Friday, March 7, 2014

The Heiresses by Sara Shepard

The series follows one of the most prestigious and wealthy families on the Upper East Side who have built their entire fortune on the business of diamonds.

Due to a clause the grandfather placed in his will, only his granddaughters are set to inherit his massive fortune…these are the heiresses. After the death of their cousin, the remaining heiresses try to figure out if the family curse is real or not, and if not, who killed their cousin, and more importantly, which one of them is next on the hit list?
I enjoyed this one.  It was light, fast paced and enough of a mystery to hold my interest.  A great beach read. 
 
The Heiresses is the first in an intended series and I will be reading the others.  To me this is very similar to the TV show Pretty Little Liars (also written by Sara) but for those readers that are no longer into YA and still want to read books by Shepard.  A marketing genius!
 
There are a few too many characters mentioned in the first chapters which made my head spin a bit.  But that gets smoothed out and it's clear the characters will be in the next book.  The book is written in 3rd person multiple points of view.  Each character has a distinct voice and even if you don't relate to the character you can still get a sense of who they are and what motivates them.
 
Some of the 'twists' were predictable and the solving of the mystery was an information dump but it was well supported and plausible. 
 
The only writing flaw that I found was that some of the transitions between past memories and present story line were a bit too abrupt.  So occasionally I had to reread what I had just read to ground myself in the story. 
 
I would recommend this book to anyone that likes light mysteries and strong female relationship books.  4 stars from me.
The Friday 56, Book Beginnings, Literary Friday

Book Beginnings
Just moments after the shots, as Serafima looks at the bodies of her schoolfriends, a feathery whiteness is already frosting their blasted flesh.
Page 1 Prologue June 1945
 
The Friday 56
'Why would anyone want to kill me?' asked Marlen, looking around. 
'Because you are so important in the school.  Our enemies will certainly know you're school Komsorg.'
Page 56
 
 

5 comments:

Sandra Nachlinger said...

Both of these books sound enjoyable. I think I'd enjoy HEIRESSES more than ONE NIGHT IN WINTER, simply because it sounds like a lighter story. Our book choices often depend on our moods at the moment, don't they?
Here's the link to my Friday post: THE MERMAIDS SINGING.

fredamans said...

I think The Heiress would be more my cup of tea!

Happy weekend!

JC Jones said...

Both sound interesting. Hope you enjoy them. Here is my post: Mixed Book Bag

RuthB said...

I like both books. Sara is a great writter
Ruty@THE FRIDAY 56

Ricki Treleaven said...

Since I enjoyed the PLL series, I think I'd like Heiresses, too. Sometimes we need light, fun mysteries. Maybe I can get this for Spring Break in April!

Thanks for linking-up to Literary Friday!

xo,
RJ