“Nothing makes me happier than a new book from Joanna Shupe!” –Sarah MacLeanHigh society reprobate.An unconventional heiress.Childhood friends.Is it too late…Knickerbocker scoundrel Harrison Archer returns to New York to discover that his deceased father has bankrupted his estranged family. To save them from ruin, he’s forced to quickly find and marry an heiress. For a matchmaker, Harrison … quickly find and marry an heiress. For a matchmaker, Harrison turns to the one woman he wishes he could marry: his childhood friend and true love, Maddie, who once broke his heart and is now engaged to a duke.
For true love?
When her best friend Harrison left for Paris without a word, Maddie Webster took refuge in her infatuation with tennis. Now Harrison is back and needs her help in finding a bride. Begrudgingly, Maddie arranges a house party in Newport with a guest list of eligible heiresses. But watching Harrison flirt with potential brides is more than she can bear.
When Harrison and Maddie reunite, the passion between them ignites. But with their marriages to others looming, time is running out. Is their fate inescapable . . .or can love set them free?
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This book had so many of my favorite things! An independent (TENNIS PLAYING) heroine! A very silly hero who thinks he knows best when he most certainly doesn’t. Childhood friends to lovers. A scheme to find a wife, that’s really a scheme to seduce the heroine. Just UNF, LOVE. Joanna Shupe has done it again!
This is an entertaining, well written, steamy, historical romance. It is a friends to lovers romance with great settings, tennis, family drama, and a happily ever after ending. I am looking forward to reading Kit’s story with great anticipation.
Harrison Archer fled to Paris 3 years ago after being disowned by his father and then overhearing the woman he loves saying she thinks of him as a brother. Now his father is dead and Harrison returns to New York with only one thing on his mind – vengeance. Harrison has spent the last 3 years amassing a fortune and plans to buy out his family’s failing business from under them. But when he arrives home and learns that the only woman, he has ever loved is still unwed, he seemingly goes along with his mother’s demand that he marry an heiress to save the family’s fortunes. He goes as far as to ask Madeline “Maddie” Webster, his love, to help him find a bride, but make no mistake, the only woman Harrison will marry is Maddie.
Maddie was shocked and hurt when her best friend in the world up and left 3 years ago without a word, but she didn’t wallow in despair, no she made a plan – First she would take two years to become the best woman’s tennis professional in the States, then during her third “season” she would find a man to marry. And she has accomplished both, she is set to play in a national tennis tournament in June and she is on the cusp of getting engaged to the catch of the season, the Duke of Lockwood. Everything is going as planned until her long-lost best friend Harrison returns and asks her to help him find a bride. She agrees but doesn’t bargain for the feelings of seeing Harrison flirting with other women stirs up in her.
Harrison is determined to win Maddie, but he is never completely honest with her, so when they ended up married, it is no surprise to the reader when things outside the bedroom do not go well for them. Soon things come to a head and Harrison may have to face the possibility that he has lost Maddie forever.
Although the writing is great, this story was not for me. A relationship filled with miscommunication, secrets, lies, and characters jockeying for control does not make for an enjoyable romantic read – neither does a hero that gives up without a fight and decides life is not worth living without his love, yet he cables his mistress and tells her to expect him in about a week – WTH? I just can’t love a guy like that. I was so disappointed; I usually LOVE Joanna Shupe’s books – The Uptown Girls and The Four Hundred series are some of my favorite New York Gilded Age books of all time – but sadly, this book doesn’t reach the bar she set with her previous books. I did like all the secondary characters, I enjoyed the steamyish love scenes, and I liked the twist of having Maddie have a “career”. So, despite not loving this title, I have every intention of reading the future installments of this series with the fervent hope that this book was just a blip on an otherwise pristine record of successful novels.
