Magnate

Starred review from March 28, 2016
This original and captivating historical romance splendidly portrays two protagonists with complex and layered personalities. Steel magnate Emmett Cavanaugh is one of the most powerful and feared men in business, but by the standards of the glittering Gilded Age, he’s nouveau riche and can’t hope to be welcomed into the circles of New York City’s powerful Knickerbocker families. Former debutante Elizabeth Sloane knows that having dinner with Emmett is scandalous enough to ruin her reputation, but she bucks tradition to use her brains and change her life. Lizzie chafes at the strict rules that say she is just ornamental, and she talks Emmett into backing her own investment brokerage firm. Emmett learned to be ruthless when he was growing up in the slums, but the all-consuming passion and gentle tenderness he feels for Lizzie terrifies him. He’s entranced by Lizzie’s beauty, ambition, and determination, but is convinced she would never stay with him, while Lizzie tries to protect herself from getting hurt. The ensuing battle of wills is engrossing as Emmett and Lizzie work through past hurts, pride, and mistrust to have a future together. The poor boy turned millionaire marrying the princess is typical romance fare, but Lizzie and Emmett’s marvelous portrayals add fresh life to a familiar story.

March 15, 2016
A wager between a Knickerbocker princess and an upstart steel magnate from the slums leads to marriage in this novel set in New York City during the Gilded Age. Shupe (Tycoon, 2016, etc.) returns with the first full-length novel in her Knickerbockers Club series about a group of wealthy industrialists. Lizzie Sloane feels stifled by the constraints placed on young, unmarried women. Bored by the parties and opera outings considered by her brother and guardian to be appropriate activities for her, Lizzie intends to make a fortune speculating on the stock exchange instead. She approaches Emmett Cavanaugh, hoping to convince the wealthy owner of East Coast Steel to provide the necessary backing for her investment firm. Emmett is a ruthless businessman who overcame crushing childhood poverty. Unwillingly attracted to Lizzie and unable to resist the chance to gain a business advantage over her brother, Emmett suggests a wager that could cost Lizzie her shares in her family's rail company. Lizzie accepts. But the pair's association quickly leads to scandal, and Emmett finds himself blackmailed into marriage by Lizzie's brother. The rest of the book continues at the same quick and enjoyable pace even as Shupe deftly weaves other characters from the series into the narrative. A slower pace might have served the main story better in some places, however. Emmett spends most of the novel tormented by his failure to protect his family and by the things he did to overcome poverty. Until suddenly he isn't. A more in-depth exploration of Emmett's change of heart would have been preferable. Readers will enjoy this entertaining romance about two people who refuse to let society dictate whom they love.

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Starred review from April 15, 2016

Frustrated by her brother's dismissive attitude toward her plans to open a stock brokerage firm, socialite and sub rosa investor Elizabeth Sloane goes to the one man powerful and wealthy enough to help her--steel magnate Emmett Cavanaugh. But Emmett rose from the squalor of Five Points and has little regard for members of the privileged upper classes, even lovely, smart ones such as Elizabeth--until she makes him a wager he can't refuse and their lives take a startling turn. A cast of well-defined supporting characters (Emmett's young siblings are most memorable and an underhanded villain is wonderfully despicable), an inconvenient--or make that convenient--historic snowstorm, and a thread of mystery keep the pages turning. VERDICT A determined heroine ahead of her time and a daring, sometimes ruthless entrepreneur who clawed his way to the top find validation in an engaging romance that successfully launches a trilogy highlighting New York's opulent Gilded Age. Quotes from American Etiquette and Rules of Politeness (1883) introduce each chapter and provide perspective on the social attitudes of the times. Shupe (The Lady Hellion) lives in South Orange, NJ.

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