The Heiress Effect (The Brothers Sinister Book 2)

This is an opposites attract story, but not the kind where the hero and heroine are at each other's throats before they suddenly fall into bed together. Jane Fairchild is a social misfit--by design. She knows her immense fortune makes her attractive to suitors, but she is determined not to marry until her epileptic younger sister comes of age and can leave the clutches of her misguided guardian, who allows quack doctors to perform heinous and painful "treatments" on the girl in hopes of curing her convulsions. If she married, Jane could no longer be with her sister, and more importantly, she would no longer control her own fortune (as a husband controls his bride's property in Victorian England), and Jane relies on that money to bribe doctors to leave her sister alone. Therefore, she staves off would-be-suitors by being deliberately gauche: her clothing is obscenely gaudy, her manners are atrocious, her voice is too loud.Oliver Marshall, by contrast, is the bastard son of the former Duke of Clermont (his origins are explained in the novella The Governess Affair, which I also recommend). Although raised in a loving, secure family of his mother, adoptive father, and younger siblings, Oliver has grown into an insecure adult, too conscious that his illegitimacy means he will never fit in the social circles to which he aspires. He wants to be the Prime Minister someday, so his behaviour is as proper as Jane's is crude. He is attracted to Jane immediately, but he cannot act on the attraction because she would make a terrible wife for a man of his ambitions.The plot of this novel was not as tight as Ms. Milan's previous novels, but that made this story less predictible. There were times when the odds against the couple seemed insurmountable, and the dramatic tension was strong enough to actually give me a stomach ache. Several of my favorite scenes actually had very little to do with the main plot and might have been left on the cutting room floor in a more rigidly-crafted novel: there is an early scene wherein Oliver goes fishing with his father which was just delightful--funny, emotional, and so full of insight into Oliver's family dynamic; a similar scene in which Oliver goes to rescue his youngest sister (a budding suffragette) from a rowdy political rally only to have her shame him into staying;and a scene between Jane's sister and her paramour, a law student, in which they are puzzling over the arcane property law precept, the Rule Against Perpetuities, just as every law student has since the dawn of time (myself included). On the other hand, sometimes the plot moves at a whirlwind pace and the reader just has to roll her eyes and hang on tight.I love that Jane and Oliver are both sympathetic, moral people trying to hold on to their principles while doing what's best for others, even if doing what's right means they can't be together. Jane can't let herself be swept away by love, because doing so would leave her sister unprotected. Even when her sister's situation is happily resolved, Jane isn't willing to sell herself short by becoming the meek, mannerly "wren" of woman Oliver thinks he needs. Oliver's desire for a proper wife is fueled by his political ambition, yes, but he is not ambitious for his own sake: he is driven by the injustice inherent in the fact that the best, most ethical man he knows, his father, can't vote because he doesn't own property. Because Oliver identifies the cause with his father, he sees anything that hurts his chances for political success--including an alliance with Jane--as a betrayal of the man who gave up his own ambitions to raise a boy who was not even his own son. Often times, the barriers that keep lovers apart in romance novels seem contrived or overblown, but this conflict feel real and heartrending, and I loved the way it finally resolved.

