The Princess

Princess Diana was and still is an unforgettable icon. The most photographed woman in the world. A woman so recognizable, that her beautiful face graced postage stamps in Azerbaijan (!).Finally, we get to read a novel about her teenage years. The story starts when Di attends boarding school and befriends a commoner her age (Sandy).The story is told from several points of view and moves between the years leading to Di's engagement to Prince Charles in 1981 and the present (1992).The friendship with Sandy is further explored and used in several stages of Di’s life to tell the story.The story is well known, but still relevant and rings very authentic and true. This is a story that every young woman (and her parents) should know.Prince Charles loves the one woman he must forget. Instead, he must marry for the future of the Crown.His grandmother (the queen mother) has a clear idea about the ideal candidate: she must be young, aristocratic and a virgin with no tainted past. Di meets Charles and falls hopelessly in love. Hence, she is chosen and her vulnerability is exploited.The book is highly readable. Although this sad story is well known to most of us, it flows smoothly and leaves you with so many mixed emotions... empathy, sadness and "what ifs"...

Enjoyable and engrossing.

As with so many, I of course am familiar with the late Princess Diana and the royal family , and I was curious about this book since it also focused on Diana’s life before becoming a royal. I thought it started out slow – while giving interesting tidbits I struggled to keep invested in the story, but I held on thinking surely things would pick up. Unfortunately, it didn’t. If I wasn’t familiar with the characters already and was genuinely curious to see the way they were portrayed in this telling, it would probably be one I started to speed read to get through it faster. An interesting perspective, but not one that I think is a must read.I received a review copy

Wow! This book is phenomenal! It is moving, heartbreaking, engrossing, and so much more! Whenever I picked up "The Princess', I was whisked back in time, and went on such an emotional journey with this story.Firstly, I want to start off the rest of my review by saying that I wish there was an Author's Note explaining more about what is for sure based on fact throughout this novel, and what isn't. I'm not sure if one is included in the finished copy of this book, but, in the e-ARC format I have, there really wasn't one. While I know many moments throughout this book are based on true events, because this book is historical fiction, I know some things have been dramatized and / or possibly altered for the narrative told within the book.Wendy Holden is an amazing writer, and her storytelling is spectacular. The story she is telling immediately jumps off of the page from the first page to the last, and I was hooked from the first moment. I could envision each and every moment, and simply did not want to put this book down. Her characters, both historical people and fictional, were also written so clearly, and I truly felt like I was right there watching everything occur.This novel tells the story of Princess Diana from mainly two time periods in history that interconnect: the earlier from before Diana marries Princes Charles up until right before the wedding, and the latter in 1992 as Diana meets up with her childhood friend Sandy and tells how her wedding to Prince Charles came to take place. Sandy is introduced earlier in the novel, and how they become friends is shown as well.Throughout the book, I could really feel Diana’s emotions: from her desire to love and be loved, her fears, pain, yearning, and so much more. Her beautiful heart jumps right off of the page, she helps those both near and far, and that all is truly so powerful. The ending of this book, in both timelines, truly broke my heart.Sometimes, the change in narration within chapters felt a bit unnecessary at times. I sometimes wish that it would have stayed with one narrator a bit longer to finish that moment in history rather than jumping to a different point of view. However, this didn't take away from my understanding of the story at all, it just felt a little jumpy at times.If you enjoy historical fiction, I highly recommend this book! I look forward to reading what Ms. Holden writes next.Thank you so much to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the ARC of this novel, it is incredible! All opinions expressed in this review are my own.