Category: Victorian Era (1837-1901)

In the history of the United Kingdom, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria’s reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardian period, and its later half overlaps with the first part of the Belle Époque era of continental Europe.
Preceded by: Regency era
Followed by: Edwardian era
Monarch: Victoria

Scandalous Heiress by Cerise DeLand

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Victorian Era (1837-1901)4 Comments

Scandalous Heiress (Those Notorious Americans, #4)Scandalous Heiress by Cerise DeLand

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Series: Those Notorious Americans #4
Publication Date: 2/4/19
Number of Pages: 284

I really enjoyed this story. It was well written and the characters were interesting and relatable. I loved Ada. She was bright, mature, steady and loyal and she comes from a large loving family. I had more of a love/hate relationship with Victor. I really loved him and felt his pain, but he annoyed me at the same time. His father gave him money (£10,000 per year) and property but he was still constantly worried about money – and it also bugged me that his first thought was to run away when scandal/trouble came rather than stay and fight. He’s panicked, worried about money, worried about supporting Ada, and the whole time Ada is just calmly going along and fixing everything.

Ada Hanniford is an American heiress living in England with her family. Her father is rich as Croesus – he just has that golden touch when it comes to business. She reads the newspapers, is interested in politics, designs garden layouts and is totally unimpressed with all those titled gentlemen who are interested in her £50,000 dowry. Ada doesn’t hate men and doesn’t really have anything against marriage, she’s just never seen a man she wanted to spend any time with. Well, at least she hadn’t until she accompanied her best friend Ezzie to a house party at the home of the man they expect to propose to Ezzie.

Lord Victor Arthur Sunderland Cole is the second son of the Duke of Brentwood. He adores his parents but is sad that his father is very ill. His father’s illness is the main reason he and his two daughters have returned from Shanghai where his business is headquartered. Victor’s first marriage was a huge, scandalous disaster and he’s certainly not interested in ever marrying again. His first wife created such a scandal that Victor had to take her and the girls and move to Shanghai to let it die down. When he first arrives at his parents home he hears the most enticing, tinkling laughter outside the window. Hmmm, it must be the young woman to whom his brother, Richard, is planning to propose.

Over the next few weeks, Victor and Ada see each other more and more and become closer and closer to each other. Victor still isn’t sure he wants to marry again, but he is certainly drawn to Ada. Then, a terrifying event occurs and they are forced into marriage. Can they make it work? Each admits to loving the other, but – is love enough? Maybe not, because at one point Victor says, “I will go and you will stay. Because love is not enough to change the world.”

As I mentioned above, Victor’s propensity to run away bothers me. He hurts Ada unbelievably because he, evidently, can’t stand the heat. In just a very short period of time he went from, “From this day forward, he wished to never let her go.” to “Go to bed. Stay there. Do not come here because I cannot have you. Not tonight. Not… perhaps ever.” to “I must return to Shanghai. There is no future for me here.” At that point, there was no ‘we’, it was all about ‘I’ and ‘me’.

Luckily for Victor, Ada is a sharp cookie and knew what to do to fix everything and it didn’t require running away. However, what I have to wonder is – where were all of those friends and family while Victor and Ada were on their honeymoon? Ada’s father had vowed revenge, but then evidently did nothing on his own. Friends were the same story. They could have prevented the whole thing had they REALLY been friends and family.

I really hate it when the villain gets totally away with whatever crime they have committed and this villain was a nasty piece of work. Why couldn’t he, in a drunken, drugged-up stupor fall off his horse and break his neck? It would have been so very good for so many people.

Anyway, it is an excellent read and I really enjoyed it – even if Victor annoyed me on occasion. It has to be a sign of a well-written book when the characters are so believable that you want to grab one of them by the shoulders and shake them!

Please check out my reviews at:
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“I requested and received this e-book at no cost to me and volunteered to read it; my review is my honest opinion and given without any influence by the author or publisher.”

