Fiction/Nonfiction Quick Reviews: The Heiress Edition

Heiress Takes All by Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegemund-Broka (2024) 

After Olivia's dad divorces her mom and kicks them out of the family house, Olivia plans to get revenge by stealing his money during his upcoming wedding.  Well, I finally made it through a book by this duo, but I'm not sure I'll be reading them again.  I liked the idea of this novel, but the execution lacked for me.  I'm always a little leery of teenagers being able to pull off really complicated plans - Olivia didn't have the most sophisticated plan, but it did hinge on another team member being extremely computer savvy.  So much felt overwritten, and the pacing was glacial.  Also, the idea that a former teacher of Olivia's would help a bunch of kids steal millions of dollars seems highly unlikely, and the way the ending set up a sequel felt so heavy-handed.  The relationship between Olivia and her dad was painful and raw, and that at least added some depth, but the character of Kevin really saved this one for me, as he was a bit of a wild card - unexpected and I never really knew what to make of him!  3 stars

The Imposter Heiress: Cassie Chadwick, The Greatest Grifter of the Gilded Age by Annie Reed (2024)

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, con artist Cassie Chadwick (just one of many names she used) managed to amass a fortune by convincing people she was the illegitimate daughter of wealthy businessman Andrew Carnegie.  Using faked documents, she borrowed millions of dollars and spent money like it was going out of style, eventually causing the downfall of many men and banks and landing herself in jail.  This story was almost truly unbelievable in how Cassie was able to firstly, come up with such a scheme, and secondly, have people believe it for long.  Literally all it took was some rumors that she started and a piece of paper she claimed was signed by Andrew Carnegie to begin her con.  I liked that Reed included some short chapters from the point of view of Andrew Carnegie, how at first he had no idea that this woman was claiming to be his daughter and then later as he's made aware, but I wish there was more, maybe even some information about how his wife felt about it.  But, Reed's research is amazing, and the story was covered pretty extensively in newspapers at the time.  The narrative did feel a bit repetitive at times, in that it was a lot of Cassie borrowing from one person to pay another, but overall, a pretty fascinating story!  4 stars

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