Title: Daughters of Fortune
Author: Tara Hyland
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Paperback: 592 pages
Contemporary - Women's Fiction
My rating: 4/10
Summary:
William Melville's daughters are heiresses to the world's most exclusive fashion dynasty. Beautiful and rich, they are envied by all. But behind the glittering facade of their lives, each girl hides a dark secret that threatens to tear their family apart.
Smart, ambitious Elizabeth, the eldest, knows how to manipulate every man she meets, except the one who counts: her father.
Gentle, naive Caitlin, the illegitimate child, struggles to fit into a world of privilege while staying true to herself.
Stunning, spoilt Amber, the party girl with a weakness for bad boys, is more fragile than anyone realises.
As each of them seeks to carve out her own destiny, they face difficult choices, which will take them in wildly different directions. But as old wounds resurface and threaten to destroy the Melville empire, their paths will cross again. Because the simple truth is that, no matter how far you go, you cannot escape the claims of family.
My thoughts:
This book revolves around the three daughters of William Melville, the owner of the extremely successful fashion company that prides itself on being quintessentially British.
The narration is basically split between the three daughters; Elizabeth, the eldest, Caitlin, the result of a dramatic affair and Amber the typical rich spoilt girl.
I found that the way the book jumped from different years and between different characters was incredibly annoying. A lot of it felt completely unnecessary to the point where I would have to put the book down for a half hour just to be able to get through it. It seemed to me that I couldn't get to know any of the characters properly especially when completely random characters had their own narration and then disappeared again for the rest of the book - there was no need for it.
The book did have its moments. I liked Caitlin's overall story. She had trouble fitting in being an illegitimate child and found the strength to make it for herself without using the family name. I loved her relationship with Lucien who is introduced relatively early on in the story.
What I mostly didn't like though was all the other characters. I really hated Elizabeth and Amber - really, really hated them. Every time I was reading about their lives I was just waiting for Caitlin to come around again.
I also didn't like how affairs were thrown all over the place in the story. It made it seem like it wasn't a big deal so I felt that the affairs that did happen had no consequence just because nobody seemed to care in the story. I would have liked the affair that resulted in Caitlin being born to be the only one - then it would have seemed more significant.
I think the end of the book was the best part. The main plot was revealed and even if it was way, way to late in the story it was a really good plot - really clever. Unfortunately, it didn't make up for the rest of the book for me.
I wouldn't really recommend this book even to people who love this particular genre. Of course, it's just my opinion and you never know! You may love it - it just wasn't my taste at all.
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