The Unexpected Heiress

June 1, 2020
In O’Riley’s mixed final Hamilton Cousins romance (after The Irish Heiress) a lackluster pairing navigates a lush, well-rendered Victorian London. Twenty-year-old Meredith Remington, a gorgeous American heiress, would rather be writing novels than husband hunting. But with her father’s company on the brink of bankruptcy, she sets sail to London to get a ring on her finger before anyone can learn her true financial circumstances. There she meets 24-year-old Phillip Sinclair, the Earl of Waverley, a toxic combination of extreme privilege, lust, and debauchery. His private agony, he tells Meredith, is that no one appreciates how hard it is to be an earl. Though Meredith has a respectable duke on the hook, and Phillip introduces his mistress to Meredith in a very public display, Meredith can’t fight her feelings for the roguish earl and impulsively falls into bed with him. The characters’ juvenile choices will have readers struggling to sympathize, but cameos from the cast of previous books keep things entertaining, the period details are delightful, and the lovers’ tryst in a bookstore is worth dreaming about. Despite its flaws, series fans will be glad for this final trip with the Hamilton family. Agent: Jane Dystel, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret.

August 1, 2020

Writer Meredith Rose Remington has no interest in searching for a husband, but when her father and uncle suddenly die, Meredith's own interests no longer matter. Her aunt, now also on the marriage mart, insists the pair return to England and find well-off husbands to marry before news of their destitution spreads. As Meredith is paraded past eligible men, she takes solace at Hamilton's Book Shoppe, where she reads and works on her novel. There she meets Phillip Sinclair, Earl of Waverly, and although she finds him deliciously handsome, the pompousness rolls off him. Phillip is running not only from marriage, but also from his future responsibility and pouring his efforts into gambling, drinking, and the notorious widow, Lady Katherine Vickers. With each encounter with Meredith, though, his hard exterior softens and he begins to see in Meredith the perfect companion that she is. But Meredith's aunt insists she marry another before their secret is out. VERDICT O'Riley (The Heiress He's Been Waiting For) brings together the Hamilton family one last time for the final book in both the "Hamilton Cousins" series and the entire Hamilton family books. This Victorian-era read is sure to please longtime fans and new readers alike.--Kellie Tilton, Univ. of Cincinnati, Blue Ash

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