that Victoria does.

Over the years, Miss V becomes Victoria’s closest friend and confidant, but as Victoria gets closer to the throne, Sir John’s hunger for power grows, as does his need to control and oppress Victoria and everyone around him. Miss V must find a way to beat her father’s system and protect her friend at all costs—even in ways Miss V never, ever expected.

BFF Charm: Yay

At first, Miss V seems like kind of a dud. She’s nice, but incredibly shy and a bit scared of everything around her. Which, I guess, is fair, since she’s 11 years old when she is taken from her home and sent to live with a crazy princess in a dingy palace with her mean dad. But as she gets older, she becomes bolder and more assertive, thanks in part to Victoria’s influence. By the time the girls are 18, Miss V has grown to be clever and loyal while still keeping a pretty chill persona—my favorite combo! She doesn’t need or want to be the center of attention, which makes her exactly the friend that Victoria needs.

Swoonworthy Scale: 4

Victoria and Albert are a love story for the ages, so I was excited to get a new version of this romance, and Worsley certainly delivered. While the first half of the book takes place when Victoria and Miss V are only 11 years old, a certain German prince makes his appearance in the second half of the story, but the swoon doesn’t happen at all like you think it will. I’ll avoid spoilers and just say that, like any good historical romance, the swoon in this book is restrained and sweet, and a lot of the excitement comes from its uncertainty.

Talky Talk: Jane Austen Jr.

Lucy Worsley’s prose captures the feeling of the era without the density of most historical fiction, which makes it a perfect introduction to historical fiction for younger readers. But My Name is Victoria takes a lot of liberties, creating an alternative history of Victoria’s rise to the throne, and one that, if you’re a Queen Victoria stan like myself, might be a bit hard to swallow. That said, the pacing was quick and the story intriguing, and even if just to find out what the heck Worsley is up to, you’ll be turning the pages rapidly to the end.

Bonus Factor: Dash

The royalest good boy that ever good boyed! In Worsley’s story, the famous King Charles spaniel belongs to Miss V, and I felt A LOT of anxiety about Sir John’s command that she give Dash as a gift to Princess Victoria. Luckily, with Miss V living at the palace, she gets plenty of Dash time, which means we get plenty of Dash time too.

Relationship Status: LYLAS

Book, you were like the little sister I never had, and though your outlook was a bit more innocent than what I’m used to, I enjoyed your ideas and your style.

Torn between loyalty to her father and her growing friendship with the willful and passionate princess, Miss V has a decision to make: continue in silence or speak out. In an engaging, immersive tale, Lucy Worsley spins one of England’s best-known periods into a fresh and surprising story.

This is a great historical fiction for the young YA reader! It might be a little light for an adult reader, but it is very enjoyable.

Lucy Worsley has done it again.
I have since seen a few people stating that they did not appreciate the plot twist - but I thought it was very well done.

A lovely book that reminded me a bit of A Little Princess

With My Name Is Victoria, delightful British historian Lucy Worsley (you may have seen her in multiple BBC and PBS productions) brings her second piece of historical fiction to the market.  Featuring the story of Victoria “Miss V” Conroy, daughter of Sir John Conroy – creator of the infamous Kensington System, by which the young Princess Victoria was controlled and cared for in her youth -  it’s a well-told and impassioned story that will surely captivate young readers.

For as long as ten-year-old Victoria Conroy can remember, her nickname has been Miss V. Well-mannered and polite, if unaccustomed to the royal lifestyle, she is the epitome of the kind of girl her father wants the Princess to emulate.  Introverted, quiet, prim and proper from birth, she adores writing and her small dog, Dash, and has no idea how she’ll relate to the young princess with whom she will be expected to live as a lady in waiting and bosom friend.  In her father’s opinion, she will make an ideal companion for the young queen-to-be sitting in Kensington Palace – docile and obedient, she will impress upon the princess the only lesson her mother and their advisors wish to teach the girl: to be subservient to her elders.  Conroy’s livelihood depends upon his daughter’s success – John, private secretary to the princess’ mother and comptroller of the household – needs proof that his vaunted new educational system is working.  When Miss V is told Dash is to be her introductory gift to the young princess, she is horrified, but her father, a social climber determined to keep his post in the royal household, impresses upon her the import of first meetings.

