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chandlerainsley's review
2.0
what started out as a promising second chance childhood friends to lovers romance devolved quickly into a "sex solves all problems" story
which is incredibly disappointing because joanna shupe's writing is fun and accessible. i just couldn't be bothered to care for either maddie or harrison in any meaningful way.
the story is about harrison who returns to new york after an extended stay in paris. he initially left nyc after he overheard his childhood best friend and long time crush, maddie, say that she would only ever think of harrison as a friend. so he decides to bang broads abroad while also making time for wealth building since he's been disowned by his entire shitty family. maddie meanwhile is chillin and playing tennis & trying to bag a duke.
harrison comes back to nyc and attempts to seduce maddie. and then the second half of the book... kind of a trainwreck but i'm determined not to spoil it for those who are looking to pick this up. let's just say the story completely changed directions at 50% and any attempt at tension between maddie and harrison left the building. that, coupled with the "harrison tries to get revenge," story line kind of made this unsalvageable for me.
there's more i could say about the complete lack of character development or overly controlling hero but i'm bored just thinking about it.
which is incredibly disappointing because joanna shupe's writing is fun and accessible. i just couldn't be bothered to care for either maddie or harrison in any meaningful way.
the story is about harrison who returns to new york after an extended stay in paris. he initially left nyc after he overheard his childhood best friend and long time crush, maddie, say that she would only ever think of harrison as a friend. so he decides to bang broads abroad while also making time for wealth building since he's been disowned by his entire shitty family. maddie meanwhile is chillin and playing tennis & trying to bag a duke.
harrison comes back to nyc and attempts to seduce maddie. and then the second half of the book... kind of a trainwreck but i'm determined not to spoil it for those who are looking to pick this up. let's just say the story completely changed directions at 50% and any attempt at tension between maddie and harrison left the building. that, coupled with the "harrison tries to get revenge," story line kind of made this unsalvageable for me.
there's more i could say about the complete lack of character development or overly controlling hero but i'm bored just thinking about it.
sonja_ahrb's review
4.0
Friends to lovers isn’t a favorite trope of mine, but I wanted to read The Lady Gets Lucky and I usually try to read books in order unless I can’t for some reason. So I picked up The Heiress Hunt, but with my not being very enthused about the trope, I actually decided to skip it after all and dive straight into book two. I loved it pretty much immediately and while I did want to carry on, I thought it would be best if I read The Heiress Hunt first because I thought I would like the next story more and I wanted to give this as fair a shake as I could. I started it in truth and I enjoyed it for the most part. It had its frustrations and tugged on my heartstrings sometimes, but I genuinely did have fun with Harrison and Maddie’s story. It was a good starting point and now, I’m looking forward to getting back to The Lady Gets Lucky.
~ Sonja, 4 Stars
~ Sonja, 4 Stars
emuhly's review
4.0
i genuinely can’t believe the visceral hatred people have for this book. leave harrison and maddie alone!!! / 4 stars
corinnek's review
Could not imagine a more annoying set of characters if I tried. I've heard great things about this series so I'll probably continue, but this book is not enjoyable to read.
modags's review
emotional
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
winterreader40's review against another edition
4.0
This has all The Age of Innocence vibes but in a far more interesting story.
Harrison has been in love with his childhood bff since he was 15 years old but do to a series of unfortunate events he winds up disowned and running away to Paris for 3 years. Now his family is in dire financial straits and are demanding that he help them out by marrying an heiress, which he doesn't need to do because he made his own fortune while he was away, then he finds out his bff is still unmarried and decides he's not wasting his last chance to win her.
Maddie is a lawn tennis rising star and spends a good deal of her time practicing and the rest of her time luring a Duke into proposing to her because he's the most sought after prize and she's competitive so she figures that's who she should marry. Then her bff returns after 3 years with no communication and asks her to help him find an heiress and that's when things start to get complicated.
I really enjoyed this because it gave me all the classic vibes with interesting characters and great dirty talking steamy delights.
Harrison has been in love with his childhood bff since he was 15 years old but do to a series of unfortunate events he winds up disowned and running away to Paris for 3 years. Now his family is in dire financial straits and are demanding that he help them out by marrying an heiress, which he doesn't need to do because he made his own fortune while he was away, then he finds out his bff is still unmarried and decides he's not wasting his last chance to win her.
Maddie is a lawn tennis rising star and spends a good deal of her time practicing and the rest of her time luring a Duke into proposing to her because he's the most sought after prize and she's competitive so she figures that's who she should marry. Then her bff returns after 3 years with no communication and asks her to help him find an heiress and that's when things start to get complicated.
