Review: Love During the Gilded Age
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 12 17, 2012
I received a complimentary copy of this book as a part of a book tour in exchange for a fair and honest review.Sterling Redmond, a historical romance penned by Kim Nathan, takes us back to the Gilded Age in America, where wealthy American businessmen and their wives tried to marry their wealthy daughters to either titled gentlemen in Europe or their rich counterparts on the East Coast.  A period of time when women still had little to no legal rights to determine their own lives, Ms. Nathan's tale centers on two wealthy sisters, their husbands and the passing people in their lives.  While many in America were struggling financially after the civil war, this story focuses on the wealthy and a woman whose character and personality would be at home in the modern world.A wealthy, young debutante, Sterling Redmond has just returned to America from a 2 year trip to Europe.  While both her wealthy grandfather and her older sister, Charlotte, had hoped she would come back a bride. Sterling comes back a more refined person but still enjoys the challenge of riding horses, reading scholarly works and being physically active.  While she knows it's inevitable that she'll eventually have to marry, she never planned on falling in love with her sister's gentleman fiancee.Nicholas Pembroke, the third son of a titled English gentleman, has settled in America to make a new life.  A wealthy man, due to marrying money, he struggles to get over the death of his wife in childbirth.  Knowing it's time to move on, he finds himself drawn to the country area in the Baltimore area and meets wealthy businessman Andrew Redmond, who naturally introduces him to his beautiful granddaughter Charlotte.  While Nicholas really isn't interested in a new wife, he knows Charlotte would be a good match due to her breeding, her position in society and her own need for a wealthy husband.  He never expected to fall in love with her younger sister, a woman he couldn't have.It was clear to me from the very beginning that Sterling and Nicholas belonged together; unfortunately they were both promised to marry others.  While each gives in to the inevitability of their circumstances, it's the fact their love and attraction for each other doesn't fade which makes this a somewhat sorrowful romance to read.  Ms. Nathan does an excellent job touching on the fact that society at the time was more concerned with appearances and outward behavior - acting honorably and all that - and wasn't concerned with the moral or emotional problems the behavior created.  Infidelity was not only the norm, it was almost expected.As time moves forward we see Sterling, Nicholas, Charlotte and all of the others involved in their lives, suffering the effects of their actions and their consequences.  While I enjoyed getting to know some of the viewpoints of the others, i will admit that the "head bopping" occasionally made it difficult to follow the story.  I would have preferred if we had simply gotten the story from the viewpoint of Sterling or Nicholas or even Sterling and Nicholas but not everyone else too.Do Sterling and Nicholas ever have a chance to act on their love?  You'll have to read Sterling Redmond to find out.