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3.31 AVERAGE
3.31 AVERAGE
I thought the book was pretty good. I liked the time period in which the book was set. My issue was in the way it ended. It seemed pretty cut-and-dry: trying to stick to what they would have done during the time period. I wish that the author could've taken a more daring approach with the protagonist's choice in the end.
thought it was well-written and intriguing, but at the end it sort of peters out without a satisfying close -- I really wanted to know more about the small/side characters (the Hummingbird Man, the maid) too!
I am finally all caught up! For February, I had to read 3 books for my book club. The last book, The American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin did not disappoint. The book introduces Cora Cash, a wealthy heiress in America. Some may think she has it all, the only thing she doesn’t have is freedom. Cora is determined to get out the grasp of her mother. While on tour in England, she meets a handsome Duke, who proposes a week later. From the outside, it would seem that once again she has it all. However, her husband is a man full of secrets. The English society is vicious. The only way to survive is to be stronger than she was before.
I had to be very simplistic in my synopsis, for there are so many details and twists. I do not want to spoil it for anyone. I was very excited to read this book. Although, at first, I could not seem to get into the book. It is quite slow. However, around page 100, the pieces started falling into place and I could not put the book down. There are quite a few storylines that really slowed down the pace, especially in the beginning.
Check out the rest of my review at:
www.amandasbookreviewsite.wordpress.com
I had to be very simplistic in my synopsis, for there are so many details and twists. I do not want to spoil it for anyone. I was very excited to read this book. Although, at first, I could not seem to get into the book. It is quite slow. However, around page 100, the pieces started falling into place and I could not put the book down. There are quite a few storylines that really slowed down the pace, especially in the beginning.
Check out the rest of my review at:
www.amandasbookreviewsite.wordpress.com
I was pleasantly surprised by the scope & uncertainty of this book. Though a romance novel, I didn't know who Cora would end up with or where her story would go. I liked the contrast with her handmaid Bertha, and found this genuinely enjoyable and well-performed by the audiobook narrator.
A guilty pleasure enjoyment - a cross between the time of Downton Abbey and a chicklit beach read.
It is the turn of the century and Cora Cash is coming of age - one of the richest young women in America. Her mother has designs on Cora getting a title, and so they set-off for England where a riding accident has her (unknowingly) meet Ivo, the Duke of Wareham. Through it all, Cora only has her maid, Bertha Jackson, to confide in and Bertha certainly stayed loyal even when her own self-interest ran counter to what Cora may have needed. In the end, Cora discovers secrets, almost leaves with her son, but realizes that she has chosen her path and can no longer be a child herself.
This is a pretty lame book. It's like Rebecca meets Poor Little Rich Girl meets Little Women. Cora is never empowered, but seems resigned to her fate - a fate she was thrown into and never seems to fully accept. Her father is a miserable role model of what a husband should be, she is surrounded by awful, Type-A harpy women and really becomes a victim by the time she is pregnant. I REALLY wanted her to leave Ivo and run away to make a new life, but even that ends-up disappointing with the pitiful Ivo guilting her into staying rather than changing himself in order to deserve her doing so.
This is a pretty lame book. It's like Rebecca meets Poor Little Rich Girl meets Little Women. Cora is never empowered, but seems resigned to her fate - a fate she was thrown into and never seems to fully accept. Her father is a miserable role model of what a husband should be, she is surrounded by awful, Type-A harpy women and really becomes a victim by the time she is pregnant. I REALLY wanted her to leave Ivo and run away to make a new life, but even that ends-up disappointing with the pitiful Ivo guilting her into staying rather than changing himself in order to deserve her doing so.
Rebecca meets Gone with the Wind meets Downton Abbey, and they all stare at each other in dismay.
I kept waiting for a twist, and it came in the very end and was so unpredictably predictable that one can actually call it a twist. Probably.
I kept waiting for a twist, and it came in the very end and was so unpredictably predictable that one can actually call it a twist. Probably.
This was a perfect summer read. Enjoyed imagining the wonderful clothes and jewels described. The plot was somewhat luckluster.
This review was written for The Review Diaries: http://reviewdiaries.blogspot.com/2011/05/review-my-last-duchess-by-daisy-goodwin.html
This book has dogged me in every bookshop I went to until I finally bought a copy and set it aside to read on my holiday.
Ironically the book is set for the most part in Lulworth, only a few miles from where I’m staying, so it added an extra layer of interest for me as I explored the coast that the book is set on.
