A Model of Devotion (The Lumber Baron's Daughters #3) Mary Connealy. 2022. 299 pages. [Source: Review copy]
First sentence: Jilly Stiles always came back to the mansion on Nob Hill.
There are three books in the series: The Element of Love, Inventions of the Heart, and A Model of Devotion. Each book stars a different sister as the central protagonist, though all three books feature the sisters [and whole family] to a certain extent. This third book has the story focused on Jilly.
I have just about decided that A Model of Devotion will almost probably-probably be my last novel to read by Mary Connealy. [Unless I find more review copies from previous years. Those I'd probably still feel the need to read.] Mary Connealy's personal writing style is melodrama, melodrama, melodrama, and even more melodrama. I have just about decided that I am personally allergic to all the melodrama. This doesn't seem to be the case with most of the reviews I've read. Plenty of readers instead of seeing melodrama see ACTION and ADVENTURE and SUSPENSE.
For those not allergic melodrama, Jilly's life [and the lives of anyone who's close to her, works with her, happens to be near her] is in great danger [still]. Will Jilly and Nick Ryder [the love interest] outsmart the bad guys.
I do recommend--well, loosely "recommend"-- reading the books in order. [If you read them at all. You should have a fairly good idea as to your own tolerance for melodrama.] So, all three books have had one overarching villainous group of bad guys. A hierarchy of bad-ness, if you will. The [wicked] stepfather naturally has super-evil schemes to take control of the family's lumber business. It isn't enough for him to have manipulated his way into marrying their mother. He wants "his men" [his cronies, his minions, his yes men] to marry the daughters. Together they will essentially take over this business. He has picked out a villain for each daughter. The sisters learn of this scheme and ESCAPE. [This is the one time that I don't mind the melodrama. It happens in the first chapter of the first book.] The loophole is that if each of the sisters marry, then the stepfather's plans will come to nothing. To be fair, if TWO of the three sisters marry, then the stepfather's plans will be thwarted completely. Since each book features a sister getting married, the third book should be irrelevant at this point. There's no way for the "bad guys" to win the day.
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So the stepfather and the three men [though this number dwindles I think???] keep on cranking out evil plans--one after the other, for THREE BOOKS. Despite the fact that ALL THREE GIRLS HAVE GOTTEN MARRIED. Despite the fact that there is absolutely positively no way whatsoever that this company could ever pass into the hands of the stepfather or the would-have-been-husbands, the cronies, the minions, the bad guys, these MEN continue throwing resources away--ridiculously so. Not accounting for money spent, time wasted, or risk of getting caught, getting sent to jail, or being sentenced to death. They come up with plans that involve murder, more murder, kidnapping, assault, sabotage and tampering, etc. Like the number of HOURS, WEEKS, MONTHS, spent calculating these super-elaborate schemes is ridiculous. When you know that even if every single little thing went according to your diabolical plan and you still would be no closer to your goal--because ALL THREE SISTERS/DAUGHTERS ARE MARRIED AND HAVE CONTROL OF THE COMPANY. I just can't fathom any reason why these villains wouldn't have moved on with their lives by this point.
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