Heiress Gone Wild

Jonathan Deverill comes to Forsyth Academy in New York to meet his ward, Miss Marjorie McGann, her father was his friend and business partner, but recently died of consumption, leaving a huge fortune to his daughter and only child. But Marjorie is not the little girl Jonathan imagined, no, she is full grown, gorgeous woman who is tired of waiting for her life to start.

Marjorie has been at Forsyth for 13 years and hasn’t seen her father since the day he dropped her off when she was just seven years old. After the other girls her age graduated and left, Marjorie stayed on to teach as she had nowhere to go. So when the handsome Jonathan Deverill waltzes in and proclaims that he has business to attend to and will return for her in 8 months. Marjorie is not happy with this proclamation and tries to negotiate with Jonathan. He is firm, he cannot take her with him, he thought she was a child and is not prepared, besides she is in mourning and can’t go out in society anyway. Marjorie argues that she shouldn’t be in mourning, she hadn’t seen her father in 13 years, she didn’t even know him! Again, Jonathan is adamant and reiterates that he will return for her in 8 months. Marjorie knows that she will get nowhere with him and lets him believe that she agrees with him.

Imagine Jonathan’s surprise when once his ship has set sail and he is relaxing in his bath, that he gets a visitor – Marjorie! This is just the beginning of the hijinks Marjorie has planned for Jonathan, but to the delight of this reader, Jonathan is a worthy opponent to Marjorie and will not go down without a fight.

The story is delightful, it is well written, flows nicely and Marjorie and Jonathan are wonderful leads. The chemistry between these two is obvious and their banter is amusing and heartfelt. I loved watching both of them grow and trust, especially Marjorie who has been hurt and abandoned. The secondary characters (characters from the previous books) are great, the love scenes steamyish, the conflict believable and emotional. My only complaint is Marjorie’s refusal to trust Jonathan felt like it dragged on just a tad too long, not horribly so, but leaning towards annoying. This is the fourth book in the series, but it can easily be read as a stand-alone with no problems.

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

Jonathan Deverill and Marjorie McGann are two different souls who want very different things in life – or do they? I thoroughly enjoyed these characters and could so easily identify with both of them. It was so much fun to get to know them and to watch them discover that what each of them wanted wasn’t really so very different after all. It is an excellently written story filled with humor and romance. I have not read the other books in the series and didn’t feel I’d missed anything at all in relation to this story – so – the bottom line is – it can easily be read as a standalone.

Jonathan’s dreams for his life all came crashing down around him when he was eighteen years old. Jonathan’s grandfather had told him all of his life that the Deverill Publishing company was his birthright – ink flowed in his veins. But then, his grandfather died and hadn’t made a will – so everything went to Jonathan’s father. That wouldn’t have been a bad thing if his father had a little bit of business sense and wasn’t so stubborn and uncompromising. When Jonathan tried to advise his father, he threw a tantrum, disinherited Jonathan and kicked him out of the house. To make matters worse, his betrothed told him that she wouldn’t marry him since he now had no prospects. Jonathan left for America and wandered around doing different things there until he and his friend discovered the biggest silver strike in Idaho. They pulled millions of dollars worth of silver out of that mine.

Jonathan is now rich beyond belief, but his friend, Billy McGann, has just died a horrible death from consumption. Jonathan stayed with him through that last awful year and at the end, Billy told him that he had a daughter and that he’d made Jonathan her guardian. Jonathan is shocked that his friend has kept such a secret from him, but he agrees. He would agree to anything Billy asked because the man was closer than a brother. How hard could it be to arrange for care of a little girl?

Jonathan made an appointment to meet the little girl at her exclusive boarding school. What was his reaction when he met her? “Goddamn and holy hell” is what he said. That was no little girl in pigtails and a pinafore – no, she was a drop-dead gorgeous almost twenty-one-year-old who was fully expecting to finally get to leave the school where she’d spent almost her entire life. She did NOT take the news that she’d need to stay there for another eight months lightly. She made her desires very, very clear – she wanted to go to London, she wanted a season, she wanted to marry a man with a title, and mostly, she wanted a home – a real home.

