Heiress in Red Silk

Heiress in Red Silk (Duke's Heiress 2)- Madeline Hunter

Zebra Publishing

Release Date: April 27, 2021

Rating: 📚📚📚

Synopsis: In one life-changing windfall, Rosamund Jameson goes from struggling shopkeeper to heiress—and  co-owner of a new business. Not only will her sudden fortune allow her to move her millinery shop to fashionable London, but Rosamund will be able to provide her younger sister with a proper entry into society. The only hitch for resourceful Rosamund is her arrogant, infuriatingly handsome business partner...

Kevin Radnor is shocked that his late uncle, the Duke of Hollinburgh, bequeathed half his company to a total stranger—worse, a beguiling beauty who can only hinder his enterprise. But Rosamund insists on an active, equal partnership, so Kevin embarks on a plan: a seduction that will lead to a marriage of convenience, giving Rosamund the social status she needs, and guaranteeing him the silent partner he desires. Yet as this charismatic gentleman sets his flirtation in motion, he begins to wonder who is seducing whom—and if he can learn to share himself body and mind, without losing his heart . . . 

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With the second heiress to the old duke found, more trouble comes for the Radnor family. You don't have to have read book one (Heiress for Hire) to pick up the idea for this series: one very wealthy, slightly eccentric duke dies under potentially questionable circumstances and the mostly awful family (think "Knives Out" with about 3 decent people in the family) discovers that there are three unknown women included in the will- working class women, decent women, who could really use the money and had no idea they were getting it. You can imagine how well the family takes it.

In Red Silk Kevin Radnor must team up with new heiress Rosamund because not only has the duke left Rosamund a lot of money, he left her his share (half) in a business venture with Kevin. Kevin is an inventor who is so paranoid about anyone stealing his ideas he can't see how to manufacture them because that would involve trusting people. Rosamund is a talented milliner who wants to improve her life for the sake of her sister, and is very good at the practical aspects of business.

I'm conflicted about this book. I enjoy the premise of the old duke giving away money to strangers he thought needed/were worthy of the money. Certainly more worthy than the majority of his pompous and entitled family. I liked Rosamund- a sensible, hard working woman who sees her windfall as a way to expand her business and fights men's expectations and beliefs of her based on her looks every single day. Kevin I wasn't as impressed by. I liked that he was willing to go his own way, follow his own interests and not listen to family members telling him that inventing wasn't 'done' in their circles. But he spent most of the book not trusting Rosamund, not trying to get to know her, but just trying to get her to agree to what he wanted to do with his invention- when it was pretty clear he had no idea what the practical steps should be and she did. No matter what Rosamund said, asked or suggested, he refused to listen because she was a woman and didn't know anything about his invention- which should have made him more willing to listen. A physical attraction and business partnership might not be the worst basis for a marriage of convenience, but I never felt chemistry between Kevin and Rosamund, or much emotional connection. The last few pages finally they both (spoiler alert) discover and claim their love for each other, but I have to admit I didn't really feel it, and was disappointed by that.

Heiress in Red Silk had some good ideas, but dragged a lot along the way and never really captured or convinced me.  Here's hoping for more in the next book in the series.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review