Magnate by Joanna Shupe
Also by this author: The Courtesan Duchess, The Harlot Countess, The Lady Hellion, Tycoon
Published by Kensington on April 26th 2016
Genres: Fiction, Romance, Historical, Victorian, General
Pages: 352
Format: eARC
ISBN: 9781420139853
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New York City’s Gilded Age shimmers with unimaginable wealth and glittering power. The men of the Knickerbocker Club know this more than anyone else. But for one titan of industry, the business of love is not what he expected…   Born in the slums of Five Points, Emmett Cavanaugh climbed his way to the top of a booming steel empire and now holds court in an opulent Fifth Avenue mansion. His rise in stations, however, has done little to elevate his taste in women. He loathes the city’s “high society” types, but a rebellious and beautiful blue-blood just might change all that…   Elizabeth Sloane’s mind is filled with more than the latest parlor room gossip. Lizzie can play the Stock Exchange as deftly as New York’s most accomplished brokers—but she needs a man to put her skills to use. Emmett reluctantly agrees when the stunning socialite asks him to back her trades and split the profits. But love and business make strange bedfellows, and as their fragile partnership begins to crack, they’ll discover a passion more frenzied than the trading room floor…   Raves for The Courtesan Duchess   “Original and alluring.” —Publishers Weekly   “Riveting.” —Sabrina Jeffries   “Passionate and seductive.” —RT Book Reviews   “Captivating.” —Booklist

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Review by Karen

Magnate by Joanna Shupe is the first full length book in her new Knickerbocker Club series.  Her first foray into the gilded age of high society New York came with the novella Tycoon.  In Magnate the world of high society New York is again the back drop for romance, between a high society debutant Elizabeth Sloane and a Nouveau riche alpha male named Emmett Cavanaugh, who doesn’t have a bit of blue blood in him. At this time in society money was not all that mattered.   Hmmm… wondering what a Knickerbocker is, and why money didn’t matter in that society? A Knickerbockers were the old heeled monied New York families that settled New Amsterdam. The families like the Astors that thought, the Vanderbilt and Carnegie families were ghastly as they didn’t gain their money through work and industry.   The Vanderbilts and their ilk were the outsiders in high society New York in 1887.  These nouveau riche were the robber barons of old, the ones that propelled the industrial revolutions, but money didn’t mean breeding or class.  So the story centers around world in which Elizabeth belongs and Emmett is the barbarian who doesn’t despite his enormous wealth.

Now why I think you should give this book a whirl. The author did a really solid job of immersing me into the world of high society New York.  She set the historical tone, and had the characters despite the confines of the day seem real and genuine.  Elizabeth is one of those early feminist that don’t want to be tied to the shackles of doing nothing with her life.  She has a sharp mind and an even sharper tongue.  She is what I love in a female character she has grit.  Emmett is a no nonsense character who has a great love for his family and isn’t ashamed from where he came from. The blending of two different social outlooks of the characters is like trying to blend oil and vinegar.  Eventually you have to stop trying and understand that the two compliment each other and make a great combination.   Since this is a romance I was dealt a good bout of hot sweaty sexy times.  Shupe actually uses a historical incident to propel the joining of her two characters, outside the social confines that society would have the follow.

This book was a solid four star read, despite a few continuity issues. (Note I purchase a finished copy to check continuity issues and they still existed.)

Also you don’t have to have read the novella to enjoy this book.

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