Ravishing the Heiress (Fitzhugh Trilogy, #2) by Sherry Thomas

Jul 05, 2012 Jill rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-romance-european

So, we come to it at last.
A mundane marital task, was this not? An obligation he'd put off for too long. Why then, as he advanced toward the bedroom, did he feel as if he were being swept out to sea? That the tides and currents would be unlike anything he'd ever known in the calm estuary that had been his marriage?

Millicent (Millie) Graves, an heiress was wed at sixteen. Her father determined that they be joined to a titled family, arranged the marriage to the impoverished Earl Fitzhugh. Fitz, a...more
So, we come to it at last.
A mundane marital task, was this not? An obligation he'd put off for too long. Why then, as he advanced toward the bedroom, did he feel as if he were being swept out to sea? That the tides and currents would be unlike anything he'd ever known in the calm estuary that had been his marriage?

Millicent (Millie) Graves, an heiress was wed at sixteen. Her father determined that they be joined to a titled family, arranged the marriage to the impoverished Earl Fitzhugh. Fitz, at nineteen and newly titled, was not yet ready for marriage let alone children. Fitz and Millie make an agreement to not consummate the marriage until they both want children. Though married they would live separate lives for the agreed eight years. But now with the eight-year pact finally drawing to a close, Fitz's first and only love makes a reappearance in his life.

There are many talented writers of historical romance. But even they tend to write within certain guidelines, never wavering from what's expected from the genre. Sherry Thomas does not write the expected. She steps on the toes of predictable romance tropes. Her romances rely on the usual happily-ever-afters, misunderstandings and impossibly handsome heroes. But she takes a twisted and often tortured path to that rainbow at the end of the story. Her romances don't work for everyone, that's for sure.

But with a writing style and prose almost second-to-none in historical romance, she delivers in Ravishing the Heiress another absorbing story. Sweet, sensible, self-controlled Millie falls in love at first sight with the handsome, young Fitz. Fitz, in love with another barely notices Millie as a woman, but they develop a deep, beautiful friendship over their eight-year marriage.

Readers who baulk at adultery, misunderstandings and the hero pining for another woman for most of the book, will have trouble enjoying this. Fitz, for the most part is a blind, selfish fool. He's offended when others disrespect Millie, yet he is the worst offender and the cause of others' disrespect, a hypocrite.

"No one is allowed to disrespect my wife, least of all some woman with whom I am temporarily keeping company."

Their honeymoon was awful, heartbreaking for Millie (and for me as a reader). The narrative switches back and forth between the past and present. The resolution of all this drama is quick and the ending abrupt.

But like every Sherry Thomas novel I've read, at the end, I'm left with the impression that I've just read something more than a mere romance.

Steam: 2.5

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Jul 09, 2012 Karla (Mossy Love Grotto) rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ebook, historical-romance, read-it-for-the-lolz, buddy-readz-r-social, hero-cheating, heroine-annoying-and-way-annoying, heroine-doormat, marriage-of-convenience, peeve-insta-luv, peeves-wanky-wangst, unrequited-love-or-pathetic-pining, peeves-seriesitis, 2ndary-characters-upstage, adultery, bataan-death-march-of-boring, big-misunderstandings, eras-19th-century, eras-victorian, hero-heroine-married-on-pg-1, hero-worst, 2-stars, the-ending-blows, things-are-doing-things, sherry-and-tessa-dare-equals-std, cast-of-millions

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. WARNING: GIFs (since it seems to be a bugaboo for some with liking and feeds and whatnot)

It's been a couple days and yet I still don't know how to formulate my thoughts about this book.

Why?

Because I still feel like this:

"Oh, but you're just a hater!" you might say. And you'd be (partly) right. These new romances do have lots to live up to IMO. It's not (entirely) my fault they usually fall short. I admit I'm a harsh grader with the plethora of Regencies and ~~Regencies-in-all-but-name~~ Victorian-se...more

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Jul 04, 2012 Kelly22 rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Fans of unrequited love/marriage of convenience plots

Shelves: 2012-releases, 2012-historicals, beta-hero, cheating-elements, childhood-ties, friends-to-lover, gorgeous-handsome-attractive-hero, heartbreaking-powerful-romance, hero-accomplished-lover, hero-protective-or-loving-husband, heroine-in-love-in-pursuit, historical-romance, love-triangle, made-me-cry, marriage-betrothal-of-convenience, married-couples, opposites-attract, prim-proper-prudish-heroine, tortured-hero, weak-unsatisfactory-ending

4.00 Stars - Historical Romance/Victorian

Fitz

The majority first part of the book was amazing. You read this book with a very heavy heart. The dialogues, the emotions, the way the story commenced, matured and proceeded, the visits to past and the returns to present, make your heart constrict so bad that it pretty much makes you one of those candidates who cry time to time from reading a book. It’s one of those books you feel helpless reading. You feel helpless that you can’t solve the problem; ne...more 4.00 Stars - Historical Romance/Victorian

Fitz

The majority first part of the book was amazing. You read this book with a very heavy heart. The dialogues, the emotions, the way the story commenced, matured and proceeded, the visits to past and the returns to present, make your heart constrict so bad that it pretty much makes you one of those candidates who cry time to time from reading a book. It’s one of those books you feel helpless reading. You feel helpless that you can’t solve the problem; neither will you know how to turn it into a happy ending and put the protagonists out of their misery. Every dialogue, every incident and every tiny yet intense anecdote between the scenes make you die a thousand deaths and yet you still keep going with a hope of happy ending.

The 19-yr old exceptionally handsome Earl Fitzhugh inherits the earldom in a very dire and destitute condition. On top of that, the previous deceased earl, who was 33, has left behind not only vast amount of debts and obligations, along with his disheveled castle and no-good estate, but also a 16-yr old fiance, whose gigantic dowry has been chosen to rebuild and reestablish the earldom after their impending wedding. But Fitz, with his own dreams of a 19-yr old dashing man and joining the army, was madly in love with his childhood friend Isabelle. But he was helpless to do anything and take initiative since he didn’t come out of age yet.

