Duchess

 Lights. Camera. Action.  All she ever wanted was to make it big in Hollywood as an actress. In fact she even married the right man that she believe would help make it come true. Dashielle Parks had offered her the sun, the moon and the stars. When she met him in Paris, she feel head over heels in love with the possibility she might truly forget her first love and when he proposed marriage and a steady, seven-year contract with Palace Studios, she felt that she hit the jackpot. It wasn't a marriage based on love, but on business and something that was never disclosed to anyone but Rosie Worth somehow felt cheated yet she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was and soon hoped that one day, Dash might have true feelings for her like any husband would.

But as time went on, and other women turned Dash's head, she soon resolved to pour all her efforts and energy into her films. It was the golden age of film making in Hollywood and Palace Studios was working hard to keep up with the big players in the film industry, MGM and Warner Bros. Now going by the name of Roxy Price, Dash is doing everything he can to keep his head above water and hope that some day soon, they might just make a film to generate enough money to keep their business from going under. Soon Roxy learns that Dash has sold her out to another production company in order to keep Palace Studios from going under and it's there she meets a man she could truly fall head over heels in love with, if only she weren't married. But what harm would it do since no one knows about her marriage and Dash seems busy with other beautiful women and isn't committed to their marriage at all. She soon learns that the man she didn't want anything to do with so many years ago, is the same man she is falling in love with after all.

However like all good dreams, soon what goes up, must eventually come down, and so the Palace Studios does during the great stock market crash. It seems the entire facade that Dash put on display for the world to see, wasn't the true picture after all. He believed if he could invest in all the right places, soon the dividends would come through and save the struggling studio business. Since most of Rosie's movies were drawing just enough to cover expenses, he hoped that by mortgaging off their home and business might prove to be just the thing to keep them going along with the big studios. But fate can be cruel sometimes and that is just what happens when Fate shows its head in the lives of Dash and Rosie.

In the conclusion to the Daughter's of Fortune series by Susan May Warren, Duchess takes us back to the golden age of Hollywood, when actors and actresses were making movies and giving their fans a chance to escape their every day boring routines and live vicariously through the eyes of the big movie screen idols. We get to see Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Lionel Barrymore, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks through the eyes of a struggling starlet, Roxy Price or otherwise known as Rosie Worth, granddaughter to August Price, a wealthy newspaper magnate. Now that Rosie has opted to forgo her inheritance and is trying to make a go of it in Hollywood, I find it interesting the twists and turns she has to undergo to try and make it to the big screen. Susan May Warren chose to use the back story of United Artists, a movie studio formerly owned in by Hollywood icons D.W. Griffith, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, and Douglas Fairbanks as her bases for Palace Studios and I think she did an exceptional job at transporting the reader back to that golden age as movies were just beginning to evolve from silent films into talking pictures or "talkies."

I received Duchess by Susan May Warren compliments of Summerside Press and Litfuse Publicity for my honest review and received no monetary compensation for a favorable review. I LOVED this conclusion to the Daughter's of Fortune series. Being a huge fan now of classic movies, it was wonderful to see this through Rosie's eyes and get the opportunity to see this time in history with new perspective. Susan May Warren had such more direction she could have taken this final novel in the series but I love the path she so eloquently chose. I feel in love and struggled like Rosie did through her choices and got to see that for an up and coming actress the path to the big screen wasn't as easy as most dreamed it could be. If you love historical fiction dealing with the late 20's and 30's from old Hollywood, then you will LOVE this one. Even though it's written as a series, you can pick this one up and enjoy it, but you'll want to know a bit about the history Rosie had prior to her trip to Hollywood and the difficult relationship she shares with her mother, Jinx. I rate this one a 5 out of 5 stars. I only wish there were more to this series to look forward to with this being the conclusion.

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Duchess by Susan May Warren

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# 1- Heiress
# 2 - Baroness
# 3 - Duchess


Susan May Warren is celebrating the release of Duchess with a Kindle Fire HD Giveaway.

One "glam" winner will receive:

• A brand new Kindle Fire HD
• Signed copies of Duchess, Baroness and Heiress

Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on May 4th. Winner will be announced on 5/7/13 at Susan's blog.

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