From New York Times bestselling author, Lauren Willig, comes this scandalous novel set in the Gilded Age, full of family secrets, affairs, and even murder. This book is a mixture of historical romance with an intriguing plot of family secrets and mystery that is very well done. It’s set at the end of the 1800’s, in the wealthy environs of New York society where rigid rules of appearance were adhered to. Bayard and Annabelle Van Duyvil are the glamorous couple that appear to have it […]
Modern acting heroines in historical settings are my jam
This series got off to a good start with a novella, and I liked this first full length novel even more. I’m not crowing about a new favorite author or anything, but this was a solid book and really hit the spot for what I wanted to read. Elizabeth Sloane is a young woman brought up in incredible privilege in New York during the Gilded Age (I can’t remember the exact year – late 1880s, I believe). Her brother runs the family railway and she […]
Promising new (to me) author
Here’s another new to me author that I decided to try out with a prequel novella – this time with better results. I have already read the first full length book in the series (review pending) and intend to keep going. In 1887, Ted Harper is the owner of a major bank in New York City and one of the wealthiest men in the country. He is standing on a train platform when a young woman comes up, kisses him, and pretends to be his […]
Great characters in a middling mystery
This book was one of my lovely CBR8 book exchange gifts from Scootsa1000. It is what I asked for and I was not disappointed. I was up reading this at 2am when my husband woke up and freaked out that I was still awake, so I can thank him for the 5 hours of sleep I got, because I’m sure I would have read until the end of the book/sunrise otherwise. Deanna Randolph is an heiress and debutante in 1895. Her father is a co-owner […]
Women are still treated terribly, but these women knew how to survive
First, I want to thank ElCicco for reviewing this book earlier in the CBR. Both my roommate and I read it and found it hard to believe that the women in The Scarlet Sisters are real, and so were their adventures. But that’s what makes a biography worth reading, right? So, who are these sisters and what did they do? They are Victoria Woodhull and Tennie Claflin. They were the first women to be stockbrokers on Wall Street. In 1871. Yes, you read that correctly. […]
Women Behaving Badly (i.e., like men): The Scarlet Sisters
Victoria Woodhull and Tennessee (Tennie) Claflin were two sisters famous/infamous in American social and political circles starting in the 1870s. While most would think of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony when it comes to women’s rights, suffrage and reform, these sisters were renowned orators whose lifestyle fascinated and irritated the general public, especially men in power. They were from the wrong social class and espoused scandalous (for the time) views on sex, women, the poor and wealth. And they were linked to one […]