In Allison Rushby's Heiresses, three triplets--estranged since birth--are thrust together in glittering 1926 London to fight for their inheritance, only to learn they can’t trust anyone--least of all each other.
When three teenage girls, Thalia, Erato and Clio, are summoned to the excitement of fast-paced London--a frivolous, heady city full of bright young things--by Hestia, an aunt they never knew they had, they are shocked to learn they are triplets and the rightful heiresses to their deceased mother's fortune. All they need to do is find a way to claim the fortune from their greedy half-brother, Charles. But with the odds stacked against them, coming together as sisters may be harder than they think.
Best Bits: I really enjoyed the first half of this book. The setup is great, three girls are brought to London to be reunited with their Aunt who is going to help them regain their rightful fortune. Each girl has a unique personality, and wildly different values. That meant that we got to see some interesting moral dilemmas, and made the plotting and planning rather fun. This book doesn't shy away from the tough subjects. You don't really expect to read about topics like eugenics in a book like this. Rushby did a great job of fitting it in. It's hard now to remember that there was a time that this subject wasn't looked at as unethical, cruel, and illegal. Similar the other book that I reviewed this week, I think that there is some crossover potential for older teens who enjoy historical reads.
Nit Picks: This one had it's ups and downs for me. I think that Rushby could have cut out a chunk of the book just to keep the pace going. I really enjoyed the beginning of the book, but about halfway through things began to drag a bit. We got deeper into each character, but it meant we spent an extended amount of time with each girl without much forward movement of the plot. I also thought that the conflict within the sisters (Thalia) didn't hit the right chord for me. In attempting to keep this spoiler free, I think that the revelation that the readers gets at the end of the book came too late. There were a couple of hints at the beginning of the story that something is wrong, but I don't think it's enough to allow the reader to trust her. Her redemption in the story felt like the sisterhood version of insta-love.
The Heiresses
By Allison Rushby
Published by St. Martin's Griffin
352 Pages
Received for Review
Rating: C
What is teaser tuesday?
It's a meme hosted by Should Be Reading and here are the rules: Grab your current read...
Open to a random page
Share two teaser sentences from somewhere on the page
Don't include spoilers.
"That's right. It's a 'Knights and Damsels' party. In a castle tower."
-The Heiresses, 37% on Kindle, by Allison Rushby
Well, that was technically three sentences, but I'm surprised by how much I'm enjoying this one. It's not technically YA, so I think what I really needed was something new.
Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga at Tynga's Reviews! It's a way to highlight the books that everyone got throughout the week.
Purchased
Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger
It's one thing to learn to curtsy properly. It's quite another to learn to curtsy and throw a knife at the same time. Welcome to finishing school.
Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is the bane of her mother's existence. Sophronia is more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper etiquette at tea--and god forbid anyone see her atrocious curtsy. Mrs. Temminnick is desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady. She enrolls Sophronia in Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.
But little do Sophronia or her mother know that this is a school where ingenious young girls learn to finish, all right--but it's a different kind of finishing. Mademoiselle Geraldine's certainly trains young ladies in the finer arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but also in the other kinds of finishing: the fine arts of death, diversion, deceit, espionage, and the modern weaponries. Sophronia and her friends are going to have a rousing first year at school.
Published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Impostor (Slide 2) by Jill Hathaway
What if a killer took control of you?
Vee Bell’s gift (or curse) of “sliding”—slipping into the mind of another person and experiencing life, briefly, through his or her eyes—has been somewhat under control since she unwillingly witnessed the horrific deaths of her classmates six months ago.
But just as things are getting back to normal, Vee has a very bizarre experience: she loses consciousness and finds herself in a deserted area, at the edge of a cliff, with the broken body of the boy who took advantage of her on the rocks below.
As Vee finds herself in stranger and stranger situations with no memory of getting there, she begins to suspect that someone she knows has the ability to slide—and that this “slider” is using Vee to exact revenge on his or her enemies.
Published by Balzer + Bray
The cover model reminds me of Zenon from Disney Channel for some reason
For Review:
The Heiresses by Allison Rushby
When three teenage girls, Thalia, Erato and Clio, are summoned to the excitement of fast-paced London--a frivolous, heady city full of bright young things--by Hestia, an aunt they never knew they had, they are shocked to learn they are triplets and the rightful heiresses to their deceased mother's fortune. All they need to do is find a way to claim the fortune from their greedy half-brother, Charles. But with the odds stacked against them, coming together as sisters may be harder than they think.
Published by St. Martin's Griffin
Release Date: May 7, 2013
Nantucket Blue by Leila Howland
For Cricket Thompson, a summer like this one will change everything. A summer spent on Nantucket with her best friend, Jules Clayton, and the indomitable Clayton family. A summer when she’ll make the almost unattainable Jay Logan hers. A summer to surpass all dreams.
Some of this turns out to be true. Some of it doesn’t.
When Jules and her family suffer a devastating tragedy that forces the girls apart, Jules becomes a stranger whom Cricket wonders whether she ever really knew. And instead of lying on the beach working on her caramel-colored tan, Cricket is making beds and cleaning bathrooms to support herself in paradise for the summer.
But it’s the things Cricket hadn’t counted on--most of all, falling hard for someone who should be completely off-limits--that turn her dreams into an exhilarating, bittersweet reality.
A beautiful future is within her grasp, and Cricket must find the grace to embrace it. If she does, her life could be the perfect shade of Nantucket blue.
Published by Disney Hyperion
Release Date: May 7, 2013
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