The Gilded Heiress by Joanna Shupe

Joanna Shupe returns with a riveting tale of mistaken identities, secrets, betrayal, and a heartfelt romance inspired by the movie Anastasia—all within the backdrop of the Gilded Age. While this did read more like historical fiction than romance, Shupe still manages to add plenty of spice and angst to Leo Hardy and Josie Smith's relationship. The story begins with a prologue providing additional context on what happened to the Pendleton's missing daughter. Soon, readers are suddenly thrust into Leo Hardy's POV and learns that he has been struggling to support his family. Inspired by the character Dimitri, Leo is a swindler and often takes on unsavory jobs to swindle ordinary people of their money. He holds an intense dislike of the Pendletons because of they dismissed his father and ruined his family. Leo ultimately lays eyes on Josie Smith on the streets and is immediately captivated by her stark resemblance to the missing Pendleton heiress. He soon devises a plan to become her manager while wanting to swindle the Pendletons for their reward money. However, what Leo didn't take into account for was falling head over heels in love with Josie in the process.

“I'm never letting you go. It's you and me until the very end, sweetheart.”

In the end, I enjoyed this captivating story inspired by Anastasia and "doomed" relationship from the start—especially since Leo lied to Josie while the both of them were falling in love with each other. Their relationship was quite angsty near the end, which I appreciated, because Leo finally realized the error of his ways and did everything in his power to gain Josie's love again. I liked that Josie was independent and wanted to becoming a singer no matter what. Even after finding her parents again, she was still determined to follow that dream through. There were a few spicy scenes, but I was left wanting more. Nevertheless, they were still incredibly impactful for our main couple and laid the stage for Leo and Josie's love to blossom. Fans of Joanna Shupe and historical romance in the Gilded Age will enjoy this book because it features an unrepentant and mischievous hero who goes through character development to become the the loving and stable man to win Josie's love—a wonderful heroine who had strong convictions and a desire to do good. I loved that these two were able to eventually find a home in each other.

*This ARC was generously provided by the author for an honest review*

Rating: ★★★★☆