The 16-yr old Millicent was brought up to be the lady of a manor someday. She was prepared for any earl/viscount/duke to be chosen by her father to conduct her fate of an arranged marriage. She was prepared for anyone and anything, accepting her duty and obligation to marry and produce an heir. What she wasn’t ready for was to fall head over heels in love with the supremely handsome and young earl, who doesn’t and will NEVER love her and who has eyes only for his childhood love Isabelle, the prettiest girl she has seen. But she was helpless.

Eight years goes by and Millicent and Fitz are now a married couple living a PLATONIC friendship by their choice. Their marriage is companionable, friendly, but nothing that a man and a woman will share were they were truly married. Until now that is. Lady Isabelle is a free widow now, coming back to London. Both Milli and Fitz have agreed upon on him taking up with Isabelle and having a second chance of love that has been snatched by fate from them. But prior to that, Fitz must now finally consummate his marriage to Milli to beget an heir and before return to Isabelle and remain faithful to her for the rest of their life, leaving Milli behind for good. They have six months before the sham marriage ends. Six months to start his life with Isabelle which he was destined for. Six months to finally say goodbye to his sweet wife who has been there with him in sickness and health for the last eight years. Six months for Milli to have her ‘friend’ of a husband to herself before she says good bye with a smile.

But is it too easy to farewell the man you love so much to the girl he always loved? Can she remain impassive still and hide the tremendous love she has for him since always? Will it be easy for Fitz to finally touch his young wife he has been seeing grown up right in front of his eyes and walk away? You will want to know these answers once you start reading this book. It’s addictive.

The story started and proceeded with such a huge promise and high hopes that I couldn’t help but get disappointed with the abrupt ending. I felt the author ran out of page suddenly and hence had to finish it with the given few that were left. Not a good feeling. But I’ll tell you dear readers, the first majority of the book is so good that you keep on thinking 5.00 starts all along and thank your lucky stars that you picked it up. However, the ending, no matter how much agreeable, didn’t do much for me. It was short and rudely abrupt. Hence the 4.00 stars. Regardless, with its exceptional plot and supreme writing of Ms Thomas I recommend it is worth for you all to give it a try.
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Jul 08, 2012 Elisabeth Roam rated it 3 of 5 stars

I'm sad to say I was disappointed by this book. I was really looking forward to it and even paid the full price for an ebook version. After all is said and done, almost 9 bucks is a little much for a book that really doesn't deliver.

I wanted to like it because the story line is amazing and has so much potential. I think Sherry Thomas is a good writer, Some of the lines in the book were very poetic and true of love and life.

I get the main idea with Fitz, he's heartbroken about not getting to li...more I'm sad to say I was disappointed by this book. I was really looking forward to it and even paid the full price for an ebook version. After all is said and done, almost 9 bucks is a little much for a book that really doesn't deliver.

I wanted to like it because the story line is amazing and has so much potential. I think Sherry Thomas is a good writer, Some of the lines in the book were very poetic and true of love and life.

I get the main idea with Fitz, he's heartbroken about not getting to live the life he had planned. He's in love with a woman he can't have. But the way that his heartbreak was used as an excuse for his behavior over and over again was annoying. There is nothing I hate more then a heroine who is humiliated through out the novel repeatedly and then made to feel sorry for by the reader. The author didn't even have the good grace to make the heroine some what beautiful. It was said many times that she could never compare to her husband in looks and that she wasn't as beautiful as the woman he really loved. Ugh! At least make her beautiful if she's going to suffer for most of the novel! I was cringing at the thought of Millie (who is described as short, tubby and not very pretty) finally confessing that she had secretly loved her husband for years. Great! Just the clincher that makes her look more pathetic. I know the book praised her many other qualities but I felt that Fitz needed to suffer a little more and really yearn for Millie like he did Isabelle. The fact that Millie can organize and remodel a house and start a business doesn't exactly do it for me. I had a hard time believing that those qualities endeared her to Fitz as much as they did.

The last few chapters were rushed and there wasn't even an epilogue. In fact the closing chapter is that Millie's face is all splotchy and red from crying and Fitz starts to kiss her, really? The love scenes left something to be desired and I felt the book in general lacked that heat, that special spark that should endear us to Fitz and Millie. Instead we were given lots of facts and events that took place "with his wife" and "with her husband". In the end it sounded like Fitz was just way too comfortable with his dowdy wife and the life they had built together. Way too comfortable with the way "his wife" had catered to him over the years and done everything to make him happy as he continued to pine after Isabelle.

The author did very well in describing two people that shared a friendship. The author did very well in describing the story in the element she most likely intended it to be in. Yet as the reader I kept thinking, Where's the spark? The passion? Why doesn't Fitz man up? Where's the retaliation that Millie deserves? Where are the 'fantasy elements' in this romance novel? Where's the freaking epilogue? (less)

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Jul 08, 2012 Cecilia rated it 3 of 5 stars

Disappointing. I like the marriage of convenience plot, and I love the way Sherry Thomas does angst. I even liked the flips back and forth in time - it was a slightly different way to get the story of how the relationship developed between the two protagonists. I didn't even mind the heroine's inability to speak up for herself for most of the book; she seemed to be functioning mainly on pride, and that made sense to me. However, what did not appeal to me was the hero's behaviour. I get that he h...more

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Dec 09, 2011 seton rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: m-o-c, unrequited

It's coming out on my birthday so I'll think of it as a b-day present especially for moi from one of my favorite authors.

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Dec 28, 2012 Dija rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012, july-2012, childhood-friends-turned-lovers, cotton-candy-fluff, hr, meh, my-reviews

The absolute best thing about Sherry Thomas's romances (among many) is how unconventional they always are. She goes beyond the typical reformed rake meets wallflower spinster and they live HEA plot to create lively, passionate, and heartwarming stories that are entirely original. Ravishing the Heiress is no exception.

