Review: Fortune's Son

Fortune's Son by Emery Lee

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



Fortune's Son ended up being quite different from the first novel, Highest Stakes. It had really been too long since I'd read the first book, and at first I thought it didn't matter. But the last third of the book takes place after the events of the previous one - and there are no recaps or reminders of what happened then, so I was really struggling to make all the connections. It didn't give the alternate point of view, which is what you'd normally expect, but just skipped over that time period as if it was too redundant to repeat any of it.

If I'd read it immediately after the first book, this might have worked ok, although it would have been interesting to see the same events from a different angle. As it was, I felt like I was missing a huge piece of the story.

Aside from plot amnesia, Fortune's Son is also much more adult than the previous book, in which the romance was very sweet and mild. Not so with this one, so beware if that is something that you try to avoid.

This really felt more like a romance novel than historical fiction, with the focus on a gambler and a widow and the edges of society rather than on horses and racing. I found the plot to be less complex, even if it was appropriate to the subject matter. I suppose it just really wasn't my cuppa tea. The cover should have tipped me off. I'm starting to think I need to be less OCD about finishing series if I'm not totally in love with them.



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