Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

As an Amazon Prime and Prime Unlimited member, I downloaded this book from their list of free first of the month selections. Based on the topic and historical period covered, I expected to love the book - but instead was soooo disappointed! It's basically a third-person account written in a passive, boring, repetitive (how many times do we need to be told about the subject's "courage"?), and cliche-rich rich style that fails to bring to life what surely must have been a fascinating woman. Unfortunately, we see her from the outside, with the only glimpses of her interior thoughts and emotions coming at the very end when the author includes a few excerpts of letters written when she is dying. As the author never heard of the "show, don't tell" guideline for writing engaging biographies? In an epilogue, the author describes how this book originated with research she did for her PhD and includes a bibliography of works consulted - but why did she not use primary or even secondary sources such as letters written by or about Allene Tew?