Fitz married Millie for her money, at the expense of losing his childhood sweetheart, Isabelle. Nearly a decade has passed and they've gradually settled into a comfortable married l...more

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May 20, 2013 Tasmia rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, ebooks, genre-romance-2012, note-to-self, rom-2012-07, reread-2013, rom-2013-05

Edit May 2013: Upgraded to 4 stars because I liked it a lot better the second time around. I'm noticing that Thomas books seem to improve on re-reading - the emotional heft is a lot more comfortable to navigate once you've been there before.

***

Somehow I wasn't expecting this book to have flashbacks after the initial leap forward, which may be why I also wasn't expecting the romance to be quite as quiet and sober as it is. Certainly there is heat and passion between the leads, but ultimately I fo...more Edit May 2013: Upgraded to 4 stars because I liked it a lot better the second time around. I'm noticing that Thomas books seem to improve on re-reading - the emotional heft is a lot more comfortable to navigate once you've been there before.

***

Somehow I wasn't expecting this book to have flashbacks after the initial leap forward, which may be why I also wasn't expecting the romance to be quite as quiet and sober as it is. Certainly there is heat and passion between the leads, but ultimately I found their story engaging rather than exciting. I love Millie; she is too self-effacing for her own good but then can make a stand when she needs to. Alas, the important stand comes rather late, and frankly it appalls me that Fitz doesn't consider the issues at hand before she states the velvet ultimatum. I tried to be sympathetic to him, but in my opinion it took him far too long to realize that what Isabelle wanted was for him to regress from twenty-seven to nineteen. I like that he and Millie survived his appalling but understandably adolescent behaviour after they were married, and I think Thomas does a good job of showing us (even if much of it is accompanied by telling) how they built a friendship that grew to love. The ending and reconciliation come too quickly and sloppily - I feel like I didn't get an adequate payoff for all the angst. But then, it happens with a minimum of cliche and drama, which at least makes it unusual. The tie-in bits to the other parts of the trilogy really didn't work in this book; I was too impatient about the main couple to be interested in Helena and Hastings' ongoing woes or Venetia and Christian's bliss. I am interested in Helena's story in spite of myself, though. I'm not sure whether this book should get any credit for that, since I skimmed and skipped over the chunks featuring her.

It's a good read, just not as good as I was expecting. Too sedate, I guess - I want to believe there's a way it could have been intensely emotionally charged even though at its core it's an unglamorous, heart-warming love story. I suppose it might improve on re-reading, when I'm not anxious at every moment to find out how it all goes down. Three stars for now. 3 Jul/12

ETA: It's worth mentioning that part of why I am able to really like Millie is that I'm mostly ignoring the idea that she fell in love at first sight. I could buy that she was attracted to him and hopeful when they met and terribly dashed as she found out just how unavailable he was to her - but that alone is hardly worth calling "love" and aimlessly aching over for eight long years. I look at what Thomas tells us in a sort of slanted way; Millie sees the potential for love much before Fitz does, and she's quick to realize that what she feels for him isn't friendship. She falls in love with him as their life proceeds together, much as Fitz does with her only without his past-love-related blinders. The story makes much more sense to me that way than to actually believe Millie's heart gave itself to Fitz before she really knew him. 6 Jul/12

NTS: I find I'm not even a little bit curious about Isabelle's happy ending, though I expect I will read it when the anthology mentioned in the author's notes comes out. She's too much of a type - a believable, human one, but a flat type all the same - in this book to interest me as a character. Her role makes me think that I like it better when the obstacles in a Thomas romance - maybe all romances? - are the hero and heroine's personal issues rather than other people. 3/Jul 12
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Mar 08, 2013 Zoe rated it 5 of 5 stars

There is something so romantic about Millie and Fitz's relationship. Their love is not built on lust or on the thrill and adrenaline provided by adventures but mutual trust and respect as well as all the decisions they've made together and all the obstacles they've overcome together.

And I disagree with the author, respectfully. Isabelle would not have been right for him. Even if Isabelle was the one with the money, had they married, their marriage would be filled with heat for quite a number of...more

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Aug 12, 2012 .þµŋψà. [Punya Reviews...] rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: No one!

Shelves: sherry-thomas, brilliant-cover, frustration-alert, nightmare-in-romancelandia, no-no-no-noooo, amnesia-hit-me-hard, i-cried-like-a-baby, bitch-slap-coming-through

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. My review contains spoilers and they're mostly my thoughts as I went with the book...

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That above space is blank because I’m in mourning. That’s right, I’m mourning because I just gave a ST book a 2 star. I tried, tried, tried, tried.... I F*CKIN’ TRIED loving this book but I failed. If you know me, you’ll also know that I’m a huge fan of hers. I love her writing so much that I would read anything she writes. I know she’s a charming wordsmith of expressing emotions, angsts, romance in a way that’l...more

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Jul 04, 2012 Nicole rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-romance, marriage-of-convenience, didnt-like

'what did you think?' I think this 'romance' - and I use this term very lightly, was a waste of time and money. The hero spends the whole book basically stuck in a boyhood infatuation (he says love) with an old flame, now widow. In 8 years of marriage he has cheated physically and emotionally yet at the end the h & H make it seem like its the heroine Millie's fault for the wasted time just because she never told him she loved him earlier. Hmmm. Yes, feel the love while you're cheating and st...more

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Jul 09, 2012 Rachel (BAVR) rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: angst-city, boring, brooding-mcbroody-hero, doormat-heroine, i-did-this-for-you-karla, hr-challenge-to-finish, historical-romance, self-esteem-crisis, too-wtf-to-resist, velociraptor-balls, victorian-romance, virgin-heroine, worst-person-ever-hero, constanticrap

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Full disclosure here: Angsty storylines are not my cup of tea. More to the point, angsty storylines are my brain's Kryptonite. So what's a girl to do when she opens a book to discover two relentlessly annoying people angsting over each other (and other people) for a couple hundred pages? Well, snark about it, of course. It's the only way my brain can process the fucking PAIN. Okay?

