Reviews

The Scandalous Life of Nancy Randolph by Kate Braithwaite

whitneyfoster's review

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dark tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

This book seemed to drag on to me, I felt that there was a lot of telling rather than showing. I elected to read it because it seemed like an interesting historical mystery but I was let down.
It didn’t hold my interest and I wasn’t emotionally invested in the characters.
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anns_book_chronicles's review

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emotional informative slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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shelleys_book_nook's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

 I enjoyed this historical book very much. Braithwaite's writing was so easy to read, considering the dialogue was close to the time (late 18th/early 19th century) and her research was meticulous. It had to be...because this is a retelling of a true story. I was fascinated by these sisters, their bond and relationship. They may have come from wealth but they did not have easy lives, always depending on the men in their family to support them...father, husband, brother. My we ladies have come a long way in the time since.

I loved being in late 18th/early 19th century America while reading this novel, it was such a fascinating time in history especially in the South. It was wonderful getting snippets of thoughts from Nancy's slave, Phebe. It was amazing how close Phebe and Nancy were and how they cared for each other. Phebe knew a lot more than she was letting on but kept her mistress's secrets.

I was impressed with the author's knowledge of the story as very little information is available. This was an amazing historical fiction book about a true life story I had never heard of before. This was an adventurous read with a twist of mystery...What did Nancy really do?

The only reason I am not giving this five stars is the two time hops in the story. I would have loved to have read about what happened during those time frames especially while Nancy was supposibly pregnant. And the other time hop was ten years with nothing really said about what happened during that decade. 

thereadinggoose's review

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emotional mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

 The Scandalous Life of Nancy Randolph by Kate Braithwaite is a historical novel centering around the Randolph family and their dramatic life. Nancy is a girl who goes to live with her sister, Judy, and Judy’s new husband, Dick Randolph. She gets wrapped up in a lots of drama, really with no fault to her own. 

There really is no other way to describe the plot of the book without spoiling everything. I would call this a slow to medium paced book. It has a good writing style and the plot pulled me in. It is definitely unique in plot and characters. It is also fully of historical drama and gossip. I do like the actual historical background of the novel and the little chapter that the author places at the end describing it.

Nancy Randolph is the protagonist. I do struggle a bit with her because she doesn’t really take control of her one life at all. She kind of just floats along and takes all the things that come to her. When something bad happens halfways through the book that ruins her reputation, she just decides she will never be able to get married and have children and she accepts that. I also feel like I don’t know much about her as a person. The story revolves around what other people think of her. We also get the POV of Nancy’s slave, Phebe, who is a very interesting character. I wish we got to know more about her. The POVs are few and far between and short. There are a variety of background characters that are well characterized.

Overall, I would give this book 3/5 stars. The plot of unique and did pull me in, but I didn’t really like the protagonist and her reactions to things that happened in her life. All the other characters were more interesting. I would have loved to have a bit more of Phebe’s perspective. 

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

 
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