Book Review: An Unlikely Suitor

Lucy Scarpelli, an Italian dressmaker from New York, befriends socialite Rowena Langdon as she’s making her summer wardrobe. It’s an unlikely friendship, but one that Rowena encourages by inviting Lucy to the family mansion in Newport, Rhode Island. Grateful for Lucy’s skill in creating clothes that hide her physical injury, Rowena encourages Lucy to dream of a better future. One day Lucy encounters an intriguing man on the Cliff Walk, and love begins to blossom. Yet Lucy resists, for what man will accept her family responsibilities? Rowena also deals with love as she faces a worrisome arranged marriage to a wealthy heir. And Lucy’s teenage sister, Sofia, takes up with a man of dubious character. All three women struggle as their lives, and those of each unlikely suitor, become intertwined in a web of secrets and sacrifice. Will any of them find true happiness?

Excerpt

 

Nancy Moser is the author of three inspirational humor books and eighteen novels, including Mozart’s Sister, Just Jane, and Time Lottery, a Christy Award winner. She is an inspirational speaker, giving seminars around the country. She has earned a degree in architecture; run a business with her husband; traveled extensively in Europe; and has performed in various theaters, symphonies, and choirs. She and her husband have three grown children and make their home in the Midwest. Read more about her books at www.nancymoser.com.

My Impressions:

An Unlikely Suitor is another Gilded Age offering from Nancy Moser.  The Scarpelli sisters, last seen in Masquerade, are the focus of the story.  Soon to be evicted from their tenement, Lucy Scarpelli takes her family’s predicament in hand and finds them not only a new, better apartment, but new jobs as well. Released from the monotonous work in a sweatshop, the Scarpelli sisters, Lucy and Sophia, begin to bloom in the back sewing room of a society dress shop. Lucy’s design abilities soon attract the notice of wealthy heiress, Rowena Langdon and she is swept into the whirlwind of Newport, Rhode Island’s season. Commissioned to create costumes for the Vanderbilt’s costume ball, Lucy calls on her mother and sister for assistance.  Soon both Sophia and Lucy are faced with unlikely suitors.

An Unlikely Suitor highlights the vast differences between the working class and the super rich of the Gilded Age.  Many of those wealthy came from humble beginnings, achieving their success through hard work.  But they had a never look back kind of attitude — refusing to allow any familiarity between themselves and those who had yet to make it.  The gulf that existed between the classes, makes for a sad commentary on the American Dream of the late 1800s.

Above all else, though, An Unlikely Suitor is a romance.  And Moser has her work cut out for her in bringing together young people separated by ethnicity, social status and economics.  More than one of the characters has to give up family and fortune to achieve true love.  But don’t worry, this story has a happy ending.

Filled with vintage fashions, sumptuous surroundings and romance, An Unlikely Suitor will appeal to those who love a good historical romance.

Recommended.

To see my review of Masquerade, click HERE.

(I received An Unlikely Suitor from Bethany House in return for review.  The opinions expressed are mine alone.)