*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher. All opinions are my own *
I’ve been reading a lot of historical romances the past 18 months or so – they’re an excellent antidote to what’s going on in the “real world”, and sometimes that’s just what I’m looking for in a book. More often than not, the ones I read are set in Great Britain. I was happy to get the chance to read one that was a bit different for me – by a new-to-me author and set in a slightly different era (1895) and in the U.S. I enjoyed this one, the characters were aggravating at times, but that’s true of most romances for me – so much of the tension comes from misunderstandings and miscommunications. That’s definitely true of Harrison and Maddie, two childhood friends who were close friends in their teen years until an overheard conversation leads to assumptions and a long period of separation with no communication. When Harrison returns, he’s already scheming to take over his family’s failing business, but when he learns that Maddie is still (mostly) unattached his schemes expand and come to include a plan to win her for himself. He plays things a bit too close to the vest; she expects a bit too much perfection once they’ve married. Lots of poor communication going on for a while, but as always with the genre, they find their way to their HEA.
Thanks to Netgalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for providing a copy for an unbiased review.
I always enjoy friends to lovers storylines. Harrison Archer was always an outcast in his family and the only time he has ever been fully happy was during summers with his childhood best friend Maddie. Over time he grew to love her and was finally ready to confess his feelings to her when he overhears her telling her friends she could never see him as more than a friend. He flees the scene and then catches his father abusing a maid, reports him and then he’s disowned by his father. Harrison seeks his own passage to Paris to seek his own fortune and forget Maddie. Three years later he returns with two goals to wed Maddie and destroy his family. There were a few questions left unanswered for me within the story which I hope to get answers to in the books that follow in the series.
Reading anything by Joanna Shupe is always a treat. She manages to create men and women of passion, intelligence and put them in situations where finding a way to happiness is not always easy. Through it all, she creates settings — Gilded Age New York and Newport — that add richness to her stories. In The Heiress Hunt, we see longtime friends Harrison Archer and Maddie Webster united as adults. He’s been off carousing through Europe and she’s been putting off becoming a wife. She’s rather play tennis, a wonderful addition to the romance that gives so much context about the times. She is a heroine, who when her best friend (Harrison) went off to Europe without a word, didn’t lie on the fainting couch. She started hitting the tennis balls. What she doesn’t know is he left over a misunderstanding — and now that he’s back, the question is how they get past that miscommunication. Especially since he is under pressure to marry money — his family is broke — and she’s being courted by a duke. So much can go wrong, but in Shupe’s capable hands, the couple find their way back to love. Along the way, we see inside the inner workings of New York society and the early days of competitive tennis in the United States. The romance is sizzling and sweet, perhaps the best kind. Another winner from this master of romance. It only misses the fifth star for me because the original misunderstanding just doesn’t set up such a severe separation, at least not for me. All in all, a fun read. (I received an advance copy from NetGalley. Opinions mine.)
4.5
Harrison Archer is back in New York after a fight with his father resulted in him being disowned and leaving for Paris also on the heels of a broken heart. So it is with no love lost that Harrison has returned, instead it’s to enact a certain revenge upon the family that cut him off so completely. But first, he has to lay the groundwork which includes convincing his family he’s actually back to help save their failing company. To do so, Harrison intimates that he’s looking for an heiress to wed and enlists his best childhood friend Maddie Webster to help him find the perfect wife.
There was a time when Maddie and Harrison were inseparable. But all that stopped three years ago when Harrison left for Paris without a word. After the sting of that faded, Maddie was able to focus more on her tennis game as well as become friendly with a Duke. With her first time playing in an upcoming tournament on the horizon, Maddie has no time for distractions. But when Harrison suddenly returns asking Maddie to host a weekend party with the most eligible heiresses, she agrees. But as she spends time with her friend again, she realizes that Harrison Archer is not the same boy who left for Paris.
Harrison’s intention was never to win the hand of some random heiress, but actually win Maddie’s hand. He’s been in love with her for as long as he can remember and is loath to see her betrothed to a duke. But will all his scheming and secrets doom their happiness before it can even begin?
It’s been awhile since I’ve read a really good friends-to-lovers romance. It didn’t take long for me to get pulled into Maddie and Harrison’s story. I loved the the inherent chemistry between the pair. But the fact that Harrison has been gone for so long has driven an unspoken wedge between them, so it’s like they’re learning anew about the other person.
