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Title: An Heiress to Remember
Author: Maya Rodale
Sub-genre: Historical
Trope(s): Lovers to enemies to lovers
If you still haven’t picked up on how much I love Gilded Age historicals, you must be new round these parts (welcome!). It’s safe to say I am obsessed and I want them all and just insert them directly into my veins. Historical is not my favorite sub-genre (I don’t dislike them, I just prefer other genres), but there is something about Gilded Age that just gets me in all my feels. The first book in this series, Duchess by Design, was actually the first GA novel I read, so I have a soft spot for these books in particular.
Beatrice is the daughter of the owner of the most popular department store in New York City. When she falls in love with a store clerk named Dalton, she is forced to choose between her true love and pleasing her parents (who want her to marry a duke who only wants her for her money). Keep in mind of course, pleasing your parents in the 19th century means a lot more than it does now (and for some, it still means quite a lot). Going against her parents’ wishes would mean losing her inheritance, and since she is a woman, losing her entire means of supporting herself. So Beatrice marries the duke. Sixteen miserable years later, she divorces said duke and returns to New York to find her father’s store basically in ruin. Her brother has effed it all up, and wants to sell the store. Beatrice is not having any of that. She wants to rebuild their father’s legacy and stick it to the new competitor next door–who just happens to be the store clerk she loved and left. Beatrice and Dalton engage in some friendly (and some not quite friendly) competition to build the biggest and best store in NYC, along the way dealing with their old (and new) feelings for each other. Of course, it all works out in the end, and they live happily ever after.
I knew I was going to love this one because Maya recently did an episode of the Wicked Wallflowers Club during which she shared her radio play scene from this book. It’s amazing, and if you haven’t already heard the episode, go listen to it ASAP. I love an enemies to lovers, so when you pair that with my favorite time period, and a supporting cast of truly kickass women, I am all about it. One of the things I loved most about this series (which I hope actually continues) is the research Maya has done into the real women of the time. Most of her characters are based on real women who were changing the game in America. I love reading her author’s note in the back of each book to learn about the fantastic women who took on the patriarchy and killed it (and of course we never learned about these women in you know, history class). These books are just everything I want from romance: supportive heroes, kickass heroines, and lots of kissing. You can’t go wrong!
Overall Rating: 4.5 stars