Ashton...
Did anyone else want to smack her in the face?
sharelol well I never thought about but yeah I guess I could feel that way at times.XD
I only liked her in the book in two parts, where she started to truly fall for Billy (not just going for him because her sister liked him) and when she met Will Fenway in Book 3. She actually grew to like Will which showed she wasn't as shallow as the first two books because she liked Will for his personality, not looks or money. Also, she's pretty hilarious with one of her lovers in Book 3, Villers, who they didn't put in the movie.
Here's a really good summary of Ashton. To me as mean as she can be in the movie, she's worse in the book, particularly the awful way she treated her husband James, who was never anything but good to her (he never went to a prostitute in the books from what I remember):
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108823/board/thread/160132735
I made some comments in that thread after reading the summary of how I feel about the character, movie and book versions.
Actually, Ashton only wanted to be with Will Fenway because of his connections with influential people. It wasn't because she liked him (she couldn't truly like anyone I don't believe). Being with Will was a chance at power. Once he told her he sold pianos, you could see the way her ears just pricked up at the idea of becoming rich. Greedy to the end.
shareI was going by the scene in the book when they first met. He said something she thought was funny and she just kind of liked him, even before she knew anything about his piano business.
At the end of the book she misses snuggling with him in bed and she seemed to care what he thought about her. I forget what it was exactly but there was something she didn't want him to know about her, so it seems she wanted his respect.
It was just the first time I'd seen her actually care about someone for reasons that didn't seem shallow. I know she did end up truly falling for Billy in the book, though I can't remember how deep it was supposed to be, enough that she was willing to give up her ambition for him but she never told him that.