Long May She Reign

I have to preface this review by saying I've been an Ellen Emerson White addict for years. Ever since I found a used copy of Life Without Friends and took it home with me because I liked the girl on the cover so much. I've never read a "new" EEW book in my life. They've all been out of print or used when I've come across them. So sitting down with a brand spanking new copy of a brand spanking new book of hers...well, let's just say it was a religious experience and leave it at that. LONG MAY SHE REIGN is a sequel to the President's Daughter trilogy written in the 80s. The series follows Meg Powers, daughter of the first female president of the United States, and her experience moving to the White House and adjusting to life in the public eye. In the last book, Long Live the Queen, Meg is abducted by terrorists, forced to endure days of starvation, beatings, and emotional torture, only to be dumped in a mine shaft, shackled to the wall, and left to die. In an act of breathtaking determination, she breaks the bones in her hand in order to escape and is later reunited with her family. LONG MAY SHE REIGN picks up where Long Live the Queen left off. Meg is in bad shape, to put it unbelievably mildly. She's a wreck, physically and emotionally, and her family isn't far behind. At best, they're able to skirt the issue of what happened to her. And none of them can answer the omnipresent question: what happens next? So Meg closes her eyes and makes the decision to go ahead and go to college hoping her absence will make it possible for her family to move on. At Williams, Meg finds it even harder than she imagined to function as a college freshman, surrounded by paranoid secret service agents and a slew of students who regard her with, at best, timid curiosity and, at worst, outright hostility. Fortunately Meg meets a couple of people who are determined to insinuate themselves into her life whether she wants them or not: her JA Susan (the main character in Friends for Life (An Avon/Flare Book)) and an Ultimate Frisbee-playing, love 'em and leave 'em California boy named Jack. Having been through her own personal hell when her best friend was murdered during their junior year of high school, Susan is familiar with the seemingly insurmountable challenge Meg faces in attempting to reclaim her life. Slowly, these two survivors strike up a tenuous friendship. Meanwhile, Meg negotiates an equally fragile relationship with Jack. Both relationships are unusually compelling. I love that Meg and Jack are equals--two extremely flawed, extremely interesting, extremely complicated people attracted to each other precisely because they are flawed and interesting and complicated. I love that he calls her on things. That it makes her mad when he scores higher than she does on a psych test. That they get angry at each other and talk it out and laugh together and move on. As I've mentioned before, I get tired of the Tireless Good Guy and his counterpart the Reformed Bad Boy.

I read Ellen Emerson White when I was a young teenager and fell in love with her "President's Daughter" series and the character Meg Powers, often rereading them into adulthood. Now at age 30, i so excited to see a new book in the series finally available. _Long May She Reign_ exceeded my expectations. I have already read it twice cover to cover. I think it would stand on its own without the previous books, and is updated to the modern era. I also think given that the series is about the daughter of the first female U.S. president it is timely. Great Book! Also, I have read that the initial series is going to be re-published and updated, and I would recommend them to anyone as well!

Like everyone else, I've been a fan of Meg for a long time, and have eagerly awaited this since I heard it was coming out almost a year ago. While substantial and weighty, the book is all the more satisfying for it, and the intimate details of not only secret service protocol but intense physical rehabilitation could easily have gone awry in the hands of a lesser writer. I personally found both Meg and Susan's stories compelling, and human, and I even came to like Meg's love interest against my better judgment. Easily Ms. White's best work (I just hope we don't have to wait as long for the next one!) I know a little something about physical therapy and was amazed and delighted by how real every aspect of Meg's journey was--including the frustration, the swearing, and the inability to tolerate other people trying to help even while desperate for their company. I don't know Ms. White's own personal story but something tells me she knows a great deal about rehabiliation--as well as strength of character. And she's a hell of a good storyteller, too!

I've long been a fan of Ellen Emerson White for her subtlety and insight, and this book showcases her great skill. This book, the long-anticipated fourth in a series about Meg Powers, the daughter of the first female president, deals with the aftermath of Meg's kidnapping and torture. The trauma shows up in both overt and more understated ways--Meg deals with screaming nightmares and tears, yes, but she's also suddenly unable to tell when she's hungry after 13 days of starvation, and alarmingly unconcerned about it. This book is also a sequel, in a way, to Friends For Life, featuring Susan McAllister (and a too-short reference to Beverly and Derek from Life Without Friends) and her relationship with Meg as Meg's residence hall advisor. We don't see quite enough of Susan, but she's well-used in the story. There were several sections that broke my heart into little-bitty pieces, particularly the conversations that Meg has with her mother as they finally are able to talk about the ordeal, and a late-night conversation with a Secret Service agent about one of Meg's nightmares. I tried, several times, to set this book down and go to bed, but I was utterly unable to sleep until I'd finished it. Ms. White has a powerful command of storytelling, making this a very compelling tale.

Eighteen-year-old Meg Powers lives on the constant edge of a nervous breakdown. It was bad enough when her mother first took office, becoming the first female U.S. president. But, last spring, Meg was abducted by a terrorist group who submitted her to thirteen days of physical and emotional brutality. Finally abandoned, in chains, to die in an abandoned mine shaft, Meg survived solely because of her own wits and daring. Now, mere months after her ordeal, Meg struggles to cope. In addition to the pain of her seriously damaged hand and knee, and the ever-present terror of which she cannot let go, there are mobs of reporters and photographers shadowing Meg's every move. Why can't the world leave her alone to heal, instead of adding to her stress? Meg surely doesn't understand. Despite all the obstacles, Meg decides to attend Williams College for the second semester of her freshman year. It was, after all, where she had intended to go before everything happened, and Meg figures that isolating herself in the White House isn't doing her - or her family - any good. Although no one ever speaks about it, it's obvious that Meg's ordeal has irreversibly changed her family life, as her parents' marriage is challenged, and her younger brother Steven tries to deal with his fury. But not only do the same problems follow Meg to Massachusetts, they increase exponentially. Having Secret Service agents and equipment all over her residence hall hardly endears Meg to her classmates. Even worse, the paparazzi is hindering their lives as well. Meg struggles to hold on, both physically and emotionally, hoping fervently for a day in the near future when things will get easier. But just as Meg begins to make a few fledgling new friendships and start to feel as though she were finally adjusting, the bottom drops out - in the form of Susan, Meg's residence advisor, whose past also includes some familiarity with tragedy and invasive press. While this book is actually the fourth of a series, "Long May She Reign" is perfectly capable of standing alone. It manages to reference enough details from the first three books so the backstory of Meg and her family is clear, while not being too repetitive for those who *have* read them. In fact, White skillfully expounds on many side characters introduced previously, including press secretary Preston -- who is quickly advancing up Washington's hierarchy but never leaves Meg's side during her most difficult times. She even manages to tuck in more details about various minor players in the White House, such as chief usher Felix, and the whereabouts of Meg's high school friends Josh, Alison, Zachary and Nathan. Simultaneously, White ties in two literary worlds -- that of Meg, and of Susan, who readers may remember from "Friends for Life" and "Life Without Friends." This happens so smoothly, that readers will wonder how it could be any other way -- and that Meg's and Susan's friendship didn't occur years before. At over 700