I just finished the book and I was disappointed that it didn't cover more of her relationship with her son Paul and her grandson Alexander I. It was almost as if they didn't exist at all during various points in her life and then Massie would "back story" them into the chapters.
He seemed to want to cover her lovers and her conversations with the "Enlightenment" writers. Oh, and of course, the Partitioning of Poland which effectively destroyed a country wiping it off the maps.
Looking at the pictures that were included, I would think that Paul was not the son of Peter III, he doesn't resemble Peter in any way and as he grew older he looked more like Saltykov. Nose and all are more like Catherine's lover than her husband.
I have started a second read because I was very interested in her early life and the coverage of her parents and her life in Anhalt-Zerbst and how she came to Russia in the first place was very good.