The Daring Exploits of a Runaway Heiress

The Daring Exploits of a Runaway Heiress by Victoria Alexander

352 pages. Published 2015

Amazon: 4 stars

Me: 4 stars 

I just finished another one of my guilty pleasures: the mass market paperback romance. I feel like many historical fiction romances have the same story line: guy and girl fall in love in London, but due to their places in society the match will never be (or so they think), and one runs away from the other without revealing their true feelings, they find each other and marry. I really liked this novel because it was different. 

In 1885, on her 21st birthday, Lucy Merryweather received an unexpected inheritance from her aunt. Along with the money (that was only to be hers and any future husband could not take this money) she was given her aunt's dairy, which read more like a list of regrets. A few years later Lucy traveled to England from America and broke off things with her childhood fiance. She decided to accomplish everything on her aunt's list. Lucy made her aunt's dairy of regrets her own bucket list.

Lucy needed to be unaccompanied by anyone in order to complete the list. Women were not left alone in the late 1800s. So when Jackson, her ex-fiance left on a trip with his parents, he employed a female companion to keep her company. She wrote her parents back in America, and didn't fully explain the situation in hopes she could complete the list before they traveled to England to bring her home.

Lucy's companion, Clara, was young, and very excited to help Lucy work on her bucket list. Clara's acquaintance, Cameron was in need of a story for his book to prove to his father that he could write. Cameron got wind of the ladies' adventures and followed them. Lucy assumed he was hired by Jackson as a private investigator to protect her. The trio work together to take care of Lucy's list.

This unique story line kept me wanting to find out what was going to happen next. And, although this book is number 5 in the Millworth Manor series I didn't feel like I was missing any crucial information to the story.

You can find this book on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or your local bookstore or library.
Happy Reading!