The Last Heiress || Mary Ellis

Title: The Last Heiress

Author: Mary Ellis

Length: 304 pages

Publication date: February 1, 2015

Genre: Historical fiction

Rating: 3.25/5

English heiress Amanda Dunn sets sail from England for Wilmington, North Carolina, where she hopes to somehow restore shipments of raw materials for her family's textile mills, which have been severely disrupted by the American Civil War. She also anticipates spending time with her twin sister Abigail and Abigail's husband, who happens to be in the cotton industry himself. While working on her business dealings, she also meets a young grocer who catches her eye, and suddenly business isn't the only thing on her mind...

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would! It wasn't without flaws, but I liked the story. It is a historical romance, but it didn't feel like the romance wasn't the extreme focus above everything else, and I didn't find it annoying. 

I've not really read anything set during the Civil War, so I don't know much of the history and details of it. This provided enough detail of what was going on without confusing me with names too much, but it did sometimes assume that the reader had at least a rudimentary knowledge of the war, which I wouldn't stay I have. It was interesting to learn some more about it. 

I have mixed feelings about the characters. They didn't feel very complete sometimes, just like simple characters. In the last quarter of the book the main characters each went through changes that didn't have much lead up, so the changes felt very abrupt. However, the characters weren't boxed into a single trope either. I think the potential was there for the author to do more with them. They weren't bad characters, just nothing really deep. The faith part of this story was very surface level, just casual mentions to God. It could hardly be called a Christian fiction.

Overall, I did enjoy this book, and I would recommend it for fans of romance or people interested in American history. 


I received a digital copy of this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.