An Heiress to Remember

4.5 stars, rounded up.

Young and in love with Wes Dalton, Beatrice Goodwin makes a decision that changes her life and sets Dalton on a journey to gain revenge. Years have passed since Wes asked her to run away with him and she has barely thought of him in the sixteen years she has been gone – but now she is back in New York, a scandalous divorcee who threw over a duke and dared to be her own woman. She is stunned to learn the poor boy she loved is now one of New York’s richest men and is trying to buy her family’s store – the store she has come back to run – the store that is to be her dream, her mission, her independence! Former love or not, there is no way Beatrice is going to surrender without a fight!

For sixteen long years, Wes Dalton has devoted his entire life to revenge against the woman who broke his heart and her family. He took the payoff her mother offered when she got engaged to the duke and turned it into an empire. He is now the third richest man in New York City and has a department store that is so well known, he doesn’t even have his name on the building. His crowning achievement is at hand – Edward Goodwin (Bea’s brother and current President of Goodwin’s) wants to sell the store and Dalton is going to buy it and destroy it. But his grand plans are thwarted when Bea sweeps in and says that she will not let Edward sell the store – she checked with a lawyer and it was clear in her father’s will that both she and her mother have to agree to a sale. She then takes things further and has her brother committed to get treatment for his drinking and takes over as President in his absence.

Dalton finds himself exhilarated by the prospect of going up against Bea and welcomes the competition. But soon he realizes that revenge was never what he really wanted and he needs to decide what he is willing to pay to get what he really wants. For her part, Bea will find herself and hopefully realize that her dreams and success won’t keep her warm at night or ward off loneliness before it’s too late and she is left with nothing.

I really enjoyed this story, I loved that they didn’t have a misunderstanding in their past – they both made choices and stood by them. I loved catching up with the Ladies of Liberty and I thought some of Bea’s stunts were awesome. I was rooting for her at the beginning and loved that she didn’t give up on her dream. And Wes – OMG – LOVED HIM, he was funny, smart and pretty much perfect. The book has a lot of emotion, a little intrigue, a villain I didn’t see coming, some steamy love scenes, some serious girl power and a very sweet HEA. My only complaint is I felt Bea held onto her past experience a little too long and had an all or nothing attitude – like there is no compromising when you love someone – it made her come off a bit selfish – but it all works out in the end. This is the third book in the series, but it can easily be read as a stand-alone. I am happy to recommend this book and hope there are more installments to come!!

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an uncorrected eARC that was provided to me by NetGalley/Edelweiss and the publisher.*

I voluntary reviewed this ARC after receiving a free gifted copy.
Beatrice and Dalton love and romance story is certainly not your conventional love story in this book. Both characters had a lot of growing up to do in their time apart from one another when they were young. During this separation the writer allowed the reader to view the trials of family and heartache both Dalton and Beatrice experienced. When the two finally did come together, the writer really wanted the readers to see how much Beatrice leaving Dalton made him feel. While Dalton was feeling anger for revenge, Beatrice was in search of the woman of who she knew that she could be. The writer chose the write era to place this story at the time when women started speaking up more and making themselves more visible in the predominantly male world of business. Beatrice had to find a way to succeed and she did. She had to think like the duchess that she is. The details of the story gave good visualization of the stores and what the characters wore. Even how their facial expressions appeared after a comment or a phrase.

I have thoroughly enjoyed all of the books in the Gilded Age Girls Club series. Terrific, loving romances wrapped in early feminism. You gotta love it.

This one is the story of Beatrice Goodwin whose family owns a prominent New York department store. Bea fell in love with store employee Wes Dalton as a young woman, but follows her family’s pressure to marry an English duke. Sixteen years later Bea returns to New York as a divorcee. Meanwhile, Wes has made his fortune and created a rival department store that puts her family’s store to shame. Can Beatrice claim her heritage and become a successful businesswoman? Can she resist the pull of her old flame? And can Wes forget the girl he once loved?

I loved how Beatrice reinvents herself and takes on the world on her own terms. I loved how Bea and Wes continually revised and negotiated their relationship. This kind of book makes you want to stand up and cheer. Can everyone come out a winner in this situation? Maybe they can. And we enjoy watching them work it out. Terrific book.

I had a great time with this historical romance! Even though I had a copy of this book for a couple of weeks, I had no idea when I might be able to work it into my reading schedule. I picked it up just a few days ago to give it a closer look and was hooked after just a few pages and ended up reading the whole book in less than twenty-four hours. I found this to be a delightful and very enjoyable read.

