The Fortune Hunter by Daisy Goodwin

In 1875, Sisi, the Empress of Austria is the woman that every man desires and every woman envies.

Beautiful, athletic and intelligent, Sisi has everything - except happiness. Bored with the stultifying etiquette of the Hapsburg Court and her dutiful but unexciting husband, Franz Joseph, Sisi comes to England to hunt. She comes looking for excitement and she finds it in the dashing form of Captain Bay Middleton, the only man in Europe who can outride her. Ten years younger than her and engaged to the rich and devoted Charlotte, Bay has everything to lose by falling for a woman who can never be his. But Bay and the Empress are as reckless as each other, and their mutual attraction is a force that cannot be denied.

Full of passion and drama, THE FORTUNE HUNTER tells the true story of a nineteenth century Queen of Hearts and a cavalry captain, and the struggle between love and duty.

A historical romance, The Fortune Hunter is not really my usual fare. The main thing that caught my attention in the blurb was the mention of Sisi, Empress of Austria. Here in France, Sisi is quite popular and well-known because of a trilogy of movies that trace her life, released in the 1950s and regularly shown on French television. I’ve never watched the movies and knew very little about her, so when this showed up on an upcoming releases post on a friendly blog, I decided to pick it up.

I actually enjoyed The Fortune Hunter a lot more than I had expected. The characters are well-drawn, especially Charlotte who is much more of a central figure than the blurb would have you believe. It is actually Sisi who takes a back seat, acting more as an obstacle in the way of Charlotte and Bay’s love story than a heroic figure in and of herself. Goodwin does a great job of bringing all three characters to life, taking liberties with timelines and lifestories in order to create an intriguing and surprisingly gripping story of love, desire and society. I loved the character of Charlotte and enjoyed the fact that in the end she is able to maintain her liberty and interests without giving up her romantic life. I definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a historical romance with some great characters.
 
I gave The Fortune Hunter 4 stars.

One Plus One by Jojo Moyes

One single mom. One chaotic family. One quirky stranger. One irresistible love story from the New York Times bestselling author of Me Before You

Suppose your life sucks. A lot. Your husband has done a vanishing act, your teenage stepson is being bullied and your math whiz daughter has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that you can’t afford to pay for. That’s Jess’s life in a nutshell—until an unexpected knight-in-shining-armor offers to rescue them. Only Jess’s knight turns out to be Geeky Ed, the obnoxious tech millionaire whose vacation home she happens to clean. But Ed has big problems of his own, and driving the dysfunctional family to the Math Olympiad feels like his first unselfish act in ages . . . maybe ever.

I first encountered Jojo Moyes last year when I read Me Before You, the story of a paralysed man and the unlikely young woman who becomes his assistant. A touching, heart-breaking love story, Me Before You placed Moyes firmly on my To Read radar so when One Plus One was released this year I included it on my TBR. This new book, about a dysfunctional family and the unlikely hero who must get them to a Math Olympiad in Scotland, blew me away even more than Me Before You did.

Moyes is great at creating character that you will care about and enjoy spending time with. It is one of those books that you will not want to put down, I found myself desperate to get to the end just to find out how things would turn out for Jess, Ed, Tanzie and Nicky, especially once I reached the last third of the book. At turns heart-breaking and heart-warming, dealing with both the darkest and brightest of human nature, One Plus One is much more than just a simple love story, though it does do that very well indeed. Quintessentially British, One Plus One confirmed Moyes for me as a great writer, one to watch and to enjoy whenever she releases a new book.
 
I gave One Plus One 5 stars.