Ward's Kentucky as a fantasy world of privilege, lust, and Southern stereotypes. Y'all keeping up so far?Īll the elements of a good soap opera are there in The Bourbon Kings - gorgeous, rich bad boys with hearts of gold, forbidden love, family intrigue - and it would be easy to dismiss Ms. Oh, and there's the pesky matter of Lane's spoiled, Virginia-bred wife (and possibly his evil daddy's mistress) to complicate things further. But, that isn't as important as Lane and Lizzie's forbidden love, which peels the paint off the walls - or at least destroys a priceless family painting in Lane's boudoir. One would be 10 months out of season, and the other 5. She keeps Graeter's ice cream in her freezer lax copyediting keeps shifting whether that Graeter's was Peach or Candy Cane, but every real Graeter's fan knows that it would make no sense to have either of these seasonal flavors around at Derby Time. Lizzie's just folks, and she's got a farm across the river in Indiana to prove it. He should've paid less attention to decking himself out in University of Charlemont red and a little more time listening to his business professors.īut, the real story of The Bourbon Kings is the Upstairs, Downstairs romance between Bourbon King Lane Baldwine and Easterly's horticulturalist, Lizzie King, who characterizes their love as 'Sabrina without the happy ending, darlin'.' Lane's a playboy with a heart of gold - he leaves New York City for his old Kentucky home when he hears that the family's African-American cook, whom he considers his 'real mother', is in failing health. Ol' JR Ewing taught us that trick in 1987 with his Cartel buddies.And why would your risk your personal fortune on the family company? Maybe Evil Daddy Baldwine is getting a bad rap: he might not be as evil as he is just plain dumb. A girl can find herself two or three dashing dates for the Derby in a moment's notice, complete with seersucker suits and vintage Jaguars.Īs for the business end of it all, who even heard of independent operators handling operating expenses in the 21st Century? If the family label is suffering, you sell to a multinational corporation and retain a Presidency role for one of your offspring. On behalf of every one of my single girlfriends here in the Derby City, I've got to say that Charlemont trumps the real Louisville in the availability of eligible gentlemen alone.

Only, kind of more vapid and self-sabatoging. There's a never-ending supply of wealthy litigators to serve Gin's appetites, but she pines for the father of her secret daughter. Younger sister Gin - that's right, a 'gin' in a House of Bourbon - is Lucy Ewing meets Connie Corleone in Valentino RockStud Pumps.

The bourbon kings series