This book is the third book in The Gilded Age Girls Club series but I read it as a stand-alone without any difficulty. This was actually the first book by Maya Rodale that I have had a chance to read and I was very impressed and will definitely be reading more of her work in the future. I felt like the way this book was written had a certain charm to it which really appealed to me.

The book opens with Beatrice and Dalton as young adults. They were both attracted to each other and wanted to run away together but Beatrice did what her family wanted her to do and married the Duke who proposed. Fast forward sixteen years and Beatrice is back in New York, divorced, and determined to bring her family’s store back to the splendor she remembers from her childhood. There is a new store across the street from her store called Dalton’s and things are about to get very interesting.

I really liked Beatrice and Dalton. They were great characters from the beginning but as I learned more about them, I grew to like them more and more. They have both overcome quite a few obstacles in their lives and are stronger as a result. Beatrice had already disregarded society’s expectations when she divorced the Duke and wasn’t going to worry about what anyone thought of her anymore. Dalton started with nothing and worked his way to the top but he was very lonely. I thought that they had fantastic chemistry with each other and I loved every scene they spent with each other.

I would recommend this book to fans of historical romance. This was a fun second chance and enemies to lovers rolled up into one. I loved the characters and thoroughly enjoyed the story from beginning to end. I wouldn’t hesitate to read more books in the fun series!

I received a review copy of this book from HarperCollins – Avon Books.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

An Heiress To Remember, by Maya Rodale, is available at booksellers on 3-31-20. Heiress is book 3 in Ms Rodale’s The Gilded Age Girls Club series. The premise is ladies helping each other succeed in their chosen vocation. Woman from all walks of life meet once a week to discuss life, work, and what they can do to help each other and the world around them. I learned a lot about successful women of the 1900’s. There were so many more than our history books teach us. I also learned New York had a “ladies mile” for shopping where women could go alone and be acceptable. Quite a change from always having a chaperone, it was liberating.

Wes Dalton & Bea Goodwin had been young sweethearts but life was mapped out for Bea. She was married off to an English duke & was miserable for the next 2 decades. Wes was heartbroken and spent 2 decades making himself a successful businessman and plotting revenge against the Goodwin family. Wes has a mantra he repeats throughout the 1st part of the book. “My name is Wes Dalton. You broke my heart…” It reminds me of the movie The Princess Bride. Remember Inigo Montoya? Hysterical reference by Ms Rodale.. When Bea divorces & moves back to NYC I liked the stand-off between these 2. The middle of their “courtship” dragged on so long I wanted to shake them till their teeth rattled. The ending was good but I just got bogged down for too much of the story. This couple made it hard for me to become invested in their relationship & HEA.

#MayaRodale #AnHeiressToRemember #TheGildedAgeGirlsClub #romance #Netgalley #AvonBooks #HarperCollins

Sixteen years have passed since Beatrice walked away with his heart and went willingly into the arms of another man, taking his last name. Everyday since Wes has worked hard to change his status, become someone worthy of her wealthy families standards and someone they can no longer look down on. But he has the advantage these days, their own wealth is dwindling, and their historied family business is failing, and he is ready to swoop in and claim it for himself.

But it won’t be easy, because his newest rival, Beatrice, has returned home and is determined to save it. He knows going head to head with her is dangerous for his heart and reputation… but he is more than ready for the fight!

An Heiress to Remember reunites old loves Beatrice and Wes, and puts them at war with one another over her failing family business. Wes is determined to not be bested by her again, but no matter how hard he tries to keep his heart from getting involved, it still continues to poke it’s nose in where it doesn’t belong. It’s evident these two have lots of unresolved feelings lingering between them, but there is also a lot of hurt there too, and it makes it hard to keep the lines between them clear. I really enjoyed watching this one unfold, the drama was high, and the sparks were simmering the whole way through… it was unputdownable! If you like steamy historical romances heavy on drama and emotion then I have no doubt you will enjoy what you find between the pages here, cause it’s littered with it! Highly recommend!

I requested an advanced copy of this title from the publisher, and I am voluntarily leaving my honest and unbiased opinion.

This is such a deeply uniques series. Based on a changing world and the passion found in the women who sought to make their world better. I love what the author writes about in her notes at the end where she tells the reader to imagine her/his own happy ending for the couple with or without children. It is her ode to the fact that women were to be no longer considered just a vessel for childbearing.

She uses wildly funny conversations to show the different ways men and women operated. One of my favorites was this line as the ladies had a discussion at their meeting. “A man must be fed and watered. And like a horse you must provide for it. They cannot seem to manage it on their own.” It is often thought that women are the weaker ones that need to be protected but she makes light of this fact and alludes to the real thing where it’s the woman running the show.

