Joanna Shupe – Cannonball Read 17

Gilded Age Anastasia

The Gilded Heiress by Joanna Shupe

August 21, 2025 by Emmalita Leave a Comment

Confession: I have never watched the Disney version of Anastasia. It came out when I was very busy doing career things instead of fun things, which I now realize was a mistake. I must not have known that John Cusack was voicing Dimitri the con man love interest, because criminal John Cusack is my favorite of all the John Cusacks (see The Grifters or Grosse Pointe Blank). So the Anastasia connection wasn’t what prompted me to request The Gilded Heiress. I’ve been wanting to pick up Joanna […]

“Florence, stop encouraging the housemaids to unionize.”

The Prince of Broadway by Joanna Shupe

September 9, 2022 by Nart Leave a Comment

Shupe is a very, very uneven author for me. I took a gander at my list of her books and it’s about evenly split between “good”, “eh”, and DNFs. This falls into the “I didn’t like it, but I didn’t dislike it enough to DNF it” category. Plot: Florence, sister of Mamie from book 1, is determined to make her own way in the world. That means that rather than marrying well, which isn’t hard when you’re an heiress under 25 who isn’t monstrously hideous, […]

Modern acting heroines in historical settings are my jam

March 11, 2017 by Ellepkay Leave a Comment

This series got off to a good start with a novella, and I liked this first full length novel even more. I’m not crowing about a new favorite author or anything, but this was a solid book and really hit the spot for what I wanted to read. Elizabeth Sloane is a young woman brought up in incredible privilege in New York during the Gilded Age (I can’t remember the exact year – late 1880s, I believe). Her brother runs the family railway and she […]

Promising new (to me) author

March 1, 2017 by Ellepkay 4 Comments

Here’s another new to me author that I decided to try out with a prequel novella – this time with better results. I have already read the first full length book in the series (review pending) and intend to keep going. In 1887, Ted Harper is the owner of a major bank in New York City and one of the wealthiest men in the country. He is standing on a train platform when a young woman comes up, kisses him, and pretends to be his […]

A Hellion in Pants

February 24, 2016 by Mikki Blu Leave a Comment

This is the third book in the Wicked Deceptions series, so once again I’ve dived into the end without reading the first two. I wasn’t too lost, however. This book focuses on Lady Sophia, the daughter of a marquess, and the hellion in question. Several years ago, a disastrous intimate encounter with a man she thought she would marry, has convinced her to remain single. Now her mission in life is to help women who are not as privileged as she is, specifically employees at […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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