Ravishing The Heiress by Sherry Thomas: Book Review

To be fully honest with you, I delayed reading this book for so long. I got it on a recommendation from Reddit, along with Never Seduce a Scot and I hated that one so much (as you can read in my review here), that I automatically assumed this one would be just as bad. 

It sat on my Kindle, collecting dust, but it kept popping up in my recommendations for all of my favorite tropes. And so, one afternoon when I was in a bad mood, I decided to give it a go anyways. Worst case scenario, it would give me something to laugh and gripe at. 

Spoiler-free thoughts first: Ravishing The Heiress is brilliantly written, a little rage-inducing and definitely an exercise in masochism for both the heroine and any reader who ever suffered from unrequited love. I am well aware this is not a perfect book, and definitely won’t work for current sensibilities in romance readers, but I enjoyed it so much nevertheless. It made me cry, it made my heart break for the heroine, and though I have thoughts™, I feel like this is one of those books I’ll return to often. 

Thoughts and Feelings

From the moment I started reading this book, I knew that, at the very least, I’d give it at least three stars. The reason is quite simple: the prose is brilliant and you can tell the author knows what they’re doing. They’re weaving the world around you, making you feel all the feels, see all the settings in perfect cinematic accuracy, plus adding that little extra something-special on top. I don’t know how else to describe it. 

But then the story was also exactly my cup of tea, and not only because I felt like crying all afternoon. 

So, Millie is a rich heiress of a canned food empire. But of course, her family wants more; they want to tie their name and fortune to nobility because that’s the only way they’ll ever be truly accepted in the stiff British society that sees them as gauche. 

And Millie is aware of all of this from childhood. She is taught everything she needs to learn to be a proper lady, and knows that she’ll need to marry someone she might not like. But she’s prepared for all of it; in fact, she cries when her first engagement falls through because the Earl died. 

But then the late Earl is replaced by his much younger, much more handsome cousin — Earl Fitzhugh, or just Fitz, who is only 19 and desperately doesn’t want any of it. He planned an entire life around joining the military and marrying his friend’s sister Isabella, whom he adores. Millie, compared to her, is no great beauty and not nearly as interesting to him. However, he needs to marry her because the earldom and the entailed property is not only in total disrepair but also tens of thousands in debt. 

Unfortunately, Millie falls for this man-boy at first sight. And you have to sort of forgive her, she was only sixteen and for her entire life thought she would marry an old wrinkly dude. She sees how much Fitz loves this other girl and makes a pact with him that they don’t have to sleep together for eight years, and he’s free to do whatever he likes, so desperate is she to make him happy. 

But of course, this man is all drama and whininess. He gets so drunk that he’s not sure if he slept with a woman during his bachelors’ party, he has to be dragged to the wedding and he drinks himself stupid for the entire honeymoon (until Millie puts a stop to it). 

And I know people, even if they like this book, hate Fitz so much, but at least this nineteen-year-old’s tantrum can be forgiven. He’s careless and awful, and so super whiny and dramatic, but what can you do, that’s what teenagers are.

Everything after that, you can hate him for, I approve of it. 

So, Millie does her very best to make good of a bad situation. She sets Fitz to rights, makes nice with his family, starts repairs on the house, does her best to be understanding of Fitz’s moods and not to ask for anything. She even does her best to stop loving this manboy. But alas, it doesn’t work. 

Even after he gets mistresses (yes, multiple) because men have needs™  and parades them around Millie so she knows each and every one of them. Even after he still pines for Isabella after years have passed. 

But over the years, they also build a nice partnership and friendship. Their business is booming, their house is looking good, they have lavender fields and host parties together and they’ve been through a lot together, namely both of Millie’s parents dying, his sisters’ misfortune in love, taking over her father’s company, etc. 

And after eight years, it’s finally time for an heir. But right around that time, his precious Isabella comes back from India, freshly widowed, with two kids, and guess what, she wants him back. 

Of course, like a pathetic manboy he is, Fitz runs straight to her and they decide to start an affair. He’d still be married to Millie, be the head of her father’s company, and use her money freely, but he would live with Isabella and her kids, leaving Millie alone. 

Millie bends over backwards to make it as easy for him to leave as possible, as one does. And even when he suggests that they sleep together for 6 months in an effort to get that heir, she doesn’t want it. Which, to be honest, I kind of agree with her. 

One, it would make her feelings for him about ten thousand times worse, and two, what the f is she supposed to do with a baby once he leaves her? Like, why would she want a child to raise on her own, and both of them set for a life ostracized from the rest of society because of his actions with Isabella? 

But he’s convincing, and she relents, and so — they sleep together. 

As expected, it makes her hopes that he loves her after all soar high. And this manboy idiot finally realizes that he loves Millie. But of course, even then he thinks of Isabella first and their agreement and it takes Millie admitting her feelings to him directly for him to really have a think about his life. 

