I really wanted to love this book, While I liked A Well-Behaved Woman, didn’t come close to Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald.

This was okay. I mean really, just okay. I think I skipped around a lot. BUT. I now know everything about the Vanderbilt family and other swanky 19th century families in NYC. So, I wasn't a huge fan, but it did instigate further research.

Fans of biographical fiction will appreciate this story of the scheming socialite Alva Vanderbilt and those in her orbit. Those who are less keen on the genre will still find much to charm in this close portrait of Gilded Age New York.

I always enjoy Therese Anne Fowler's books because they're so rich in detail You can tell right away that a ton of research was done to make the story feel as "real" as it does. I liked this portrayal of Alva Vanderbilt and learning more about her. History didn't always paint her in a favorable light, but this book took a different spin on it and potrayed her as the trail blazer that she was. Definitely recommended!

"A Well-Behaved Woman" is a brilliantly written historical fiction novel based on the life of Alva Vanderbilt, the wife of William Vanderbilt, later Oliver Belmont, a NYC socialite in the late 1800s known for her strong opinions, intelligence, and involvement in the USA woman's suffrage movement. Alva was a woman before her time, a trail blazer, and constantly challenged convention, because of this, history doesn't always paint her in a positive light, instead she is described as being "stubborn", "Selfish", "controlling" etc. etc. etc. In " A well-Behaved Woman" Therese Anna Fowler, like she did with Zelda Fitzgerald in her novel "Z", fights back against the way society views Alva, instead painting her as the brilliant, charitable, intelligent woman she was. I am sad to say that I did not know very much about Alva Vanderbilt and her contributions to society and involvement in woman's rights before reading this novel, but have since read many materials about her and her family that were suggested at the end of the book, including her daughter Consuelo's memoir. It's also sad that if Alva was a man, she would not be on the sidelines of history, but at the center of it. As well known and respected, if not more so, than the men in her family. I would recommend this book for everybody. It is well written, entertaining, and well researched. Therese Anna Fowler does Alva justice, which is not a simple task when she was a woman larger than life.

Historical fiction offers readers the opportunity to imagine other lives, places and contexts. It provides a way to immerse one’s self in a past world that offers the reader escape but, also many times, insight into current times. This novel gives readers all of this as it tells the story of Alva Smith Vanderbilt. She did not begin life with the proverbial silver spoon but, of course, that all changed. Follow the story of her life here; the clothes, the houses and the ostentation…but also, the striving for acceptance as one of the newly rich. It was a tricky world to navigate.

Fans of historical fiction will enjoy this title. It contains all that readers of this genre could want.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title. All opinions are my own.

This was an enjoyable read; the setting and writing were very vivid. It did seem a little more shallow than expected which made it enjoyable but not memorable.

Have you ever wondered how people "come" into their money? Not only is this the story of the Vanderbilt family and how they attained their wealth, most importantly, it's about Alva Smith who married into the family. I had never heard of her, but what interested me the most was how she became a symbol for women's suffrage in the 1800s.

At times, this family made me incredibly angry, and at times, I cheered them on. It was an interesting read about a family in our American history.

I was given this book for my honest review. I give it four out of five stars.

Ever since Jim and I went to Biltmore Estate for our honeymoon over two decades ago, I have had a strange fascination with the Vanderbilt family. Therefore, I opened Therese Anne Fowler's A Well-Behaved Woman, her story about Alva Smith Vanderbilt Belmont, with eagerness and anticipation. Unfortunately, what I found between its pages was unexpectedly boring and a lot more disappointing than expected.

Alva Smith Vanderbilt Belmont is a remarkable woman and should have an equally remarkable novel written about her. Instead, I feel as if Ms. Fowler spent most of the time describing the luxurious lifestyle of the Vanderbilts and their ilk. Parties that cost millions, yachts bigger than houses, clothes the likes of which most people will never see - each gets lengthy and loving descriptions.

But Alva was more than her name and her clothes. Ms. Fowler does show this, but I feel that it is not her focus. We see nothing of Alva's involvement in the women's suffrage movement; the story ends before that part of her life. While we do see Alva's fascination and involvement in architecture, including excruciating details about Le Petit Chateau, it feels like more of a side story than an homage to someone who challenged the status quo.

One area in which Ms. Fowler deviates from this, however, is in Alva's divorce and remarriage. Done at a time when society women did not divorce and women everywhere were taught to turn a blind eye to a husband's unfaithfulness, Ms. Fowler shows Alva's determination not only to right a wrong but also to set an example for unhappy wives everywhere. It takes guts to flout convention, and here is one area in which Ms. Fowler does justice to Alva's courage and temerity.

While Ms. Fowler does expand beyond what one could learn from Alva's Wikipedia page, A Well-Behaved Woman still feels too trite for a woman of Alva's strength of character and commitment to helping others. One too many descriptions of the parties, the houses, the servants, and her travels seemingly counteracts her dedication to women's suffrage and the poor. While still an interesting story, it is not what I was hoping to read.

