Joanna Shupe returns with another unforgettable novel set in the glittering world of New York City’s Gilded Age…They call her Lady Unlucky…
With three dead fiancés, Lady Eva Hyde has positively no luck when it comes to love. She sets sail for New York City, determined that nothing will deter her dream of becoming an architect, certainly not an unexpected passionate shipboard encounter with a mysterious stranger. But Eva’s misfortune strikes once more when she discovers the stranger who swept her off her feet is none other than her new employer.
Or is it Lady Irresistible?
Phillip Mansfield reluctantly agrees to let the fiery Lady Eva oversee his luxury hotel project while vowing to keep their relationship strictly professional. Yet Eva is more capable—and more alluring—than Phillip first thought, and he cannot keep from drawing up a plan of his own to seduce her.
When a series of onsite “accidents” makes it clear someone wants Lady Unlucky to earn her nickname, Phillip discovers he’s willing to do anything to protect her—even if it requires A SCANDALOUS DEAL.
Eva and Phillip live in a time when a woman is not able to be respected in a "man's world" so even though her father is ailing, and not able to work, andthe plans for Phillip's hotel were drawn by Eva, she lies and convinces everyone that she is in New York temporarily, and only in charge until her father arrives.
Phillip and Eva meet on a ship, crossing from the UK to New York. They have an illicit encounter, and they don't see one another again...she gives him a false name and leaves while he is sleeping.
So, they are both surprised when she turns out to be the architect on his newest project...although the reader sort of sees it coming. But, not in a bad way...as there had to be meet cute, and there had to be a reason for them to continue to stay together.
The parts of the story that are Eva and Phillip are interesting. And, the times where they address the discrimination toward women were interesting at first, but they actually started to cause the book to drag for me. And, it felt like the issue was addressed, and they then addressed it again...and again. And, I am not naive, I know this is not an issue that goes away in one discussion...but, at the same time, the book is fiction and dealing with this issue caused the pace of the story itself to slow down.
I did still enjoy it, but I would have liked a little less of the plot focused on her being a woman, and attacked/disrespected/assumed incompetent...as, well, it seemed a little too much like real life for fiction that is supposed to feel like an escape.
I enjoyed this title, and I recommend it.
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