May be 3 and half stars....... 
 The reasons: 
 1. (view spoiler)[Daphne killed a powerful story by 'killing' Rebecca. I had the impression that Rebecca was one of the best women and Maxim was always living in the past, a person who can not come out of his emotional bond with the superb Rebecca. I expected this to be the course of the novel and that would have been a powerful analysis of characters. Instead it ended up like an usual romance in which one has to be bad for the justification of the other. I will never forgive Daphne for that. (hide spoiler)] 
 Or was it my mistake expecting something different? Looking at the many responses and reviews I think my expectations are to be blamed. 
 2. To me, the story picked up its momentum only in the last ten chapters. 
 Final Remark: 
 I loved Rebecca even after Daphne had blackened her character. And may be that is the reason why I ended up hating the narrator and the author. Was it wrong for me to fall in love with Rebecca? I am in fact angry for making Rebecca black so that others could be perceived as white.