The Vanishing Man by Charles Finch

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Historical Mystery, Victorian Era (1837-1901)Leave a comment

The Vanishing Man: A Prequel to the Charles Lenox Series (Charles Lenox Mysteries prequel 2)The Vanishing Man: A Prequel to the Charles Lenox Series by Charles Finch

Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: Charles Lenox Mysteries – Prequel #2
Publication Date: 2/19/19
Number of Pages: 304

The Vanishing Man is a wonderful addition to the Prequel series for Charles Lenox Mysteries and it is set three years after the first of the prequel novels A Woman In The Water. As always, it is well-written and well-plotted. I have read all of the books in the Charles Lenox series and it is nice to now go back in time and meet a younger and more unsure Charles who is just feeling his way into his chosen profession. The author does an excellent job of putting you in that time and place and making you feel the censure Charles gets from his peers for choosing that profession. While the mystery is excellent, two of my favorite things had nothing to do with it – one was the excellent outline of the British peerage, it was excellently done, and another was learning the origins of some words like ‘tips’ and ‘clue’. I might also add that if I were just newly coming to this series now, I would prefer to read the prequels before starting on the series itself. For one thing, the travel back in time is a bit of a shock to the system and it is bittersweet to get to know some people when you already know what their future holds.

In this book, Charles is still fairly melancholy and missing his father a lot. The author did an excellent job of putting you in Charles’ place and making you understand his grief and loss. Charles also does a bit of pining for what might have been between him and Jane. On a lighter note, I absolutely loved Charles’ young cousin, Lancelot, who was staying with him over the two-week term break at Eton. There is a scene in there between Lancelot and the Duke of Dorset that will have you in stitches!

Charles still hasn’t decided what to call himself – Private Investigator – Private Detective – he just can’t decide and since there are no others like him, it is up to him. Since his last case, things have been pretty slow for Charles – and then he gets a summons from the Duke of Dorset. So, things are looking up.

Charles arrives at the Duke’s home and is taken directly to the duke’s private-private study (you’ll understand when you read the book) where the duke tells him that there has been a robbery and he wants Charles to solve it. A painting with little value has been stolen from the room they are in, but the duke is convinced that the thief got the wrong painting. There is a priceless painting hanging directly beside the one that was stolen and the duke is sure that is the one the thieves wanted. After hearing the entire tale, Charles isn’t so sure that the thieves took the wrong painting. What was surprising was that the duke was only interested in the name of the thief, he wasn’t interested at all in recovering the painting.

Charles is busy trying to track down the painting when the duke is kidnapped and a ransom demand is left behind. Now, Charles has two mysteries to solve! Then – there is a murder and Charles has three cases to juggle. It will take all of his investigational skills and observational skills to figure out what is happening. He also meets Thaddeus Bonden who is famed for ‘finding’ things and Bonden agrees to help and to mentor Charles in some skills Charles feels he is lacking.

There is excellent character development from the first book to this one and it is nice to be able to explore the early relationships between Charles and his brother as well as Charles and Lady Jane. The love between Charles and his brother, Edwin, is plain to see and I enjoyed their interactions. All of the relationships in Charles’ life – Edwin, Graham, Mrs. Huggins, Lady Jane – are all rich, charming and funny. Then you add in the mischievous Lancelot into the mix and you have some lovely light moments that alleviate those darker ones.

I love Charles’ continuing pursuit of knowledge in the field of his craft. Part of that pursuit causes him to visit bedlam weekly to speak with criminally insane inmates. He wants to understand the criminal mind. Charles is insatiably curious about almost everything and that all goes a long way to help him develop the necessary skills he needs.

I definitely recommend this book and this series. It is very well written and the research is impeccable. You feel as if you are in that place and time along with the characters in the book. Well done Mr. Finch.

Please check out my reviews at:
Blog: https://flippinpages.blog/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/flippinpages…
Twitter: https://twitter.com/FlippinPagesRev
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BarbBookReview

“I requested and received this e-book at no cost to me and volunteered to read it; my review is my honest opinion and given without any influence by the author or publisher.”