Status
Available
Call number
Publication
SDG Publishing (2017), Edition: 2, 352 pages
Description
Fiction. Historical Fiction. HTML: Book 1 in the Daughters of Fortune series The beautiful heiress daughters of newspaper magnate August Price have been given everything their hearts desire. But what if they want only to be loved�??without an enormous price tag attached? When one daughter pursues a desirable marriage, she secures for herself a comfortable and glamorous life. But among the duties of privilege, will she also find the happily-ever-after she seeks? Her sister rejects the trappings of wealth, choosing instead to build a new life on the still-untamed frontier. Will she find happiness in independence or discover that she's left her heart behind in New York's glittering society? Set in the opulent world of the Gilded Age, each woman discovers that being an heiress just might cost her everything�??including the chance for true love… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member MichelleSutton
In my opinion, Susan is clearly gifted when it comes to writing historical romance. She does a great job with deep point of view and insight into human frailty and overwhelming regrets. At many different times while reading this novel I felt like I was living the life of each of the sisters. The
Anyway, a few times I was agonizing over the story line. I felt like yelling into the book and saying nooooo! Talk about torturing your reader with the characters' conflicts! I was feeling their regrets and wishing they had made better choices too. My heart hurt for them. I was living this story! That's great writing.
Things I admired most about this novel was it was brave, honest, and well told. How many Christian authors have their characters actually admitting to themselves that something was very wrong that happened, but it led to something that was very right...like understanding true love for the first time in their lives? There were some tender scenes that included passionate gazes and kisses filled with so much longing. The intense emotion in this novel was palpable at times. And the heroes were so lovable.
This was a great book. But I have to warn you that it's addicting. I literally struggled with having to go to work when what I really wanted to do was stay home and read this novel. Excellent fiction. Compelling. Well-plotted. Intelligently written. I was thinking, "Man, I wish I could write like this." Truly superior and emotionally evocative writing. I highly recommend it.
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author includes so much sensory detail with visceral emotion attached to it...like the scent of city life, the ink from the presses, stark terror from the absence of light deep in the mines, the pain from wearing the corsets, to constriction of society's expectations, the blood from...well I won't say. Anyway, a few times I was agonizing over the story line. I felt like yelling into the book and saying nooooo! Talk about torturing your reader with the characters' conflicts! I was feeling their regrets and wishing they had made better choices too. My heart hurt for them. I was living this story! That's great writing.
Things I admired most about this novel was it was brave, honest, and well told. How many Christian authors have their characters actually admitting to themselves that something was very wrong that happened, but it led to something that was very right...like understanding true love for the first time in their lives? There were some tender scenes that included passionate gazes and kisses filled with so much longing. The intense emotion in this novel was palpable at times. And the heroes were so lovable.
This was a great book. But I have to warn you that it's addicting. I literally struggled with having to go to work when what I really wanted to do was stay home and read this novel. Excellent fiction. Compelling. Well-plotted. Intelligently written. I was thinking, "Man, I wish I could write like this." Truly superior and emotionally evocative writing. I highly recommend it.
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LibraryThing member southernsassygirl
I could go in so many directions with this review to tell you all about the characters, the plot, the setting, the clothes (oh...the clothes), but Heiress is one of those novels that is an experience--in jealousy, in opulence, in tragedy, in love. It's one that, if you know nothing but the back
I knew that Susan was a great writer, even after reading my first book by her earlier this year, but Heiress has catapulted her to favorite author status in no time flat. Just when I thought I was going to hit a lull in this story, she snapped my mind back to attention with one twist after another. Now, I know that some authors usually like to have one surprise lurking somewhere in their stories, but to have them appear in rapid succession (and all of them believable, no less) showed that Susan's got some masterful writing chops.
Without a doubt, Heiress has to be the edgiest Christian fiction book of the year. It should also come with a warning label--"Don't start unless you plan to stay up past your bedtime."
Go. Get. It. Now. I dare you. ;o)
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cover blurb, then you are in for the surprise of your life.I knew that Susan was a great writer, even after reading my first book by her earlier this year, but Heiress has catapulted her to favorite author status in no time flat. Just when I thought I was going to hit a lull in this story, she snapped my mind back to attention with one twist after another. Now, I know that some authors usually like to have one surprise lurking somewhere in their stories, but to have them appear in rapid succession (and all of them believable, no less) showed that Susan's got some masterful writing chops.
