The fine people at NetGalley were kind enough to send me an Advanced Reading Copy of “The Girl In The White Gloves” by Kerri Maher. Long story short? It’s a silly princess story - I wasn’t a big fan. But I thought I’d share my review. And if you’re looking for a light, silly book, order it! Otherwise, I included some great titles below that are among my faves. Do you think they’ll ask me to read any more books? Methinks not. Why? Read the review.

The Girl in White Gloves: A Novel of Grace Kelly Buy on Amazon

The Girl in White Gloves by Kerri Maher
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Having been fascinated by royals since I was a kid, I was pleased to have the chance to read "The Girl In The White Gloves." Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley, an imprint of Penguin Random House, for the advanced reading copy, provided in exchange for this honest review. (It is my first, and perhaps they will not send me any more as I am actually honest and tend not to sugarcoat things)

I wanted to love it. I'm a big believer in "the willing suspension of disbelief" and you have to be in order to read fictionalized accounts of the lives of real people. But this one pushed a little too hard trying to create Grace Kelly's world(s) and conflicts. She is painted as always being torn-and her struggle being so literally portrayed in so many different ways got tiring. Two conflicts within her pre-Monaco life were explored by the author: the Kelly family vs. acting-as-legitimate-career, and then also stage vs screen. There were very literal descriptions of pained choices about assorted men, movie roles, whether to furnish her apartment, whether to buy an apartment in Los Angeles...they went on and on. This whole tortured/ torn between worlds (black sheep of the family, up-and-coming model striving in NY, glam movie star, humble movie star at home, princess, so many worlds!) shtick got old. Also, what was presented as her inner dialogue, seemed designed for public view, the recollections of specific hotels and restaurants meant to show off the author's command of 1950s New York/Hollywood rather than to illustrate what any of it meant to Grace Kelly.

I found the interactions with Princess Diana in particular to be too much in terms of "imagining" what effect Princess Grace might have had on younger royals. Her relationships in general seemed off to me somehow until I read that the author had started in YA which explained why everything was so spelled out for the reader, with nothing left to our imagination (including the final scene which was ridiculous and bordered on bad taste.) But for a YA audience, everything must be explained. The struggles can't just be described as an experience, they must be bracketed with the heroine exclaiming "Oh! What a struggle!" For someone accustomed to reading fiction that expects more from its readers, this is too much. Some connections are best made by readers following tiny breadcrumbs rather than listening to Siri announce the whole route.

All that said, a princess is a princess, and there's a certain pleasure in peeking inside her life. So as long as you look at the book as kind of a fluffy read, it makes for a fun afternoon.

A few better books: highly recommend!!!