The Heiress

Jessica O'Neill had mortgaged her family's horse farm to the hilt in an effort to buy time for the stock's reputation to become known to the fashionable world. With 2 brothers to take care of and her parents both dead, Jessica was at her wit's end. To make matters worse, the kindly neighbor who held the deed to the farm, died and his heir was a lecherous creep. Jessica knew the only way to save her family was to marry him, but she just couldn't make herself do it. Jessica takes to the London with a vague idea of employment and falls into the idea of going on stage. Because of her beauty, speaking voice and creativity, Jessica gives fabulous performances, and her legion of admirers grows. Jessica is so unique that she eventually captures the admiration and attention of the handsome, wealthy Earl of Linton. Soon he convinces Jessica to move in with him and become his mistress. Both fall madly in love with each other, but Jessica especially realizes that the Earl of Linton can look as high in the land as any peer and his family would never approve of an actress. Really, what makes this book so wonderful is the focus is almost totally on the relationship between Jessica and the Earl. I love a romance where the couple are featured constantly, and the rest of the story is just used as a backdrop. You can see the feelings grow between Jessica and Linton and you can absolutely understand why each other falls in love. When she is on her game, Joan Wolf can say more in a couple of sentences than most authors can do in pages of descriptions. I have always been amazed at her understated writing style which simply sparkles with feeling and emotion. I quite love a great number of Wolf's romances, but this is one of my favorites.

This is a typical Joan Wolf regency plot, in that the hero and heroine face some very real life issues and obstacles to their love. It is in the vein of "A Difficult Truce" and "Highland Sunset". If you like those, you will probably like this one. One of my favorites because the hero and heroine are both people of great character and personality.