It hurt his head, that pink, yet he couldn't look away. 
 When the scene came up in Heiress Effect with Jane wearing the hideous pink dress, I was instantly recalling a moment from the show Firefly when Kaylee wore the tacky, pink, poofy dress. Ah, memories. 
 One might wonder why Jane is wearing hideous clothes to begin with. Let's just say that she's the exact opposite of a woman having a coming out. Jane doesn't want to attract a man. She wants to send them all running for the hills. Why? She has her reasons. You'll find them out. 
 So why is Oliver drawn to the woman in the garish clothing? Maybe he sees a little bit of himself in her. 
 And there had been a time when he'd been the one saying all the wrong things. 
 I had a great time reading The Heiress Effect. Imagine what it would be like to say every single insulting thing to people as you're thinking it, without fear of reprimand or being cast out. THIS is what Jane got to do. Some of the conversations between Jane and her peers were so incredibly awkward, yet so incredibly priceless, because she was flinging insults left and right off the cuff while trying to act as if she wasn't actually clued in to normal social graces. 
 She patted his hand comfortingly. "There's no need to worry," she confided. "Not everyone has that capability. You make up for any lack of intellect by being so kind." 
 You can imagine that Jane and Oliver were going to have an interesting go of it spending time in one another's presence. There wasn't even any playful or sexy sparring going on. Instead, these two were fumbling along, trying to figure each other out - which was quite a bit more interesting than the standard argumentative banter. 
 Jane was pretty but a little more robust than the average women in her social circles. Oliver was trying to overcome his own shaky past and make a new man of himself. He wasn't perfect looking and he even wore spectacles! Can I get an amen for the man being just as imperfect as the woman? I love when couples are flawed together, and not an extreme imbalance of one person seemingly more beautiful or put-together than the other! 
 And thankfully, the sexual chemistry was much improved from the last Milan book I read. Who knew that time spent on horseback could be so intriguing (well I guess I already knew, since I first saw it with Jamie and Claire in Outlander, but I assumed that was a one time fluke). I'm still trying to figure out how neck cramp wasn't happening, but ah well. Small details, whatever. 
 I am having a hard time believing that this book was as entertaining as it was because I didn't much care for the first book of the series. Since you don't need to read book 1 in order to enjoy book 2, I say skip on ahead and get lost in Heiress Effect if your interest has been sparked. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! 
 This book provided from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Quotes were not taken from the galley but instead from the final, published copy.