The Other Daughter

Title: The Other Daughter
Author: Lauren Willig
Published: July 21, 2015 by St. Martin's Press
Pages: 304
Source: Own copy
Rating: 3.5/5
Goodreads

Raised in a poor yet genteel household, Rachel Woodley is working in France as a governess when she receives news that her mother has died, suddenly. Grief-stricken, she returns to the small town in England where she was raised to clear out the cottage...and finds a cutting from a London society magazine, with a photograph of her supposedly deceased father dated all of three month before. He's an earl, respected and influential, and he is standing with another daughter-his legitimate daughter. Which makes Rachel...not legitimate. Everything she thought she knew about herself and her past-even her very name-is a lie.

Still reeling from the death of her mother, and furious at this betrayal, Rachel sets herself up in London under a new identity. There she insinuates herself into the party-going crowd of Bright Young Things, with a steely determination to unveil her father's perfidy and bring his-and her half-sister's-charmed world crashing down. Very soon, however, Rachel faces two unexpected snags: she finds she genuinely likes her half-sister, Olivia, whose situation isn't as simple it appears; and she might just be falling for her sister's fiancé...

My review:

I was attracted to this book because of the plot. Finding out your father is really not dead and is an earl with another daughter......oooh, I'm totally on board with how this one plays out. While I can't say that it's one of my favorite historical fiction novels, I did generally enjoy the story. The author had a great grasp for the historical elements of the roaring twenties, and her descriptions of the parties, clothing, and jazz era were spot on. I enjoyed the plotting of Rachel to uncover her father, especially her response once she meets him. I liked the development of the legitimate daughter Olivia, and the growing relationship between the two "sisters". Simon was another great character who probably could have been even more developed. I wish that some of the other minor characters had been a bit more fleshed out, they were kind of dropped into the story, but then never resolved before they dropped back out, particularly Cece. There was romance in the book, but it was not so significant as to take over, which I was grateful for. The story stood well enough on its own without having to add romance into it.

Overall a great story with an interesting plot. You will particularly like it if you enjoy that time period.