GIFSoup
Seriously. THIS is what happens to me if I lay off on the snark. This is also how I envisioned the characte...more

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Jul 10, 2012 Las rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical, romance, unrequited-love, hate-read

The take home message of this book: Be a good girl, never complain, don't make any waves, and eventually he'll fall in love with you.

Yeah, I hated everything about this book.

It's love at first sight for Millie. She just sees Fitz, and boom, it's love. I'd give her a pass on that since she was only 16, but since she shows no signs of growing up in the course of this story, I'm calling it Fail #1.

Fitz still fancies himself in love with Isabelle after not having had anything to do with her for 8 y...more The take home message of this book: Be a good girl, never complain, don't make any waves, and eventually he'll fall in love with you.

Yeah, I hated everything about this book.

It's love at first sight for Millie. She just sees Fitz, and boom, it's love. I'd give her a pass on that since she was only 16, but since she shows no signs of growing up in the course of this story, I'm calling it Fail #1.

Fitz still fancies himself in love with Isabelle after not having had anything to do with her for 8 years. "But they were so in love!" you say? They weren't married, or engaged, or in a relationship, really. They were teenagers in the throes of their first crush. As tragic as the circumstances of their parting were, they each went their own way and had lives of their own. But they still managed to be in love with each other, so much so that when Fitz finds out her husband died, he immediately contacts her, and they make arrangements to spend the rest of their lives together, his wife and her children be damned. That's...not normal. If it had been, say, three years, sure, that would be understandable. But eight years? Fail #2.

So Fitz just announces to Millie that he plans to permanently live with Isabelle, right? But first he and Millie are going to follow their original plan and finally have sex after 8 (EIGHT!!!) years of marriage, and hopefully conceive in the 6 month window Fitz--without consulting with Millie, but why should he, since she'll just nod her head like the good little girl she is?--has decided is an appropriate amount of time. After a bit of a freakout, Millie, of course, agrees, no questions asked. Questions like, "Hey, asshole, don't you think it's fucked up that you plan to abandon me for another woman, making me an object of curiosity and ridicule in society?" or, "So let's say I conceive--what's your plan then? You're going to abandon your child? Or do you expect me to hand him over after I give birth? How exactly will this child be raised with one parent sobbing in her pillow every night because she's a pathetic loser with shitty tastes in men and another who's shacking up with his childhood sweetheart? And how will society treat him under such circumstances?" (You can change the above language to make it historically accurate.) With all that's wrong with this book, THAT is what most chaps my ass. Those things didn't occur to anyone? Fail #3.

As Fitz and Isabelle spend more time together, he inevitably starts comparing her and Millie, with Isabella coming short. That's right, people, he has to be annoyed by the woman he loves in order for him to consider staying with Millie. What's the problem with Isabelle? Well, what it all boils down to is that Isabella is too opinionated. She's impulsive, vivacious, has qualms about his interests in business and isn't afraid to tell him so. I suppose I should be grateful Sherry Thomas didn't go completely conventional and make Isabella a total bitch, but, really, the end result was the same...Fitz having an easy choice to make because one woman is so "obviously" wrong for him (personally, I think he could use a woman who would challenge him, but that's not the kind of heroine we're stuck with). Fail #4.

Both the book and many reviewers insist that Millie should have been honest about her feelings to Fitz. I don't agree. First, because I don't really believe in her love for him--love at first sight doesn't count, and there's not a single indication that Millie's love ever matures from that beginning. If at the very least there has been a moment where Millie thought, "What the hell was wrong with me that I thought I loved this fool," especially during their honeymoon, and then showed her falling in love in earnest, than yeah, I'd call it love. But that never happened. Second, and most importantly, Millie's pride in this is about the only thing I found admirable about her. Why would she confess to loving a man who's made it clear he doesn't love her; who plans to leave her and live with another women? We're told that by telling him, it will open his eyes to how much he loves her, and that's what ends up happening. And that, my friends, is bullshit. Why would anyone want that? How could anyone believe in the love of man who barely noticed you for 8 years, who had to told that you loved him in order for the possibility of a future between them to occur to him? How can anyone believe that this man truly loves her instead of just feeling a combination of lust and obligation? Of course, Millie believes it easily. She actually knows he's in love with her before he does, and she just (quietly! Ever the stoic martyr, our Millie) hopes that he'll eventually realize it and and come back to her, so she can happily take him back, no questions asked, no anger, no recriminations. Fail #5

The book sets up Helena's story with Hastings. Helena, pretty much the only interesting women in the series, is getting a really shitty love story. Another love at first sight tale, since Hastings has loved her forever, and he has a really creepy way of showing it. Following her around, interfering in her private life, threatening her...yeah, that sounds like the makings of a great love story. Fail #6.

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Jul 09, 2012 Wicked Incognito Now rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, auto-buy-author, historical-romance

In a nutshell, this newest Sherry Thomas novel is rather similar to some of her past successful stories. This has all of the unrequited angst of Not Quite a Husbandand Private Arrangements, without the past of betrayal and heartache. The heartache is there, of course, but in a blameless form.

Millie is the heiress, and Fitz holds the title. Like so many HR plots, Fitz must marry the heiress in order to bring his estate back from debt and ruin. They are both extremely young, and to make it worse,...more In a nutshell, this newest Sherry Thomas novel is rather similar to some of her past successful stories. This has all of the unrequited angst of Not Quite a Husbandand Private Arrangements, without the past of betrayal and heartache. The heartache is there, of course, but in a blameless form.

