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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good, but... Wish the heroine had been less deceitful,
By
This review is from: Secrets of the Heart (Signet Super Regency) (Paperback)
Mary Balogh makes a habit of giving her readers 'different' heroines or heroes, and situations which are somewhat out of the ordinary: just read Heartless, A Secret Pearl, Indiscreet, More Than A Mistress and many more. In Secrets of the Heart, her hero and heroine are divorced from each other. Divorce, of course, was very rare in the Regency period; a man could only sue for divorce (and only via the House of Lords, no less) if his wife was mentally incompetent or unfaithful.Sarah was not a virgin when she married George, the Duke of Cranwell. As we find out very soon, she was raped repeatedly as a teenager by her cousin, who also blackmailed her into keeping it a secret. Once he realised that she wasn't the virgin bride he'd been expecting, Cranwell had walked out on her. We meet them four years later, when they run into each other in Bath - Sarah has finally been persuaded to return to society, in a limited way, under a different name. Cranwell is horrified to see that his sister and his (new) fiancee actually like this woman whom he perceives as little better than a whore, and he would love to shun her... but he finds that he can't. While I very much sympathised with Sarah in relation to her past and the beginning of her marriage, what I really didn't like about this book was that when she was given an opportunity to mend fences with Cranwell by telling the truth, she not only failed to take it, but she deliberately made matters worse by pretending to be sluttish. And she does this several times. There comes a point when, even in the most painful of situations, people have to take some responsibility for their misfortune. In this book, Sarah failed to do so, and by around halfway through it, I found myself in full sympathy with Cranwell and deciding that she didn't deserve him. And despite the happy ending, which Balogh is so good at, I don't by any means consider this to be one of her best.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Worthy of reworking for a re-issue. 4.5 Stars,
By Susan Smith (A small rural village in the English Midlands) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Secrets of the Heart (Signet Super Regency) (Paperback)
I came late to Mary Balogh and it was only by going on-line 6 years ago that I discovered this wonderful writer who until only recently was not published in the UK. I have collected nearly all of her books now and have not yet managed to read everything yet in the TBR pile. I avoided this one because I read the reviews here, written by reviewers I generally concur with and focused on acquiring the books that were more highly rated. However, I did buy a copy recently, persuaded by a UK Amazon marketplace seller in the UK who told me in our email communication that it was her favourite Balogh book. So, here are some thoughts on Secrets of the Heart.1 - It's not the usual Balogh offering. It's a Signet "super regency" and therefore longer than most of her earlier work. And, sadly, if there is a downside to this novel, it's because it is too long in order to fit the super regency parameters. 2 - It does have a frustrating H/H. The heroine in particular, Sarah Bowen, is at first extremely annoying because, as the other reviewers here have said, she allows a situation to get out of hand by not taking advantage of numerous opportunities to get her POV across. The hero annoys as well because he appears to blindly accept a pack of lies and a web of deceit - in fact "Web of Deceit" might be a better title for this novel. 3 - Now for the good bits. The novel is a bit dark, certainly deep, and full of angst and quite a bit of introspection - in fact the lengthy introspection and internal dialogues are where Balogh seemed to be ever so slightly padding things to fulfil the required length of the super regency. However, I think one can look past these slight failings and appreciate the depth of what she is doing here. The novel incorporates rape, sexual abuse, bullying, mental illness (Sarah's brother Graham and the villain of the piece, Winston Bowen, Viscount Laing). The man is clearly either autistic or borderline psychopathic - he is unable to establish normal relations with others. He is manipulative, sexually violent, and clearly unable to empathise with his fellow human beings. He sets up situations in order to play off people against each other for personal financial and emotional gain. He lies, he badgers, he simply is unable to live within the rules of normal social interaction. And it is he who overshadows the action of all other characters in the story. Sarah Bowen and George Montagu, Duke of Cranwell are made for each other. But, because of the way in which Sarah's cousin, Winston Bowen, has ruined her life (sexually, socially, psychologically) his actions mean that Sarah and George must suffer deeply before they are able to see each other's worth without the veil of evil this man has cast over them both. I think it is only fair to say that a young, untried, frightened, naïve girl in 1807 would not act the same way as one would in 2007. Admission of sexual abuse is not acknowledged by victims universally even in today's society so it is unfair to expect that Sarah would have admitted everything that had happened to her, for the shame that is so consistent with victimisation would not have allowed her to do so. Admittedly she acts inconsistently in passing herself off as a whore but I wondered as I read the book how any of us would act with our emotional back up against the wall, lonely, frightened and with our bully unrecognised by others, living close by or, as in the case of this story, in the same house. I think this is not Balogh's best book. However, if she were to re-work some of it, slim it down a bit and sharpen up some of the plot, it would be more than worthy of a re-release. I am giving it 4 stars; I would have like to go for 4.5 - an option Amazon does not give us though many of us would dearly appreciate the option! PS - the cover on my copy of this book is awful, cheesy and tasteless. I hate to see some of the older Fabio inspired, bodice ripping trashy covers on older romance novels. Sorry - a personal rant!
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Ended up skimming this one,
By A Customer
This review is from: Secrets of the Heart (Signet Super Regency) (Paperback)
I've not read Mary Balogh before, and after reading this one, was tempted to stop. However, other reviews claim this book is unusual. I was unimpressed by the female character. I very much wanted to sympathize with her, and of course hated the baddy right off. Unfortunately, she continuously rolled over, not standing up for herself and gaining any sort of backbone until the end of the book. I was distressed that after her four year stint as a divorced lady (during which time she recieved what amounts to regency counseling) and gaining some peace, she returns to her previous powerlessness. While some of the lack of power is believable and understandable, especially given the time frame and circumstance, her inability to protect herself, and her refusal to act responsibly to protect two other young women, left me frustrated with the character and skimming just to get the book done.
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