Linda Bennett PennellCritiques

Born into a wealthy family, India would prefer to stay at home, open a schoolhouse, and avoid the social obligation of a Gilded Age family. Instead, her mother and grandmother launch a plan to marry her into a titled family.

The plot of this book was fairly straightforward, there were not a lot of twists and turns. India was a bit boring, she tried to defy her parents and rail against her lot in life, but it all seemed lackluster. The characters seemed a bit stereotypical and most were hard to like. Overall 3 out of 5 stars.

Thank you to Black Rose Writing and LibraryThing for the oportunity to read and review this book.
I enjoyed reading this historical fiction story. I am a fan of the early 1900s and this was a very descriptive, well written story. I enjoyed characters, even the not so likeable ones. There were several plot twist that keep me turning the pages. The story stayed true to the time periodand was very discriptive which helped my imagination see this so clearly like a movie.

One of the thoughts I had a hard time getting around with this book was that it seemed very much like a take-off of Downton Abbey. It did not have the same plot line, but some of it was there. I also saw some similarities with the Biltmore House in Asheville, NC, which is next to Pisgah National Forest. (Indeed, the forest land came from the Biltmore estate.) I liked the main character, India, but found her mother to be something of a caricature of the proverbial evil mother. India's search for independence before women could vote was admirable, and along the way, I think she managed to find a balance between her desire for women's equality, being a wife and heiress, and dealing with the family scandals that puzzled her for so long. She did not seem to let her immense wealth or social standing influence what she knew was right. This is an interesting time in history, and I enjoyed reading in this setting. I am guessing there may be a sequel to this book; I can see enough hints to indicate it.½

The Last Dollar Princess by Linda Bennett Pennell was a mixed genre - historical fiction, early feminist and romance which works pretty well. The heroine, India Ledbetter, was the wealthy American from the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina, whose family had fallen out of social favor due to a scandal before she was born. Charlie, Lord Kilnsey, was the British hero whose family had a title but no money because his father had squandered it. That was the kind of situation that resulted in a number of marriages in the Gilded Age but it didn’t always lead to happy marriages.

I have gotten tired of strong, young feminist heroines who are very sure of themselves. There were a couple of unfinished plot lines which was somewhat unsatisfying. The fact that I enjoyed the book anyway is due to the romance that develops between Charlie and India. I felt India got the better deal in their eventual marriage because she was annoyingly strong-minded compared to Charlie’s more caring nature, but it was a happy ending.

“The Last Dollar Princess” by Linda Bennett Pennell ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre: Historical Romance. Location: USA and England. Time: 1910-1911.

Dollar Princess: An American heiress whose family marries her off to a titled but poor British nobleman. Her money saves his failing estate. His title confers social status on her family.

India Ledbetter (19) will inherit a fortune. But only if she marries-and a board of trustees must approve her choice. Against her wishes, her formidable mother and grandmother intend to find her a titled British husband. India faces a stark choice: Allow her relatives to “sell” her to the highest title, or marry Lord Kilnsey, a titled nobleman in love with a farm girl.

Who will win? The manipulative mother and grandmother determined to marry India off to nobility to regain their social standing? Lord Kilnsey and his sister determined to gain India’s fortune so they can restore their estate? India, determined to be her own woman despite social and class restraints? It’s not completely straightforward because much of the book seems to be about an early feminist, but near the end it changes into full-blown romance mode.

Author Pennell clearly did her research. She takes us on an historically accurate and fascinating journey from the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina to Manhattan, New York, crosses the sea on the Lusitania to London, and then north to Yorkshire.

A couple of ongoing themes are left unfinished: Her grandmother Jane’s life, and whether India will continue to support the suffragettes. I wish there was a map of the Kilnsey Castle main rooms. It’s hard to follow the route to various rooms.

Pennell has written an interesting and descriptive historical journey, and it’s 4 stars from me.🌵📚💁🏼‍♀️ Thank you to LibraryThing and Linda Bennett Pennell for this e-copy.

I won this book as part of the Library Thing’s Early Review Program. I was under no obligation to write a favorable review and received no compensation for writing this review. I spent several days after completing this book deciding how to rate and write this review, and finally decided that honesty is the best policy.

The author definitely captured the Gilded age and drew a beautiful world from North Carolina to England. However I felt the end was rushed and left several questions unanswered. Also one needs to have a Thesaurus on hand which I found most frustrating, and on the type setting I read my copy I found 3 examples on one page. “I am going to see what I can do to placate her.” (placate vs calm). “Our wedding day should be a joyous one, not one filled with bickering and acrimony.” (acrimony vs bitterness or ill will). “It was quite a change from her usual criticism and castigations” (castigations vs reprimand). I majored in English in high school and minored in college and I still had to pull out my Thesaurus quite a bit. I for one would have given this book 4 stars if the author had used simpler words and followed up with an epilogue or given us a hint if she is planning a sequel.