Millie is the heiress, and Fitz holds the title. Like so many HR plots, Fitz must marry the heiress in order to bring his estate back from debt and ruin. They are both extremely young, and to make it worse, Fitz is madly in love with another girl. What's more, Millie instantly and illogically falls head over heels for Fitz. When she discovers that he is heartbroken, she can't bear to find herself marrying someone who will always resent her. So she offers him a bargain: Let's not live as a married couple until we are honor bound to produce an heir. We shall live separately for eight years. Fitz, of course, jumps at the chance to sow his wild oats and wallow in his heartache. Meanwhile, the two develop a magnificent friendship that leaves Millie in constant yearning for the man at her side.

I think Sherry Thomas has outdone herself here. She has really hit her stride as a writer. I adored Beguiling the Beauty (released two months ago) and this newest novel even improves upon Beauty. ST has managed to take her past successes and has honed her skills to an art-form. These novels are extremely tightly plotted. I'm convinced Thomas's skills at pacing are unparalleled. It is simply impossible to put her books down.

This novel, like most of her others, takes place in the present as well as the past. Just when things are beginning to get really interesting in the present, she abandons the present to take the reader back to scenes in the past. It can be highly irritating, but it forces the reader to calm down and enjoy the ride. It forces us to watch how this couple has come to be in the place they currently are. It's careful characterization at its best. Just when I think I am going to be horribly disappointed in the outcome of the novel, something happens to assuage my growing frustration. Just when the hero or the heroine have irritated me to the point that I'm mentally yelling at my Kindle (wishing I could throw it against the wall), the heroine or the hero do something that soothes my agitation. I think, "alright, that's what I wanted."

This particular predicament is caused by stupid actions and feelings. Let's not mistake that this heroine and hero could've easily righted their wrongs. But this is why I love this book. People do stupid things and find themselves in predicaments caused by too much pride and not enough backbone. But I HATE perfect heroes. I hate perfect heroines. I love stories of people finding themselves and each other and getting over their emotional baggage. I can easily understand how anyone would find themselves in these situations. Many reviewers have reviled Fitz, and I understand that. But his situation is entirely based upon believing that Millie had no interest in him romantically. She was so head over heels for him that she rebuffed a few of his early attempts to get close to her (I'm not sure why, that was a bit strange). He really did feel that she only wanted the close friendship that they had developed.

Sherry Thomas excels at creating internal conflict. This is the type of romance novel I always want to read. Because so few authors do this well, I find myself savoring every new release of a Sherry Thomas book like a decadent cake. Beguiling the Beautywas the first ST release in two years. It was the equivalent of anticipating a gorgeous red velvet cake for months on end and then gorging on it in two days. And then soon after we engorged readers are presented with the hot fudge sundae of Ravishing the Heiress. It doesn't get any better than this!!!

Now, even though I patting my full belly in complete satisfaction, I get to anticipate Tempting the Bride for release in October. Mmmm….turtle chocolate cheesecake anyone?

Tempting the Bride (Fitzhugh Trilogy, #3)

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Jul 02, 2012 Amy rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: fv-review, ppb

Such a depressive, angst ridden story up until the bitter end. The author has a profound voice (although not one I enjoy), however the two books I've read have both had miserable protagonists.

I'm fine with angst if it's with a couple that loves each other but when the hero is married to the heroine and pining over another woman he loves throughout the majority of the story, it does not make for enjoyable reading for me.

I even cringed in the one love scene between the main couple because during...more

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Feb 20, 2013 Ummu Auni rated it 2 of 5 stars

Recommended to Ummu Auni by: Limau Nipis

Shelves: e-book, read-2013

This is highly recommended by my sister, but then I had to drag through this since most of the parts, it is so narrative and less dialogue. There were moments of tenderness, I'd to blink my eyes several times, because the emotions that Millie felt was heart wrenching especially when she's in love with her husband, but her husband doesn't realise that. I feel the 8-year wait is too long. How can you get married to someone for so long, but the marriage has not been consummated? Bah.

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Apr 18, 2013 Suzainur K.A.R. rated it 5 of 5 stars

Sherry Thomas writes awesomely mellifluous historical romances. She has a way of crafting words that are lyrical, evocative and so redolent of the era. You are unlikely to find jarringly modern phrasing in her work; e.g. "You wish," she jeered.

This book explored the reality of unrequited love and how love can grow even without the thunderbolt out of the blue. Millie's and Fitz's journey from an arranged marriage, to acceptance, and even rejoicing in their relationship, and how they moved from pl...more

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Mar 16, 2013 BonnieL rated it 1 of 5 stars

It gets one star because I'm not allowed to give it a 0. SPOILERS - hero is forced to marry heiress (aged 16) because her needs her father's fortune to restore his estates. But he loved another - so he proceeds to act like a jackass for the rest of the book - drunk throughout his honeymoon; enters into a pact with her that they won't have sex for 8 years as he continues to mourn his "lost" love; sleeps with various women throughout that time and tells his wife all about it; "lost" love returns a...more

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Jan 06, 2013 Wendy rated it 4 of 5 stars

***This doesn't contain any direct spoilers, but maybe enough information that it might be****

I wavered between a three and a four for this one. I wanted Fitz to be less dense and Millie to stick up for herself. Eight years? Granted, two people can decide to do whatever they want to between themselves, but Fitz was an idiot for not noticing that Millie truly loved him (as one of his sisters pointed out). His behavior when Isabelle returned was appalling, as was the whole "6-month thing." So Isab...more ***This doesn't contain any direct spoilers, but maybe enough information that it might be****