I really enjoyed this because it gave me all the classic vibes with interesting characters and great dirty talking steamy delights.
tessanne's review
2.0
Oh no. Just... no. This book seemed to be ticking the right boxes with the childhood-best-friends-to-lovers bit, a strong heroine doing something unusual for the time, and a man who knows what he wants.
We get like two glimpses of their early friendship which aren’t super convincing of their closeness. We learn why Harrison runs off to Paris and that makes sense. We see that Maddie practices tennis every day but that’s about as much dedication to her sport as we really see. We don’t see either of them fall in love—H was in love with M for years so that’s just a given. (And I fully expected to see him be a somewhat mature person in pursuing M, but instead he was a dick. And the duke, who started off all duke like , turns into a dick as well. That was SUPER annoying.) And honestly, I was never convinced that M actually loved H, so still no falling in love.
I don’t think either main character was developed much, we were just expected to believe what we were told, and that was that.
Similarly, the family drama that only took place for a small part toward the end could have been brought in much sooner and made more sense and worked better. Same with the main conflict between H and M, which instead of feeling like a real problem, feels nitpicky and whiny. I mean, one of M’s things is “doesn’t like surprises”. Okay, but really that’s just part of life and maybe grow a bit and learn some coping strategies? Also, doesn’t like lies. I mean, agreed, but not spilling everything that has occurred over the past three years in the first few days of seeing someone again is just... well, it’s not lying. So that whole premise was poorly done. And how that grew into the bigger issue of H not listening to M, I guess I missed that whole thing because that was a shock to me when it came up with the Big Conflict at the climax. It was like, “I’m mad and so I’m finding something else to throw in the mix.” For a strong heroine, M’s entire personality was a letdown.
I actually found myself rooting for H in the end and thought M should really have done better. (Ironic, because at one point *she* tells *H* to “do better”.)
Side characters: yes, please! Based on my past love of Shupe’s novels, I’m hoping we get back to well crafted characters and stories. I loved her friends and his as well and am looking forward to the next installment(s). They were all supportive and seemed emotionally intelligent. Bring it, Shupe!
We get like two glimpses of their early friendship which aren’t super convincing of their closeness. We learn why Harrison runs off to Paris and that makes sense. We see that Maddie practices tennis every day but that’s about as much dedication to her sport as we really see. We don’t see either of them fall in love—H was in love with M for years so that’s just a given. (And I fully expected to see him be a somewhat mature person in pursuing M, but instead he was a dick. And the duke, who started off all duke like , turns into a dick as well. That was SUPER annoying.) And honestly, I was never convinced that M actually loved H, so still no falling in love.
I don’t think either main character was developed much, we were just expected to believe what we were told, and that was that.
Similarly, the family drama that only took place for a small part toward the end could have been brought in much sooner and made more sense and worked better. Same with the main conflict between H and M, which instead of feeling like a real problem, feels nitpicky and whiny. I mean, one of M’s things is “doesn’t like surprises”. Okay, but really that’s just part of life and maybe grow a bit and learn some coping strategies? Also, doesn’t like lies. I mean, agreed, but not spilling everything that has occurred over the past three years in the first few days of seeing someone again is just... well, it’s not lying. So that whole premise was poorly done. And how that grew into the bigger issue of H not listening to M, I guess I missed that whole thing because that was a shock to me when it came up with the Big Conflict at the climax. It was like, “I’m mad and so I’m finding something else to throw in the mix.” For a strong heroine, M’s entire personality was a letdown.
I actually found myself rooting for H in the end and thought M should really have done better. (Ironic, because at one point *she* tells *H* to “do better”.)
Side characters: yes, please! Based on my past love of Shupe’s novels, I’m hoping we get back to well crafted characters and stories. I loved her friends and his as well and am looking forward to the next installment(s). They were all supportive and seemed emotionally intelligent. Bring it, Shupe!
bibliozabs's review
Skimmed so I could get a sense of the set up for the following books bc the reviews were bad for this one.
And yeah, those reviews were right. This is a rare miss for Joanna Shupe. It’s bad. Controlling, lying, unredeemed MMC. Inconsistent actions by both MCs. Weird pacing.
But embarking on the following books regardless.
And yeah, those reviews were right. This is a rare miss for Joanna Shupe. It’s bad. Controlling, lying, unredeemed MMC. Inconsistent actions by both MCs. Weird pacing.
But embarking on the following books regardless.