The Invention of Sarah Cummings by Olivia Newport

About the Book
Sarah Cummings has one goal in life--to break into Chicago's high society. Desperate to stop serving dinner and to start eating at society tables, Sarah alters cast-off gowns from the wealthy Banning women to create lustrous, flattering dresses of her own. On a whim at a chance meeting, she presents herself as Serena Cuthbert, weaving a fictitious past to go with her fictitious name. But as she gets closer to Simon Tewell, the director of St. Andrew's Orphanage, Sarah finds that she must choose between the life she has and the life she dreams of. Will she sacrifice love to continue her pretense? Or can Simon show her that sometimes you don't have to pretend for dreams to come true?

Olivia Newport brings us back to Prairie Avenue to explore the place where class, social expectations, and romance come together. Readers will enjoy following the intrepid Sarah as she searches for true love in a world of illusions.

My Thoughts

I was rather scared of what this book would bring since I did not like Sarah at all after reading The Dilemma of Charlotte Farrow. But thankfully it was much better than I ever expected. First of all since it takes place several years later it seemed that Sarah had definitely matured a lot and while I still didn't absolutely love her I didn't hate her either and she turned out to be a pretty good heroine. It was interesting watching her try to balance two completely different lives at once and while I feel there should have been a little more consequences for her actions I was glad her story ended happily. I really liked Simon and I wish there would have been more focus on him and his relationship with Sarah. It seemed like there wasn't an overabundance of interaction between the two of them at least not enough for a full romance. Overall it was an enjoyable read and it was cool to see more of the characters from books one and two.

About the Author

Olivia Newport is the author of The Pursuit of Lucy Banning and The Dilemma of Charlotte Farrow. Her husband and two twenty-something children provide welcome distraction from the people stomping through her head on their way into her books. She chases joy in stunning Colorado at the foot of the Rockies, where day lilies grow as tall as she is.

I received an e-book copy of this book free from the publisher in exchange for my review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.