Right off the bat, I was so intrigued by Maddie being a professional tennis player. I’ve never read a historical book featuring female sports. I honestly would have loved if the story focused more on this aspect of Maddie’s character. How her parents are supportive and maybe spoken about how it was not a commonality of the times. I think it would have been beneficial because we see pretty early on that Maddie is very focused with the idea of marrying this Duke that she’s acquainted with. Like she’s bound and determined to do her duty as a woman and get married. The thing is, I just didn’t understand where the pressure was coming from for Maddie to marry. Her father was fully supportive of her tennis pursuits and her mother – while encouraging Maddie to marry – didn’t ever come across as a make-it-or-break-it kind of deal between them. Maybe if there was more development of Maddie’s life behind the scenes of her tennis playing there could have been a root cause for why she was determined the marry at this point in her life.
As it stands it’s kind of used as something to initially come between Harrison and Maddie, which I admit did indeed add some intrigue to their story, but I was surprised, I guess, at how far (or not) Joanna Shupe decided to take this conflict. Around the halfway mark of the book there’s a turning point for Harrison and Maddie that kind of flips the trajectory of the story and subsequently Maddie and Harrison’s relationship. At this point, I ended up missing the more playful scenes from the weekend party, but maybe that’s indicative of having to eventually grow up and face certain responsibilities.
Harrison is a man who has been knocked down in life and basically had to build himself back up on his own with no help. Besides his love for Maddie, and his unbreakable friendships, he’s almost consumed with the idea of having to mete out his revenge. To make his family feel the way he felt – alone, adrift, lost – not only for the past three years, but basically for his entire life. He may have been cut off financially three years ago, but his home life situation had always been grim with the one bright spot being Maddie. It’s kind of a lot of pressure to put on one person and one idea of that person, but it’s something he’ll protect at all costs. Maybe a little too much….
I very much enjoyed The Heiress Hunt. I love the Golden Age time period that Joanna Shupe has written about in her last couple of series. I think that readers were introduced to some very interesting secondary characters in Maddie and Harrison’s friends whom I’m hoping will each get their own books in the future. Overall, I just loved seeing Maddie and Harrison interact, I loved seeing their connection and how their strong friendship had room to grow into something more.
After a three-year banishment, Harrison returns to his family as their last hope. The family business is bankrupt, and their only option to avoid ruin is for him to marry an heiress. But Harrison has other ideas. He’s been using the wealth he acquired in Paris to buy up company stock and take over the business for himself. He has no interest in pursuing an heiress—until he learns that Maddie, his secret childhood love, is still single.
To win her away from the duke who’s courting her, Harrison asks Maddie to throw a house party and invite her eligible friends so he can choose a bride from among them. But Maddie can’t deny the powerful attraction growing between her and Harrison. Will their stolen kisses lead to love or ruin?
This Gilded Age romance is fast-paced, steamy, and compelling. It’s a fun story with likeable if fallible characters. I’m not a huge fan of the revenge trope, but the revenge subplot in this story doesn’t overwhelm the romance. Beautifully executed, it’s an entertaining and emotional tale.
Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.
Do I think you should read and would enjoy this book? Yes. Was it my favorite from Joanna Shupe? Sadly, no. With Shupe’s books we get Gilded Age New York and I’m here for it. Maddie is a society heiress. She grew up with the finest of NYC society and spent her summers in Newport, RI. Newport was Harrison’s escape from an unloving family. The summers he spent there with Maddie were the times he could be himself having found a lifelong friend. He grows to love her but overhearing a crushing comment about him sends him running to Europe for years on a moment’s notice. Now he’s back and he wants to win her for life.
I liked the concept of childhood friends to lovers. I loved how Harrison loved Maddie and did so for life. The tales of their adventures as kids were sweet. However, this book stressed me out a bit too much. When Harrison returns from Europe, Maddie is all but engaged to a Duke and the three way drama had my stomach in knots. I was crushed several times right along with Harrison. I just didn’t enjoy the feeling it gave me reading it.
