The Heiress

The Revelations of Anne de Bourgh

By: Lynsay Sands

Narrated by: Faye Adelle

Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

Desperately seeking a husband....

Suzette is not like other heiresses; she wants a poor husband, a gentleman who will be so grateful for her dowry that he will allow her access to it so that she can pay off her father's gambling debts. When this alluring beauty encounters Daniel Woodrow - handsome, titled, single, and even more impoverished than she could have hoped for - it seems Suzette's wildest dreams have come true.

But Daniel has not been truthful. Tired of being accosted by an endless stream of vapid coquettes and their fortune-hunting mothers, Daniel has decided to plead poverty to stop them in their tracks. Yet here is a most refreshing and delectable lady, who claims to be thrilled by his penury. Now all Daniel has to do to find true happiness is to keep a little white lie alive... while avoiding a villain who's determined to prevent this union by any means necessary.

©2011 Lynsay Sands (P)2011 HarperCollins Publishers

2nd in series The Madison Sisters

The first book, The Countess, deals with the eldest sister, Christiana, whose marriage was controlled by her evil husband - until he died. This 2nd book is about the 2nd sister, Suzette. All 3 sisters have a good dowry, but the first sister's was frittered away by her husband when she married. Determined not to let this happen to her, Suzette sets out to find a poor husband - someone who will not marry her for her money. A poor man who will be willing to let her have a caveat in the marriage contract that will let her keep most of her dowry for herself - just in case! Daniel, when he is asked by her if he has money, thinks she is a marriage minded debutante who only wants him for his money, so he tells her that he does not have any money - which makes Suzette latch onto him right away. As usual, Lynsay Sands, book is very funny and kept me laughing out loud throughout the book. The only thing I do not like about this and other books, is that I have never met a woman who would not notice anything happening around her! I do not like this ploy of many authors that make the woman ditsy, and unable to realize what is happening around her until it's already happened. That is just not the case with any intelligent woman. And Ms. Sands characters seem intelligent, so this ploy is out of character. Otherwise this book is very good and funny!

Tell it again Sam

I did like the book,but unfortunately most of the beginning of the story was a repeat of the first book. But after you got over that it really got funny.
Then it started to become its’on story. I have to admit I liked this girl better than her sister from the first book.

Expected a bit more, but stil not disapointed

Liked the story, tho i did get the Countess first (got intrigued and wanted to listed the story told from the other side in a way) and most of the half was just listening to the summary of the first book, but still liked the way the story is written, with the hint of humor, although, feels, there could have been more to Daniel's and Suzette's side of the story

No too Great

I was really looking forward to this book, but it was just a point of view from on of the other character. So i would have to say boring. I can't even think about listing to book #3. sad but true.

Good Book, Don't like the Performance

I personally don't like the narrator. She is very very loud for each and every character and it just kind of seems like when they're supposed to be soft-spoken or some other form of emotion she sounds exasperated and loud.

fantastic listen!

the performance of the reader was excellent, and the author had you fallin in love with the characters within in minutes of meeting them. definitely recommend.

I liked it, despite what the other reviewers think

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, I would. I have read almost all of Lynsay Sands's books (even the backlist romances that she wrote a long time ago), and I enjoy them for what they are. They're never going to win Pulitzer Prizes or change the world, but they ARE light, diverting entertainment with interesting characters, humor, and nice family/friend relationships that warm the heart.

Prior to purchasing it, I read all of the other reviews for this book, so I went into it knowing that a good deal of it would cover the same events as The Countess. Personally, I enjoyed the fact that most of this book's events followed those of the earlier book, except from Suzette's and Daniel's points-of-view here. In The Countess, I didn't really like Suzette that much as a character, but I appreciated her much more here because (since we were now inside her head) we knew WHY she was saying the blunt, caustic things that she tended to spout off in both this book and the previous one. I also enjoyed reading what Daniel was thinking in the scenes covered by both books because I had a feeling that there was more to him (still waters running deep) than just being Richard (the male protagonist of The Countess)'s most trusted friend and a generally level-headed, responsible guy. There had to be something more there for a fiery woman like Suzette to be attracted to him (other than the practical, dowry-related reasons that brought them together), and I think that this book captured him quite well.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Heiress?

(I've since moved on to the third book in the series and may have forgotten any of my other favorite moments from The Heiress, but the following is what I DO remember now as having particularly enjoyed.)

The scenes involving Daniel and his mother were very amusing because you can see that she's cut from the same cloth as Suzette, and as tended to happen with Suzette, he had very little say in the end when his mother decides on a course of action. His frustration with the situation was palpable, and she even calls him on it at one point, noting something to the effect that he's sulking right now, but he'll come around once he'd eaten something and his pride was no longer hurt. (I'm not saying that Daniel tended to be either kowtowed nor bad-humored. He had a backbone with Suzette, Richard, etc. when needed, and one could understand his reaction, as an adult man, to his mother's needing to have her way, regardless that her plan really was the smartest one.) Also, her kindness (and not just to her son, but to all of his friends and companions) was heartwarming, considering we could see how she could speak just as sharply as Suzette could when provoked. She could see past other character's mistakes and poor decisions and didn't hold them against them as some mothers might when their son or daughter had been hurt, whether physically or emotionally.

I also really liked Suzette's spirit when she decided that she wasn't going to take things lying down. She didn't worry about saying something diplomatic or strategic. If she felt like being a harpy to a man who was doing her (or a loved one) harm, she did so, no matter the consequences. Not always the smartest move, but she tended to stay true to herself. I actually liked her better as a character here than I did her sister, Christiana, in The Countess (which was from the latter's point-of-view). Christiana was beaten down and unnaturally submissive after a year of emotional abuse by the man she'd married before that book began. Understandable, but this also made Suzette's fearlessness and frankness seem to be a nice change after Christiana's difficulty trusting her new husband in the prior book. Suzette also deserved to have a book devoted to how she and Daniel came together, and just because we have a general idea about some of it from The Countess, we don't really see why they're drawn together until THIS book.

Have you listened to any of Faye Adelle’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not. Unfortunately, Audible doesn't offer anything else narrated by her at this time.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

She may be fiery and difficult, but he wouldn't have her any other way.

Second Installment - Different Perspective.

Contrary to most reviews, I liked this book. I did not mind that the first half repeated much of the information from The Countess, because we were seeing it from different perspectives. Once again, the characters were likable, story had enough mystery to make it interesting and it made me laugh. It was worth the credit and I am moving onto the third book immediately.

I didn't give the performance top ratings because although her female voices and variety are good, sometimes her attempts at male voices leave something to be desired.

Story was cute

I listened to the first book in this series and enjoyed it so I decided to continue the series. This one can be a stand alone since it starts off at the same time as the first book so in a way I felt like I was listening to the first book again with but this time with the two lead characters for the second book.

Yes, there is repetition from the first book

But it's not as bad as some reviews make it out. You see what happened/happens from this H&H's viewpoints, so it's a very different worldview.

If you enjoyed the first book in the series, I have no doubt you'll enjoy this one. Good story line, good narrator.