I wavered between a three and a four for this one. I wanted Fitz to be less dense and Millie to stick up for herself. Eight years? Granted, two people can decide to do whatever they want to between themselves, but Fitz was an idiot for not noticing that Millie truly loved him (as one of his sisters pointed out). His behavior when Isabelle returned was appalling, as was the whole "6-month thing." So Isabelle needed help with the children, but he'd get Millie pregnant and leave her? What sort of twisted logic is that? And the fact that she took care of him when he was being so incredibly awful on their "honeymoon" when the whole reason he was behaving that way was because he was married to her--petulant, whiny boy! How long did it take him to realize she'd had to give up things as well? That's why the hesitation between 3 or 4 stars. I felt command of the story was good, and I liked Millie, even if I want to yell "wake up" at her sometimes. I can see how she might have thought declaring her love for him before she thought he was ready might drive him away if he didn't know what to do with that information, and maybe the timing was as it should be, but I know I couldn't live that way for eight years, not with someone I loved. (I suppose I'm more of a jealous type than Millie seems to be, however). I hope he spends the rest of his life being extremely, extremely nice to her, and remembers her birthdays and their anniversaries. I was glad his sisters took her side--they realized early on how lucky he was to have had an arranged marriage with someone so genuinely nice and kind, who overlooked their brother's obvious faults. One thing about Millie, though, is that while she was overlooked, she is perfectly capable of taking care of herself. And in terms of the gossip mill, it seems as though Fitz could have formed one just on his own shenanigans, another thing not very fair to Millie--it never really came up, unless I missed it, but when she went out, she would have been in the presence of women her husband had slept with. Definitely not very nice or well-considered on his part. I think he needed to grow up and never really did until he was older and had to make the decision he did. What rock finally fell on his head to make him realize that yes, people do change over eight years?

I was thinking these things while I was reading, it wasn't as if they suddenly came to me when I was done, but I felt invested in Millie and wanted to know what would happen to her, because she truly deserved someone nice. She at least deserved a nice young man as a friend, even if just a friend, for nothing else if to make Fitz jealous. That might have hurried things along.

Now there's just poor Helena. I have to wait for the last book because someone has it on hold before me. Literally a hold, not as in they're so enraptured of it they can't let go. :-)(less)

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Nov 10, 2012 Rawles rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical, best-beloved, romance, time-contemporary

Absolutely splendid.

I'm a sucker for both marriages of convenience and wallflowers in unrequited love, so the fact that this novel combined both those tropes meant it was already set to be one of my favorites, but Sherry Thomas goes above and beyond.

One might think that by having the hero and heroine immediately engage in a pact of platonic conduct on which they do not renege, Thomas has hamstrung herself and removed one of the most... interesting aspects of the marriage of convenience: the navi...more Absolutely splendid.

I'm a sucker for both marriages of convenience and wallflowers in unrequited love, so the fact that this novel combined both those tropes meant it was already set to be one of my favorites, but Sherry Thomas goes above and beyond.

One might think that by having the hero and heroine immediately engage in a pact of platonic conduct on which they do not renege, Thomas has hamstrung herself and removed one of the most... interesting aspects of the marriage of convenience: the navigation of physical intimacies. However, what the author really did was give herself leave to carry out a stunning, unflinching, emotionally-rending exploration of what it actually means for two teenagers to have all their choices ripped away and be forced into a life together.

Fitz's rage and total desolation at being denied his own cherished life plans and lady love and saddled with crippling debt and a destitute estate could have been irritating in another author's hands, but Thomas makes sure that while it does cause Millie pain indirectly, Fitz never knowingly hurts her or takes out his frustrations on her, understanding and acknowledging that she had no more choice in the matter than he did. And Millie's handling of him is a wonderful presentation of how fierce and unflinching a heroine she is.

Further, Millie's feelings of guilt and humiliation at having to be the method of Fitz's unhappiness and being publicly perceived as the object rending apart beauteous True! Love! are wonderfully portrayed and balanced with her natural reserve, quiet strength, and the heartbreakingly mundane fact of her being a sixteen year old girl who becomes immediately infatuated with a handsome boy.

The book's alternating between flashbacks to the early days of their marriage and their contented and settled selves eight years on keeps it from being oppressively maudlin as the couple works through their various rough spots on the way to marital harmony. It also works to make the book not just a story of what happens when an arranged marriage turns to real love, but the story of how two people forced together by circumstance become allies, partners, and friends all the while falling deeply in love with each other over long years.

Fitz and Millie's affection for each other, their intimate knowledge of each other as people, and their wonderful friendship (which the narrative actually EXALTS instead of holding as inferior to their eventual romantic love) are a joy to read.

This goes on my favorites shelf, primed for many rereads.(less)

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Oct 29, 2012 Lucy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult-series, everyone-loves-a-tortured-hero, good-kind-of-painful, historical-romance, oh-hot-hot-hot, perfect-love-triangles, plain-sexual, tortured-heroines, delicious-drama, friends-to-lovers, unrequited-love, good-couples, heroes-i-like, heroines-i-like

This must be the first book I read that has unrequited love as the main theme.
And I greatly enjoyed it!
I must say that I only didn't give it 5 stars because of the relative immaturity of the hero and the end itself, that was a bit rushed, in my opinion.
But apart from that, the book is really good and I totally recommend it!

Ravishing The Heiress is an incredible journey of heartache, hope and unfulfilled and fulfilled dreams.

Millicent (Millie) Graves is a young heiress that is expected to marry a...more

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Oct 10, 2012 Connie Fischer rated it 4 of 5 stars

Millicent (Millie) Graves is the daughter of a well-to-do man who is the owner a tinned good company, Cresswell & Graves. She is betrothed to a impoverished Earl, Lord Fitzhugh. As she is so very young, Millie and Fitzhugh decide to not consummate their marriage for eight years and then only to provide a heir. Fitzhugh was in love with another woman before he and Millie married and he has been broken hearted since then. However, he knew he needed Millie's dowry to be able to keep his home. H...more

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Sep 10, 2012 Shoshana rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult, romance

Pretty classic Sherry Thomas, for the unusual nature of the relationship between hero and heroine – a totally different riff on the classic (and boring) she’s-loved-him-forever-and-he’s-never-noticed plot. There’s some good pain. There’s also some frustrating fixation on Millie’s part (I don’t really believe in a person never being able to grow out of their first love if it is not returned, although I guess being married to your unrequited love would indeed make it harder to get over them) and s...more

