I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, I did finish reading quite a long book very quickly so obviously enjoyed it enough to keep going. There are a lot of long words in this book which seems to have put other people off, however I read this on my Kindle so I quite enjoyed just tapping on the words to see the definitions and adding another word to my vocabulary. 
On the other hand, I never warmed to the main character and even kind of disliked her at some points. There is so much emphasis on how Emma is more organised, more driven, more intelligent, more hardworking, has better taste, and is better at everything than everyone else. It just felt unrealistic and even almost like propaganda for the working class woman- if you work hard and are simply brilliant at everything, you can do anything!! 
I also had a sense during the book that, as Emma's rise to success is motivated by hatred, at some time she would surely have her come uppance for this, or at least a moment of introspection where she perhaps regrets letting herself be fuelled by such a negative motive as revenge. However there is none of this, at one point at the end there is one line where she considers it, but then decides it's better not to have any regrets and that's it?? There seems to be no consequence to Emma's whole rise and empire being built on hatred for one family and in the end the author seems to be saying this is ok and there is no moral ramification to this. 
My last gripe is with the fact that I still don't understand why Emma hates the entire Fairley family so much. It's only the two brothers that I can see actually did something to her. But there doesn't seem to be a reason for her hating Adam Fairley? She just decides that she does from the start, just because he's rich and she isn't? Then there's something later on about how Adam was involved with her mother and she sees this is the reason she has always hated him, however the account given was that Adam was willing to do the honourable thing with her mother and marry her? I don't see that Adam does anything actually bad to Emma at all. And then Adele Fairley, Emma even quite likes so I'm not sure why she is constantly referring to the entire Fairley family and "everything they have done to her". And then demolishing the Fairley House because of "everything that happened there" but the only thing that happened there was that she was a servant?? In which case, why doesn't she go after Murgatroyd?

I read this due to a NYT story on the book and author. What a slog to get through. Point of view changes on a dime. Way too many and too long descriptions of what people are wearing and of furniture. And in the end I had little sympathy for the heroine.