Publisher Description:
“To save her family from financial ruin, Miss Poppy Garrison accepts an unusual proposition to participate in the New York social season in exchange for her grandmother settling a family loan that has unexpectedly come due. Ill-equipped to handle the intricacies of mingling within the New York Four Hundred, Poppy becomes embroiled in one hilarious fiasco after another, doomed to suffer a grand societal failure instead of being deemed the diamond of the first water her grandmother longs for her to become.
Reginald Blackburn, second son of a duke, has been forced to travel to America to help his cousin, Charles Wynn, Earl of Lonsdale, find an American heiress to wed in order to shore up his family estate that is in desperate need of funds. Reginald himself has no interest in finding an heiress to marry, but when Poppy’s grandmother asks him to give etiquette lessons to Poppy, he swiftly discovers he may be in for much more than he bargained for.”
My Review:
“The oddest things happen when I least expect them.”-stated by Poppy Garrison, heroine of “Diamond in the Rough”, at a dance in 1885 for the New York elite, after her tiara gets stuck on her partner’s jacket while dancing a difficult Quadrille.
Jen Turano’s books can always make me laugh, and I think I giggled and laughed out loud throughout most of this book. Poppy Garrison is a heroine like no other. She’s strong, compassionate, and impulsive. She would seem to be the perfect “American Heiress” for a titled British gentlemen looking for a beautiful, sweet bride with a comfortable inheritance. But, as Poppy says, odd things happen to her. (I mean, who else would a duck fly into and knock her off her horse?) Poppy’s grandmother persuades Reginald Blackburn, the second son of a Duke, to give Poppy lessons in fitting in the New York society and become a “diamond of the first water.” It’s a learning curve for both Poppy and Reginald and their story is a sweet one.
All the characters in this book held my interest and I cared about all of them finding their “happily-ever-after”. There’s even a touch of suspense that makes the ending that much better.
I love a book that makes me laugh, yet still has a sweet spirit to it. I think this may be my favorite Jen Turano book I’ve read. This “American Heiress” series will be a fun one to follow.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.