The Heiresses by Sara Shepard - book review

The Heiresses
Author:  Sara Shephard
Published:  May 20, 2014
Publisher:  Harper
Pages:  320
Source:  A complimentary advance reader's copy was provided for the purpose of this review.  Receipt thereof bore no influence over this reviewers opinion nor this review.

You know the Saybrooks. Everyone does. Perhaps you’ve read a profile of them in People or have seen their pictures in the society pages of Vogue. Perhaps while walking along that choice block on Fifth Avenue, you’ve been tempted to enter the ornate limestone building with their family name etched into the pediment above the door.

The only thing more flawless than a Saybrook’s diamond solitaire is the family behind the jewelry empire. Beauties, entrepreneurs, debutantes, and style mavens, they are the epitome of New York City’s high society. But being a Saybrook comes at a price—they are heirs not only to a dizzying fortune but also to a decades-old family curse.

Tragedy strikes the prominent family yet again when thirty-four-year-old Poppy, the most exquisite Saybrook of them all, flings herself from the window of her TriBeCa office. Everyone is shocked that a woman who had it all would end her own life. Then her cousins receive an ominous threat: one heiress down, four to go.

Was it suicide . . . or murder? In the aftermath of the tragedy, the remaining heiresses—Corinne, the perfectionist; Rowan, the workaholic; Aster, the hedonist; and Natasha, the enigma—wrestle with feelings of sadness, guilt, and, most of all, fear. Now they must uncover the truth about their family before they lose the only thing money can’t buy: their lives.

The Heiresses is a whip-smart mystery that simmers with the wicked sense of humor and intrigue that made Sara Shepard’s number one New York Times bestselling Pretty Little Liars series a must-read, must-watch phenomenon.

Purchase Links

Amazon | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble

My Thoughts:

I admit to being seriously addicted to the Pretty Little Liars television series!  I cannot wait for season 5!  Agh!!  So, for all of you similarly minded readers who may, perhaps, have matured beyond the books of the Pretty Little Liars series, you simply must read Sara Shepard's newest release, an adult fiction novel called The Heiresses.  Fashion, diamonds, beautiful women, hunky men, and a dark and dirty family secret or two - there's lots more where that came from!

We are introduced to quite a large family of the New York upper class, starring two sisters, two cousins and spouses, a fiancé,  a previous lover and more.... believe me, you will need the family pedigree chart to keep track of all of them at first. I often referred back to it as a new character would enter the picture; I need the visual chart to envision how they all tie together.

Like Pretty Little Liars, there's a secret that's been kept for more than a generation and some believe it's become a family curse.  (cue the theme song from PLL).  When one of the heiresses is found dead in front of the family business tower, it is at first believed she jumped.   Or was it murder?  The plot revolves around this murder, its tendrils reaching out, pulling in suspects, making the heiresses question even each other.  At the back of my mind, I was suspicious but was a bit surprised at the real identity.

"My life’s sort of in danger. I should probably lie low.”

“You sound a little Kim Kardashian overdramatic, honey."

Morality issues, lies, and secrets abound in this novel where the past influences the present and someone knows all the secrets.  That someone wants to get even now.  One heiress down, four to go......

Oh, and ladies, if the last chapter tease is any indication, there may be a sequel!!  

Meet the author Sara Shepard:

Sara Shepard graduated from New York University and has an MFA in creative writing from Brooklyn College. The author of the bestselling young adult books Pretty Little Liars and The Lying Game, as well as the adult novel The Visibles, she lives outside Philadelphia with her husband and dogs.

Visit her website at sarashepardbooks.com and follow her on Twitter, @sarabooks.