The Substitute Heiress by Juliane Karlis is a historical, regency romance with a guaranteed happily ever after or HEA. It is the first in the Ashcombe Heiresses Trilogy, which can be read by itself without the need to read the others. I personally will read them all because there are connections throughout the books to each other, and there are some side characters I want to see again.
Anna Bond is a girl who is a lady's maid. She is employed by Arabella Ashcombe, a little heiress that has been beckoned to Jamaica by her grandfather, due to her mother's passing. On the journey, Anna slightly befriends first mate of the Indescribable, Brand Heywood, who she grows to have affections for in the short time they have together. But unfortunately, good things don't last very long...
(SPOILER WARNING! START)
Anna Bond is an orphan who becomes a lady's maid. Her lady, Arabella Ashcombe, is a small frail, pink skinned little thing who is afraid of everything. Arabella's mother just passed away and now they are on their way to Jamaica, where Arabella's last remaining family lives, her paternal grandfather, head of the family and estate. Due to her mother's passing, Arabella has become penniless and must go to Jamaica to live out her comfortable lifestyle she has been accustomed to, but she is absolutely terrified by the prospects of leaving England.
When they arrive at the boat, Anna goes off to find someone to help bring their trunks on board, and the one man she was able to get was a real rude sailor who she dislikes immediately. He gets some men to help him grab their things and bring them aboard. Arabella absolutely refuses to come on board and the rude man has to carry her and takes them all the way to their cabin, teasing Anna along the way. Once they are situated they learn about the first mate, Mr. Brand Heywood, who has been sending tea and food to their cabin. They think of him as a respectable man, they only know of him through the notes that came with the trays of food, and Anna has half a mind to find Mr. Heywood to talk to him about the rude fellow that carried Arabella on board.
Anna goes out and comes across the rude man again and asks to see Mr. Heywood, only to find out that he is him! After that, Anna and Mr. Heywood start to somewhat get along. When she wants to come up for air and leave the cabin, he will escort her to a place on deck and leave her there until later. They dance around each other like this for some time and then suddenly a storm hits!
The ship ends up breaking and sinking while everyone gets in a life boat and rows away. Unfortunately, Anna gets swept overboard, off the life boat, and hangs onto a piece of driftwood for as long as she can. When the storm comes to a stop, she is able to lift herself onto the wood and was drifting for a whole day before a ship came by and found her. They bring her to Jamaica, having been mistaken as Arabella, she tries to tell them that she is just a lady's maid but with her throat being so dry as it was, she was unable.
At this point, Anna has become Arabella, has become what she always dreamed of being, a lady. She soon realizes that it's not all that it's cracked up to be soon enough...
(SPOILER WARNING! END)
Despite this being an HEA, there are some twists and turns that make you really doubt it. I very much liked this novel, the writing is pretty good and even though the novel was a little on the short side, it didn't feel too rushed. I definitely recommend this if you are just looking for a historical romance with a happy ending.
There's not much else I have to say on the matter, the story was very straightforward with a couple of twists but overall it was a very good story and very well written. I plan on getting the next two books and finishing up the trilogy but I am not sure when I will be doing that just yet. This first book is free on the Kindle store so you can check it out and if you don't like it, you had nothing to lose.
Thanks for reading and I hope you folks will be back for my next review!
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