The two Victorias get off on the wrong foot, naturally.  Utterly alone except for her rarely-seen mother and her household staff, Princess Victoria has no experience with other children and instantly mistrusts Miss V’s intentions, presuming her to be yet another household spy – saying that she wanted a “Real little girl”, not a relation of the comptroller’s; she is haughty, imperious and formal at first blush, trusting no one, declaring she only agreed to the meeting so that she’d get the puppy.

But that puppy proves a bonding point for royal and commoner; and while she remains haughty and pushy, soon the princess trusts Miss V enough to explain about the isolating System that keeps her bitterly stuck between the four walls of the palace.  Miss V’s father explains that it is for the princess’ protection, and that if they continue to obey the royal edict, the family will be well-rewarded with riches.  But he soon makes his intentions clear by all but employing his daughter to spy on the little princess and report to him if she misbehaves or mentions any of the adults in her life in an unflattering way.  As time passes, Victoria and V become true friends; as the girls approach their sixteenth and seventeenth years and marriage looms on the horizon, Miss V is caught between her father’s desire that she divulge the Victoria’s every secret and her loyalty to the bold, tempestuous, but fun-loving princess.  When she discovers a heartbreaking secret about her father’s two-faced collusion with (and work against) the princess’ mother, soon followed by her father’s plot to keep Victoria from marrying Albert of Saxe-Cobourg - whom both of the girls have become fond of -  Miss V must choose between rebelling against the system, a forbidden romance with Albert, or being loyal to the father she loves in spite of the growing certainty that he’s an embezzling charlatan, a philanderer… and the possible true biological father of the princess.

Make no bones about it - the novel is a delightful retelling of the childhood of a little-known character in Queen Victoria’s life.  For young readers, the positively Frances-Hodgson-Burnett-ian tone of the novel will require little else but enjoyment – but adults with curious, intelligent children might want to consider adding a little bit of historical background to their consumption.

The characters feel very true to the period and to themselves.  Victoria, naturally, only wants to be a normal girl, and at eleven to fifteen is bold and fighting the world, yearning for excitement and fashion and glamour.  Miss V is loyal, bright and nervy; she develops an observational eye that grounds the reader into the story.  Her imperious father – who runs through servants at lightning speed – has no patience for his family and even less for any mistakes; it’s easy to see him as the con-man whom Victoria’s mother later insisted swindled her out of large amounts of money (and who, in fact, swindled Victoria’s aunt out of even more money).  Other characters manage to make a good impression, including Mrs. Spath, the only member of the royal entourage that the future queen likes.

This is not a perfectly flawless read, however.  There are moments where the dialogue comes off as a bit too info-dumpy, and Miss V and Victoria seem a tad bit too mature for the eleven and ten year olds they are for half the novel but it’s a fact that unfortunately, children in their positions were forced to grow up far too quickly in those days. And while this book is excellent historical fiction, it is DEFINITELY fiction, with a plot twist that will leave parents of more well-informed readers scrambling to explain why things deviate so wildly from the record at a certain point.  On the other hand it’s a lot of fun to read.  If the child consuming the book is able to separate fact from fiction properly, then this book shall be a wonderful, soapy delight on par with their first YA series.

Consider My Name Is Victoria a fun, romantic, melodramatic diversion for your child.   If they have a yen for historical fiction, this might be their first step toward enjoying Carolly Erickson or Allison Weir someday.

Buy it at: Amazon/Barnes & Noble/iBooks/Kobo

First off, thank you so much to NetGalley and Candlewick Press for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Initially, I was very excited and intrigued with this story. I love historical fiction novels and stories that involve royalty. However, I didn't know much about Queen Victoria before reading this book and I still, sadly, don't feel as if I know all that much after finishing it.

The first half of the book dragged on in my opinion. There wasn't much action and there didn't seem to be much of a plot. The main characters, Miss V and Victoria, didn't feel completely fleshed out to me. I didn't start to feel connected to the story until I got halfway through the story. The whole tone of the book--and my opinion of it--didn't start to shift until Miss V matured and gained her own voice. I wish there had been more of that throughout the whole story. Meanwhile, Victoria was annoying and incredibly childish. I was not a fan of hers at all.

