Joanna Shupe

In the second novel in Joanna Shupe’s the Uptown Girl series, a ruthless casino owner bent on revenge finds his plans upended by a beautiful woman who proves to be more determined than he is--and too irresistible to deny. Powerful casino owner. Ruthless mastermind. Destroyer of men. He lives in the shadows . . . As the owner of the city’s most exclusive casino, Clayton Madden holds the fortunes of prominent families in the palms of his hands every night. There is one particular family he burns to ruin, however, one that has escaped his grasp . . . until now. She is society’s darling . . . Florence Greene is no one’s fool. She knows Clayton Madden is using her to ruin her prestigious family . . . and she’s using him right back. She plans to learn all she can from the mysterious casino owner—then open a casino of her own just for women. With revenge on his mind, Clay agrees to mentor Florence. However, she soon proves more adept—and more alluring—than Clay bargained for. When his plans are threatened, Clay must decide if he is willing to gamble his empire on love.

Uptown Girls

The Prince of Broadway

Lover of Romance 

In the past I have really loved this author, but to be honest, this book turned out to be so feministic. I am all for fairness between men and women. But to be honest, I couldn't stand the heroine. She was so emotionally abusive and very hypocritical and didn't seem realistic to the time. I honestly couldn't even get past the fifth chapter, it just grew worse and worse for me. Rolling the eyes was often for me while reading this. I probably won't read this author again. Emotional abuse to either character is wrong for me and it just wasn't for me. I highly recommend reading the previous book in the series, it was superb in every way. I just can't support seeing modernistic abusive feminism in historical romance novels.

Kelly Casey

I really enjoyed the second book in this series. I thoroughly enjoyed the writing and kept wanting to highlight a bunch. The characters might be forgettable eventually, but for now I did enjoy Florence and Clay's story. I thought the honesty aspect of the story was refreshing. The girls in this series are wonderfully modern for the time period, and they are such fascinating characters. I loved how brave, willful, and adventurous Florence was. I think we need more historical romances with strong female characters that don't always fit in with society's expectations in that time period. Honestly, I think Joanna Shupe did a great job on this series and this book in particular.

b.andherbooks

One sentence summary: FUCK YEAH FLORENCE

Florence Greene is a beautiful society darling, certainly not someone who should be sneaking her way into a men-only casino run by one Clayton Madden and challenging even his best dealers. While she is an excellent gambler, Florence is intent on forging her own future as a casino owner in 1890s NYC, a move that will lose her place in nice society but will make her secure in her own future with no need for a marriage or a man to control her. And she needs Clay's help.

Clayton is intrigued and attracted to the daughter of his enemy while he agrees to help, it is on his terms. Just because Clayton agrees to help her does not mean he won't stop seeking revenge against her father or offering to tutor her in more than just the odds.

What follows is sizzling seduction of the wills as Clayton introduces Florence to his world and falls madly for a woman who's only goal is her own future.

So much fun, so absolutely sexy, and one of the best and most feminist HEAs I've read in a long time. Plus, some really great sexy times involving voyeurism, scandalous paintings, and great bathrooms. If you haven't read The Rogue of Fifth Avenue this can stand alone, but the events of this book run concurrently and you will be a bit spoiled for Mamie and Frank's story.

I re-read this book as it is fast becoming a comfort read for me. Florence is my everything and she can have whatever she wants. See Clay just be completely bamboozled off his feet for this breath of fresh air will never ever get old.

Jo H

4.5 ⭐️ 

This is a perfect example of how I like my historical romance and to say that I LOVED Florence and her unconventional behaviour and attitude is putting it mildly. She is a Bad Boss Bitch and even came a very close second to my beloved Teresa July of Beverly Jenkins' Wild Sweet Love, and I say this knowing that many readers will dislike her (and probably would dislike Teresa too - if enough people had read her story...) and her romance for all the reasons I love her. 

As much as I enjoy a good revenge tale, Clay's motivation for wanting to 'ruin' Florence's father seemed to be a bit undeserved as he clearly didn't actually take any opportunity in the last 20 years to get the full story of what happened. I did really like the fact that he was open with Florence about his intention and that she considered it, but selfishly decided not to let it get in the way of what she wanted until such time as she realised that his plans actually affected not just her family but her own plans. She was really quite selfish in that respect, and again... I enjoyed that about her. Women are far too often expected to let go of their own desires whatever they may be for the sake of others and the fact that Florence didn't let that stop her was something I needed to read. 

If Clay had been a more attractive love interest to me, this would have been a 5 star read for sure, but his stoicism and stubbornness (especially after he learnt that his plans would actually affect Florence directly but didn't make any changes) just did not work for me wholly, although I did very much believe that he fell for the hellion that Florence is. And, his grand gesture almost won me over at the end to the point that I was quite sad that it had to happen. Almost. Also, despite his very illegal business operations which have made him a very wealthy man I don't mind on this occasion as he is self-made. I generally don't prefer the uber-rich types in my romance, I have more tolerance for those that made their own way out of 'less than' circumstances rather than had it given to them, and it was great to see him in his kingdom actually walking the walk and talking the talk unlike in many a billionaire romance that I've come across. 

As for Florence, there is so much about her that I think is the ultimate in 'unlikeable female character'... and I just need more of them in my books TBH! I loved that, for a change, the female is allowed to also be morally grey in this book. Florence wants to open a casino for ladies, because Clay has a casino for men that ladies are not allowed in (like many of the other shady businesses in this version of New York) and so she realises that the only way to try and get some semblance of gender equality (albeit only for those White ladies I assume who are high enough in society and with the means to fund such a hobby) in a time before women had many if any rights was to fight illegally and dirty. If that makes her the epitome of 'not like other girls' of her time, then so be it. Was she somewhat irresponsible by approaching Clay in the way she did to get him to notice her? Absolutely, but as we often do stupid things when we are desperate (even if it's not a case of life or death desperation), I can appreciate her gumption for going after what she wanted. And that makes for a much more interesting reading experience as far as I'm concerned. 

It's absolutely clear that Florence and her sisters know that they live in a highly patriarchal society; it's a time when women's suffrage was gaining traction in the US and so the ways that al three of them journey through their lives is their way of fighting back. And I have to say, that even though I had originally thought that they all seemed to be very similar individuals, that is really not the case at all (more about that in book 3). I always struggle when I see other reviewers discussing how unrealistic these types of females are in HR... as if there were never any women of those times who fought against the constraints of their gender. And also, this is part of the 'fantasy' that I enjoy in romance and especially in historicals, rather than the alpha-hole and other nonsense that generally turns me off most of the time. 

I also loved the fact that she was a sex-positive female of the time, however, I was concerned that at no time in her liaisons with Clay was there any talk of contraception other than towards the end which considering she says that she is not interested in having children I found a bit lacking. Nonetheless, that wasn't really something that bothered me as much as it would have in many other books simply because of the strength of the characters, the premise and I have to say, the writing. The writing, and its anachronisms being another issue that I know many other readers of HR have with some of the more popular contemporary authors of HR. Joanna Shupe has a way with words that really works for me, and some of the lines between the couple are just so swoony (even if I don't fall utterly in love with the MMC).

And the ending... I'm all for an unconventional HEA and this one did end in a way that reminded me a tad of the ending of the amazing The Rakess by Scarlett Peckham even though the two stories are very different in every other way.

All in all, I'm all for this author's Gilded Age historicals and would certainly recommend to any romance readers who enjoy or even prefer the much more progressive tone of many of our currently writing HR authors.

The Prince of Broadway Uptown Girls

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