While the plot is lively enough, with a few twists and turns that make for a pleasant reading experience, the writing style is rather simple, the overlong dialogue lines are little plausible and boring and I'm afraid that spoiled the book for me. However, tastes differ and other readers may want to give this a try.

The appeal of this one for me was that the setting is late Victorian England (1894). I’m a massive fan of the era, and will pick up most things that use that setting.

The Heiress He’s Been Waiting For is a very readable book. Kaitlin O’Riley has a style of writing that most readers will find appealing, and I bet the American heroine appeals to US readers. However...

As excited I was about the setting, I was really confused about this book.

The heroine comes from America to stay in London with her relatives who all hold different aristocratic titles, but… they run a little bookshop?! One of them is a “Marquis”, even though no such title exists in Britain (it’s a Marquess - Marquis is French)?.

Additionally, I found the heroine to be very young - and not in years.

When I reviewed Lisa Kleypas’ Devil in Spring I commented on this quote:


‘To play devil’s advocate – has it occurred to you that Lady Pandora will mature?’


I loved the idea that maybe a very young woman hasn’t finished growing yet; historical romance readers tend to expect their twenty-year-old heroines to act like they’re forty. I like seeing heroines who don’t have everything sorted out yet.

On the other hand, Sara - the heroine of this book - comes across as too childish to be ready for marriage. Her melodramatic thoughts are one thing (I know I must have had them back then), but her melodramatic actions and constant mood changes are another.

I think that readers who either don’t know or don’t particularly care about the little details will have a good time with The Heiress He’s Been Waiting For. However, the things some others will overlook are the things that matter to me.