Customer Reviews

The Secret Wife (Presents, No 1961)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

One of the best romances ever. Funny, lighthearted, intelligent, memorable. Definitely one of Graham's best, i rank it on par with Bond of Hatred and the Spanish Groom.

Rosie's a total tomboy predisposed to running away, Constantine is the hot-blooded, protective Greek billionaire. They marry because that was the dying wish of her dad (who's also Constantine's adoptive father). They're hilarious, here's a bit (Rosie takes off from Constantine's mansion in Athens):

"An hour later, weighed down only by her backpack, Rosie was lowering herself off the balcony outside her room. She made a slight detour onto a drainpipe to reach the sturdy climber covering the wall and then descended as sure-footed as a cat down onto the paved terrace below. Somewhere too close for comfort, a dog barked. Rosie took off at speed across the landscaped gardens, dodging and weaving like a professional. There was more than one dog barking now and her adrenalin hit an all-time high. As she got near the perimeter wall, some sort of siren screamed and suddenly a man appeared out of the darkness.
Rosie made a rush at the wall. The man got in the way. On the brink of her kicking him, he coughed and she recognised him. '*Taki*...?' [Taki is one of Constatine's bodyguards; Rosie nursed him when he had a cold]
He froze in astonishment.
'Taki, *please*,' she pleaded as the dogs got closer.
He gave her a leg-up over the ten-foot wall. By then another alarm was screeching in tune with the siren. Rosie dropped down onto the road and then scudded across it into the cover of some bushes. A police car with a flashing light wheeled to a screeching halt as the electronic gates sprang open. Rosie set off up the road. Eat your heart out, Rambo, she thought smugly. But Constantine really ought to employ Taki elsewhere. Taki was too impressionable for Constantine's safety."

:-) Some of the best dialogue and action Graham has ever written.

ok I don't get the reviews of this book. To be fair, it was well written like all of Lynn Grahms books. The heroine and her story were terrifically interesting. She was witty, confident and stood up to the male love interest, till she didn't. What I could not stand: the male lead was physically abusive in a few parts, frequently threatened physical abuse in no joking or vauge way and of course was verbally abusive. He was so offensive, and it was great when the heroine fought back. once she started cowing to his abuse and owing his destructive view of herself the story turned tragic. This story went from romantic to a study on how abuse can tear down a strong character and lead her to become a doormat. Unlike other "misunderstanding /treat you like crap/eat crow" romances, the male lead does not apologize for his gross mistreatment. He actually blames the heroine for his bad behavior and she accepts the blame. In the final love scene, he realizes the truth about the heroine and gets mad at her because she did not force him to belive her. He never accepts responsibility for his actions. He is angry that she caused him to treat her badly. The once confident heroine gravels and agrees and is so depressed that this all looks like love to her. One other thing, the stepmom knew that the heroine was growing up in abusive and poor conditions. She nevers tells the husband to help the girl. She is heralded as so gracious at the end because she doesnt hold a grudge against the heroine. She never apologies for leaving Rosie to suffer and Rosie doesnt acknowledge the cruelty. In the end she is grateful to be tolerated by people who allow her abuse and act abusively with no apologies.

Lynne Graham does it again! The Secret Wife has conflict, passion, romance, everything Lynne Graham is known for in the romance world. Rosie, the heroine, goes up against an arrogant Greek tycoon in an attempt to make him believe a long-buried secret and, in the process, also get out of her life. Her love interest gets swept off his feet trying to foil her constant attempts to run away from him. There could only be one ending in this tug-of-war: a passion neither ever thought imaginable.

If you like Lynne Graham's novels, then you will love this one! Rich, Greek businessman becomes unwillingly involved with a woman he thinks is a tramp, but who he can't help being desparately attracted to - wait until he finds out that not only is she not a tramp, she's a virgin! Great read - lots of passionate interactions between the two main characters before the conflict is finally resolved.

Secret illegitimate daughter of wealthy businessman only recently met her dad & spent the last few months of his life with him. She agrees to temporary marriage to her dad's adopted son Hero so Hero doesn't lose the inheritance per her dad's inheritance condition. But she's very unhappy about it b/c Hero thinks she's a gold-digger & his adopted dad's mistress. His main marriage aim is to protect his adopted mom from finding out about his dad's supposed infidelity with her. Their constant fighting masks their potent attraction to each other which scares heroine & makes her runaway from Hero a few times, only to have him chase after her & baffle him about his presumptions about her.

Graham does a great job mixing humour with drama. The book had good flow & made reading it quick & pleasant. I like the combo of heroine's spunk & innocence and defensiveness & insightfulness. Heroine was honest overall & her deception made sense due to her over-riding loyalty to her loved ones. I liked Hero's alpha-ness & his caring & loyalty to his family. Their arguments were fiery & hilarious at times. Sexual chemistry & love scenes were sizzling & captured Hero & heroine's romance. This was a delightful read.

Recommended.

I enjoy reading Lynne Graham's novels because they are always so funny and entertaining and sweet and this one is no exception. I've been 2 hour exercises on the treadmill and reading "The Secret Wife" totally made the time pass very quickly. I don't need to go into the synopsis or character personalities since the previous reviewers have already gone into it. All I can say is this book was a fast read, entertaining and you definitely will not be bored.

I really enjoyed this book. The plot was interesting, the conflict was excellent and the characters were very well drawn. I really liked the strong, spunky heroine and the hero was dreamy. My only fault with the book was that the heroine should have been given a chance to see more of the good qualities of the hero. I recommend this book.

I had forgotten how good Lynne Graham's books could be until I read this one. There are several of her books that I like and an equal number that I am unable to bring myself to believe that Ms. Graham actually wrote them.

The first 66 - 70 pages were a little too slow paced for me, but once it picked up, I couldn't put the book down.

Constantine is an alpha male, and Rosalie, a very spunky hero, very witty and just the way I like My Harelquin presents heroine to be. They tried so hard to stay away from each other and their feelings but just could not help it. They fell hopelessly in love. Their chemistry was scorching too, just to my taste. It's an old book but I highly recommend it. Well done on this one Ms. Graham!

Spoiler alert!

The heroine is the illegitimate daughter of the hero's surrogate father. In order to prevent her dead father's widow any more grief - by finding out about her existence - the hero marries the heroine but is intensely jealous and hung up about her relationship with his father - he thinks she was his mistress - and the heroine's childhood friend - she practically grew up as an orphan and had a pretty tough childhood including some traumatic sexual almost-experiences. The kicker of course is that the widow knew along who the heroine was~

From Lynne Graham's website
"A marriage of misunderstanding. Nothing could have prepared Rosie for Greek tycoon Constantine Voulos. He asked Rosie to marry him - well, he insisted: "You will go through a ceremony of marriage," he said, and in return you will receive a big fat check and a divorce as soon as I can arrange it. Rosie agreed to the clandestine wedding because of her late father's wishes, but was anguished that Constantine had got her all wrong. The longer she spent with him, the more she knew she just couldn't be his temporary wife. There was only one thing for it - her secret would have to be told!"