Wes and Beatrice spend 16 years apart but gets a chance to make it work again. They have a delightful untraditional courtship, but it takes setting aside their expectations to see what they can truly have. You will be pleasantly surprised by some of the things that take place as the story unfolds. In the end it will be a book that you will be happy you have read.

The Duke of Montrose came from England to find a wife. Beatrice Goodwin was in love with Wes Dalton but now she is faced with a decision, the duke or Wes. She accepted the duke’s proposal. Sixteen years later, Beatrice got a divorce from the duke and again was single. She went back to New York’ Her brother had let her father’s dept store go to waste and it was going into Bankruptcy. She could not let it go. Her mother helped put her brother into medical care and a treatment facility. He was also a drunkard. She took over and then saw Wes again. But this time he was a very rich man.
So now they had a competition going on between them.
I loved the fighting between them. The way the ideas came about. I enjoyed this story very much. It was also not a common tale. I thought that the end was not that satisfying. It seemed to just sort of end. But it was easy to read and the characters were wonderful. I do recommend this wonderful book.
I received this ARC from Net Galley and voluntarily reviewed it.

3.5 stars rounded up

Beatrice Goodwin did what was expected of a high society debutante: when asked, she married an English duke, forsaking her own young love. Now a scandalous divorcee, she’s returned to Manhattan to find that her brother has nearly run their family business into the ground. Beatrice is determined to save Goodwin’s Department Store and remake it as a haven for women. She’s just as determined never to sell it to Wes Dalton, her former love and now her biggest rival.

Wes Dalton pulled himself up from the city’s slums to possess one of the largest fortunes of the age, but he never forgot Beatrice, the girl who got away, whose parents deemed him to not be wealthy or consequential enough for their daughter. He’s spent his life seeking his revenge and quietly destroying the Goodwins, but when Beatrice sweeps back into the city like a storm cloud, Wes is left in turmoil and more confused than ever.

Dalton’s and Goodwin’s become embroiled in a rivalry for most successful department store in the city and Wes relishes the challenge. The old heat that still flares between them won’t stop their competition, even if they are lovers after hours, and when feelings grow stronger, they must both decide where their priorities lie.

I enjoyed this book in the long run, but I had several issues and mixed feelings about it. I’m all for girl power and women supporting women, but it got just a bit heavy-handed here and I think the shear emphasis on Beatrice’s independence at the expense of everyone else’s feelings took away from the romance and made her seem rather selfish, which she unabashedly admitted to being. I understood her motivations to prove herself, but I felt like she was just using Wes and stringing him along without regard for his feelings or his pain and I couldn’t get behind that and really didn’t care much for Beatrice. It also bothered me that she kept invoking her title as duchess, despite being divorced and despite the fact that she kept talking about how she was distancing herself from the duke. Wes was no peach either and made many mistakes, but I did like his vulnerability. I just wish we’d seen Beatrice show some of that same vulnerability when she was with Wes; I think that would’ve been more satisfying for me. Ultimately, I felt like Wes was emasculated a bit so that he and Beatrice could be together without her making any sort of compromise and I think that made the romance here feel forced and stilted. I just didn’t really feel the love between them and I also think the mystery aspect here deserved more than it got in the end considering the build up.

Overall I would’ve liked to see more of Wes and Beatrice growing together, since the majority of the book was spent with them firmly at each other’s throats. Her relationship with Wes definitely took a backseat to the rivalry and business aspects of the story, but it is very well done on a challenging topic to tackle. Despite my issues with it, this book was well-written and it’s always nice to see some girl power in a historical. I’m looking forward to more installments in this series.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

An Heiress to Remember is the third book in The Gilded Age Girls Club by Maya Rodale. The series is based on a group of women who belong to The Ladies of Liberty Club which helps women to advance in professional roles. This was a wonderful addition to the series and had great characters. Each book in the series seems to get better and better.
Beatrice Goodwin choose to marry a Duke rather than marry the man she loved, Wes Dalton. She returns to New York City sixteen years later as a divorced duchess. She was ready to finally start her life. When she discovered the family business, Godwin’s Department Store, was facing financial difficulties, she was not about to give up and let her brother sell the business. With some suggestions from the ladies in the club, she realized that women made the purchases for the households. What better way for a store that caters to women’s needs than to have a debut party to announce the remodeled store!
Wes Dalton had worked hard to build his business, Dalton’s, and he had sworn to have revenge against Goodwin’s. He was determined to shut the store down. During the competition between Beatrice and himself, he came to respect Beatrice and realized that he had worked for success just to finally be able to impress Beatrice with the money and power he didn’t have when she left him for the duke. He has to decide what matters the most to him, winning the competition or winning Beatrice.