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3.31 AVERAGE
3.31 AVERAGE
Entirely decent historical fiction. Wealthy, spoiled, naive heiress falls in love, nasty conniving mother and mother-in-law are nasty. Dinners, corsets, opulence. Great fun. Can't help rooting for Cora the heiress, despite her being unplugged from any commonplace reality.
This was a quick and relatively enjoyable read. Until the end, anyway. Character development turns to character sabotage for the sake of convenient endings. So yeah, it's pretty similar to Downton Abbey after all.
I liked it but I wouldn't say I loved it.
Cora Cash (wealthiest heiress in America) goes to England with her mother to "buy a title." She ends up marrying a Duke and finds that English society is much different than she expects. And her husband has secrets! Gasp!
Overall it was an interesting story but I found the characters a bit ridiculous sometimes and the book was slower than I preferred. However, the ridiculous was kind of funny and probably intentional (Look how weird the super rich behave!)
Cora Cash (wealthiest heiress in America) goes to England with her mother to "buy a title." She ends up marrying a Duke and finds that English society is much different than she expects. And her husband has secrets! Gasp!
Overall it was an interesting story but I found the characters a bit ridiculous sometimes and the book was slower than I preferred. However, the ridiculous was kind of funny and probably intentional (Look how weird the super rich behave!)
(This review can also be found on my blog! The link is on my profile)
Okay so I was expecting this book to be kind of like The Luxe but I couldn't have been more wrong. Not that that's a bad thing but it definitely wasn't as......... interesting. To be honest the story was a little lack luster for me and I sort of feel like the ending negated everything that had built up. Nonetheless, it was a good book but maybe not for a nineteen year old.
The story centers around the young heiress of a flour fortune, Cora Cash. She has pretty much everything she could ever ask for, all except a title. So, her mother decides to send her to London so that young Cora can marry into royalty. There's only one problem; she simply does not want to do anything that her mother wants her to do. She wants to run away with her friend Teddy and get married but Teddy is too afraid to commit to her and he says that he would rather go to Paris to be a painter then settle down. So, she does as her mother asks and goes to London where she meets a Duke, who has the ridiculous name of Ivo, and they rather quickly get married. Now, the rest of the book is just sort of cut and dry; it just goes through about three years of her life with him and how she has to learn how to act in the English court and deal with her mother-in-law, who wants to steal the spotlight, and her husband, who doesn't seem to really love her. But nothing ever really happens throughout the whole book. We know that something is going on with Ivo and we know that everyone just seems to be out to get her but we never really learn why, and in the end, when everything is revealed, nothing really big comes of it. I was not very satisfied with the ending at all but looking back on it I understand why it ended like that.
This is the kind of book for people that really love British society, Victorian life, and Downton Abbey, and while I love all those things this book just wasn't very compelling. Nevertheless, I did enjoy it and I am glad I read it, but unfortunately for me I can't give it higher than 3.
Okay so I was expecting this book to be kind of like The Luxe but I couldn't have been more wrong. Not that that's a bad thing but it definitely wasn't as......... interesting. To be honest the story was a little lack luster for me and I sort of feel like the ending negated everything that had built up. Nonetheless, it was a good book but maybe not for a nineteen year old.
The story centers around the young heiress of a flour fortune, Cora Cash. She has pretty much everything she could ever ask for, all except a title. So, her mother decides to send her to London so that young Cora can marry into royalty. There's only one problem; she simply does not want to do anything that her mother wants her to do. She wants to run away with her friend Teddy and get married but Teddy is too afraid to commit to her and he says that he would rather go to Paris to be a painter then settle down. So, she does as her mother asks and goes to London where she meets a Duke, who has the ridiculous name of Ivo, and they rather quickly get married. Now, the rest of the book is just sort of cut and dry; it just goes through about three years of her life with him and how she has to learn how to act in the English court and deal with her mother-in-law, who wants to steal the spotlight, and her husband, who doesn't seem to really love her. But nothing ever really happens throughout the whole book. We know that something is going on with Ivo and we know that everyone just seems to be out to get her but we never really learn why, and in the end, when everything is revealed, nothing really big comes of it. I was not very satisfied with the ending at all but looking back on it I understand why it ended like that.
This is the kind of book for people that really love British society, Victorian life, and Downton Abbey, and while I love all those things this book just wasn't very compelling. Nevertheless, I did enjoy it and I am glad I read it, but unfortunately for me I can't give it higher than 3.
This book was at a 2-star rating until that awful, stupid ending. I think this was the least romantic "romance" I've ever read. Two stupid leads surrounded by mostly awful people. The only reason I kept reading was because I was sure that Cora was going to run off with Teddy, which would have been a slightly acceptable end to the story. But then she opted to stay with the Duke? UGH! He was terrible to her! Was this supposed to be a happy ending? Nothing redeeming about this one.
I really enjoyed this! This book was everything I wanted: full of dramatic romance and snobby aristocrats. I, personally, thoroughly enjoy anything to do with snobby rich people, especially if it's in a 19th/early 20th century setting. It's a guilty pleasure for me in a sense. The American Heiress hit everything that I really enjoy about the time period. I don't know how else to explain why I like it other than I just enjoy the genre.
I will say, however, that this book is kind of pointless. Unless you really like rich people problems like I do, I don't think you'll like this book. There's no real plot to this at all. Sure, there's a 'mystery' surrounding Ivo but that's not really a major part of the story. At the end something happens that's really interesting but then the book ends. It's like the ending was the middle of the story. It just stopped when the conflict started. Things do get resolved, I guess, but not in a satisfying way. I wish that Goodwin either made this a series or would have put that part earlier in the book. The way it ended left me wanting more resolution.
I really recommend this to Downton Abbey fans or people who love a good poor little rich girl story. I think you'd have to really like rich people and 19th century British aristocrats to really get anything from the story.
I will say, however, that this book is kind of pointless. Unless you really like rich people problems like I do, I don't think you'll like this book. There's no real plot to this at all. Sure, there's a 'mystery' surrounding Ivo but that's not really a major part of the story. At the end something happens that's really interesting but then the book ends. It's like the ending was the middle of the story. It just stopped when the conflict started. Things do get resolved, I guess, but not in a satisfying way. I wish that Goodwin either made this a series or would have put that part earlier in the book. The way it ended left me wanting more resolution.
I really recommend this to Downton Abbey fans or people who love a good poor little rich girl story. I think you'd have to really like rich people and 19th century British aristocrats to really get anything from the story.
The American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin is an absolute must-read for fans of Downton Abbey. Essentially, this novel could be Lady Cora Crawley's back story. Why, though, does the our leading lady in this novel need to share the name, Cora, with the character from Downton Abbey?
I thought it was an entertaining guilty pleasure read. The ending felt contrived but really, I didn't mind because I enjoyed the suspense leading up to it. It definitely piqued my interest in the Gilded Age.
lighthearted
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes