Soaring Hearts Press, $2.99, ISBN 978-1310149672
Historical Romance, 2015

Celia Swift’s The Lady’s Fortune wraps up a series of clean historical romance set in the Kellynch estate during Christmas. Just click on the author’s name at the end of this review to look at the reviews of the two previous stories if you are interested, but I find that each story can stand on its own pretty well.

Adelaide Forsyth is living her Cinderella story, well the part before the fairy godmother comes by and hands her all kinds of goodies because she’s cute or something, as her parents were thrown overboard by pirates during a trip from Portugal—don’t hate me, but the image of these poor parents being tossed over like a sack of potatoes make me laugh quite a bit—and she was sent packing to live with a mean aunt and her spendthrift husband.

Oh, the horror. Will Addy find a man to sweep her off her feet to a pampered, lavish existence that she clearly deserves?

Well, when the story opens, she does, although the man is not her true love, but rather, the Duke of Hawksmoor, and now she is finally free to find a rich man to marry and shower her with money and more. 

Wait, let me rephrase that: now she is finally free to somehow stumble onto the good fortune of meeting Viscount Kendrick. Heaven forbid a heroine to be so crass as to be so forward and twerk her tush at a hot guy, as that is something only deplorable harlots will do.

This one is certainly agreeable enough on my delicate stomach, as the author’s narrative and sense of description are all top notch, but it is also easily the dullest and most forgettable of the three. This time, there is no memorable meanie or larger than life nice people to keep things interesting.

While Kendrick is okay, he doesn’t have much to do beyond the prize that Addy is going to get in the end. Sure he’s a nice guy, but I’d have loved to see more of his personality aside from being the nice that the heroine deserves.

Addy is the most forgettable character here. Not only is she is the blatant cut and paste of a Cinderella archetype, she spends the entire story being passive and acting all “Who? Me? The hot guy likes… me? Can it be? But oh, how come someone loves me?” before discovering in the end that it’s true, she is loved because she truly is the most wonderful lady in the world. I really wish I’ve been given more of this character other than self-effacing and passive in a waif bundle.

So yes, while I have no particular strong objections to this one, I’m afraid I don’t have any particular memories of this one, unlike the two stories that came before it.

Since I don’t see any new titles from this author that I can get my hands on, it’s a pity that this one is nowhere as fun as the other entries. It would be nice if our brief acquaintance can end on a high note!