I always ask myself, would I read another book by this author? My answer I am sorry to say is No at this time.

"The Last Dollar Princess" by Linda Bennett Pennell was an unexpected delight. Set at a time when marriages within the uppercrust were crafted upon making the best match -- the societal standing brought by the male and the "dollars" brought into a family desperately in need of a cash infusion. This historical novel also brushes upon the rise of women throwing off the traditional expectations and fighting for the freedom of their own voice. India and Charlie are caught in the machinations of family striving to bring them together -- for her an English title, for him access into India's fortunes desperately needed for his English estate. While the story could have become bogged down with extraneous jaunts down the history lane or caught up with subplots, Pennell has offered a tale that moves quickly and sure is to have the reader cheering on India and Charlie by end! I received my copy of this book through LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program.½

Early Reviewer Book. Somewhat implausible coming of age story. She needs a husband; he needs money to fix his castle and their families are eager to match make. Plot is a bit strained; characters are well formed, and pacing is good. If you like romance in a boy meets girl way, you will probably like this.½

In June of 1930 Al Capone and several of his men check in to the out-of-the-way Blanche Hotel in Lake City Florida and stay for almost two weeks. There is almost no mention of the stay or what they did there for that long. In 2011, Liz Reams, researcher of American Crime and new professor comes across this tidbit of information about her favorite bad boy for a new class syllabus she is working on. Liz dives into the research, but can't find much information about Capone at the time. Instead, she finds a series of crimes involving the KKK, the newspaper editor and the Sheriff that rocked Lake City during the same time as Capone's stay. The story of one boy, Zeke, has Liz especially interested. However, she can't seem to find any evidence of Capone's involvement; and while Liz is immersed in her studies of the past, her present also seems to be falling apart.

I was hooked on this story from the introduction, where boys Zeke and Jack watch a body go down a sinkhole and sets off a chain of events that will change their lives. Capone is a historical figure that we all know. His violent reign has always been viewed with a surrounding glamour. Liz's character reflects this feeling as well and Liz often looks for a bad boy in her personal life as well. Through her research, we are shown the greater impact of Capone's actions as his presence changes the lives of innocent residents of Lake City. The historical characters served as a lens for the time period. Meg, who worked at the Blanche, Jack and Zeke, kids who witnessed the crimes, DeWitt, the officer who uncovered the crimes and Jack and Zeke's fathers displayed the wide range of consequences for an era filled with instability, hate and uncertainty. The writing made me feel very attached to these characters and made the transition between time periods easy as each chapter hopped between the 1930's and 2000's. Short chapters and the suspense of Capone's involvement made this book fly by. Overall, a fun, fast-paced historical crime novel.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.

Sam Ackerman is a 17 year old Jewish boy trying to help his family with money in New York, 1926. Sam finds out he can make an extra two dollars working for a gangster in a speakeasy. Usually Sam is only tasked with cleaning up, however when Sam witnesses a hit and is tasked with dumping the body, he is seen by the police. Sam is hurried out of New York and sent to a contact in Miami, Moshe Toblinsky, the mob's bookkeeper. Indebted to the mob and Moshe, Sam continues working for the mob, now running alcohol back to the mainland. Sam is housed with the Scheinberg family and can't help but take notice of their daughter, Rebecca. Sam wants out of the mob in order to marry Rebecca, but is too far in. It seems that he will always owe someone a favor.

Presently, Liz Reams is trying to fish out the next big discovery in American Crime. She is desperately trying to keep up to her early career success from her last discovery about Al Capone, but keeps coming up empty. Liz finally gets a break when she finds a news article with pictures, but she still needs to identify the man with the scar on his face and his connection to Moshe Toblisnsky. However, now she is indebted to the man who lined up all of her contacts.

I always love a good dual time story and Miami Days Havana Nights is no exception. The chapters alternated between Sam and Liz's points of views and each chapter always seemed to end on a small cliffhanger making me devour the next chapter so I could see what would happen next. Both Sam and Liz had equally compelling stories and I'm glad that their relationship was only historical figure and researcher, what tied their stories together was simply their sense of obligation to those who have helped them. Sam's story showed how kids were pulled into the mob and kept there. Sam never had any intention of joining, he just wanted extra money to support his family, because of his ideals and work ethic, he was the perfect person to fulfill mob tasks. From Sam's story, I also learned of the extent of the Jewish people within the mob. Moshe Toblinsky's character is loosely based on Meyer Lansky. LIz's story dives into the high pressure in the world of academia and research, especially as a female researcher looking into American Crime. I appreciated how Liz grew more aware of her actions and how she felt as she was digging deeper into Sam's life. Overall, a fast-paced dual-time story exploring Florida's Jewish mob connections.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.