The Daring Exploits of a Runaway Heiress
by Victoria Alexander
Paperback, 352 pages
Expected publication: April 28th 2015 by Zebra
I scooped up the next in the series at the earliest opportunity. Naturally.
Channing of Millworth Manor, formerly of the banking industry in America, was formerly unofficially engaged to Lucy Merryweather. Lucy came with him (or after him) to America and was delighted to see that he had fallen in love with Teddy. (Do keep up. That review was yesterday.)
Lucy is much more innocent than many of the rest of the scandalous ladies in this series, but she did have a character for a great aunt (of the same name) who left her an interesting list of regrets. Lucy decides to live the life her relative wished she had... but in her own way and with her own flair, which I love. She accomplishes the "getting painted in the nude" in a way she can live with and made me feel just enough daring without crawling out of my own skin. Perfect.
Cameron Effington comes from a very up-standing family, which I already know, as I've said already. We've met them before, but not so closely that we knew THIS brother in particular. I was, however, acquainted with his very stiff father, somewhat more accepting mother and brothers who are willing to hide each other's exploits, if needed. Because they keep their sister's business a secret. Hey... isn't she Lady Miranda Garrett, the architect?! Nice.
They change names as it suits them, which is how Cameron becomes "Fairfield", his mother's name, so he can work as a writer for a (scandalous, of course) newspaper. He needs inspiration to produce a book before his father demands that he work nevermore (!!) and he finds his muse in Lucy.
Lucy is a bit of a flutterhead, so used to being good and kind that it takes her awhile to find her groove and sometimes she needs to express herself abundantly to find it. Lol. There are some repetitive bundles of dialogue as she makes her way, but they do fit her character, which really grew on me. Cameron is great from the beginning, if he does have trouble finding his backbone. Yeah... he also tries to appear like he's doing what he's expected to, much like Lucy. Only he nearly loses his way before he finds his, uh, you know.
I enjoyed the story immensely. I was delighted to find out more about a family with more siblings, too, which might mean more stories in the future since we seem to have run out of direct Millworth Manor connections. This story takes place while Channing and Teddy are in limbo so we can borrow the Channing house before visiting Millworth Manor properly while Camille and Grayson are off on their honeymoon. Oh yes, it's important to keep track of everyone and where they are. All of the characters, present or away, are vibrant and unique and I cannot wait for another in the series!!
4.5 Stars. Some parts in this story I loved more than the other books, like Lucy's innocence and choices, not to mention all the story-writing!! There is an explicit love scene and it was great that it happened at night with the hall-sneaking that was so delightful in an earlier book... but I did skip it. It really, uh, got into detail and didn't require close attention to dialogue, or anything. *ahem* But I did pick up again just in time to get caught, which was hilarious. No one ever gets caught, of course, until, you know, they do.
No real spoilers anywhere in this review. I left the fun stuff (hinted at in the premise) out. There is a colossal misunderstanding and story twists that are expected and unexpected, but the real fun is the writing style, again. Hilarious and fast paced, poking fun at all that's proper.
This book comes out very soon... you have time to read the entire series and figure out who is who and why it's shocking that Camille's dead father is now touring Europe with her mother and fun stuff like that.
Thx to the publisher and NetGalley for the early review copy.
