Sandy M’s review of The Heiress (Madison Sisters, Book 2) by Lynsay Sands
Historical Romance published by Avon 22 Feb 11
I never in a million years thought I’d only like, instead of love, a Lynsay Sands book. But it’s happened.
This book takes place at the same as The Countess, just from Daniel’s and Suzette’s points of view. There are scenes that are somewhat, if not completely, duplicative of scenes from the previous book. I’m not sure why this doesn’t work for me that well in this case when Julia Quinn’s Two Dukes of Wyndham books did. I’m thinking it’s because with all the other players in an on-going storyline, it didn’t feel like Daniel and Suzette’s book. They, of course, do have their own scenes apart from repetitive ones and they’re great scenes. Maybe it’s that the humor that flowed throughout the first book is missing here, not keeping in line with the circumstances of Dicky’s death, because at times some of the things these characters do border on the ludicrous. That first book made me laugh out loud, I didn’t mind the comedy-of-errors-like situation there.
What I really did enjoy is the way Daniel slowly but surely falls for Suzette because of her bluntness and her zest for the unexplored, while still desiring to live in the country, away from the scathing backbiting and gossipmongers of town. Suzette needs to find a husband pronto because her father has once again gambled with their lives to the edge of ruin. Her older sister Christiana is the one who saved them the first time around, but that didn’t turn out very well when her husband, Dicky, turned out to be a bastard, verbally abusing the woman. So Suzette wants a man who’s in need of money but who will agree to let her retain part of her dower to repay the gambling debt and allow her to live her life as she pleases.
We know already that Daniel has led Suzette to believe he is that man, when, in reality, he’s as rich as his friend Richard, the true Earl of Radnor, Christiana’s husband. But because she fascinates him, he wants to stretch out their time together so they can learn about each other, see if they’ll truly fit to spend a lifetime in wedded bliss. So we go behind the scenes of the first book to find out what they talk about when not immersed in the present predicament of discovering who killed Dikey and who’s blackmailing the current earl. I’m just not as taken with Daniel and Suzette as I was with Richard and Christiana, and that disappointments me because I really liked this couple during the first book and have anxiously anticipated their story. Don’t get me wrong, their scenes together are good. I really like the scene that begins in Suzette’s bedroom where Daniel has just thrown Dicky’s body out the window to prevent discovery. She believes he’s come to give her his answer concerning her proposal and hopes they’ll be on their way to Gretna Green immediately. But Daniel puts her off, not able to tell her why he’s really there.
Their almost love scenes are also nice, especially the one following the above scene in Daniel’s carriage, where Richard has stashed Dicky unbeknownst to Daniel until it’s too late. I am, though, disappointed in their consummation of the relationship, which takes place in a barn. I realize for events following that scene why it’s done this way, but I just want something different for them. Also disappointing is that’s the only love scene between them. The wait for them to be together takes long enough, since the first book, so I feel we should get more than that. You do feel their shared enjoyment when together, their growing admiration and desire as they dance around each other. And because their one time together is tainted in a way, it would have been nice to enjoy them loving each other again.
I do like that we see more of Robert and Lisa, the third Madison sister. Robert has yet to look at Lisa as a love interest, though she’s been smitten with him for a while. I look forward to seeing what Ms. Sands has planned for them.
I guess I put my cart before the horse as far as the humor in this series is concerned. I did expect more of it in this book than what is given, so my fault for the disappointment to a certain extent. I won’t be making that same mistake with the last book in the trilogy, though.
Grade: B+
Summary:
Desperately seeking a husband…
Suzette is not like other heiresses; she wants a poor husband. A gentleman who will be so grateful for her dowry that he will allow her access to her dowry so she can help pay off her father’s gambling debts. When this alluring beauty encounters Daniel Woodward—handsome, titled, single…and even more impoverished than she could have hoped for—it seems Suzette’s wildest dream has come true.
But Daniel has not been truthful. Tired of being accosted by an endless stream of vapid coquettes and their fortune-hunting mothers, Daniel has decided to plead poverty to stop them in their tracks. Yet here is a most refreshing and delectable lady who claims to be thrilled by his penury. Now all Daniel has to do to find true happiness is to keep a little white lie alive…while avoiding a dastardly villain who’s determined to prevent this union by any means necessary.
Read an excerpt.
Other books in this series:
