A Rumored Fortune {Book Review}

Tressa Harlowe's father did not trust banks, but neither did he trust his greedy extended family. He kept his vast fortune hidden somewhere on his estate in the south of England and died suddenly, without telling anyone where he had concealed it. Tressa and her ailing mother are left with a mansion and an immense vineyard and no money to run it. 

It doesn't take long for a bevy of opportunists to flock to the estate under the guise of offering condolences. Tressa knows what they're really up to. She'll have to work with the rough and rusticated vineyard manager to keep the laborers content without pay and discover the key to finding her father's fortune--before someone else finds it first. 

This book was AMAZING! I didn't expect to like it so much actually. It is historical fiction, but I don't want to call it Regency fiction, I think it's Victorian fiction. I've never read anything - I think - that was Victorian fiction. I really liked the feel it had to it. Not a Jane Austen-y feel, but maybe like a Jane Eyre one.

Anyways, the characters were AMAZING (I have a feeling that I'll be using that word often during this review). They were believable, relatable, and fleshed out. I have a pet peeve of secondary characters who act like secondary characters. You know, all their actions and motivations swirl around the main characters. Well, I am very glad to say that these secondary characters acted like main characters (now if only my secondary characters could act like that...) I loved the main characters. Tressa is relatable, and her character arc is done very, very well! It took me a while to warm up to the other main character (whose name I cannot say because #spoilers), but I loved *insert pronoun* at the end. I loved [blank] and Tressa's scenes

You knew this was coming, but I LOOOOVED the romance. It was just GAH and very squee-worthy. It was also very deep and I enjoyed it. I also love how you didn't know immediately who was the hero/lover of the main character. I was like, "It's this person" but then "NO IT'S THIS PERSON AHH". AND THAT ENDING THO. Yes, the romance was excellent.

The plot was also excellent! It kept me in a death-like grip the whole way through. It was also surprisingly deep. It wasn't preachy, yet I came away with the feeling that I had just learned something very important. And the Scripture verse that it ended with was so amazing and powerful! I didn't begin this book with the sense that I was going to have that feeling when I ended it, and I loved it!

I also love mysteries (Sherlock Holmes whoop whoop), so that was an added bonus. The fact that it was also pretty long (390 pages, okay, long-ish) is great.

Not very many dislikes, only that the beginning was a little slow in some aspects and it was a little predictable (at least with Tressa's father) but not that much.

Just a kiss. (I think)

Um, 5 stars please!

Have you read anything by Joanna Davidson Politano? Are you interested in reading A Rumored Fortune? You can get a copy here

I want to thank Revell Reads for providing me with a free copy of A Rumored Fortune, given in exchange for my honest opinion.