This story had a lot of potential but it just did not measure up to my expectations. The characters were two dimensional, the plot was boring (and extremely predictable), and the pacing wasn't all that great. I would consider reading another book by this author because I did like her writing style, but this book just did not do anything for me.

I was excited to read this book. But found myself disappointed by it's predictability and lack of attention to characterizations between Miss V. and Victoria. We got glimpses but not enough in my opinion to justify the ending.

Actual rating: 1.5 stars

First off, thanks to NetGalley and Candlewick Press for giving me a free, digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

Initially, I was very excited for this book. I like historical fictional, especially Regency and Victorian, and Queen Victoria is one of my favorite British monarchs. So when I read the synopsis for this book, I was intrigued. If you’ve read anything about Queen Victoria, you know how controlling John Conroy was when she was younger. But not one biography I’ve read (or maybe I just don’t remember reading?) mentions Conroy’s daughter, also named Victoria, and how she became the future queen’s childhood companion.

I really wanted to like this book. Truly, I did! It has everything I love, even a gorgeous cover! But wow, what a disappointing read. This book is split into two parts: when Victoria Conroy (known as Miss V in this book) first meets the young Princess Victoria when they are both around 11 years old, and part two: five years later, when the two girls are sixteen and Princess Victoria is much closer to the throne now, with only her uncle, William IV, in the way.

We see the young Victoria portrayed as a very obstinate child, fighting against the “Kensington System,” willfully disobedient, believing everyone, including her own mother, is against her. The book adds to the rumor, too, that John Conroy and Victoria’s mother, the Duchess of Kent, possibly had an intimate relationship, though he quite often calls the Duchess “stupid,” something Miss V notices right away.

Miss V herself proves to be an interesting character, though. She’s torn between the love for her father and wanting to obey him, but then discovering the “reasons” why the Kensington System was put in place, along with people who want to see harm come to the young princess, puts the young girl in an awkward place. She soon sees herself as a protector of sorts to Victoria.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get very far after part two, just as one of Victoria’s other uncles, King Leopold of Belgium comes into the picture. I found the narrative as a whole quite boring, and while Miss V is an interesting character, there wasn’t much else I liked.

I’m not an expert on the life of Queen Victoria, but I thought it was quite strange the author used the name Victoria to refer to the princess. From what I understand reading biographies of the queen, she was referred to as Alexandrina, or Drina, up until she became queen and had to choose a regnal name. I always saw that as Victoria shedding her past life and starting anew.

I gave this book 4.5 stars. It's surprisingly not as gloomy as I expected it to be. It's actually a really light hopeful fiction of one of history's favorite queens.

This novel follows our protagonist, Miss V. Conroy as she befriends a young Princess Victoria, soon to become one of the most famous queens in history.

Going into this book, I really didn’t know much about Queen Victoria other than she was loved by the people and a fashion icon. I felt like I learned so much from this book, not large things, but small details that I hadn’t known before such as her family tree, her last name, I didn’t even know what the Kensington System was before reading this. This book is educational, but still fun to read. I thought I was going to read this and just get some sort of drama that didn’t have much factual depth to it, but I was wrong.

There was definitely a plot twist that happens in the third part of this book, but I think everyone can see it coming. From the title of the book, it’s evident what is going to happen.

The writing was easy to understand without being completely dumbed down. I think this novel would be really good for anyone interested in finding out more about Queen Victoria and just younger readers in general.

I love how the story ends off with an epilogue from the author. She gives us a rundown on the actual history behind her work of fiction. Giving us actual facts and telling us why she wrote what she did.

I received an ARC copy from netgalley for my honest review,  so thank you netgalley and publishers for offering me this book! ♡
This story fell flat for me, I couldn't get into it. I honestly didn't like the characters, and there was just no connection.
This was my first book by this author, It was okay, It was alltogether an easy read. ♡ I give this book a
2 star rating!

I thought I would like My name is Victoria especially after reading some of the Gallagher Girls books but I couldn't get into this book.

The plot had promise, as well as the friendship between the two characters but it was so slow. The best part about the book was the dog Dash. I liked Dash a lot and my heart broke for the girl when she almost had to give him away. (Slight spoiler there.)

Thank you Netgalley for giving me the chance to read this.