What do you think?
Rate this book
Falling Star
Victoria Chisolm, a successful British businesswoman, has difficulty proving herself to arrogant Marcus Randall
448 pages
First published January 1, 1988
71 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
![Profile Image for Namera [The Literary Invertebrate].](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.gr-assets.com%2Fimages%2FS%2Fcompressed.photo.goodreads.com%2Fusers%2F1647896333i%2F31792110._UX200_CR0%2C96%2C200%2C200_.jpg&w=128&q=75)
March 25, 2021
Fabulous heroine, hero who's the scum of the earth.
It's the 1740s. Victoria Chisholm, the illegitimate daughter of a tycoon, is a take-no-prisoners ruthless businesswoman. She has to be ruthless, since her older half-brother is determined to see her dead. After her father dies - and with him, her protection - she flees to America. In the process she encounters a certain Captain Marcus Randall, who (to his own shock) becomes besotted with her. She, having no intention of tying herself down, flees from him, leading him to chase her until he catches her. Meanwhile she's busy growing her father's empire.
Now, I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVED Victoria. You want an alpha female? Here she is. She - at the beginning of the book especially - made absolute mincemeat of Marcus, whom she considered rather stupid. We love to see it. Her sense for business is unparalleled and she has the right balance of maternal and predatory instincts (once she falls pregnant).
Unfortunately, she's married to Scum, aka Marcus. I had high hopes for him at first. He was 'alpha', sure, but a determination not to let your woman make a fool out of you is perfectly normal and expected in a hero. He took it too far. He's dying of insecurity, knowing she's better than him in every way, so he spends the second half of the book throwing childish fits and tantrums because he can't bear the fact that Victoria outshines him. He hates that she's richer than him, that she's more ruthless than him, that she's smarter than him... what a sad little man. He's also a racist and misogynist, as if anything more were needed.
The first half of this book gets 4 stars. The second half, once Marcus catches up with her, gets 2 - because he slowly does his best to crush her spirit and turn her into a normal, biddable wife. The tragic thing is that the author lets her resist him for a long time, then right at the end Victoria gets totally SQUASHED and agrees to give up her fabulous personality. Luckily there's no epilogue so we don't have to see it actually happen...
This book came out in the 80s so there are a host of other irritating things. Native Americans are treated as this mystical, exotic species who worship white Victoria. Cringe. The villain is a 'known homosexual'. Another cringe.
It's hard to find a copy of this book; I borrowed it eventually from the Internet Archive. Conant seems to have only written this trilogy and I can't find a single shred of information on her. She's a technically good writer, so it's a shame it came to this.
It's the 1740s. Victoria Chisholm, the illegitimate daughter of a tycoon, is a take-no-prisoners ruthless businesswoman. She has to be ruthless, since her older half-brother is determined to see her dead. After her father dies - and with him, her protection - she flees to America. In the process she encounters a certain Captain Marcus Randall, who (to his own shock) becomes besotted with her. She, having no intention of tying herself down, flees from him, leading him to chase her until he catches her. Meanwhile she's busy growing her father's empire.
Now, I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVED Victoria. You want an alpha female? Here she is. She - at the beginning of the book especially - made absolute mincemeat of Marcus, whom she considered rather stupid. We love to see it. Her sense for business is unparalleled and she has the right balance of maternal and predatory instincts (once she falls pregnant).
Unfortunately, she's married to Scum, aka Marcus. I had high hopes for him at first. He was 'alpha', sure, but a determination not to let your woman make a fool out of you is perfectly normal and expected in a hero. He took it too far. He's dying of insecurity, knowing she's better than him in every way, so he spends the second half of the book throwing childish fits and tantrums because he can't bear the fact that Victoria outshines him. He hates that she's richer than him, that she's more ruthless than him, that she's smarter than him... what a sad little man. He's also a racist and misogynist, as if anything more were needed.
The first half of this book gets 4 stars. The second half, once Marcus catches up with her, gets 2 - because he slowly does his best to crush her spirit and turn her into a normal, biddable wife. The tragic thing is that the author lets her resist him for a long time, then right at the end Victoria gets totally SQUASHED and agrees to give up her fabulous personality. Luckily there's no epilogue so we don't have to see it actually happen...
This book came out in the 80s so there are a host of other irritating things. Native Americans are treated as this mystical, exotic species who worship white Victoria. Cringe. The villain is a 'known homosexual'. Another cringe.
It's hard to find a copy of this book; I borrowed it eventually from the Internet Archive. Conant seems to have only written this trilogy and I can't find a single shred of information on her. She's a technically good writer, so it's a shame it came to this.
December 13, 2023
A GR reviewer said this book features an alpha heroine and boy were they right. I LOVED this for the heroine.
She gets in her one-liners. She has her schemes. She saves herself. Hero is usually one step behind and can only use brute force to push his way. While hero is bested, it doesn’t feel like “women are just better” thing but “she’s just better.” I like this distinction. I got the physical hard copy.
She gets in her one-liners. She has her schemes. She saves herself. Hero is usually one step behind and can only use brute force to push his way. While hero is bested, it doesn’t feel like “women are just better” thing but “she’s just better.” I like this distinction. I got the physical hard copy.
October 30, 2017
This book was a very pleasant surprise. An alpha female MC in a bodice-ripper, that's a first for me!
August 23, 2008
If you love a strong female character who doesn't take any BS from anyone and has the power that money can buy, then you would love this book. Victoria can sometimes be cruel in her revenge, but a lot of times she's provoked and love always wins out in the end!
May 25, 2024
For me, this one was a DNF. I can't stand "my way or the highway" characters, and the (so-called) h was exactly that! I never could like books where the H was a domineering autocrat and then h ends up catering to him (after throwing a few hissy fits) and I couldn't stand this one where the opposite was true!
You can have strong women characters without making them cold bitches, (this one didn't care if people died as long as she made a business profit) while turning the men into idiots with defective cojones (half the time he acted like a scared little boy), but too many authors make that mistake, and this was one of them.
Not worth your time!
You can have strong women characters without making them cold bitches, (this one didn't care if people died as long as she made a business profit) while turning the men into idiots with defective cojones (half the time he acted like a scared little boy), but too many authors make that mistake, and this was one of them.
Not worth your time!
August 17, 2023
He is such a loser and I loved him for that. So hard to find such and nonhero hero, es not even smart he is just a dumb malewife. The heroine was so cunning and smart and great.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews