- #1
The reason I'm saying this is because it's very easy to relate to Boni (Reina's daughter). I love and adore my mom. I wish she was better in my childhood. She did the best she could. She did not do enough. My mom loved me the best she could, but she loved me differently than the children she watched over, and sometimes I was horribly jealous. How come they got to see my mom without struggling like I did? How come they didn't see all the raw and human emotions she had like anger and rage? How come I have the worst and best parts of my mom in my very DNA, but they only saw her best?
It's clear to see the different relationship Reina has with Boni and Estelle (the Duke's daughter). There's nothing wrong with it. On the contrary, Reina is a wonderful maternal figure to Estelle. But it's easy to see from Boni that Reina and Estelle's relationship will always be different than her and her mom's.
The author portrays all those complicated emotions very well. Additionally, Reina is poor. Because of that, Boni has had to sacrifice her wants and happiness for financial stability. That is a little too real. The author does any amazing job of writing Boni's refusal for nice things because she knows that it costs too much money. The sweets she adores are expensive, so she pretends to not like them. It's such a good and realistic portrayal of a kid who has lived through a financially unstable time.
[collapse]I don't know what else to say besides the fact that I adore this novel. Truly one of the best I have ever read.