Marjorie has been left, all alone, at Forsyte Academy, an exclusive boarding school for young ladies in White Plains, New York, when she was just seven years old – right after her mother’s death. Her father promised he’d return for her, but he never did. He always promised she could join him, but it never happened. Oh, she harbored her dreams for a very long time before realizing that he just didn’t want her. She had no family other than him, so she was utterly alone in the world. What she wanted most in life were safety and security. She wanted a real family, a real home and a life outside of a cloistered boarding school – and she really, really, really wanted someone who wouldn’t leave her. So, when her new guardian arrived at her school and told her she’d have to stay, she didn’t believe he’d ever be back for her – just like her father – he was going to abandon her as well. She’d be darned if she was going to have that, so she made her own plans – and executed them perfectly.

Jonathan was attracted to Marjorie the moment he met her – and that just wasn’t appropriate. He had to get to England and make arrangements with his sisters to take her in and introduce her to society. Then he’d return to fetch her. But – once his ship was out to sea, there she was, in his suite aboard the ship – on the way to London. Oh! My!

I love that Jonathan tried to fight his attraction and give her what she wanted – and she’d told him in no uncertain terms that he was just like her father and she didn’t want any part of a man like him. I also loved that he saw through to the real Marjorie – the one who was brave and adventurous and who would become bored with the ‘safe’ life she was seeking.

This was a fun visit with two wonderful characters and a host of lovely supporting characters. Marjorie kept Jonathan off-kilter during the entire book and kept upsetting all of his well-laid plans. I was beginning to wonder if she was going to let it slip through her fingers though – but finally, she embraced that brave, resilient, adventurous woman and ran with it. Lovely ending!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Review originally published at Romancing Romances.

I received an eARC at no cost from the publisher, and I am leaving a voluntary and honest review. Thank you.

3.75*

This was my first Laura Lee Guhrke book. I don’t know why it took me so long to read this author!

I’ll admit, some things in the book were a bit too much for me, but in general this was quite fun!

I really liked Marjorie, she was fun, and she was very determined. And for someone who pretty much lived her whole life between the walls of a school, she was very courageous. Because it courage to actually do what she did. It’s all good when you’re thinking about going on an adventure, but actually doing it, takes a lot of guts!

The romance trope in this book is the ward-guardian trope. But not to worry, Marjorie isn’t a child, or teenager, she’s a young woman – which the hero knew nothing about, and he was very surprised to find a beautiful woman instead of a young girl in pigtails.

Jonathan does seem a bit annoying sometimes, but we have to keep in mind he is trying to protect both Marjorie and himself. He wants her to have her dream, but at the same time he wants his sanity. Whenever Marjorie does something crazy, we can clearly see all the mechanics in his head, and sometimes it does come out, but it’s mostly #internallyscreaming.

This book was a lot of fun, as we accompanied both the hero and the heroine to discover new (and old) dreams, and what they actually wanted out of their lives. It really pushes some of our buttons, and force us to, alongside the characters, see what we’re looking for in our lives. Is it really the ballrooms and gossip, or do we want something more? This was the question for Marjorie. And for Jonathan? Well, for him it was even a bigger question, as he had no idea what he wanted to do, besides what he already did. But he wanted a new dream… he just didn’t know what that would entail. And together, they find a new, adventurous dream.

Wealthy silver baron Jonathan Deverill is immensely saddened by his business partner’s death and makes a deathbed promise to become guardian to the man’s daughter. He’s expecting a little girl with several more years left of finishing school so he’s shocked to discover his new ward is a beautiful young woman whose longing for romance and a change of scene promise to make his role far more difficult than he imagined.

Heiress Marjorie McGann longs to leave New York, have a London season, and be swept off her feet by a titled English gentleman. But Jonathan is extremely protective of Marjorie, constantly warning her of the duplicitous nature of fortune hunters and confidence men. He’s so overly protective, in fact, that Marjorie finds no romance at all. Until a kiss between her and Jonathan himself changes everything and she wonders if the key to all her romantic dreams lies with Jonathan after all. But Jonathan is a wanderer and Marjorie longs for a settled life and family of her own. With his restless nature and her desire to live within the British high society he disdains, a future for them together seems near impossible.