The beauty of historical fiction is it gives you a glimpse into a life/time-period/event without being bogged down by the constraints of facts found non-fiction work. That is not meant to dismiss the amount of research that goes into writing a historical fiction book but to identify that there is always a bit of liberty with information that an author can embrace. I felt that Fowler did a wonderful job at providing a glimpse into Alva Vanderbilt as a person. Alva was portrayed as the ambitious woman she was. She worked to elevate herself and her family in society by every means she had available to her. Fowler does very well at detailing the friendships and societal relationships that Alva had in her life and how they impacted her choices. Overall, a good read.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Net Galley for the chance to read and review this book. I really like books set in this time period, and this one did not disappoint. I liked reading about the Vanderbilt family and the opulence of the Gilded Age. Highly recommend!

A very well researched and well written book about a woman that I had not known about previously. I did not know much about the Vanderbilt family until reading this book and found it fascinating. I loved how Alva evolved over the course of the story into such an independent woman, who fought for what she believed in regardless of if it was what others thought was right. She was loyal to a fault and was determined to help better the circumstances of those less fortunate, which not all the women in her social circle aspired too. I did check some of the story as I was reading it and found that they were accurate to Alva's real life. This was a great read and I would highly recommend it.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This book was excellent! The story is fiction; however, the author is writing about a real person, and used many real facts, people, events, to prepare this fictionalized account. I had a really hard time putting this story down. I knew next to nothing about Alva Vanderbilt when I picked up this story. This author has a magical touch for bringing historical figures to life. I am currently reading her book on Zelda Fitzgerald, which is proving to be just an brilliant. I love how she shines light on people who have become footnotes in someone else's story, and the author really helps to bring them to life and show them as actual people. I look forward to reading any other stories that this author writes.

I received a copy of this title from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

A Good Neighborhood was one of my favorites, so I was so excited to read this. Great news, this is just as good! Fans of Jane Austen will LOVE this historical fiction during the Guilded Age.

Ahhh, the Gilded Age. I love reading books set during this time. So much growth and prosperity. And, what better story to tell than Alva Smith Vanderbilt's? I love the detail and the fast paced story that Therese Anne Fowler had written. For me, Historical fiction is all about learning about people I don't have much/any information about, so reading this book was a pleasure.

This was a selection made by my book club, and. I ended up loving the book! It is well written, and while it is fiction, it is based on historic people and events. This brings you right into that world with the Vanderbilts but also gives you a glimpse into the behind the scenes of these wealthy people during the time in which they lived.

The life of Alva Vanderbilt Belmont is much different than what one would imagine of the elite of the late 19rh century. Her heart and passions much deeper than the expected role of a woman of her time. Very good read and I learned so much.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and the publishers for an honest review.

“A Well-Behaved Woman” is a fictitious novel based on the life of Alva Vanderbilt. Alva was the wife of William K. Vanderbilt, the son of shipping magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt who, at the time was one of the richest men the world.

This novel is set in the Gilded Age of America, when excess and opulence amongst the very rich was reported on in newspapers, and their lives were discussed like the celebrities of today and at the forefront of all of this were the Vanderbilts-no other family was as wealthy or beautiful as they were. They purchased entire blocks of real estate in Manhattan and built mansions and outfitted them with the finest treasures from European palaces. They bought yachts and sailed around the world, the built vacation mansions in Newport, townhouses in London, and still couldn’t make a dent in their wealth. This story revolves around Alva. Born into a wealthy Southern family who lost everything after the Civil War, she still had the breeding and connections that the new monied families, like the Vanderbilts, needed to break into society and be accepted. When W.K. Vanderbilt proposed, she accepted knowing that it secured her family for the rest of their lives. Love wasn’t a factor.

Alva was perfect for this society. She knew how to play the games and used her connections to get into the most exclusive parties and soon her’s were the invitations people were looking out for. But as you can imagine, her life was empty without love. Even so, she manipulates and does everything in her power to marry her daughter off to an English Duke, giving her family the one thing they didn’t have-a title, and in return, giving the Duke what he didn’t have, money, and dooming her daughter to the same life.

I say this story is loosely based on Alva’s life because the conflict between her and her daughter Consuelo isn’t really portrayed. In fact, when Alva visits Consuelo after she and the Duke have separated, Consuelo says she’s content with her life when if fact there was a very messy annulment where Alva admits to having forced Consuelo to marry the Duke. According to history, the two never really got along.

The other part that the book just starts to touch on before it ends is the suffragette movement that Alva was very involved in. I would have liked to have read more about that.

Four stars because the story was very interesting, even if a bit fairytale-after all, those were fairytale times and who doesn’t like to see the Princess live happily ever after with her a Prince Charming in her beautiful castle.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for a preview.

It is rare to find a book in which a woman from another century, a woman long dead with a lifestyle most of us can't understand, is presented as such an entirely relatable character. Alva lives and breathes in this book, pulling us into her world in unexpected ways. Through tragedy and heartache she builds a life she wants. Not the life she expected, but then who among us does?