Format: E-book
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Historical Romance
Series: Brothers Sinister, #2
Publisher: Self-Published
Hero: Oliver Marshall
Heroine: Jane Victoria Fairfield
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: July 15, 2013
Started On: July 14, 2013
Finished On: July 17, 2013

He wanted her, everything about her.
Everything except… Her.

Oliver Marshall is a duke’s son born on the wrong side of the blanket. Though Oliver hadn’t wanted for much as far as familial love went, society had never let him forget that he would always be left wanting because his father had never claimed Oliver rightfully as his. Ambitious & driven by the need to prove himself, Oliver is a man at times torn between the desire to do whats right and walk a bit on the darker side for the greater good, or so he tells himself.

Miss Jane Victoria Fairfield or the Feather Heiress as she is famous for has only one goal in mind. Protect her younger sister Emily at all and any cost, even if means making a spectacle of herself in the society. Jane counts herself as a loner, fighting a lonely & dangerous battle if the ones that hold the power in their hands were ever to figure out just how good she is at deceiving them into believing what she wants them to believe. Never quite seeming to fit in, Jane is the one that vividly stands out, a little too loud & bold for society’s comfort.

When Oliver’s ambitions collide in the path that Jane walks upon, Oliver is decidedly torn on whether to carry through with the nefarious task designated to him, which would be oh so easy if it were’t for the fact that Jane and her plight seems to echo a bit too closely with what Oliver had experienced during his childhood and adolescence. Somehow, the woman that Oliver bluntly says is the opposite of what he wants as a wife begins to grow on him, the taunting memories and dreams on the impossible woman for him being oh so deliciously right for him driving him to the brink of wanting that refuses to be denied. But the ultimate question lies in whether Oliver would be courageous enough to take that step towards accepting the fact he needs Jane in his life or would he walk on the path society dictates and leave Jane behind, even if it tears him into bits and pieces on the inside.

Set in Cambridgeshire of England in 1867, The Heiress Effect is the second full length novel in the Brothers Sinister series. Told from viewpoints of multiple characters, The Heiress Effect can be read as a standalone though I’d recommend reading at least The Duchess War before proceeding with The Heiress Effect.

You know those books that are hard to part with, not because it didn’t give you what you wanted but because it delivered exactly and rightly what you wanted that they are hard to let go? Well, The Heiress Effect is a book of the sort that makes you want to soak up and wallow in the emotions left behind in the wake of the story for a day or two before even attempting to pick up another book to read.

Courtney Milan skyrocketed her way to my auto-buy list of authors right after my very first novel from her which was the first book in the series. Ever since, I’ve been waiting a tad impatiently for the rest of the books in the series to come out and Courtney certainly have made the wait worthwhile. There are authors who can draw you into the story just be the prose & at times poetic and hypnotic writing style that begs a reader to lose themselves in the unfolding story. And Courtney definitely is one of them.

There are so many things I loved about The Heiress Effect. Namely Jane’s character that surprised, beguiled and made me fall in love just like that. The strength of her character and the burdens she shoulders all alone is admirable, her honesty refreshing and the way she cannot help but talk a person’s ear off when nervous endearing. The fact that Jane stayed true to her character, even towards the beautiful little epilogue tucked at the end which takes place 6 years down the line was what made the story in my opinion. I’ve seen very few authors manage to keep a character true to who they are, and so Courtney, I bow down to the refreshing honesty the story brought forward.

Oliver is definitely not the type of hero you’d go gaga over because of his good looks, rather you go crazy over him in spite of all of that. He might not be handsome in the classical sense but he more than makes up for it by that sheer intensity of his character alone. He has this way of saying certain things like, “Keep talking Jane”, which might be a very innocent statement given the circumstances and all, but the way he says it goes deep and I was sighing over his fascination with Jane and how out of character she makes him feel.

The secondary romance tucked into the story was a delight to read as well, not to mention other characters such as Oliver’s younger sister Free and his aunt Freddy that lends the story an extra richness that at times brought tears to my eyes. Courtney Milan just doesn’t write a romance, she paints a beautiful masterpiece everytime she puts pen to paper and that’s exactly why I’d always keep coming back for more. I cannot wait for Sebastian’s story to come out. I have a feeling that the pages are practically going to explode from the sheer force of his character alone which I am absolutely looking forward to!

Recommended for fans of Courtney Milan, fans of the series and practically EVERYONE who loves a good romance that can make you sigh and swoon in all the right doses. This one’s for you!

Final Verdict: Poignant, beautiful and poetic, there are few authors who can rival what Courtney Milan brings to the genre.

Favorite Quotes

She kissed him back, lips to lips, and then tongue to tongue. She kissed him until he wasn’t sure who was kissing and who was kissing back. The kiss took on a life of its own, roaring through his blood. As if somehow, if he kissed her hard enough, he could avoid the past and the future altogether. He might stay in the present forever.

And then there was just him—his weight, his breath, his body bearing her down, joining with her so intimately. His hands, turning her face up to his, and his kiss, warm and sweet on her lips. There was no other time at all.
Just now.

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