However, I loved their friends and really enjoyed reading about Maddie’s ambitions of winning the Nationals in tennis. As I said, this time period always gets me and I genuinely enjoy that Shupe writes American historicals. I would recommend this book if for no other reason that it’s the first in the series and you get to meet many of the characters to come. Shupe will always be an auto-read author for me and I cannot wait for the next book to come. 3.5 stars
Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for an ARC of this book. The opinions here are my own.
New York City – 1895
Harrison Archer was called a wastrel and disowned by his father 3 years ago. That’s when Harrison went to Paris where he studied and made a secret fortune. Now, his father is dead and the family business, Archer Industries, is run by his ignorant brother, Thomas. Having wasted most of the family money, his father has left them nearly destitute and Thomas is spending what little is left. Harrison is quietly buying up shares of the company to one day take it over. The family wants him to marry an heiress to save them from ruin. At first he refuses, but when his brother gives him a list of heiresses that includes his childhood friend, Maddie Webster, whom he has always loved, he agrees. Rumor is that the Duke of Lockwood is preparing to propose to her.
Maddie is happy to see Harrison again. She knew that he had gone to Paris and was hurt that he did not tell her that he was leaving. Maddie’s love in life is tennis and her goal is to play competitive tennis all around the country. Harrison tells her that he needs to marry an heiress soon and wants her to help with it. So, she arranges a house party of eligible heiresses at her palatial home in Newport.
At the party, it’s quickly seen by the young heiresses that Harrison is in love with Maddie, although she doesn’t see it that clearly. It’s during the party that Maddie and Harrison find some quiet times to catch up on the last 3 years since they have seen one another. They each realize that their childhood friend has grown up and is attractive to them. But some slip-ups place these new feelings in jeopardy.
Oh how I loved Harrison and how lucky any woman would be to find a man whose love is as true and pure as his. Maddie has a lot of maturing to do. Her determination to play and win at tennis is admirable but she is most certainly not ready for marriage The “split” is shallow, but once again, Harrison is ready to fall on his sword for her. Joanna Shupe has written some delightful books and I loved this one too. Even though Maddie is immature, I’m glad the author included that in the book because it made her real. Well done.
Copy provided by Edelweiss in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Game. Set. Perfect Match!
I don’t typically like romances with any type of love triangle or revenge plot but damn it if Joanna Shupe didn’t make me love them here!
Maddie and Harrison have been friends since childhood but he’s loved her almost as long. After leaving New York believing he would never have her the way he wants her, he’s back and unwilling to give her up again….even if she think she’s fancies a Duke.
I absolutely loved that Harrison was the one with the deep feelings first and was unafraid to admit them to himself and his friends, no I just lust for him! I also loved the Maddie was unwilling to be shut out of her own life but also admit when she was wrong. And the tennis and history!!! The Gilded Age is one of my favorite historical periods in American history so I love learning new things about his period.
I can’t wait for the remainder of this series as Kit and Preston stole pieces of my heart and Forrest has me intrigued!
I received a complimentary review of this book but all opinions are my own.
4.5 Stars! This book is romantic, fast-paced, full of both heart-wrenching and heartwarming moments, and quite steamy at times! Whenever I picked up “The Heiress Hunt”, I was whisked back in time to The Gilded Age in America, and found myself drawn into the story from the first page to the last.
This is the first book in Joanna Shupe’s new “The Fifth Avenue Rebels” series, and I hope there will be many more! She truly knows how to bring a story to life, and her characters feel like real people: you know what they want, need, desire, and fear. They are also flawed, and she writes the good, bad, and everything in between. I can truly envision each and every location: from the various houses, to the tennis courts, and more!
Maddie is such a kind, strong, driven intelligent, and hard-working woman who wants the best for those she cares for. She is also incredibly passionate and talented on the tennis court, and is such an amazing player! In the beginning of the book, she is hopeful to make Nationals, as well as that Duke Lockwood will propose to her. Never could she have imagined what will happen when her childhood best friend Harrison comes back (after having spent 3 years abroad), what this will lead to, and how it will change her life.