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Sep 05, 2012 ALPHAreader rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Millicent fell in love with Lord Fitzhugh the moment she saw him. For this flight of fancy, she should be forgiven, since she was sixteen at the time, and he a dashing nineteen. But eight years of marriage has not dampened her feelings for her husband … even though everyone in society, including him, thinks theirs is a marriage of convenience and monetary gain. People would be right to think that, since Millie has cultivated an image of marital affability for eight years. It’s why she doesn’t ba...more

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Aug 17, 2012 Kandice Newren rated it 4 of 5 stars

Because of the overlap, I wasn't sure which book was first, but they both intrigued me. This book focuses more on the wife than the brother, but both their stories are compelling. Millie is the only child of a rich industrialist and Fitz is the newly crowned earl who has inherited debt and dilapidation. They marry because Fitz needs the money and Millie's dad wants to be related to nobility. Millie immediately falls in love with Fitz, but Fitz is heartbroken because he is in love with another. T...more

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Aug 11, 2012 Elis Madison rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: era-victorian, good-historical-detail, he-loves-me-she-loves-me-not, hero-needs-colonoscopy-2-find-head, love-the-writing, marriage-of-convenience, part-of-series, use-your-words

You might think from the title that there'd be at least a LITTLE ravishing in this book. Fair warning to my fellow Bodice Ripper aficionados—there isn't.

Anyway, despite the fact that romances that revolve entirely around the "loves me, loves me not" angst don't usually grab me, I keep picking up Sherry Thomas's books (to be fair, Not Quite a Husband did have some adventure). This is in part because she has a very nice ability to develop conflict, and that offsets the lack of high action. Not co...more You might think from the title that there'd be at least a LITTLE ravishing in this book. Fair warning to my fellow Bodice Ripper aficionados—there isn't.

Anyway, despite the fact that romances that revolve entirely around the "loves me, loves me not" angst don't usually grab me, I keep picking up Sherry Thomas's books (to be fair, Not Quite a Husband did have some adventure). This is in part because she has a very nice ability to develop conflict, and that offsets the lack of high action. Not conflict in the sense of arguments or bloodshed but conflict in the sense of dramatic tension.

This story revolves around Fitz, the Earl Fitzhugh, who is the brother of the lovely Venetia from Beguiling the Beauty. Fitz has unexpectedly inherited the title from an impoverished distant cousin, and now has a duty to take the reins of the earldom and reel the estates back from ruin. Unfortunately, he has no money of his own, and no quick means of making any. So he has to abandon his own dream of marrying his longtime love Isabella and break her heart, in order to marry an heiress. Fitz spends most of the book caught up in his own tragedy.

Millicent, the daughter of a sardine mogul (as in tinning them), has grown up expecting that she will make a marriage of convenience. She never hoped to marry for love. She isn't much to look at, so she's always figured men would want her for daddy's money. And her social-climbing parents have trained her up to marry the best title money can buy. She was more or less content with the idea of marrying the much older previous earl, but at first sight she is appalled at the idea of marrying Fitz. The problem is, you see, she's taken one look and fallen wildly, instantly in love. She doesn't want a one-sided relationship. It's even worse when she realizes that he's not only marrying her because he desperately needs her money, but he's miserable about it, because he is in love with someone else.

So it appalls her even more to think of sleeping with him, which would make her even more vulnerable to a man who is already breaking her heart. Millie approaches Fitz with a bargain. Since he's young enough he should be in no rush for heirs, she asks him for some time before they consummate the marriage. Say, six years. She reckons he'll shave it to four, but he eagerly bumps it to eight, which really makes her feel cherished and desired. The deal is, during these eight years, he can plow any other field he cares to, while she will remain pure and chaste, help rebuild his country house, tend his interests, and make him filthy, stinking rich. What a deal.

Millie is not presented as a shallow girl, so you kind of wonder what it is she loves about Fitz, beyond the fact that he's so gorgeous he makes her want to blind herself. I mean, what a catch. He's so thrilled about their marriage that he shows up to the wedding late, disheveled and hagridden, having lost his virginity (he thinks—but he was so drunk he's not quite sure) the night before. He carts Millie off to a remote cabin for their honeymoon and quickly drowns himself in a series of whisky bottles, leaving her to fend for herself. This goes on and on until she finally shows a little gumption and dumps out all the booze, then stays with him and holds his hand (and head) while he rolls through the DT's. She's never had to cook or clean or make fire or anything like that before, so she cuts herself up trying to open a can of sardines (well, it might've been another kind of meat, but I did like the irony).

Somehow, out of this, they end up being Great Friends. Why not, after all? Fitz gets to shag pretty much every woman he meets, while Millie gets to pretend not to know about it and/or not to care. She takes care of his family and his home and he occasionally remembers a birthday and even more rarely notices when she enters a room. Again, what a deal. Deep in her heart, though, Millie keeps hoping that maybe, as their liking for each other grows, something deeper will come of it.

The crisis occurs when, just as the eight years are drawing to a close, Isabella, who had married another man and gone off to India, becomes a widow and announces that she's coming home. Some of the scenes that follow are so wrenching that I actually cried (and I was reading those scenes while taking breaks at work—the sniffling was really embarrassing). If a story draws my emotions that powerfully, it's always gonna get a thumbs-up, even if it's not my usual cup of chai.

Some other reviews complained about the fact that the story keeps time-warping back and forth between the early years of the marriage and the crisis at the end of the eight years. It is a bit rattling at first, but once you get used to checking the dates at the start of each chapter, it flows easily enough. And I'm not really sure Thomas could've told the story chronologically. The pacing at the start would have been mind-numbingly slow, and then at the end such a blitz you'd get whiplash. I'd almost bet she did initially write it chronologically, then realized that she needed to shuffle the chapters to keep the tension building at a steady rate.

