Tag: Harper St. George

The Lady Tempts an Heir by Harper St. George

On By TracyIn America's Gilded Age (1870-1900), Part of a Series, Tracy's Reviews, Victorian Era (1837-1901)Leave a comment

The Lady Tempts an Heir (The Gilded Age Heiresses, #3)The Lady Tempts an Heir by Harper St. George

Tracy’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: The Gilded Age Heiresses, #3

Release Date: February 22, 2022

Lady Helena March and Maxwell “Max” Crenshaw met when Helena befriended his sisters, but their relationship took a turn when she helped him save his sister Violet from certain ruin. And while they shared a mutual attraction, nothing came of it and Maxwell returned to New York. Now a year later, Max is back in England to see his father who has had some serious health issues. Thankfully his father pulls through, but their relationship that was already strained by his father’s treatment of his sisters takes another hit when his father demands that Max marries by the new year or he will pull the funding for his sister August’s project. Unwilling to let his sister suffer or let his father win, Max hatches a plan – he just hopes that Helena is willing to play along.

Helena has been widowed and living independently for years, she loved her husband, but has decided that marriage is not for her. She spends her time working on her charitable projects, the newest being a home for unwed mothers and their children. At first, she gained a lot of support, but one by one her patrons are backing away. Apparently, her father has been poisoning the minds of her donors, he wants Helena to marry again and believes that her association with this project will ruin her chances. So when Max proposed that they fake a betrothal, just until August’s project is underway and Helena’s charity house is up and running, it seems like the perfect solution. As long as she guards her heart because, despite the passion that burns between them, Helena has a secret that she believes will prevent them from ever having a HEA…

This well-written book is a great addition to the series, Max and Helena have an undeniable on-page chemistry, making it very easy to root for their happy ending. The book does drag a bit in the middle and the come-and-go tension between them became a bit wearisome around the 70% mark, I also began to get annoyed with Helena’s insistence that she knew Max’s feelings better than he did and the solution that she came up with didn’t really work for me – I felt like she still didn’t believe that Max could unconditionally love her. That said, the book is filled with secrets, wonderful characters, great secondary characters, steamy love scenes, meddling parents, matchmaking sisters, and finally, an ending with a HEA that didn’t seem possible complete with an epilogue. I liked this book and I am looking forward to the next installment! This is the third book in the series, it can be read as a standalone title, but I would recommend reading the series in order for the best reader experience.

*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.*

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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