Harrison is an ambitious, loving, kind, and strong man who has always been in love with his childhood best friend, Maddie. He decides to come back home to seek revenge on his family, who treated him horrifically growing up. When they demand he marry an heiress, he has only one woman in mind, though what he plans is different than his family perceives it to be. Never could he have imagined how everything begins to unfold.
(Possible Spoilers!)
Maddie and Harrison are definitely meant for each other. They support each other, and their chemistry is quite fiery at times. However, I felt, even at the end, that they more loved one another than actually were being IN love with each other (and nothing is wrong with this, it just isn’t quite what I was expecting). While Ms. Shupe does show an arc in their relationship, quite a few rash decisions caused certain parts of the book to feel jumpy to me. I do believe that Harrison has always loved Maddie, and that Maddie grew to love him…it just didn’t feel quite smooth to me to warrant the end being as quick as it is in terms of the plot itself, and that this conflicted with what was said. But, I absolutely did feel their love completely in the epilogue, and might have squealed out loud!
If you enjoy historical romance, I highly recommend this book! It kept me turning the pages and chapters to see how everything would work out. I hope we see many of these characters in future books, and to watch their stories continue, especially Nellie, Kit, and Preston!
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Avon for the ARC of this book, and to Avon for sending me a physical ARC as well, I really enjoyed it! All opinions expressed in this review are my own.
The Heiress Hunt is the first book in Joanna Shupe’s The Fifth Avenue Rebels series. I read Ms. Shupe’s Wicked Deceptions series and totally adored it, so I was thrilled to get a shot at reading her brand new one. I usually end up starting a series in the middle, so reading the first book was a treat. This was a fun read and I’m really looking forward to the next in the series.
Harrison Archer and Maddie Webster were the best of friends; until, however, Harrison fell in love and found out that Maddie thought of him as a brother. So off he went to Paris for three years, living not just a life of debauchery but also by doing his best to wreak vengeance on his estranged family. He’s now back in New York, and his mother and brother demand that Harrison marry an heiress in order to refill the family coffers that his father depleted before his death. He asks Maddie to host a house party in Newport to introduce him to eligible heiresses, without her knowing that she is the one he still wants. Maddie was brokenhearted when her best friend disappeared, and she’s given her life to tennis and is planning to wed an English duke. When Maddie and Harrison are reunited, sparks begin to fly wildly. Can Harrison win Maddie for his own, before they’re separated by opposite futures?
This was a fun book, though it started out a bit slow for me. I’m 56 years old, so Maddie and Harrison seemed like immature youngsters to me. The first part of the book was amusing, with Harrison attempting to tear Maddie away from her duke; his competition with the duke was extremely entertaining. The story got deeper and more interesting to me as I reached the middle and more conflict arose between Maddie and Harrison. He’s always loved her, but she is getting used to this adult version of her childhood buddy. She’s drawn to him, but she resents the way he holds things close to his chest and doesn’t share problems with her; Harrison wants to protect her so he keeps secrets. Just talk to each other! One place where they have no strife, however, is in bed. My, oh my, Ms. Shupe can write some fiery intimate scenes! If bad language bothers you, you may be a bit offended. It’s very passionate and adds to the story, so I hope you won’t let that stop you from enjoying. It was interesting to read about Maddie’s tennis career during the Gilded Age when women were finally able to compete. I loved Harrison’s friends Kit and Preston and I can’t wait to read more about the adventures of these entitled yet troubled young men!
I received an ARC of this book courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley. I received no compensation for my review, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are entirely my own.
Joanna Shupe is one of my favorite writers and I’m always waiting for her next book. The Heiress Hunt is the start of a brand new series the Fifth Avenue Rebels.
Grab this book for Shupe’s great writing and then stay for the women’s tennis! I also love a New York City gilded age romance that ventures to a house party in Newport, Rhode Island.
