Lady in Waiting by Susan Meissner

Book Description:
Present day 40-something Jane Lindsey manages an antique store in Manhattan so she's surrounded all day long with remnants of other peoples' pasts. When the story opens, her husband of 23 years has just taken a job in another state and to her shock he's asked her not to come with him. He tells her he wants time alone to decide whether or not he wants to be married anymore. As she enters this time of waiting - a time she didn't see coming - she begins to see that all of the important decisions in her life were made for her by other people, her parents and her husband especially - and that she let them do it. While she's coming to this realization, she finds an old betrothal ring, engraved with her first name, hidden inside the binding a 17th century prayer book. But there's no sign that the ring was ever worn and this intrigues her. Jane begins a quest to find out who it belonged to and why it was hidden for 300-plus years. In time, she begins to believe it belonged to Lady Jane Grey. This second Jane, Jane Grey, is a true historical figure, and much like my present day Jane, most of Lady Jane's life-defining decisions were made for her by other people.

My Thoughts:
This book was interesting. It tells the story of modern day Jane with her choices (or lack their of) and impending doom of her marriage and Lady Jane Grey (actual historical monarch) who literally had no choices. It compares the two of them in a way and Jane finds a 'mystery ring' that belonged to Lady Jane but cannot prove it was hers. The book shows how two completely different women had somewhat of the same problem and how one helped the other to overcome it.
I liked Lady Jane and how she was portrayed. I love when actual historical figures are given a 'voice' for their personal life, even if it is just for fictional purposes. She seemed so real and you could feel her emotions through her seamstress' words. Jane's character was ok. I didn't like the 'whining' but it served its purpose in the story to tell of her character and change it. My favorite character was Lucy, the seamstress who was also friend to Lady Jane and loved her very much. All the characters were very realistic and the story well written.
I rate this a 4/5. It was a good read, but not one I would add to my 'keeper' shelf.

Thank you to LibraryThings for the review copy of this book. I received this book in exchange for an honest review and the opinions stated above are 100% mine.