Customer Reviews

Duchess of Fifth Avenue (Berkley Sensation)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Hmm. Just setting up the premise takes an awful lot of time. Suffice it to say that the heroine decides to pose as English nobility in order to secure guardianship of the child of a friend who's died, and to accomplish that, she gives her savings to a man she met first playing poker in a cheap tavern and later in the house of her wealthy employers being introduced as an English duke.

There's a bit of a My Fair Lady flavor, though she's the one who instigates the transformation, and a nice twist that I initially suspected, then decided I was wrong.

Entertaining, and different enough to make it worth the read.

I could not put this book down. The fact that it doesn't focus solely on the romance aspect, but different relationships of love is great. You will fall in love with Lana and little Colin's storyline as well as Jesse and Lana's storyline. First book in a while that I read in a day, because I didn't want to stop reading.

Typical historical romance with a predictable outcome and a My Fair Lady twist. Too much repetition made it a bit monotonous at times.

Ruth Ryan Langan is known as a solid choice for readers looking for a clean, story driven romance, and this book is no exception. This dramatic, heart tugging love story is part "Pretty Woman" (without the prostitution) and "My Fair Lady". We follow the story of Lana, an young Irish woman who was ran away from an orphanage with her friend Siobahn to escape abuse and neglect. The two friends make their way to America and tragic events turn their lives upside down. It was nice to read about a romance where at least one of the leads is a "real" person, who struggles to just live and whose life is not dominated by parties, popularity and extravagance.

This book is a great choice for those readers looking for a "clean" romance as the few love scenes are very tastefully done.
Highly recommended 5 stars.

In 1882 at the Founders Home Convent in Ireland, the orphan thirteen years old Lana Dunleavy protects her sickly twelve years old best friend Siobhan Riley as best she can until they finally escape. Three years later, they are heading to New York with Siobhan pregnant along with her husband Billy O'Malley, who prefers to gamble and drink than be with his wife.

In 1890 Lana works at the Blue Goose Tavern where she watches the expert card playing of Stone. When Siobhan tells her she is pregnant, Lana vows to help her as Billy is too busy gambling and obtains work as a Cook's assistant at a fine mansion where to her shock she sees Stone as a guest. She assumes he is going to con her employer, but has no idea how to inform them without losing her job. However, not long after telling Billy, Siobhan and the unborn die when a carriage hits her, but crashes also killing the driver too, her husband who deliberately murdered her. Lana adopts her godson Colin while Stone "adopts" her with a plan to make her not just part of the upper crust, but his DUCHESS OF FIFTH AVENUE while she thinks the mans she loves is a con artist.

This terrific "Gay Nineties" New York romance brings to life in the city at a time when immigrants struggled to obtain work while high society enjoyed the good life with parties and galas. The story line is character driven especially by the intrepid loyal Lana. Stone will remind the audience of Sky Masterson from Guys and Dolls while the extended cast augments the deep look at the era. Ruth Ryan Langan provides her fans with a powerfully descriptive historical romance.

Harriet Klausner

I found myself sitting with this book for over 9 1/2 hours trying to finish it. What a Book.. AWESOME story line and a MUST have for the historical reader. Must say that I found Lana to be an exciting character and just Wonderful.... I felt like she was Real and Jesse was amazing. Almost like I could see it before my eyes in real life. I thought the author wrote a wonderful story and only hope she will continue. If you want a great book this is it. The charachers feel so real and alive that you can't help but to just enjoy a fine read. There is just so much hope, desire, and love and other emotional aspects to this book it will having you turning and turning pages until you are done. Look forward to the authors next book....

From the back cover:

Plucky young Lana Dunleavy left Ireland with her best friend Siobhan in search of a better life--but New York's harsh streets aren't quite what they expected. Employed as a maid for a wealthy family, Lana hopes to earn enough money to find a home for Siobhan and her son, Colin, away from Siobhan's wretched husband. Then tragedy suddenly strikes, and the only chance for Lana to save her precious Colin is to transform herself--from a maid to a lady...

Ever resourceful, she engages a charming and self-assured confidence man, Jesse Jordan, to teach her the finer points of high society. But Jesse is hiding a secret of his own--and he's about to be trapped by his own deception. For as willing as he is to help the beautiful Lana with her scheme, he never planned on falling in love...

And my review:

My first try of this author, and it certainly won't be my last.

This book is one that I normally would have hated. The romance takes forever to get going (more than half the novel is over before the sparks really start to fly), the hero is absent for most of the first half of the novel (he appears just often enough that the reader knows he exists, but not much more than that), and the main focus of the story is on Lana's journey from rags to riches. While adorable, Colin, the little boy, is "off screen" for much of the novel as well.

Since I like the relationship between hero and heroine to take center stage in a romance novel, normally, I wouldn't have bothered finishing the book. Yet there was some magic spark to the writing that kept me turning the pages. I loved Lana, the heroine, so much that I had to keep reading to find out what happened to her.

While there are no shocking plot twists in this book (you can pretty much see everything coming from a mile away), it didn't detract from my enjoyment of the novel at all. That was because the cast of characters were so wonderfully done. I loved all of them, even the secondary characters. The only character who I felt might have been better sketched was the hero. Since he only appears for brief moments for the first half of the novel, I didn't feel like I got to know him as well as I would have liked.

If you like the movie My Fair Lady, then you will probably enjoy DUCHESS OF FIFTH AVENUE. While it doesn't contain as much romance as some romance novels (the relationship is very "back burner" for most of the book), it's still a very enjoyable read. I look forward to checking out other novels by this author.

Conflict is the biggest problem with this book. At first we see two girls struggling to survive and reach the USA. Then there is Siobhan's abusive husband but he is dead early on. The main conflict seems to be Lana's battle to win custody of Colin. This is important but really just the catalyst for Lana's attempt to become a lady. The only real conflict between the protagonists is whether to marry or not and there was never any doubt. A quick read but one that leaves your teeth aching from the sweetness.

After the tragic murder of her best friend, Lana Dunleavy promises to raise the other woman's son, Colin, as her own. However, Lana is an unmarried woman of low station alone in turn of the century America, and a wealthy couple wants to adopt the boy. Unable to fight alone, she turns to actor/gambler, Jesse Jordan, to help her. Under his schooling, she becomes a lady, but she is still not fit in the court's eyes without a husband. Can Jesse solve that problem as well?

**** Tried and true plot devices come together to make a sweet story. All the truly offensive characters stay offstage while the protagonists fight nobly. There is nothing really new here, but the abundant niceness is refreshing. ****