It was a delicious read, allowing itself time to unfurl and creep into every part of your thoughts. I haven’t been able to shake the book, even days after I finished reading it. I want to re-read, to go back and re-immerse myself in the world. Goodwin’s level of research and eye for detail is astounding. It is pitch perfect and rings true as an accurate portrayal of the age. Most books I’ve read set in this period focus on the London season, so it felt like a nosey snoop into the private life of the titled country house life.
I loved the changing viewpoints – it really kept the story fresh and offered a variety of facets to each character and storyline. Whilst most of the story was told with Cora as the central character, the view frequently change to incorporate virtually every other character at one time or another, most frequently Cora’s maid, Bertha. My only complaint was at one or two points I felt like I was being given too much information at once, for example the section from Mrs Wyndham’s pov just felt like it was too much at once when I wanted to get back to the story.
I also loved how deeply into the characters Goodwin delves. There are no bad people and good people, just multiple facets and true representations of the situations and emotions that can shape or change a person. I liked Cora from the outset, and even though she’s effectively a spoilt rich girl she never is unlikeable or inaccessible for me as a reader to get in and empathise with her.
The little titbits of information that are scattered throughout so the reader can piece together a lot of the history makes the read a really intriguing one, and then to be given the final version of the story at the end suddenly all the clues you missed make sense.
However I wasn’t certain how I felt about the end. On the one hand it was a lovely neat tidy end to that thread. On the other I wanted to see the other possibility explored as well. It felt like a neat end to one of the parts of the story, but there was still so much I wanted more of and answers to – I didn’t want the book to end basically. Or possibly give me a sequel?
It was so good to have a period romance that delved so much deeper than a lot of the fluff I like to read. These were people, there were no happy endings, no shocking twists at the end that the hero and heroine overcome. It was just people, in a different time certainly, but dealing with issues we know and can relate to – love, money and power and what that does to people and their relationships.
I loved it, I highly recommend it, and I kind of want to go straight back and re-read it. A period romance with so much more depth to it than you’d expect from the genre – and a beautiful exploration of the period.
This book has dogged me in every bookshop I went to until I finally bought a copy and set it aside to read on my holiday.
Ironically the book is set for the most part in Lulworth, only a few miles from where I’m staying, so it added an extra layer of interest for me as I explored the coast that the book is set on.
It was a delicious read, allowing itself time to unfurl and creep into every part of your thoughts. I haven’t been able to shake the book, even days after I finished reading it. I want to re-read, to go back and re-immerse myself in the world. Goodwin’s level of research and eye for detail is astounding. It is pitch perfect and rings true as an accurate portrayal of the age. Most books I’ve read set in this period focus on the London season, so it felt like a nosey snoop into the private life of the titled country house life.
I loved the changing viewpoints – it really kept the story fresh and offered a variety of facets to each character and storyline. Whilst most of the story was told with Cora as the central character, the view frequently change to incorporate virtually every other character at one time or another, most frequently Cora’s maid, Bertha. My only complaint was at one or two points I felt like I was being given too much information at once, for example the section from Mrs Wyndham’s pov just felt like it was too much at once when I wanted to get back to the story.
I also loved how deeply into the characters Goodwin delves. There are no bad people and good people, just multiple facets and true representations of the situations and emotions that can shape or change a person. I liked Cora from the outset, and even though she’s effectively a spoilt rich girl she never is unlikeable or inaccessible for me as a reader to get in and empathise with her.
The little titbits of information that are scattered throughout so the reader can piece together a lot of the history makes the read a really intriguing one, and then to be given the final version of the story at the end suddenly all the clues you missed make sense.
However I wasn’t certain how I felt about the end. On the one hand it was a lovely neat tidy end to that thread. On the other I wanted to see the other possibility explored as well. It felt like a neat end to one of the parts of the story, but there was still so much I wanted more of and answers to – I didn’t want the book to end basically. Or possibly give me a sequel?
It was so good to have a period romance that delved so much deeper than a lot of the fluff I like to read. These were people, there were no happy endings, no shocking twists at the end that the hero and heroine overcome. It was just people, in a different time certainly, but dealing with issues we know and can relate to – love, money and power and what that does to people and their relationships.
I loved it, I highly recommend it, and I kind of want to go straight back and re-read it. A period romance with so much more depth to it than you’d expect from the genre – and a beautiful exploration of the period.
Even though I watch Downton Abbey, I'd never realized there was a history of Amerian Heiresses looking for titles in England were Lords and other men of title were on the hunt for women to keep their titles shinny. That part of the story and naviating through the society of the era was enjoyable but I didn't care much for the rest of the story. Interesting enough.
Read for the Vaginal Fantasy Book Club.
Read for the Vaginal Fantasy Book Club.