Customer Reviews

The Fortune Hunter

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

 

 

I just discovered Megan McKinney at my used book store and must disagree with some of your reviewers. While Edward was very rough in his opinion of Lavinia, his attitude reflected that of most disbelievers of the time. In addition I felt McKinney laid the groundwork for his emotional reaction based on his own childhood and relationship with his family. I admired Lavinia for her strength in standing up to him and his abuse, and for her determination to do whatever she had to do to protect her family. Finally, the sexual tension between Edward and Lavinia was delicious.

Ms. McKinney has written some very good ones, but this one just isn't. I don't where to begin. The story seems interesting enough, but I didn't feel I could really relate to these characters. I didn't really like Edward and didn't feel there was any real depth or growth to his character. As for Lavinia, I was annoyed by her lack of strength in some areas. One minute there's anger, the next they're in love..no gradual movement that i could follow..it jumped a little too much for my taste. However, I can say one good thing..you could definitely detect the passion and chemistry between the two, so i suppose that's what carried me through the story. It's not a real bad read, but again, Ms. McKinney can do better. She's still one of my favs though!

I found that the Fortune Hunter was a very different kind of read than I initially expected. I enjoyed it very much, but I found Lavinia's lack of spunk in some of her Edward confrontations a little irritating however realistic it may have been. I HATED the way she so readily volunteered to be Edward's mistress despite all her hard work at not becoming just that very thing. I found Edward hard and unwielding in a reprehensible sort of way, not because of his disbelief in spirit mediums but his constant ridicule and reproach of Lavinia's character...It was still a very fascinating read and I was loathe to reach the end...Perhaps a rewrite of the end is in order Ms. McKinney??

Readers love dark, tortured heroes because they know that in the end, they will have the satisfaction of seeing these men regret their actions and make it up to their women. Unfortunately, Edward Stuyvesant-French goes through no such transformation and continues to treat Lavinia as if she were less than human throughout the book. The thing is, in order for a romance with such an angry character to work out, the reader HAS to be able to BELIEVE in his love despite his actions in the beginning...sadly, McKinney was unable to accomplish this with ESF because she placed too much focus on his hatred for the heroine- WITHOUT BALANCING IT with his remorse and attrition in the end. I don't think that reserving Edward's soft side for his sister Daisy makes up for what he did to Lavinia at all- and unfortunately, McKinney seems to have a penchant for heroes who make good brothers but bad lovers.

So far, based on the couple's dynamic I would say that Edward's profession of love for Lavinia was totally unbelievable...

in a realistic situation, I would think it more likely for a man like him to have made her his mistress; the whole happy ending just seemed so enforced at this point. I could believe that Lavinia loved Edward (though I'm not sure why)... but Edward? I don't think he cared about her in ANY WAY.

A past review of this book said that the love between the couple seemed to humiliate rather than enoble them, and I agree, though I would say that it is the heroine who bears the brunt of suffering and humiliation in the hero's hands. Not the other way around.

I'm usually a fan of Meagan's writings but after reading the reviews on The Fortune Hunter, I was afraid to read it fearing the worst. But after finishing it, I was surprised that I actually enjoyed it despite a few very disturbing scenes where the heroine was verbally attacked by the hero. The language used was to the point of being objectionable and I believe caused many readers to dislike the hero. To the end, the hero did not redeem himself and ended frustrating the readers. There were good points to this book though, which I believe earned it 4 stars. First of all, Meagan Mckinney is an excellent writer and kept a good pace with twists and turns throughtout the book. One kept looking for the dark hero to redeem himself and was a great disappointment when he did not. Perhaps Meagan can rewrite the book and build up the hero's character.

This book had a similar hero to "When Angels Fall" in that Edward like Ivan was a tortured character, but Edward was missing a certain depth. It seemed like Meagan McKinney was aiming for the same effect, but came up short. It was a pleasant read in that the story held together, but there wasn't any of the same anticipation.

I have read all of Ms. McKinney's books and liked all of them, up until this one. Throughtout the entire story I couldn't figure out why Lavina and Edward would even be attracted to eachother (besides looks of course) It was awful! I almost put the book down and didn't finish, but decided to take the time to see if it got any better. It didn't. I almost gave it one star, but it did have a few qualities. I hope the next book is better.

The story was just too out there. Lavinia Murphy is an orphan who has made a name for herself as a Russian Countess who holds seances and "talks" to the dead. Her accomplices are 4 fellow orphans. They all escaped from an orphanage and have gone into the business of swindling the rich in order to make it.

Lavinia has became infamous among Manhattan's elite social circles, and the rich come to her to talk to their dear departed loved ones. One of her best clients is a wealthy, old man with an illegitimate son. The illegitimate son is on to her and is angry that she is duping people out of their money. He wants to prove her a fraud but ends up being attracted to her. Edward blackmails her and in the end, she is forced to leave her occult business and move with her family to Europe. The illegitimate son Edward gives her money, but they end up on the same ship to Europe. Enter some English aristocrats (a duke, his brother and eccentric aunt!) The duke and his brother are attracted to Lavinia and her sister. The duke ends up marrying Lavinia's "sister," which is just too unbelievable. An orphan with no money and no social status? Too unrealistic. I didn't like this book because there were too many secondary characters with unrealistic stories. The hero was also a jerk and insulted Lavinia several times in so many ways. Once you call the heroine a whore 5-6 times, that's just too much. I give it 2.5 stars for the originality with the occult theme, but the hero was a jerk and there was too much going on within the story. Too many dubious happy endings.

This is by far one of Megan McKinney's worst efforts to date. In it the author has created one of the most unlikable heroes in a romance novel, and as a result, you couldn't care less whether Edward and Lavinia got together or not. And for actually falling in love with Edward when the guy hasn't had one good word to say about her during all the time they've known each other? Well, Miss Lavinia Murphy must have a load of self-esteem problems as well as an extremely bad taste in men. Consequently, she was no more likable than the dark, spiteful, self-righteous Edward.

After loving A Man to Slay Dragons, and Gentle From the Night, I was extremely upset and disappointed to have paid nearly $20.00 for this new book of Ms. McKinney's. I found I could have cared less whether or not the heroine got together with the very unlikeable hero. The plot could have been so much more interesting, however, Ms. McKinney seemed to consentrate more on having the hero, Edward, call the heroine, Lavania, names, and in general find nothing worthwhile about her. I had to agree with him. However, he was no winner either. I did like his physical description though. Also, as for unbelieveable, a duke would never have married a nobody with an illigetimate child the way Kyle unquestioning went after Hazel. The entire story was glossed over, and the next time Ms. McKinney publishes a book, it will have to be a much slicker story line than The Fortune Hunter provided, before I will consider buying it in hardback.