⭐⭐⭐ The Second Mrs. Astor promises glittering Gilded Age drama, but it only truly comes alive when history does the heavy lifting. The strongest, most engaging portion of the novel is the section devoted to the sinking of the Titanic. Those chapters crackle with tension and urgency, finally giving the story some much-needed momentum and emotional weight. Unfortunately, everything before and after that pivotal event feels thin by comparison. Madeleine Astor should be a fascinating figure—a young woman navigating scandal, wealth, and rigid social expectations—but she never fully steps off the page. The marriage to John Jacob Astor IV is treated more as a plot device than a relationship worth exploring in […]