Without a doubt, Heiress has to be the edgiest Christian fiction book of the year. It should also come with a warning label--"Don't start unless you plan to stay up past your bedtime."
Go. Get. It. Now. I dare you. ;o)
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LibraryThing member theepicrat
Ever since Gossip Girl came to life on television, I have been hooked on all things New York and its ritzy upper-crust families. Glamour, scandals, glitter and gold – when I heard Susan May Warren was tackling this world with a historical twist, call me hopelessly hooked but I was more than ready
THE GOOD BITS
{The difference of chasing dreams versus living them.} Heiress takes place in a world where women did not have a lot of options – their main objective is to secure the right sort of marriage. Some women live for this, but others dream bigger for independence and perhaps a career. Esme dreams to be a journalist instead of marrying the man that her parents picked out, but is she prepared to leave the glittery world behind and get her hands dirty in the real world? That is the real trial by fire, and Susan May Warren allows this character to both fail and succeed.
{Jinx’s knotty romance.} Granted I wouldn’t wish anyone to go through what Jinx went through in the romance department, but it was so deliciously twisted that I flew through the pages to find out how it would all unravel. A heartbreaking nightmare of a love triangle, but when things were good, they were happy-good. The beauty of this particular storyline is how tragic and real it felt – how many women have been trapped like Jinx? How many had to let go of an impossible love to survive? It was riveting. It was raw. It was real – and I ate up every word of it!
THE BAD BITS
{Combination of 2 storylines.} It works for certain books. I don’t think it was a major issue for Heiress, but when I got invested in one sister, I wanted to see her story through to the very end without any interruptions from the other sister. Susan May Warren gives us nice chunks of time with each sister, but I wished the story did not have to alternate – and perhaps each sister would get their own individual book.
{Just a smidge of Christian fiction?} I expected a more obvious Christian message somewhere within these pages, but I could not put a finger to it for the life of me. Granted, a good way to describe Heiress is a more wholesome Gossip Girl. Scandal and unfaithful husbands are still running around, but how does a Christian woman survive in such a society? Can she hold onto her faith when society kicks her to the curb? The problem that I have is that I did not really see Esme or Jinx struggling with their faith as much as the simple fact that life is unfair to women.
THE OVERALL
I think Susan May Warren is onto something with this latest series, and I admit some curiosity as to how the sisters will fare in the future after the ending. Heiress is quite enjoyable – not too historical, not too scandalous – just the right amount of both. More of a quiet and thoughtful piece on the trials for women living on the cusp of independence.
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to jump into this adventure.THE GOOD BITS
{The difference of chasing dreams versus living them.} Heiress takes place in a world where women did not have a lot of options – their main objective is to secure the right sort of marriage. Some women live for this, but others dream bigger for independence and perhaps a career. Esme dreams to be a journalist instead of marrying the man that her parents picked out, but is she prepared to leave the glittery world behind and get her hands dirty in the real world? That is the real trial by fire, and Susan May Warren allows this character to both fail and succeed.
{Jinx’s knotty romance.} Granted I wouldn’t wish anyone to go through what Jinx went through in the romance department, but it was so deliciously twisted that I flew through the pages to find out how it would all unravel. A heartbreaking nightmare of a love triangle, but when things were good, they were happy-good. The beauty of this particular storyline is how tragic and real it felt – how many women have been trapped like Jinx? How many had to let go of an impossible love to survive? It was riveting. It was raw. It was real – and I ate up every word of it!
THE BAD BITS
{Combination of 2 storylines.} It works for certain books. I don’t think it was a major issue for Heiress, but when I got invested in one sister, I wanted to see her story through to the very end without any interruptions from the other sister. Susan May Warren gives us nice chunks of time with each sister, but I wished the story did not have to alternate – and perhaps each sister would get their own individual book.
{Just a smidge of Christian fiction?} I expected a more obvious Christian message somewhere within these pages, but I could not put a finger to it for the life of me. Granted, a good way to describe Heiress is a more wholesome Gossip Girl. Scandal and unfaithful husbands are still running around, but how does a Christian woman survive in such a society? Can she hold onto her faith when society kicks her to the curb? The problem that I have is that I did not really see Esme or Jinx struggling with their faith as much as the simple fact that life is unfair to women.
THE OVERALL
I think Susan May Warren is onto something with this latest series, and I admit some curiosity as to how the sisters will fare in the future after the ending. Heiress is quite enjoyable – not too historical, not too scandalous – just the right amount of both. More of a quiet and thoughtful piece on the trials for women living on the cusp of independence.