Archer Harrison has returned to New York from France with a plan. Destroy his evil family and win over his first love. Pretending to save his family, Archer enlists his oldest friend, Maddie, to throw him a house party… aka The Heiress Hunt. Archer has loved Maddie since he was twelve years old. These two friends have had and have many obstacles in their way. Not to mention Maddie is engaged to an English Duke! The romance in this novel feels young, full of discovery and hard won. In many ways they are both very green to romantic relationships and that creates its own conflict.
Maddie has become a professional tennis player. I loved the role tennis plays in this novel. Maddie’s training and competing and her passion for the sport are such a breath of fresh air in the genre.
Can’t wait for more in the series!
Thank you to #Netgalley for the ARC. #Joanna Shupe. #TheHeiressHunt #NetGalley #Avon #AvonBooks
Harrison Archer is a young man who has been forced from his family home by his father. He is the second son and is treated horribly by his parents and older brother. His best friend. Madeline Jane Webster has been his savior all these years. He runs to her to escape the cruelty. I did feel that they needed a little more maturing but hopeful they would get that with life experiences. They both had some true friends and they needed them.
I did enjoy the tale. The characters were great and trying to find their way. I thought the duke seemed nice but a little mercenary. It was written to keep your attention and keep you involved in the book and it did. You were always reading to find out what happened next. To add more excitement she was trying to be ready for the Tennis Nationals coming up in a month or two. Can you imagine the pressure on those involved?
I received this ARC from Net Galley and voluntarily reviewed this great book.
After three years of exile in France, high society second son Harrison Archer returns to New York following his father’s death to find his family bankrupted by mismanagement. He has made his own fortune now but goes along with his family’s demands that he find an heiress to marry, and fast, because it suits his own agenda. He seeks matchmaking help from the only woman he’s ever wanted to marry, Maddie. He has no intention of offering for anyone else but needs an excuse to spend time with the girl who once broke his heart and convince her not to follow through on her impending engagement to an English duke.
Madeline Webster was devastated when her best friend fled to Paris without a word then or since. She’s devoted herself wholly to her passion for tennis and is preparing to compete nationally. Now, with Harrison suddenly back on the scene, she agrees to host a house party at her family’s Newport mansion so he can meet some of her unmarried friends. But closeness with Harrison and seeing him interact with other women ignites feelings she’s surprised to identify as jealousy and leaves her feeling distinctly unsettled.
Reunited at last, there is a clear spark of connection between Harrison and Maddie, but time is not on their side and they must determine if they’re meant to be just friends or so much more.
This book had so much potential and such a great setup but unfortunately fell quite flat. I’m going to try to avoid spoilers as I get my thoughts out but please be aware, they’re possible from here on. Harrison’s triumphant return to the city after an ignominious leave-taking and a terrible childhood set him up for some excellent comeuppance for his family yet this was only teased and, for me at least, never fully realized. The introduction of a potential threat to Maddie was really just a device to be used as an excuse for discord between her and Harrison and the hinted potential for suspense just fizzled away to nothing. Everything wrapped up just fine, but this seemed like a missed opportunity of wasted tension building and a heavy-handed plot device.
I found myself cheering for Harrison even if he was rather ham-fisted. His longing and desperation were beautifully described and palpable and the unrequited love was heart-rending. He was by no means a perfect hero, but he was relatable and realistically flawed and still deserving of better from nearly every character with whom he interacted (excepting Preston, Nellie and Kit.) Harrison had proven himself quite thoroughly and that seemed to mean virtually nothing. This aside, Maddie is where this really fell apart for me. Her cluelessness about Harrison’s feelings and constant insistence on everything and everyone falling into line with her plans got old fast. She was both naïve and mercenary, treating everything like a game and fixedly determined to win the duke merely for status. When a heroine admits verbatim to scheming to get a man, it’s a turn off for me. I actually rather liked the Duke of Lockwood and his level-headedness but the love triangle aspect here was just frustrating rather than charming or engrossing. Harrison wanted only to give Maddie everything and rather than recognize that he was trying and learning, given that he’d never experienced a functional, loving relationship, she demanded sheer perfection and over-reacted dramatically when he inevitably failed to meet her standards. Maddie’s mood swings were too much for me and when she went from being aware of her feelings for Harrison and acknowledging her ability to hurt him to wanting nothing to do with him for trying to protect her without her knowledge, I was done with her. These two obviously had to learn how to communicate as a couple, but every couple goes through that and her willingness to throw in the towel at the slightest adversity undermined the love story for me. Maddie just seemed flat and incapable of the depth of feeling Harrison showed for her and that left me a bit sad and frustrated for him rather than really enjoying the HEA.
