Review: a charming and fun historical tale
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 18, 2011
Olivia Ritch's novella "Unseen Heiress" is the second story in her Heiresses of Coldesdown series. Set in the Victorian era, this quick and entertaining historical romance features the daughter of the hero and heroine of the first story of this series ("Unwanted Heiress"), and she is anything but a typical Victorian miss."Unseen Heiress" can certainly stand on its own as a complete story, but I suggest that you start this series from the beginning. I'm very sorry that I did not have the opportunity to do this, because I absolutely loved the Hume family in this story. Ms. Ritch has imbued them all with wit and heart and intelligence, and I would have enjoyed meeting the parents, Jason and Adriana, during their romance.Both the hero and the heroine in this tale are strong and appealing characters. Colin's blindness gives him a certainly vulnerability; however, he is still a strong and "take charge" hero. I especially appreciated the fact that he doesn't have any trouble admitting to himself that Eve is a genius. He perceives this as a bonus instead of a threat. Evelyn is both fun and self-possessed. She is a strong woman who doesn't suffer an attack of the vapors when she must defend herself, and her quirk of not being able to remember names repeatedly brought a smile to my face. The passion between these two is sweet and sexy at the same time. It doesn't overpower the story, but it is not neglected, either.Given that our hero is blind, he must rely on his other senses to compensate for his lack of sign. Ms. Ritch incorporates this into the narrative, stressing the sense of smell in particular, making reading this story an almost olfactory experience.No historical romance is complete without a touch of danger, and this story does not let us down in this regard. It has just enough suspense to pique and hold our interest, and Ms. Ritch does an admirable job drawing this out to a climax. There is also a welcome dash of humor in "Unseen Heiress" and enough emotion to engage us with the characters, to make us care about their fate.I found this novella to be fun and overall quite charming, and I look forward to the next in this series. Nice job, Ms. Ritch.