Ugh. 

Anyway, sorry for the needlessly snarky summary and the Fitz hate. 

I ended this book loving it. I was enchanted, swooned, in love. But the more I thought about it, the more I grew to hate Fitz and many things in the plot. Like, don’t get me wrong, I still love this book, but I don’t see it as a flawless masterpiece, if that makes sense. 

So, what’s wrong with it? Let me tell you all the ways: 

My smallest complaint and one easily overlooked is the chapters with his sisters. Since I didn’t read the previous book and I don’t want to read the next, I really didn’t care about chapters with Helena and Hastings (in fact, I dislike Helena so, so much) and the chapters with the Lexingtons. 

But if you do read this as a series, you might care, so I won’t hold it too much against this book. It’s not for me, and I can skip these anyways. 

My biggest issue with this book was, naturally, Fitz. He sucks. And I’m not against complicated, flawed men in my books because I loved Graham Wessit even though he (spoiler) had a lover until about 80% of Black Silk that was not the heroine. So you know I’m not overly sensitive to cheating and/or heroes in romances being with women other than the heroine. Especially if it comes with a good grovel, some self-awareness, a good apology, or consequences of any kind. 

But in Ravishing The Heiress, Fitz just gets to do whatever he wants. He sleeps with women all the time, with Millie knowing the specifics, but nothing bad ever happens to him because of it.

First of all, I wish this wasn’t a plot point. Poor Millie is suffering enough as it is, she doesn’t need that extra salt in the wound. And Fitz, being as dramatic as he is about Isabella, should be unable to sleep with other women (you know, if he loves her so much). And I hate the stupid excuse that men have needs because that’s just bullshit. 

Second of all, I wish Millie stopped loving him at some point. It can be either after that disaster of a honeymoon, during their months apart while she was in America, or once Isabella comes back, I don’t care. The point is, she stops caring so much, and he starts grovelling and being a better, more decent human being to Millie, and she falls again, now for a man who actually deserves her.  

Did we need that whole Isabella thing? I’d wager not, at least not in the way it was done. Maybe Isabella could have been a threat from afar. Like they learn her husband died and so they’re both preparing for the inevitable, but he realizes that he loves Millie before Isabella’s letter arrives. 

Because that whole thing was so stupid. First of all, Isabella was there just to be hated. Oh, she doesn’t look as well as she once did, she expects Fitz to be exactly the same as he was when he was nineteen, she hates that he works for a living (and in sardines, no less!), she hates that he actually enjoys Millie, and more. We know she’s never meant to be a serious candidate, so why is she there?

Then, of course, there’s the society of the time. You can’t just pick and choose what works for you. Isabella, her kids, his entire family, not to mention him, Millie and their potential future child would be ostracized from society if he started living with Isabella. I can’t believe no one stood up to this stupid manboy and told him as much. Especially his sisters who otherwise seem outspoken? Not even his extremely outspoken friend, Hastings? Why is Fitz treated as this precious cargo the whole time while he’s knowingly wiping his feet on Millie’s back? 

Second of all, why would you let this man get away with this? Why would you let him spend your money and run your company and embarrass you like that when there’s literally no need? Both of Millie’s parents are dead, there is no reason for her to do any of this, no reason to have an heir or endure this nonsense. There has been no reason for years before this story begins. So, again, I ask, why?

I really wanted to see Fitz suffer. This is why I recommended that Millie fall out of love for him, and him having to work to earn her love slowly and painstakingly. Then, this book would be my favorite thing ever. 

As it is, I really loved Millie, and I really wanted her to be happy. I love quiet, stoic heroines who endure and don’t complain much. I even liked how self-sacrificing and devoted she was. And of course, my heart hurt for her deeply, this wonderful, sixteen year old girl whose heart was broken, and kept being broken by an undeserving man until she was like twenty-five. 

I also dearly wish it didn’t take them sleeping together for Fitz to have an epiphany that he actually loves her. She’s such a lovely person, and has been so kind to him in so many ways, that it really needed to happen without the physical intimacy.

And despite all of this, I loved this book. It made me cry, it made me angry, it made me relate to Millie so much. I started it late in the afternoon and finished it before midnight. I barely managed to look up long enough to put myself to bed. And while I do wish it was different, I still like it the way it is, to be honest, enough to give it a reread at some point in the future. 

I would highly recommend this if you can stomach the cheating and Millie’s suffering. And if you ever find or read a book that’s just like this, but minus the cheating and the other woman, I would so greatly appreciate it if you dropped the title in the comments below! Unrequited love and arranged marriage are some of my favorite tropes, and so far I’ve had a bundle of relatively bad luck with it. 

For now, I wish you happy reading, and a lovely time if you decide to try Ravishing the Heiress. 

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