The Heiress

Well if you already purchaed The Countess then don't waste your $$$ on the Heiress because the author basically made two books from one. She narrated The Countess with Dickey a/k/a Richard and Christiana and The Heiress with two other characters but basically told the same story. The Heiress tells the the story from Daniel and Suzette's characters. The Heiress Part 1, I basically skipped through and a good portion of Part 2 until they got to the part where Daniel and Suzette were running off to marry.

The Heiress is a copy of The Countess for more than 1/2 of the book. I am so disappointed. Why would Ms. Sands, her editors and publishers think it was okay to tell the same story in two different books with the same characters???

No - historical romance is my favorite genre.

I can't think of three words, but I think her narration was okay. It isn't the best, but it also isn't the worst I've ever listened too. I won't completely turn away from books narrated by Faye Adelle, but they may not be my first choice either.

I would cut more than half of the book because it's a near copy of The Countess. The Countess is a much better book although when you get to the part of the book that isn't a copy of The Countess, it's actually pretty good.

I can't decide if I'll listen to more books by Ms. Sands or not AFTER I finish listening to The Husband Hunt. I really want to finish the series and here Lisa and Robert's story.

By not making the first 2/3 to 3/4 of this book cover exactly the same events as in Book 1, in a lot of cases word for word.

It was obvious from book one that there was another killer and who his target was to all it seems but the characters involved until near the end.

for this book to gain a higher score it needed to contain much more original content not make the first 2/3 basically a synopsis of the first book in this series

I would lay a bet that the next book contains the 3 member of Dickie's little gang and that the girls father get married to Daniel's Mother. . . .but then again that could be stretched to Book 4 based on Book 2

Yes but I think I will wait if it's this series to read reviews before I take the leap.

This is not my normal style of book I prefer scfi, fantasy & paranormal but I got a taste for historical fiction of this period through Amanda Quick's Arcane series and Gail Carriger's The Parasol Protectorate.

Since, in the main, I like Lynsay Sands vampire series I thought to give these a try

Yes

The problem was not the characters but that this was basically 2/3 book one and 1/3 at best newish if not obvious content

I didn't realize it was the other side of The Countess. I was hoping for more Suzette and less other side of The Countess. The performance was excellent but at first I thought I was listening to a book I'd already read. I had to get around that first.

I love Sands' writing and this was no exception. Just that I am not a fan of reading the same story twice--even if it is from a different character's POV.

Shorten the background information. It was too long of a repetition.

Maybe

The last 1/3 of the book was nice

I thought Faye Adelle's performance was good but after hearing and loving the characters voices in the first book it was hard to like the new ones. I wish they would have stuck with the same narrator.

Just as funny as the first! I love when a series takes you back to a situation and gives you the other character's perspectives.

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.

(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.

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

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

The whole first half of the book was just the last book in a different point of view. I assumed we'd be following different characters where the last book ended. I was pretty disappointed. The book got good when it picked up to a part that wasn't rehashed. I bought the 3 books for 2 credits so I'm really hoping the third is better.

Over half the book was what went on the the first book of the series, I really got bored. I doubt I'll purchase the third.

If you have read The Countess by Lynsay Sands don't waste a credit for this book. It is just about the same book except this is the sisters view of the same story. It was a good story, but again I felt like I had wasted a credit. If you have not read The Countess then I would recommend this book. I did read both and I must say I liked The Countess the best out of the two books.