Baron (The Knickerbocker Club Book 2)

We met Will in the prior book! He was handsome with those gray eyes! Now he has finally met his match Ava! It is a must read as they have to get over their class difference! Check it out

FINAL DECISION: I liked the quirky heroine who is strong willed-independent and a survivor. She completely upends the ordered life of the hero who is a bit of a difficult character to like at first. Ultimately, I liked their romance but it was a bit of a trial for me to get there.THE STORY: The heir to old money William Sloane is a railroad baron who has decided to run for state government. In order to protect his running mate, however, he has to cut the tie his running mate has with a medium Madam Zolikoff who William knows is a fraud. When William approaches Madam Zolikoff, he finds Ava Jones (who works under the pseudonym). Ava is working as a medium in order to support her orphaned siblings. William is reluctantly intrigued by the spirited Ava even as he knows that he has to marry a woman of his own class; Ava is wary of William after having been burned by a man before.OPINION: I thought this novel had a new story to tell because of its setting and time. The characters and situation felt fresh even as the cross-class story of a rich aristocratic man and lower class woman is familiar. These characters and their situation was new.Ava was my favorite in the book. She is so strong and determined. A woman who has carried a heavy burden of caring for her family, she has done well for herself. She knows she is skirting the edge of wrongdoing with her medium act, but she tries to be the most honest she can. I loved her relationship with her siblings and her fears and desperation when it comes for being responsible for them. I felt for her after her abandonment by her lover and understood her stances as she tries to balance her desires with her fears and her responsibilities.Will was a more difficult character for me to like. He was a jerk in the last book and he doesn't start out much better here (actually, he might be worse). Self-righteous, entitled, self-indulgent, he looks down on Ava from the start. As the story continues, I began to have, if not sympathy, then understanding of his actions. By the end of the book, I felt he had changed enough to be worthy of Ava, but the time it took to get there diminished my interest in the book somewhat.WORTH MENTIONING: This book has some fascinating history about the prevalence of spiritual mediums at the time and takes place amidst the corruption of Tammany Hall.CONNECTED BOOKS: BARON is the second book in the Knickerbocker Club series. It can be read as a standalone although I recommend reading book 1 first just to learn more about the characters.STAR RATING: I give this book 3.5 stars.

Baron is the second full novel in The Knickerbocker Club series. Like its predecessors (Tycoon and Magnate) this story lives up to the full potential of such an awe-inspiring title dealing with the captains of industry during New York City’s Gilded Age. Our hero (of sorts) is William Sloane, president of the Northeast Railroad Company. Will inherited the business when his parents died. As a sixteen year old, Will was thrust into the business and into taking care of his younger sister Lizzie (see Magnate, book one of the trilogy). The elder Sloane had no faith in Will and put him down at every turn; thus the ceaseless drive on the part of Will to put business first. Now that he has seen his sister successfully wed (to Magnate Emmett Cavanaugh), Will begins his own search for a bride. He has it narrowed down to four suitable candidates of good family and breeding. In spite of breeding and societal standing, Will feels little to nothing for the four candidates – what’s missing is passion!Ava Jones is the woman to ignite Will’s passion. With three younger siblings, Ava has spent every moment of the past years trying to provide for them all. She has worked through a variety of jobs just to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table; sometimes not successfully. When she invents her latest persona as Madame Zolikoff, a somewhat shady charlatan with a phony Russian accent, the money is better. She even becomes the trusted advisor of Mr. Bennett, candidate for governor and running mate of Will Sloane. In an effort to get Bennett away from any possible scandal, Will proposes to buy out the lovely Miss Jones but along the way finds exactly the passion he was looking for. But will her past be too much for even the power railroad executive to handle? And will the behind-the-scenes machinations of the political scene cause even further damage to Will’s plans?I found this story to be equally as strong as the first book in the series. The characters were certainly flawed and somehow Will found redemption in my eyes after his ruthless behavior in the previous book (Magnate). The character of Ava was truly remarkable. How could one young woman be expected to deal with all the bad luck that is heaped upon her head? But being the Gilded Age of course she needs to turn to a man for rescue. The backdrop of New York City in the 1880s is fantastic. The juxtaposition of the wealthy against the dirty underbelly of the city comes through in Ms. Shupe’s vivid descriptions – two totally different views of the city.In Baron we also get a better look at Calvin Cabot, news mogul, whose book is to follow. Regardless of their differences, the four men of The Knickerbocker Club can count on each other when pressed to do so and in this book that is exactly what happens. To say more would be a spoiler.

I almost gave up on this book. I wasn’t enjoying it, I was annoyed at all of the men attempting to sway Ava and I didn’t much care for the main male character, Will. But, the pace picked up and I found I had some affection for Will and Ava.Ava is a well known Medium in NY. While it’s not exact,y honest work, she’s good at what she does, tries not to intentionally deceive anyone and is warming hard to care for her family. It is in that capacity as a Medium that she catches the attention of Will, a well known, very successful, very rich businessman. He wants to run fir political office and wants her to stop “treating” his running mate.Will is convinced that Ava is a fraud. He doesn’t need a single whiff of drama in the waning months of the company. However, the more he tries to keep her away and monitor her coming and going’s, the more he realizes that there is some real attraction there. But given he’s from the upper echelon of NY society and she is not, could a future even be possible?As I noted, this book was exhausting in the start. There were so many men vying for Ava’s ruin and downfall, that I couldn’t see how any good could come out of it. Even knowing an HEA was guaranteed, it didn’t make reading about all of the back door machinations any easier. However, I liked Ava. I loved her priority of protecting her younger siblings while also wanting true love. I enjoyed Will who was trying so hard to prove his dead father wrong, that he was almost willing to let himself stay miserable.But, while I liked this book enough, I didn’t think I will continue on with the series.

The cover may be hideous but everything else about this book is perfection.Such an unusual set of characters too, never read a historical like it.

3.75/5. Solid writing from Shupe. Ava's personality is admirable enough, strong, responsible and determined with her own sense of right and wrong, but still I was not comfortable with the obvious deceptive trickeries she engaged in regularly in her role as a Russian medium. Will Sloane, I can't fault him. Some things were mentioned but not really followed up on, like the poor health of her youngest brother and also the identity of her past love who betrayed her.

I liked Will and Ava’s story. You really feel immersed in that time. It felt realistic that he would be reluctant about a relationship with her given their social status, but couldn’t resist the attraction. I enjoyed it.

An interesting perspective on the US at that time and strong minded women.

Similar to other books from this author, light and easy read, enjoyable but not enthralling.