Secret Sins [Mass Market Paperback]

Jasmine Cresswell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2006

Jessica Pazmany is reunited with her father only to discover that her real name is Zajak. When her life is threatened she seeks an appointment with her newly found father - a meeting she may live to regret. '

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Jasmine Cresswell has been writing great romances for the past 10 years, but now that she's turned her pen to romantic suspense, she will captivate even more readers. This fast paced story will shock you at the onset, but if you can keep reading, you will be hooked by the tender relationship divorcee Jessica Zajak shares with her ex-husband as they unravel Jessica's supposed death. This "romance noir" is as hard-boiled as detective fiction, but here Jessica has to accept her own character flaws before she is able to sort out her mysterious past and accept her new parentage. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Jessica Marie Zajak is the well-put-together assistant director of the Colorado Tourist and Convention Bureau and the adopted child of the loving Zajak family of Cleveland, Ohio, who took her in after her parents were killed in a car crash. Anyway, that's what Jessica believes when Cresswell's story begins. By the time it ends, in predictable fashion, she knows she's really the daughter of a cruel, manipulative judge, Victor Rodier, who has just been nominated for the Supreme Court, and a fragile heiress whom he had committed amid stories that she killed her only child. With the help of her sexy ex-husband, Dan, Jessica finds her mother and punishes her dad. There are no mysteries here; the experienced modern-romance reader twigs to the whole plot in about 75 pages; but Cresswell (Desires & Deceptions) has so much to deal with as she reunites husband and wife, and mother and daughter, and mother and psychiatrist, and pits them all against unspeakably villainous Victor, that it sometimes sabotages what is often an entertaining read.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Mira (May 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0778323706
• ISBN-13: 978-0778323709
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,486,143 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible talent, a must read, September 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Secret Sins (Paperback)

In December 1969, a little girl was found after a horrible car crash killing her parents. Assuming she is the daughter of the dead parents, a police officer brings her home to be adopted by his son. Now twenty-six years later, the little girl finds out she isn't who she thinks she is.

When Jessica's ex-husband brings a document to her showing she isn't the daughter of the couple she thought she was. Together, Jessica and her ex-husband Dan learn the secrets to Jessica's past and find love again.

I thought this book was great. Romance, suspense, twists and turns. This is a definite read.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A sexy, sassy, suspenseful up-to-the-minute novel., July 20, 1998

By 

kellytwo "kellytwo" (cleveland hts, ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Secret Sins (Paperback)

Get in some easy-to-fix, non-demanding food, unplug theclocks, the TV, the computer, the doorbell, even. Oh, yeah -- and grab a big box of tissues, then settle down to read this scintillating, sexy, sassy, suspenseful up-to-the minute novel. Just who is Jessica Marie Pazmany, anyhow? The person who grew up wearing that name is now 30, and knows that she was adopted as a child. Could that be why someone is trying to kill her? From a winter evening in Cleveland to a State Travel Office in Colorado, a very exclusive hospital in North Carolina, and Washington DC, with a stop in 1969 Long Island, you'll be swept along with Jessica, who may instead really be Liliana. With the help of her former husband Dan, who after all, brought her the papers that had been hidden in her adoptive parent's attic, Jess/Lili sets out to discover her own identity. Which of them is the target? Told in engrossing and parallel chunks of narrative, t! wo additional interwoven stories evolve; the woman, Constance, who for 26 years has lived in that hospital waiting to not be 'mad' anymore , and Supreme Court Justice Nominee Victor Rodier, who planned every last detail on his march to the Court. You'll enjoy this satisfying, fast-paced sizzler. Then you can ponder the real mystery here. Why isn't this author on the NYT list? Beats me.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A book worth reading..., February 17, 2003

By 

iheartjackbauer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Secret Sins (Paperback)

This was a great book, up until the ending. I couldn't put it down and read it in four hours. Cresswell always delivers the reader the right amount of suspense with romance mixed in.

Jessica was found hiding under a car when she was four years old after an accident that left several people dead, including the people that were believed to be her parents. A policeman on the scene found the little girl, and believing that she was now an orphan, took her home where she was eventually adopted by his son and daughter in law.

Twenty six years later she learns the devistating news that the person she thought she was for all those years was dead seven months before the accident. With the help of her ex husband, she works to unravel the truth of her real identity. While looking for the truth, her and her ex husband, Dan, try to come to terms why their marriage didn't work out and if they can make it work once more.

I was very satisfied reading this book, but I felt a major let down when I read the last page and found that the book ended how it did. I felt that the author should have gone into more depth about Constance and Ed, and Constance's return to the world. Cresswell makes the reader root for Constance, and then leaves you feeling bereft at the end of the book.

Overall, I would recommend this book, but I most likely won't pick it up again.