This book was different than most in that it’s not all sunshine after the hero and heroine fall in love. These two have to learn to compromise and meet in the middle and that made it so real and relatable. They also have to face the hard questions of what they really want from life, which, as is the case for many of us, wasn’t what either of them first thought. I thought that was great and I appreciated that they each were concerned about their own dreams and fulfillment along with being concerned about each other. Jonathan was a great hero without compromising himself. Marjorie tried my patience a bit but once she started thinking for herself about what she wanted rather than what she thought she should want, she became likable and relatable.

This was my first read from this author and I really enjoyed it and I want to read the other books in the series now.

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

Fun book about two people who seem to be opposites, but are more alike than they know. I thoroughly enjoyed watching these two people drive each other crazy on their path to happily-ever-after. Though I haven’t read the earlier books in the series, this one works well as a stand-alone. There are hints of the earlier stories, enough to fill in the blanks without bogging down the story with recaps. It was also motivation to read the previous books as soon as possible.

Marjorie is a young woman who is ready to take on a new life. She was dumped in boarding school at the age of seven by her father who promised to come back for her. Infrequent letters promised it would be “soon” but the years passed. She dreamed of having what her friends had – a London season, a titled husband, children, and a beautiful home of her own. She’s saddened by the passing of her father, but more determined than ever to pursue the life she wants. A stuffy English guardian with plans to leave her at school until it’s convenient for him to take her to London is not in her plans.

At the age of eighteen, Jonathan was disinherited by his father, leaving him to make his way in the world alone. After ten years in America doing many things, he and his business partner struck it rich in Idaho. Though extremely rich, Jonathan has just seen his best friend and partner die a terrible death from consumption (tuberculosis). Before Billy died, he begged Jonathan to take care of his “little girl.” Of course, he promised to do so, expecting to find a child that he can leave in school.

Jonathan received quite a shock when Billy’s “little girl” turned out to be a beautiful twenty-year-old woman. Not only is Marjorie not a child, she has no intention of being left behind and makes that perfectly clear. The sparks flew between Jonathan and Marjorie from the start, each intent on having their own way. Marjorie is an intelligent and determined young woman, and I was not surprised to see her take her destiny into her own hands. Jonathan’s plans were completely upended when he found Marjorie onboard the ship to London. He and Marjorie butt heads as his protectiveness runs up against her determination to pursue the life she wants. That protectiveness goes a little overboard, though he did have reason to be concerned.

I enjoyed the development of the relationship between Marjorie and Jonathan. The sparks of attraction were there from the beginning, with Jonathan realizing that he could be in deep trouble. Lusting after the daughter of his best friend was not appropriate, and his attempts to fight it became more and more difficult. Marjorie started out pretty naïve, unwilling to believe the trouble she could make for herself. I could feel her frustration at the restrictions she faced on the ship, but she was also smart enough that she learned from it. Things got even livelier once they were in London and joined forces with Jonathan’s sisters. I loved the way that they upended his plans, forcing him to stay in London.

Thrown into each other’s company regularly, the attraction between Jonathan and Marjorie continues to build. Neither of them knows quite how to handle it. Jonathan has no interest in settling down. Even after all of his success, he still feels that he is searching for something which keeps him on the move. His growing feelings for Marjorie cause him to take a good look at himself and what he really wants for his future. I loved seeing him accept his feelings and look for the way to make his new dreams happen. I ached for him when Marjorie allowed her fears to push him away. Those fears made her look at her future with tunnel vision, refusing to face the truth about her true desires. Advice from an unexpected source opened her eyes. I loved Marjorie’s big moment at the end and seeing her open her heart to the possibilities.

The secondary characters helped things along quite nicely and were lots of fun themselves. Marjorie’s new friend and ostensible “chaperone” was quite a character. I leaned a little bit toward Jonathan’s belief that she was a fraud. There were a couple of scenes on the ship that reinforced that idea, and yet I felt that there was more to her. She was a good foil for the Countess of Stansbury, who was very different from the Baroness. Though the Countess was a royal pain for Marjorie, she did provide a good look at what Marjorie would face when she reached London. Jonathan’s sisters and their husbands were great. Jonathan’s trepidation overseeing them for the first time in ten years was understandable, especially his sister Clara. I liked that she made him sweat a little before forgiving him. I loved the two sisters and their immediate support of Marjorie, as well as their refusal to let Jonathan bail on them.