Review ❤️ The Unexpected Heiress by Kaitlin O’Riley

The latest American sensation to grace London’s ballrooms, Meredith Rose Remington has beauty, wit—and a shocking secret. At her aunt’s insistence, Meredith is posing as an oil heiress, but she is utterly destitute. In truth, Meredith would rather spend her time writing than trying to snag a wealthy husband. Yet the stranger who flirts so outrageously with her in Hamilton’s Book Shoppe surpasses even the heroes of her vivid imagination . . .
 
Phillip Sinclair, the Earl of Waverly, has seen ambitious heiresses come and go. Only the enchanting Meredith could make him curb his reckless ways and settle down. But jealous rivals and meddling gossips are far from the only obstacles that must be overcome if love is to secure a happy ending . . .


Release Date: Jul 28, 2020
Series: Hamilton Cousins
Book: 3
Heat Level: N/A
Publisher: Kensington 
Imprint: Zebra Books
Price: $7.99


 

Ego, vanity, and exclamation points galore!

See, I’ve got the exclamation point bug. This is my first O’Riley and most likely my last. The book started out with a positive note, an American heiress. Meredith Remington’s just lost her father and uncle in an accident. Oh, btw they have also lost their fortune. But sweet Aunt Delilah has the solution: to run for England, omit the fact the money is gone, and find rich husbands. It’s supposed to a fun twist on the ‘hero in need of a rich wife trope’.

Except… it fell flat. Besides the fact the heroine and her aunts love to use exclamation points all over the place in conversation. These people, demur, upper class, rich love to shout— not in my experience. Add in conversations that resolve solely around a horrible meet cute involving flirting with eyes that went on for three pages and I was frustrated.

Both hero and heroine bounce back and forth around their feelings, what they want, and what they think not like folks in their twenties, but more like teenagers. There’s a decided air of forced dialogue, constant re-hashing of the same problems and topics, which smacked of a lack of plot. At least a plot with no purpose. Thirty percent of the way through and both the main characters have shared three scenes together.

Bottom line, fans of this author may already be invested in these characters from previous books, but for me this was a disjointed mess that I couldn’t sink into without constantly wondering what was the point.

~ Landra

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