Customer Reviews

The Mistress

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Wow- this book read like an eyewitness account of the Great Fire of Chicago in 1871 and the rebuilding that followed for months afterwards. Seeing the events through the eyes of Kathleen, Dylan, Bull and other characters in this story gave it life, and made it real and tangible to the reader! The fire blazed off the pages and I could feel its heat.

The romance was almost secondary. I loved the character of Kathleen. Part-Cinderella and part-My Fair Lady, she was a maid who attended a society event and passed herself off as a Lady. She was feisty, brave and proud. Someone to admire for more than her outward beauty. Dylan was a bit harder to like - too rough around the edges and too set on an unscrupulous lifestyle, determined not to change. But in his heroism, he showed caring and a softer-side. Lots of sexy scenes. Maybe too many. Unfortunately, the story seemed to drag a bit during these scenes, and they could have been condensed to make the it flow better through the more important historical events.

The lesson Katie taught Dylan, that the riches of love and family is worth more than money, is something those of us who are products of a material society need to reflect more upon.

In Chicago, impoverish Kathleen O'Leary works as a maid at an exclusive school for young ladies. However, tonight, October 8, 1871 Kathleen pretends to be a wealthy debutante wearing a borrowed gown to attend a high society ball. Also at the gala event is the city's wealthiest bachelor Dylan Kennedy, just back from Europe. When they meet, Dylan sees a beautiful woman perfect for him to seduce. He wants funds from her because he is a con artist. She sees her soulmate.

On the other side of town, an inferno has erupted starting at the barn of Kathleen's parents. As the fire spreads and threatens everyone in the city, Kathleen and Dylan hastily marry. Somehow they survive and quickly fall in love, but both, not expecting to live, entered the marriage with deception and duplicity. He trusts no one and needs instant cash that she cannot provide while she continues to shower him with love.

THE MISTRESS is an enjoyable Americana romance that centers on the aftermath of the Chicago fire. The story line uses real events and people to propel the entertaining romance to its climax. The lead couple will receive reader empathy as they learn the importance of being truthful as well as earnest in a relationship. However, what makes Susan Wiggs' tale a cut above the norm is the intricate look at survivors whose prize for minor success is clinging to life one day at a time.

Harriet Klausner

Well, I loved this author's last book, THE HOSTAGE, and I wanted to love this one, too. It's totally different, but it left me with the same warm-inside feeling as the first one. It's a story about figuring out who you are and what's most important in life. This book surprised me in several places. Truly satisfying, I would reccommend it to anyone!

I picked this book up thinking it would be an interesting alternative to the typical historical romance novels. And don't get me wrong it is. The maid and the cheat - not your typical stuff. Kathleen's character and transformation are well developed. Her regrets and realizations touch every dreamer's desires. However, falling so deeply in love, after just one night (no matter the infernal fires) is just not real; it is gullible, perhaps addressing the gullibility of Kathleen, or may be a quick way to fill the pages of a novel. And Dylan, I mean really, a charming character at first - and wildly so throughout - carefree and uninhibited. But for someone who is so fallen, unlike the pious female, he seems to be altered quiet unnoticeably. He revisits childhood disappointments and adulthood squanders, but for some reason the driving force for his alteration (because of Kathleen) was not noticed by me. A very materialistic man, and a very materialistic woman - however, one, because of her faith, sees her errors after walking through the fires of hell (very Jane Eyre-ish) and the other because of what - trying to impress a fake heiress??? Or a woman who promises him nothing but great sex? It just didn't ring true for me.

Kathleen O'Leary took the chance with a borrowed dress and jewels, and fell in love with Dylan Kennedy, a wealthy and desired bachelor. So the story ends here, right? Of course not... it's a romance, and we must have turbulence, passion, fire (ha! no pun intended...)! Both were not what they pretended to be, and through a heedless marriage the truth comes out. What's a 12:01 Cinderalla and a dethroned Prince Charming to do?

It's a story about how you can find your identity, your peace, in the one you love, and how unlikely that love can sometimes be; it's not unlike The Charm School, another book by Wiggs, that paired together a hero and a heroine that, under normal circumstances, wouldn't even have looked at each other on the street. Well-written and heartwarming, set against the famous fire in Chicago and the stunning effects it had on people's (real and fiction) lives, The Mistress is a lovely, polished gem to spend your day with.

Could this be a true version of how that horrible fire in 1871 started? Add romance Cinderella style, minus Prince Charming and instead insert an unscrupulous rake, out to steal Cinderella's (non-existant) fortune and the story unfolds.
This is my first Susan Wiggs novel; but it won't be my last! I was captivated by the unusual storyline, however not being a avid romance reader, felt it bogged down a little in the middle.
I wanted them to quit making love and get on with the action! The action being; how two penniless people are going to overcome the tragedy of the century, stay together long enough to find their trust and become prosperous!

Kathleen Bridget O'Leary doesn't just weave a fantasy in her mind....she works to make her dreams come true. However, even in the best of her dreams she never conjured up any man as dashing, good looking, or as captivating as Dylan Kennedy. He surpasses everything she ever expected or dreamed of in giving her heart over to a man. However, there are a few little problems with this wonderful rogue. He has made an art of lying and he doesn't know what love is. Kate has her work cut out for her as she struggles to not only survive the great Chicago fire of 1871 and its aftermath, but to also prove to Dylan that love does exist.

I haven't been so totally immersed in a book or loved the characters like I have those in "The Mistress in a very long time. This is the first novel by Susan Wiggs I've read and she immediately climbed to the top of my list of favorite authors. So, if you have this book....curl up and enjoy!

This is book 2 of the Chicago Fire Trilogy by Susan Wiggs. I have to say I had a really hard time getting into the story because Dylan is such a reprehensible character.

Kathleen O'Leahry - the daughter of Catherine O'Leahry who's cow was said to kick over a lantern that started the 1871 fire - works as maid. When her mistress takes ill, she becomes part of a "Social Experimental."

Dressed in borrowed clothing and jewels, she's taken to a party and introduced as a heiress - one of the Baltimore Leahrys. She seems to be pulling it off, attracting the attention of Dylan Kennedy, the most eligible bachelor in Chicago.

But Kennedy is not what he seems, he's a two-bit con artist who preys on young heiresses.

The pair are thrust together during the fire, and must count on one another for survival, but while Kathleen is eaten up over her deception and tries to tell Dylan, Dylan continues to believe he's nabbed himself the heiress of his dreams, and has not qualms about taking her money.

Wiggs tries to make Dylan more likable - having him rescue a child from a burning building, among other things - but he just rubbed me the wrong way.

The sting at the end of the story is pretty fun though, so once you get past the first part of the book, it's pretty easy going. This is also a great book if don't like the heavily detailed steamy scenes in some other novels. Kennedy and Kathleen do have sex, but it's largely glossed over.

While the story line is fictional, the historical information regarding the fire is extremely well researched and accurate.

And just for the record, no, the cow didn't start the fire. Wiggs goes with the stray spark theory, which is one of two theories as to how the fire got started.'

Oh, this book. I want this to be my life. I was so much like Kathleen, wanting things so bad and thinking once I got them my life would be perfect. But no - THIS is perfect, to have someone care about you the way Dylan did, even when he was trying not to. To love what you have, not crave what you lack. This sounds like a sappy country song but read this book, its not sapy, it's very real and so right-on about the way love works in the real world. If this is romance than I'm a fan.

I was captivated from the very start. This story makes you sit back and think about yourself and what is really important in life. I loved it! I have found a new author to add to my favorites list!