Customer Reviews

Secrets of Surrender

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

What chance does a ruined woman have to escape her fate? Apparently none, especially when Roselyn Longwood, tricked into becoming the mistress of Viscount Norbury, is put up for auction at a drunken orgy at Norbury's home. When she is purchased for a large sum of money by a man of affairs, Kyle Bradwell, she discovers that her secret is out and that she is shunned by ladies of society. Roselyn is afraid of what this will do to her sister's chances of remaining in polite society, especially because of the scandal of her brother's fraud and subsequent flight to the continent. What hope is there for Roselyn, her sister Irene and her disappeared brother Tim?

But Bradwell hasn't finished with Roselyn yet. He's bought her to set her free but she doesn't really have a full chance of freedom. When Bradwell is encouraged to propose to Roselyn he realises the advantages the match could provide him with - as a former colliery worker and not a member of the gentry amongst whom he now moves he is not invited to society events; however, if he marries Roselyn then at least his children would be able to be part of the polite world.

But Roselyn has more secrets than Bradwell thought. As they commence married life and begin to adjust to each other Roselyn has to keep part of her life secret. Bradwell, too, has some things that he is keeping from her. However this isn't too much of the plot, most of the second half of the book is about Roselyn and Bradwell learning more about each other, difficulties with Norbury and the fallout from her brother's fraud.

As with another book by Madeline Hunter that I read earlier this year, this story is well-written with good pacing, interesting characters and some good settings. The dialogue comes across more American than English to me at times but overall it's easy to get sucked into this story. What was particularly good was the exploration of the differences in class between Roselyn and Bradwell and how difficult it is for Bradwell to move up but how easy it is for Roselyn to fall down the social ladder. Although I felt at times that the central part of the plot, the difficulties over the fraud, was a bit thin, the book overall was enjoyable. I recognised some characters from the previous book I had read but this book worked well as a standalone novel and is a good way to while away an afternoon.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2008

This was the best book so far in this series. Ms.Hunter is my favorite romance writer, and she excels at giving you the thoughts of both main characters regarding their lives and relationships, not to mention the love. This book does bring back thoughts of "By Arrangement", but since that was my favorite romance ever, I found it wonderful. If you want a mindless book about simple people or just sex, choose another. If you want a book that really draws you in, pick this one.

This is the third book in a series. The first, Rules of Seduction, was a wonderful book, but the second, Lessons of Desire, missed the mark a bit. This book is more in the mold of Rules of Seduction. Like Seduction, it focuses on the developing relationship between the hero and heroine, without manufactured and unbelievable obstacles that are the crutch of so many romance authors. A wonderful read.

I almost stopped around pg 25 or so - a real stupid damsel in distress situation. I persisted for about 200 more pages for some reason (with lots of skipping) but then put it down. The story was a bit choppy. In the middle of the story another story-line comes along - which I guess is best because it just is not a very exciting story. It is very hard to like the heroine - she is obviously not people-smart in the least bit.

I really wanted to like this book. I was interested in the plot and the premise -- certainly the cover blurb sounds promising -- but the actual storytelling was just not good.

There were plot holes, and I couldn't believe how clueless the heroine was about her brother. The negatives could have been forgiven, if there had been chemistry or romance, but what should have been passionate moments were very blah.

It's a very forgettable book. Definitely a library read at best.

I was disappointed in Ms. Hunter's previous book in this series, Lessons of Desire. The first book, The Rules of Seduction, was richly written, with characters really worth caring about. LOD was more difficult to appreciate because the heroine's upbringing made her an unsympathetic character for much of the story.

Happily, SECRETS OF SURRENDER returns to the background story introduced in TROS, and the damage done by two careless brothers continues to haunt the women in their family. Although the book stands fully on its own, I would suggest reading TROS first to understand the real emotional conflicts faced by Rose in Secrets of Surrender.

Yes I know we have all read dozens of "romance" novels and we have every plot twist catalogued and anticipated. Nah, Nah--gotcha! From the sheer hideous and all so potentially true beginning and plight of the heroine, to the brutal truth regarding the closed nature of Bristish aristocracy--this one twists all the cliches. So much excellent research with a real sense of the cultural history of the time, make this virtually an enjoyable textbook of the period. The ending I had all figured out--right? Wrong! It is handled with such panache and, of course, a slight preview of the next book--WOW! The next book is an auto-buy and this one is a keeper.

I could not believe Madeline Hunter wrote this book. Some of the love scenes really did not make any sense to me. It could have been a good story. But was not well written.

The book was a difficult read where I almost throw down the book several times without finishing it. The storyline does not flow and the chemistry between the characters has not been throughout the book. Try reading her other novles, and skip this one.

Didn't particularly care for the other books in this series/trilogy, but I didn't dislike any of the characters. They just didn't interest me very much. In this book, though, I nearly despised the main female character, Roselyn. She wasn't just uninteresting, she was obnoxious and unlikeable. For me, the worst 'sin' of a book is when you feel no empathy for the main character. In that context, this book sinned in the worst way. And too much of the story and the dialog was just... hackneyed. It was a struggle just to read it to its conclusion. Very disappointing.