ARC Review | An Heiress to Remember

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: An Heiress to Remember (The Gilded Age Girls Club, #3)

Author: Maya Rodale

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 368

Categories: Historical Romance

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Uptown Heiress

Once a society darling, Beatrice Goodwin has returned to Manhattan in a cloud of scandal. She is determined to save the bankrupt family business—Goodwin’s Department Store—and transform it into the shopping destination for Manhattan’s women. She will certainly never, ever sell it to Wes Dalton.

Downtown Rogue

Wes Dalton came from nowhere to possess one of the great fortunes of the Gilded Age, thanks to his premier department store located opposite Goodwin’s. This “Merchant Prince” never forgot the girl who got away—or her parents who made it clear that he’d never be rich, powerful or respectable enough. He has sworn revenge—until Beatrice’s return complicates everything.

Happy ever after at last . . . ?

Now Goodwin’s and Dalton’s are dueling to be the best department store in Manhattan. Beatrice and Wes will stop at nothing to impress, and not even the sparks flying between them will get in the way of their fierce rivalry. They’re competitors by day and lovers by night, until they’re forced to choose what is sweeter: revenge, success or happy ever after at last.

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for giving me a chance to this eARC.

Here we have book three in The Gilded Age Girls Club series and what a fun book it is! In An Heiress to Remember, Beatrice Goodwin is young and in love with poor, Irish imigrant, Dalton. But as a girl raised in high society her path is already made by her parents, and she marries a Duke. She comes back to Manhattan, sixteen years later, divorced and ready to start living for herself.

Dalton has made himself one of the richest men in the world with his own store to rival Goodwin’s. He remembers the pain of losing Beatrice and revenge is on his mind. He has lived the past sixteen years with one goal in mind, to buy Goodwin’s. Dalton didn’t anticipate Beatrice’s return though and she’s in fighting form too.

Will Beatrice and Dalton have a second chance at romance or will their ambition and desires for fortune get in the way of their path to love?

• The Gilded Age series is so much fun to read. I usually love reading historical romance fiction set in the regency era in Europe but this series has opened my eyes to the Gilded Age in America and it is pretty fantastic! I love how we see women coming to recognize and own their power in a time when women’s voices weren’t heard. And the setting of Manhattan, New York is perfect for showing the changes going on in this time.
• Beatrice is vibrant and a force to be reckoned with yet she is also has her vulnerable moments. She followed the path her parents set her on, stayed in a loveless marriage until she finally got divorced. Divorce was looked down upon in her social circles so she braved the scandal of it all, just to be free. I admire her for that. And then taking on her family’s store and restoring it to glory was awesome, I was cheering her on!
• The second chance romance storyline and enemies to lovers scenario between Beatrice and Dalton was nice because they are older and wiser. They are both adults, Beatrice at thirty-six years old wants more than love, which was refreshing. I totally understood that about her. As for Dalton, everything he’s done in life was to prove something to Beatrice. It was nice to see him let go of revenge to accept the love he’s always felt for her. Their competitive nature in business kept it exciting, also them reliving their youth in the store kept it sexy! 😉
• The woman power in this book is great. I love that Beatrice found a community of woman to help her realize her dreams. 💪🏾
• I was pretty fascinated with the retail war between Dalton and Beatrice and learned a lot about the power of shopping, or just the world of shopping. I mean…Target is to me what Dalton’s is to those Manhattanites. 😂 I would love to have a Goodwin’s though with a salon and a reading room, but I guess shopping malls have spas now, minus the reading room, unless you like to read at a Starbucks. Anyway, I loved that this book was about the department stores in Manhattan during the Gilded Age.

• Dalton’s had a mantra and because this is an arc, I won’t put the quote, but his mantra reminded me of the movie, The Princess Bride and the words of Inigo Montoya! That line when he says, “I am Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die!” Anyway that’s what I kept thinking of when Dalton would repeat his own mantra to remind himself of what he lost when Beatrice broke his heart. 😂🤷🏻‍♀️
• There are some events that occur with Beatrice’s store where it seems like someone is trying to sabotage her progress. But I think when the villain is revealed it felt rushed.

I love the Gilded Age Series just for the time period alone! I really enjoyed the retail war between Beatrice and Dalton as they try to concentrate on the business side of things, but their attraction is too great. It was nice to see Dalton attracted to Beatrice’s intelligence and boss moves as the new president of her family’s company. He underestimated her but she sure showed him! 😅 This was a delightful, quick read where I was cheering the women on and I look forward to reading more in this series.