Denise

Not a single shining head turned in her direction as she followed Lord Bridport into the throng. Cora was not sure how she felt about this, to be anonymous was an unfamiliar sensation.

I picked this up from the clearance rack at my local Half Price Books because not only did the cover catch my eye but the book summary made it seem like a book that was right up my alley. While Cora was a character that I did like, I spent the whole time reading this book feeling sorry for her. It seemed like she was always being put down by some of the other characters (mostly the bitchy women she was surrounded by) and I kept yelling at her to get a backbone and either slap the bitchy women or start speaking up for herself. Cora may be extremely rich but she is also naive.

This book has been compared with some great authors (Jane Austen, Edith Wharton, and Daphne du Maurier) but what I found that could be compared to some classic literary greats was the relationship between Cora and the Duke. I could definitely see shades of Heathcliff and Catherine in regards to the Duke and another character in this book. I also could see shades of Scarlett, Ashley, and Melanie in Cora and Duke's relationship (I figure Cora would be the 'Melanie' in this situation). I was never quite satisfied with the relationship between Cora and the Duke but that is probably because I never liked the Duke.

I liked that not only did readers follow Cora but they also followed her maid (I guess you could call her that, I don't really remember the correct term) Bertha. To see how their lives really differed but were also quite similar in some ways added extra depth to the story. I didn't really like any of the other secondary characters (well probably except for Teddy) because they all treated Cora like garbage.

All throughout the book I was impatiently waiting for Cora to stick up for herself. After the revelations towards the end I was excited to see Cora finally get a backbone. Quite frankly they were not revelations to readers because even though it was new to Cora readers could see it coming from a mile. I was really disappointed with the ending and it felt like quite the letdown. The ending looked for sure like it was going one way but then it took a turn for the worse and I was not pleased with how the characters ended up. It didn't seem like anything changed at all and I hated seeing Cora end up where she did.