Despite being underwhelmed by this book I love the concept of this series and find myself looking forward to stories for Kit, Preston, Forrest, and even Nellie and maybe the Duke of Lockwood.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Blog link: https://mustreadalltheromance.blogspot.com/2021/02/the-heiress-hunt-by-joanna-shupe-arc.html
I liked the premise of the child hood friends to lovers. I just loved seeing Harrison and Maddie’s relationship develop. This story was a bit different, and I love how Joanna takes real life history to weave into this story, i.e. tennis. Harrison sure does have a nasty family.
Love this cover too. I think what could be worked on is the pacing of this story.
I received this book at my request and have voluntarily left this unbiased review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Can childhood friends come to love each other?
Can a scoundrel of the first water prove he is different from the rake he is thought to be?
Is it too late for true love to flourish?
Harrison and Maddie are childhood friends. Harrison has been in love with Maddie for almost all of his life. Does Maddie feel the same?
This is a heartwarming tale, funny at times and poignant.
Joanna Shupe has done a remarkable job with this story.
I received a complimentary copy of this tale from Netgalley and Eidelweiss and am leaving this review voluntarily.
2.75/5 stars!
When the hero returns back home after his father’s death and his living family needs him to rescue them from debts, he learns that his childhood friend was not married yet. Given that he has been in love with the heroine for a long time, he pursues her under pretense of looking for a wife. The heroine was hurt when the hero broke connections with her, but wanted to renew their friendship, even as she tries not to let an unexpected attraction to the hero overcome her pursuit of a duke and her athletic career.
This is the first book of a new Joanna Shupe series and introduces a group of friends that will definitely have their own books in the future. I liked the heroine and her family but the hero was not a fave of mine. I did like a couple of the heroine’s friends and am intrigued of one of the hero’s friends and the duke. There was also one part of the story that I wasn’t enamored of, and some details of the story were unnecessary in my eyes. Overall, it’s a well-written Gilded Age story that Joanna Shupe fans would love.
**Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy.**
The Heiress Hunt, by Joanna Shupe. Oh my gosh. I so loved reading this book. For me it was a smashing good hit. I loved everything thing about it.
I recommend that everyone should read this book. Joanna Shupe, you are freaking awesome. I loved the intensity. I was very much excited over the passionate love scenes that melted off the pages. These love scenes were hot!
The description of these scenes played well with the imagination. Harrison did some things to Maddie that made me blush. Joanna, had Harrison spouting love sonnets that warmed your heart. This is my first time reading a Joanna Shupe book and I must say, she did not disappoint me. I’m like over the moon excited about this romance novel.
The drama was a no holds bard kind of thing. Poor Harrison, I was rooting for him and felt so sorry him. I really wanted him to get his woman. I’m so glad that he had Kit and Preston there to help him through all the trouble that his family put him through. Maddie, she’s another character that I was rooting for.
Her life was the complete opposite of Harrison, but she had to come to terms on her feelings. I was definitely glad Nellie was there to kick her in the butt and shake her some. I loved the plot of the book. I found that the dialogue between the characters flowed easily from page to page. I don’t believe the book left not one moment for excitement /or the anticipation to stall.
It was fast paced and easy to read. I found it a very entertaining read. All you romance readers out there, trust me on this. Read this book, it is well worth it. I recommend this boom with two snaps and a, “Harrison, let’s go to the closet again, I need to show you that thing”.
Until next time my fellow readers… read on! I received a free copy of this book via NetGally and am voluntarily leaving a review.