Mrs. Lincolns Rival

Kate Chase Sprague was born in 1840 in Cincinnati, Ohio, the second daughter to the second wife of a devout but ambitious lawyer Her father, Salmon P Chase, rose to prominence in the antebellum years and was appointed secretary of the treasury in Abraham Lincoln s cabinet, while aspiring to even greater heights Beautiful, intelligent, regal, and entrancing, young Kate Chase stepped into the role of establishing her thrice widowed father in Washington society and as a future presidential candidate Her efforts were successful enough that The Washington Star declared her the most brilliant woman of her day None outshone her None, that is, but Mary Todd Lincoln Though Mrs Lincoln and her young rival held much in common political acumen, love of country, and a resolute determination to help the men they loved achieve greatness they could never be friends, for the success of one could come only at the expense of the other When Kate Chase married William Sprague, the wealthy young governor of Rhode Island, it was widely regarded as the pinnacle of Washington society weddings President Lincoln was in attendance The First Lady was not Jennifer Chiaverini excels at chronicling the lives of extraordinary yet littleknown women through historical fiction What she did for Elizabeth Keckley in Mrs Lincoln s Dressmaker and for Elizabeth Van Lew in The Spymistress she does for Kate Chase Sprague in Mrs Lincoln s Rival. Read Mrs. Lincolns Rival author Jennifer Chiaverini – kino-fada.fr Find this and other reviews at ve come to the conclusion that I must approach Jennifer Chiaverini s work with a certain degree of caution She isn t a bad writer, she actually has a great command of language and prose, but I find her brand of storytelling less than satisfying My biggest concern is her tenancy to substitute fact based exposition in place of original content This reliance makes her narratives interesting, but relatively dry and notewort Find this and other reviews at ve come to the conclusion that I must approach Jennifer Chiaverini s work with a certain degree of caution She isn t a bad writer, she actually has a great command of language and prose, but I find her brand of storytelling less than satisfying My biggest concern is her tenancy to substitute fact based exposition in place of original content This reliance makes her narratives interesting, but relatively dry and noteworthy for their lack of depth and momentum To put it simply, one might as well read a nonfictional biography To my mind, historical fiction is about combining fact with imagination and I don t think Chiaverini excels in creating an appropriate balance between the two To make matters worse, I don t feel Mrs Lincoln s Rival has a realistic central theme Kate and Mary spend very little time in one another s company and short of a few jealous and ...This really pains me to write this, but this book is just not enjoyable I have read almost all of the authors previous works thoroughly enjoyed them The Spymistress was awesome Yes, the book was well written well researched Unfortunately, there was no Rivalry to speak of, therefore no real drama The protagonist of the book, is a young, entitled brat who relies on her father s success to advance her social standing So in the end, we have a daughter of a Cabinet member versus This really pains me to write this, but this book is just not enjoyable I have read almost all of the authors previous work...2.5 rounded up to 3 stars Well, I am glad that I gave myself a night to sleep on how I would approach this review Combing through the reviews of other readers, I confess that they just might have stated all the the reasons this book didn t work for me The book implies that the rivalry between Kate Chase and Mary Todd Lincoln was certainly the talk of Washington The prologue sets us off for what I truly did feel was going to be a cat fight, but I suppose I should have been thinking about it f 2.5 rounded up to 3 stars Well, I am glad that I gave myself a night to sleep on how I would approach this review Combing through the reviews of other readers, I confess t...Kate Chase, known as the Belle of Washington in the civil war era, was as beautiful and charming as she was politically savvy Her good humor and social graces earned her the friendship of many but Mrs Lincoln perceived her social success as a threat This rivalry was only one of the challenges she faced while managing her father s political career and her many suitors.I went into this book with high expectations, having read several great reviews of the author s earlier books I was immediatel Kate Chase, known as the Belle of Washington in the civil war era, was as beautiful and charming as she was politically savvy Her good humor and social graces earned her the friendship of many but Mrs Lincoln perceived her social success as a threat This rivalry was only one of the challenges she faced while managing her father s political career and her many suitors.I went into this book with high expectations, having read several great reviews of the author s earlier books I was immediately disappointed by the spa...Mrs Lincoln s Rival is a work of fiction that is inspired by historical facts The author did a tremendous job with the details of the Civil War, as President Lincoln struggles with the difficult realities of that time At times I felt bogged down with political details and almost abandoned the book, but kept reading and I m so glad I did.The author paints a stunning picture of Kate Chase who is elegant, outgoing, and filled with charm and I soon became engaged with her willful character Kate Mrs Lincoln s Rival is a work of fiction that is inspired by historical facts The author did a tremendous job with the details of the Civil War, as President Lincoln struggles with the difficult realities of that time At times I felt bogged down with political details and almost abandoned the book, but kept reading and I m so glad I did.The author paints a stunning picture of Kate Chase who is elegant, outgoing, and filled with charm and I soon became engaged with her willful character Kate was a true and loyal daughter to Salmon P Chase and they both had an ardent desire for him to become the President of the United States Kate was very involved with her father s political career, and as his eldest daughter, Kate would have become First Lady since he was...DNFcouldn t get past the 100 page mark BoringboringZZZZZZI have way too many other books waiting for me so I m moving on.If indeed, as author Ms Chiaverini says, Kate Chase is truly one of the most fascinating women ever to grace the swamps of Washington, there must exist a dearth of available candidates It is true, however, that Kate wields significant influence over her inestimable father, Salmon Chase, but she is not likable Mrs Lincoln is not likely to win friends and influence people to a greater degree than Kate.This fictionalized historic biography isa recollection of Secretary of the Treasury Chase If indeed, as author Ms Chiaverini says, Kate Chase is truly one of the most fascinating women ever to grace the swamps of Washington, there must exist a dearth of available cand...I know this was a fictionalized account of true happenings in history, but I found that it was mostly small snippets of story around the actual history I would have liked a bitstory and a little less name dropping and political endeavors It just felt like a lot of history telling with a small amount of story surrounding it Since I am Canadian, and only know of the major historical figures, I was constantly having to search Google to see what these people looked like, while this is not t I know this was a fictionalized account of true happenings in history, but I found that it was mostly small snippets of story around the actual history I would have liked a bitstory and a little less name dropping and political endeavors It just felt like a lot of history telling with a small amount of story surrounding it Since I am Canadian,...I discovered why I didn t care for this one very much even though I love the writing I just didn t find the characters very likable and if I don t like a character, it s hard to like the book I love the author and didn t have the heart to rate lower though I skimmed the middle to end.I won an Advance Reader s Copy of this novel through the Goodreads First Reads program I must first say that I was thoroughly impressed with the subject matter and the level of details and research put into the novel In my opinion, it is comparable to Antonia Fraser and Alison Weir s level of detail The novel is about Kate Chase Sprague the daughter of Salmon P Chase who was the Treasury Secretary for President Lincoln It details Kate s impressive determination to assist her father in his b I won an Advance Reader s Copy of this novel through the Goodreads First Reads program I must first say that I w...

• English
• 20 May 2017
Jennifer Chiaverini
• Hardcover
• 432 pages
• 0525954287
• Jennifer Chiaverini
• Mrs. Lincolns Rival