Month: June 2021

The Devil and The Heiress by Harper St. George

On By BarbaraIn America's Gilded Age (1870-1900), Barb's Reviews, Victorian Era (1837-1901)Leave a comment

The Devil and the Heiress (The Gilded Age Heiresses, #2)The Devil and the Heiress by Harper St. George
Barbara’s rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: The Gilded Age Heiresses #2
Publication Date: 6/29/21
Period: Victorian – London 1875
Number of Pages: 304

I discovered this new-to-me author with the first book in this series, The Heiress Gets A Duke. I absolutely loved that book and I believe this one is even better. The writing is exceptional – I love the way the author turns a phrase. The plot is well-formed, well delivered, and fast-paced. It was such an engrossing and interesting story I read it from beginning to end in one sitting.

We met the Crenshaw family in the first book and found the parents to be very despicable, but the children were delightful. Well, the parents haven’t changed one bit and they are now selling their daughter, Violet, to the nobleman with the most to offer Crenshaw Iron Works. Since they got themselves a Duke the last time, the title isn’t as important this time around – as long as there IS a title. What they need this time are the raw materials that will be needed by Crenshaw Iron Works when they open their London branch. They’ve found the perfect candidate and drawn up the agreements – but they ‘forgot’ to tell Violet she’d been auctioned off to an absolutely odious man.

Violet Crenshaw isn’t exactly who she seems to be. Everyone believes her to be very quiet, pliant, and biddable. What they don’t readily see is the spine of steel. What they don’t expect is for her to object to their marriage choice for her and they certainly don’t expect her to take any actions to thwart them. Violet is definitely more than everyone believes her to be. While everyone is valuing her for her monetary worth, they are missing her real worth.

Christian Halston, Earl of Leigh, isn’t exactly who he seems to be either. He is – but it is because he has long ago buried the real Christian deep inside himself, so what we see on display is the cold, calculating, uncaring, and womanizing man he has become. Christian isn’t the typical pockets-to-let aristocrat in search of an heiress. However, since his beloved Scottish estate burned, he doesn’t have the funds to make the repairs. Frankly, he could care less about anything else in his Earldom – he really never plans to marry and have children so the title and everything that goes with it can either go to some distant relative or die out altogether. His vile father was the Earl and he hated Christian – for no good reason. Then, Christian met Violet and she intrigued him – and she was an heiress – what could go wrong there?

I highly recommend this book and this series. The author’s writing style just speaks to me and the characters could easily become my friends if I met them in real life. I loved watching Christian change from trying to manipulate Violet into doing as he wants to only wishing to love her and make her happy – even if it cost him his own happiness. It was also nice to spend some time with Max (Violet’s brother) and to get to know him better as I’m sure his book will be the next one. I hope you’ll choose to read this book and love it as much as I did.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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Highland Beast by Amy Jarecki

On By TracyIn Other1 Comment

Highland Beast (The King's Outlaws, #3)Highland Beast by Amy Jarecki

Tracy’s rating: 3 of 5 stars

Series: The King’s Outlaws, #3

Release Date: June 29, 2021

Rhona the healer of Clan MacDougall is devastated when she learns her Granduncle, Alexander, Lord of Lorn has surrendered Dunstaffnage Castle to the self-proclaimed King of the Scots, Robert the Bruce, and is taking his best soldiers and fleeing to England. And if that wasn’t bad enough she then learns that Robert has assigned Sir Arthur Campbell to act as the constable – the man who broke her heart years ago and the one man she hoped to never see again.

Sir Arthur is thrilled to be at Dunstaffnage again and hopes to win Rhona’s heart again now that she is widowed – he is not sure why she is so cold to him and thinks it is because of his allegiance to the king, who is an enemy to her clan, which is true, but what he doesn’t know is that she never got his letter and that she thinks he deserted her.

Arthur is determined to woo Rhona and marry her, but Rhona is equally determined to keep him at arm’s length and to cause him problems by sabotaging things at the castle. She is able to keep her feelings under control, but when Arthur is injured and she tends him, she knows that she still cares for him. But even her feelings for him don’t stop her from betraying him by helping the men who shot him escape and making Arthur look like a fool – actions she later hopes to keep from him. Can these two find their way back to each other or will past hurts be too much to overcome?

As with every book I have ever read by this author, I found this novel to be a well-written, well-researched, nicely paced story with interesting characters and a bit of fact incorporated into the fiction. But unlike almost every book I have read by this author, I didn’t love this book. Personally, I didn’t really like Rhona, I found her actions petty and immature, I also had a hard time agreeing with her POV about the loyalty she owed to a man who took his best soldiers and left his elderly sister and widowed niece to fend for themselves with his enemies. Furthermore, I didn’t feel the connection between Arthur and Rhona, and when her secrets were exposed, I thought the “solution” was improbable and contrived. Arthur was a wonderful hero and unfortunately, I felt like he ended up doing all the work to make their HEA happen and he deserved better. This is the third book in the series, but the books can all be read as standalone titles with no issues.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher. All opinions in this review are my own.