I highly recommend any of Courtney Milan's books or novellas, and I eagerly awaited the release of "The Heiress Effect" after falling in love with The Brothers Sinister series. Rating this book is difficult because while this story wasn't my favorite, the writing and character development were superb, as with all Milan's stories. I'm giving this book 4 stars in comparison with her other stories in The Brothers Sinister series. If I were to rate this story against the largely cliched and mediocre historical romance genre, then this would be a 5 star book because Milan is a top writer in this space.If you aren't familiar with Milan's work, then get excited for her masterful creation of multi-dimensional characters who have depth and complexity. She seamlessly weaves background information, humor, and pain into her characters without ever abruptly stating, "And his father was a tyrant to his mother and that's why he fears being married." She eases you into the characters and their experiences and true nature unfurl quietly, but with a depth of emotion that few authors can muster. She has a magnificent way of taking a situation you aren't likely to have experienced (since she's writing about 19th century British high society) and making the feelings universal. You feel the anguish, insecurities, hope, and joy of all of the main characters. You're not going to read a Milan story and be presented with an archetypal rake or shrew because what she gives you is the many faceted personalities that read as real people.That being said, I simply didn't fall in love with Oliver Marshall as much as I had hoped I would. He showed a lot of promise in the beginning 1/3 of the book when he was assessing Jane Fairfield and peeling away her layers while revealing some of his. But then the story spends a lot of time with him absorbed in his career aspirations and being generally oblivious to his obvious feelings for Jane. He started out as the stronger character, but as Jane blossomed, I felt that her strength and character surpassed his. I was, of course, happy that they got together in the end, but I think my mild dissatisfaction stems from feeling that Oliver isn't really worthy of Jane. Yes, he comes to appreciate how wonderful her strong, bold personality is, but the final chapter left me feeling like he was smug that his "wrong choice" in a wife actually turned out to be the right one because politically-minded society takes to her.Another small detail that I struggled with in this book was that the story line wasn't perfectly seamless. The first few chapters of the book make it seem like the main plot of the story will be whether or not Oliver will choose to humiliate Jane in order to win votes for a reform bill or whether he'll stick to his principles. In fact, that part of the story line is wrapped up before the halfway point in the book. I'm certainly not complaining that Milan expanded her story beyond the initial, somewhat predictable plot. I was happy to see that the story would be leading someplace else; however, I never felt that the story picked up with a strong conflict again. Simply put, the conflict became would Oliver get over himself and marry Jane. Yes, there's a lot of filler about Jane's sister and Oliver's youngest sister, but the second half of the story lacked a strong, leading plotline for me. It was still enjoyable and you certainly come to feel the passion and emotions grow between Jane and Oliver, but this book didn't shine as brightly as the previous book in the series, "The Duchess War". Milan had been open on her website that she had to completely rewrite "The Heiress Effect" and she pushed back the original publish date; I think this book still could have used some reworking. It doesn't read as fluidly as her other works and my emotions weren't tugged as deeply.If you're wondering if you'll get to see characters that you meet in the preceding novella and novel, then the answer is yes, but only briefly. Robert and Minerva are only in the book enough to show that they're happily married. Sebastian and Violet make brief appearances to set the stage for the next book. Free (or Frederica Marshall), Oliver's youngest sister, makes her debut and factors the most heavily out of the characters from other books. Her book will be "The Mistress Rebellion", and I'm unsure whether I'm going to like her character, although in this book she's only 16 years old.HOWEVER, that all being said, I do recommend this book and especially this series. As another reviewer stated, it's difficult for most authors to pull off a series without it feeling contrived or relying on cliches, but Milan presents each book as its own story with very unique characters, all of whom have their own struggles and emotional pain that they must overcome. Even in a great series, which this has been so far, I'm going to have books that I like more than others; and for me "The Duchess War" set the bar very high and this book didn't quite meet that standard.NOTE: This e-book contains an excerpt from the first chapter of "The Countess Conspiracy", which is about Sebastian and Violet. You'll learn a pretty big spoiler in that excerpt, but it sets the stage for a very interesting story between those two. Can't wait for the book to come out before the end of 2013.

So highly recommend this and the others of this series. Haven't read a better book.

I've read all the “Sinisters” Series, but this book is my favorite.I like it, because the heroes are so real and alive as the people next door. I like it, because it has nontrivial and moving plot.But mostly I like it for its powerful message- you can win the world if you only be brave enough to be yourself!The pleasure for the reader. My everlasting thanks, Mrs. Milan!

If you enjoy historical romance but want heroines with a bit more class and backbone than usual, then you can't go wrong with Courtney Milan. Well written, fun read.

I highly recommend any of Courtney Milan's books. Rating this book is tricky because while this story wasn't one of my favorite, the character's development were amazing, as always. There's Jane with her love to her sister, caught between her wealth and her love for Oliver. I love Jane's wit and I had a lot of laugh-out-loud moments. If you never read anything from this author I'd recommend you start with The Turners series though.

C'est un VO et j'ai eu du mal....Enfin, j'ai tout de même bien ri à la description des horreures vestimentaires de la demoiselle...Dans ce tome, on retrouve le fils de la gouvernante insoumise. Il a bien grandi et a de belles ambitions politiques qu'il est prêt de concrétiser.La rencontre entre la demoiselle pasdutout comme il faut et le gentleman qui ne doit pas faire un seul faux pas est assez percutante, d'autant qu'elle n'a pas la langue dans sa poche!!!!Rien de devrait se passer entre ces deux opposés, mais quand le petit dieu ailé se met de la partie, rien ne se passe comme prévu et là.....Malgré mes difficultés de vocabulaire, j'ai bien apprécié ce volume.