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LibraryThing member NadineC.Keels
It's time for the two daughters of a Gilded Age newspaper magnate to make suitable society matches to secure their family's future. But as both daughters desire to marry for love, it may cost them more than they imagined in Heiress by author Susan May Warren.
I picked up this ChristFic novel in
Granted, as I read the first few chapters, it was almost like the characters were checking off prescribed boxes, thinking thoughts and making the expected comments for "character types" in period dramas like this. I found the emotional development to be bumpy early on as the key players would jump from one sudden feeling or pivotal decision to the next. Also, throughout the book, sometimes the odd placing or omission of dialogue tags and action beats would make it tricky to tell which character had said what.
Still, I remained interested during every scene, which isn't that common when I read longer novels these days.
Then, the read eventually took a more substantive hold on me as it addressed social issues of the shifting period. Immigrants. Poverty. Racism. Endangered buffalo. Laborers. Labor unions. Labor strikes. Robber barons. Corrupt politicians controlling corrupt lawmen. Women's suffrage. World war. And the growth and grit of a particular character moved me from only being interested in the plot to being invested in it.
Now, considering human sense and the way that natural senses work, one huge "whoopsie" that involves two of the characters is an unconvincing twist from the start. Also, what was seemingly supposed to be a major surprise late in the story wasn't a surprise to me, due to an earlier lack of fundamental evidence that would have made the late twist a surprising one.
More on that topic, if you've already read the book or otherwise don't mind big spoilers:I didn't think Oliver was dead inside of that burning building simply because Colleen told Esme so—as the two women stood there outside of the building with no concrete knowledge or proof of Oliver's whereabouts. In any story where disaster strikes, if an important character doesn't die there before the reader's eyes or there isn't an official announcement from someone like a police officer, a firefighter, or a doctor confirming the character's off-page death, and without any show or mention of that character's recovered body or remains, I don't assume the character is dead just because other characters assume it, especially if the disaster scene cuts off before the disaster is over. After Esme's husband Daughtry died so soon after she married him, it further convinced me that Oliver hadn't died in that fire years earlier and that Esme would likely go back and reunite with him.
Yet, one aspect I appreciate most about this story is that the faith thread doesn't follow a certain pattern that some ChristFic does, making the Sinner Characters' lives all bad and nothing but sad because the whole point is to make them get saved (so then good and happy things can finally happen to them).
The novel's rising conflict and critical climax had an unrelenting grip on me. I was emotionally floored and hungry for more by the end, and I'm so looking forward to continuing the Daughters of Fortune series.
I picked up this ChristFic novel in
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hopes of satisfying my mood for lush historical entertainment dripping with diamonds, even if the novel could possibly turn out to be a proverbial "lifestyles of the rich and miserable" tale.Granted, as I read the first few chapters, it was almost like the characters were checking off prescribed boxes, thinking thoughts and making the expected comments for "character types" in period dramas like this. I found the emotional development to be bumpy early on as the key players would jump from one sudden feeling or pivotal decision to the next. Also, throughout the book, sometimes the odd placing or omission of dialogue tags and action beats would make it tricky to tell which character had said what.
Still, I remained interested during every scene, which isn't that common when I read longer novels these days.
Then, the read eventually took a more substantive hold on me as it addressed social issues of the shifting period. Immigrants. Poverty. Racism. Endangered buffalo. Laborers. Labor unions. Labor strikes. Robber barons. Corrupt politicians controlling corrupt lawmen. Women's suffrage. World war. And the growth and grit of a particular character moved me from only being interested in the plot to being invested in it.
Now, considering human sense and the way that natural senses work, one huge "whoopsie" that involves two of the characters is an unconvincing twist from the start. Also, what was seemingly supposed to be a major surprise late in the story wasn't a surprise to me, due to an earlier lack of fundamental evidence that would have made the late twist a surprising one.
More on that topic, if you've already read the book or otherwise don't mind big spoilers:
Yet, one aspect I appreciate most about this story is that the faith thread doesn't follow a certain pattern that some ChristFic does, making the Sinner Characters' lives all bad and nothing but sad because the whole point is to make them get saved (so then good and happy things can finally happen to them).
The novel's rising conflict and critical climax had an unrelenting grip on me. I was emotionally floored and hungry for more by the end, and I'm so looking forward to continuing the Daughters of Fortune series.
Show Less
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2011
Physical description
9 inches
ISBN
194393519X / 9781943935192