Lucy Banning is the daughter of a wealthy Chicago family. She has long know what is expected of her and that is to be a well behaved socialite and wed a family friend's son. However, Lucy stalls for time, afraid that if she weds Daniel she will be forced to give up her charity work and her classes at the university. When architect Will enters the picture Lucy becomes even more confused about her future with Daniel. He is the compelling friend of her bother who has a rags to almost riches story and Lucy enjoys his company right from the start.
Lucy and Wills relationship was not believable because of several missing scenes. When did she fall in love with him? Who knows? The character's interaction was so brief that I just couldn't buy into their love. Lucy's desire to be more than a socialite is undermined by her ability to lie to her parents and the fact that she actually decreases the amount of time she spends with her 'precious' orphans.
There are several subplots in the story, including the story of Charlotte who comes to the Banning household with her infant son hidden in her carpetbag. She is fleeing a desperate situation and knows that she'll never find work with an infant. This part of the story annoyed me because it was never completed but just left hanging. Charlotte's story is never really revealed. Also, Will's past is alluded to but also never really explored. The description of the book makes it seem like the 1893 World's Fair was a big part of the story, yet even that was disappointing.
I found this book to be quite shallow both in character development as well as the narrative itself. Perhaps if the book was longer the author would have had time to address all these issues, but since she did not I found it lacking.
"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.
Available at your favourite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group".
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