I do have one complaint, though, and that's about the ending. Do not read this spoiler unless you really want the ending spoiled. (view spoiler)

When all is said and done, though, I really did like this book. Thomas has a better grasp of the English language than most writers I've read, which is really impressive since English is not her native tongue. And she has a keen sense of how to make readers (me, at least) feel along with the characters. So this gets four stars, a rating I normally reserve for my favorite reads, adventures with pirates or Vikings or some other dangerous intrigue, with romance thrown in as desert, rather than the main (or only) course.
(less)

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Aug 08, 2012 Rosver rated it 1 of 5 stars

This book is pathetic. The book has protagonists, that, for want of better words, are a bunch of losers. The story is totally unrealistic and melodramatic. Added to it is the author's disharmonious way of writing.

The biggest disappointment is the characters. Our main protagonist, Millicent and Lord Fitzhugh, are weak and pathetic. Millecent, is a disgusting martyr. She hides in her own world of pain, suffering and self-pity and doesn't act. She brood there while pathetically dreams that things w...more This book is pathetic. The book has protagonists, that, for want of better words, are a bunch of losers. The story is totally unrealistic and melodramatic. Added to it is the author's disharmonious way of writing.

The biggest disappointment is the characters. Our main protagonist, Millicent and Lord Fitzhugh, are weak and pathetic. Millecent, is a disgusting martyr. She hides in her own world of pain, suffering and self-pity and doesn't act. She brood there while pathetically dreams that things would soon turns out right. When her love, Lord Fitzhugh, drink, takes drugs and goes a whoring, she just stand on the side and submerge herself in self pity. She, as a heroine, is a disgrace as a woman.

Lord Fitzhugh is just as weak and pathetic as Milllicent. When he was forced to leave his love, Isabelle, and marry Millicent to gather some money he desperately needs; he slunk into drinking, drugs and whoring. He is very disgusting and selfish. Just like Millecent, Lord Fitzhugh is a disgrace as a man.

Then, this two losers are put into a story that are just as pathetic as they are. The whole book is almost devoted to passages of pain, suffering, self-destruction and self-pity... in other words, melodrama. Lord Fitzhugh, in their marriage is a very bad husband. He's a womaniser, alcoholic, drug user and barely takes care of his wife. Millecent takes all this burden in silence. Dis-ap-poin-ting. And then abruptly things all went well in the end. They suddenly find themselves in love, end of story. HUH? If you ask me, the author has written nothing more than wishful thinking. It's like a woman wishing that her abusive/alcoholic/adulterous husband would become the epitome of perfection in a blink of an eye and then she would live a happy ever after she deserve.

And the way the book is written, its like a child gluing things clumsily together to make a misshapen sculpture. The whole book is just put together hideously. One thing I have hard time of is keeping track of time. The story jerks from one time to another, usually form one melodrama to another. The story jumps forward (and sometimes back) annoyingly. I tell you, it was no pleasant ride. There is also the rather obtrusive stories of the minor characters. They, often times, takes over the main story and add more melodrama of their own. They just distract you from the main story while adding nothing of value. And ironically, being a romance novel, the book is unromantic. Its much more like a badly written literary novel. Nothing romantic at all.

This is a substandard piece. Melodramatic, contrived and awkward. This book is a disgrace.(less)

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Jul 29, 2012 Limau Nipis rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-reads, on-nook, e-books-save-trees, historical-romance

After reading this book back to back with Private Arrangements, I prefer PA than this one.

Even though the premise of the story is the same, with the premise of love after marriage, I find Millie very shy and timid, even with her own husband, Fitz. Only by the end of the story, that we get to know the real Millie, which is nice for a change.

The author use the same technique as in PA, where the past and present are divided between chapters, for us to get a much clearer view on what happened to Fit...more

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Jul 27, 2012 Maldivianbookreviewer rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Fans of angst ridden historical romances! Sigh!

Recommended to Maldivianbookreviewer by: Brie C.

Shelves: sherry-thomas, forced-marriage, marriage-of-convenience, love-at-first-sight, heroine-in-love-with-hero, plain-jane-heroine, controlled-heroine, against-the-wall-smexing, abrupt-endings, angsty-read, emotional-wrangler, endearing-hero, endearing-heroine, explosive-passion, family-drama, favorite-alpha-heroes, favorite-heroes, favorite-heroines, favorites, grieving-hero, haunted-by-the-past-hero, heiress-heroine, hot-as-sin-hero, hottest-first-kiss, hottest-sex-scenes-ever, independent-heroine, not-your-average-heroine, opposites-attract, part-of-a-series, sizzling-sexual-tension, sweet-heroes, sweet-heroines, toe-curling-sex-scenes, tortured-heroine, virgin-heroine, virgin-hero

I have been meaning to get this review written for quite sometime now. Well, ever since I finished the book a couple of days back. I wanted to write the review when the essence of the story was fresh on my mind, when the feelings that coursed through me as I read through every single page of the book still lingered deep inside of me so that I could do the book the justice that it so deserves. But alas, life and its various blunders happened and here I am penning the review a few days later and y...more

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Jul 26, 2012 Adina rated it 4 of 5 stars

Sherry Thomas is a lovely writer and is the author of one of my favourite historical romance novels – Not Quite a Husband. She’s an auto-buy author for me. Ravishing the Heiress is the second book in the Fitzhugh trilogy, after Beguiling the Beauty. Millicent and Hugh were introduced in the first book but it’s not necessary to have read the first story to enjoy the second.

Millicent and Hugh have been married eight years. Their union is an arranged marriage of convenience. As a young man Hugh inh...more

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Ravishing the Heiress - Sherry Thomas	1	2	May 19, 2013 06:35am
What's The Name o...: Husband loves someone else and doesnt consummate the marriage for 8 years [s]	4	58	Apr 23, 2013 05:44am

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Ravishing the Heiress (Fitzhugh Trilogy #2)

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