Fiction/Nonfiction Quick Reviews

 Maiden Voyages: Magnificent Ocean Liners and the Women Who Traveled and Worked Aboard Them by Sian Evans (2021)

During the first half of the 20th century, transatlantic travel aboard large ocean liners was one of the main ways to reach far-off countries.  Although historically a place for men, gradually ships and ocean liners became havens for women, from those looking for employment, to those seeking opportunities in a new country, to those simply enjoying the luxury of a cruise ship.  Maiden Voyages sets out to tell the stories of those women, although it does so with mixed effectiveness.  I very much enjoyed learning about female crew members.  It's amazing how much information Evans was able to find about these women, from their reasons for joining to different experiences they had onboard.  She also includes anecdotes about various wealthy and famous women who traveled on ocean liners - here, the results were a little less successful, as Evans often spent more time describing their lives and work rather than their time on the ships.  Sometimes it felt like there was only one or two sentences about the ships and their time on them in several pages of background, and it seemed a stretch to include such stories in a book that is purportedly about transatlantic travel and the important roles women played in it.  I think Evans' writing flowed nicely and was easy to read, although there were several typos that I was surprised at.  Overall, an interesting premise with some truly fascinating stories, that unfortunately missed the mark a bit.  3.5 stars

The Head That Wears the Crown by Mariah Stewart (2023)

A 40-something divorced mom from Philadelphia finds out she's next in line to the throne of a tiny European nation in this story that feels like a grown-up version of The Princess Diaries.  I am a sucker for royal stories, so of course I had to read this one, although with some mixed results.  Annie is our mom-turned-duchess and I appreciated the first-person POV that allowed me to feel like Annie was a close friend just telling me a story.  The writing is easy to read and familiar - it keeps the story flowing even as the plot seems to slow down sometimes.  Although reluctant at first to believe it, Annie (along with her kids and sisters) eventually move to their family's homeland to restore the monarchy and start making changes to the country.  I think it was a little unbelievable that the entire family was so on-board with just picking up and moving their entire lives to a country that they had never even heard of before, but it kept things positive.  Annie's transformation from insurance company employee to duchess was also a little unbelievable - overnight she seemed to gain a completely new persona, one that talked more elegantly and seemed completely comfortable with giving orders.  There's some tension near the end that the story really needed, and while I appreciated the epilogue, I kind of wish it was even further into the future so we could see how Annie and the country are faring!  3.5 stars

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