The extra plot lines were interesting, and the one for Jane’s sister could have been a lovely novella in and of itself, but they didn’t coalesce successfully. It feels like a fabulous novella that other story lines have been slotted into, or perhaps one that simply got away from the author. A very well-written and compelling mess, but a mess with structural and character issues nonetheless. But The Heiress Effect is a bit of a mess. Courtney Milan is the very best writer currently publishing in historical romance. My reaction to the novel is a disappointed, “Oh, dear”. She attends a dinner party and meets Oliver Marshall, an ambitious young man of equally questionable background who simply refuses to participate in unkindness toward Jane, even when given the opportunity to gain his own political ends if he helps put the bright and brave upstart “in her place”. Jane is doing her best to be inappropriate and seemingly oblivious to the mocking laughter behind her back. The Heiress Effect novel begins strongly. To accomplish this, she is meticulously awful: loud, ill-mannered, horrifically but seemingly unintentionally impolite, and hideously upholstered in garish clothing. She must repel suitors, but not openly reject them. In order to avoid marriage and protect her sister, but still give the impression she is trying to find a husband, Jane takes it upon herself to be available but undesirable.

has a younger sister she needs to protect from a rather dim and unscrupulous uncle. is very wealthy and therefore marriageable and b. Miss Jane Fairfield has a number of problems, but they can be boiled down to the fact that she a. Nobody’s perfect and it does open splendidly… If you want to try a historical romance, I recommend Courtney Milan’s books the most highly, but not this particular one.

The Heiress Effect by Courtney Milan