Customer Reviews

The Secret Swan

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

In 1341, though scared, teenager Lady Amiranth St. Clair looks forward to marriage to Tristan Geraint, who she has admired from afar for several years. However, Tristan fails to share her enthusiasm. He married her for her impeccable background, which is perfect for her to beget his heir. Tristan breaks Amiranth's heart and travels to the continent to fight. However, his dreams of glory turn into a living nightmare because he is now a prisoner of war, rotting in a French dungeon. Only dreams of Amiranth keep him sane and alive.

Eight years later, Tristan returns home seeking Amiranth, but instead he meets her cousin Lily. Tristan falls in love with Lily, who detests him. Adding to his confusion is that many of the people once loyal to him are dead, victims of the plague scourging England. Much of those alive are loyal to Tristan's brother Liam, who does not want to give up the Earldom. Obtaining Lily's help, Tristan tries to regain what he lost including a love of a lifetime.

THE SECRET SWAN is a superb medieval romance that will keep readers up late in order to finish it in one sitting. The lead characters are filled with depth so they seem real and their relationships genuine. The support cast, including the graphic descriptions of the plague, provides the needed impetus to a cleverly designed plot. Shana Abe ably renders her audience with what will be considered one of the sub-genre's top novels of the year.

Harriet Klausner

Tristan Geraint, Earl of Haverlocke, married fifteen year old Lady Amiranth St. Clare. He immediately deposited her at his remote Safere estate and left for the glory of war. Eight years later, after escaping the French prison he had dwelled in the entire time, he returned to Safere a changed man. All he wanted now was the love of a wife he had spurned long ago, a home, and no more killings.

Lady Amiranth had loved Tristan for years before they married. On the day of their union, she found out that he only married her because the king demanded it. She never even had time to show him how happy they could be. He left only days after the ceremony.

Time passed. Eight long years went by. Everyone at Safere was either gone or dead from the plague. Lily, the cousin Amiranth resembled so much, had succumbed to The Black Death only two months before. She was alone. "Amiranth, Countess of Haverlocke" was placed upon Lily's stone. Taking the place of Lily, the king would think Amiranth dead and no longer press her to remarry. She was alone, but she was free! That was, until Tristan unexpectedly returned!

Playing Lily, she nursed the feverish Tristan back to health and they departed to one of his larger estates. The countryside was hostile. No town would allow them entrance for fear of plague carriers. And when they finally reached Glynwallen Castle, Tristan found out that Liam had done more than just take over his title!

***** A d*** good read! Viewers, Historical Romance stories get no better than this one! It's not only highly recommended, it is extremely recommended! I loved it so much, that it will never leave my possession! Awesome! *****

I don't usually read romances. Honestly I usually find them trite and superficial. I hate stupid plot lines and shallow characters, and it's just a shame that so many romances are like that. But my mother told me about this book, and then a friend mentioned it as well, so I picked it up.Well, I am so impressed! This was nothing like those other romances I read. I am so glad there are a whole other kind of romance novels out there for those of us who like deeper books.The heroine was not shrill or unbelievable. The hero was not dense or blind to her faults. They were both wonderful and rich characters who really grew over the course of the book to become such great people. Like you would want to know them in real life.I really enjoyed the twists and turns to the plot. I liked how Amiranth pretended to be someone she was not, and then pretended to be herself again while still the other person. I loved when Tristan realized that she was his wife. That scene brought me to tears.I am going to buy more books by Shana Abe. Great job, Mrs. Abe!

"The Secret Swan" was amazing. I surely do not know what book that anonymous Peruvian read, but it was not this one.First off, this is a MEDIEVAL. If you do not like medievals, OR ARE PUT OFF BY COMPLEX CHARACTERS AND INTENSE SITUATIONS, don't bother. Read something else.But if you, like many of us with great taste and who know how to spend our money (!!!!!), do enjoy this genre, do yourself a favor and pick up this book. It is captivating.Amiranth and Tristan are intense. They rock. Their emotions are real, and they fully take you on a wonderous journey. This novel is less about action than emotion. There are secrets and misunderstandings, but Abe makes it all convincing. Amiranth is every shy girl, loving a distant dream. And Tristan especially is amazing in his ability to fight his past and change into a true hero. Loved it. Can't rate it high enough.Abe is one of the best, the BEST, in this genre. Better belive it.

I picked this book up so that I would have something to read while working the night shift. I thought that a romance was safe because I could put it down again. WRONG!!! This was wonderful! I couldn't put it down! It was one of those books that just pulls the heart strings and keeps you wanting more! Read this book!

After reading the reviews of other readers, I ran to buy this novel, my first by Shana Abé. It starts out well enough, but does not live up to its promise. There is practically no communication between Tristan and Amiranth. The author writes in a narrative style with very little dialogue, which slows down the plot. I expected Tristan to confide in Amiranth his terrible ordeal, but this does not happen, she learns about it in an indirect manner. Therefore, the author misses a splendid opportunity to deepen and develop the relationship between Tristan and Amiranth. I also have an issue with the intimate relationship between them. They become intimate after almost 300 looong pages, and even then the relationship remains distant. The author does not give a true flavor of the daily life of the characters, main or secondary. The subplot about Tristan's situation seems contrived and is not developed fully. The epilogue is not really an epilogue, we do not get to know any further developments of the story. To sum it up, I will not be running to buy another book by this author.

"The Secret Swan" is an exquisite book - original storyline, wonderful characters and beautiful prose. I like everything about it., especially the heroine Amiranth (Lily), she really is strong, intelligent, clever, resourceful (not like the heroines in so many other romance fictions who we are told to be intelligent but are actually too stupid to live), she saves and helps the hero, Tristan numerous times, a truly worthy match for him.

I am a cynical reader, but in my opition this book is a near masterpiece. Don't miss it!!!

Ms Abe, you are a brilliant diamond among so many mediocre writers in this field. Please don't ever stop writing.

This is my first book of Shana Abe and gratefully not be the last. This is also one of the few books I have dared to picked up without first consulting Amazon ratings & reviewers. I was totally drawned to this book because of the back book description. The title itself also intrigued me. I love Swans as well as Secrets in my book. So, this one was initially bought out of pure curiosity which fortunately turned out to be quite an arousing read.

Lady Amiranth had a crush on Tristan Geraint when she was but only 9 years old...Saw him again a year after that which only heightens her feelings for him. By the time she was 15, she had love him from afar. She had prayed for him, dreamed of him for years until her prayers and dreams came true... She was to marry him by King Edward's demand. Oh joy! But... be careful what you wish for! Tristan was not exactly what she expected him to be. To begin with, he didn't want her, he had no feelings for her, he didn't even find her pretty. Tristan also wanted more than just an obligatory marriage and he showed it too. This is what made this book a heart breaker. Shana Abe really did touch my heart with her words and descriptions. Tristan pretty much ignore her most of the time and some of Tristan's actions were rather insensitive but not to the extent of saying he abused her. Readers must also give consideration that when they married, He was only 19 years old. Tristan was nothing but a young, arrogant and proud knight. Also, in lots of ways, you can see him trying so hard to comprehend and accept his situation. He was trying to like her, even trying to love her but he doesn't know Amiranth at all. He doesn't even know what to say to her... therefore it was hard for him to connect to her. They also didn't have much time spent together to form a bond... well, in Tristan case anyway. As for Amiranth, she was already in love with him, therefore, it was a little bit easier for her to accept her marriage compared to him. That is only my opinion. I truly find their love story endearing. The way secrets and conflicts tangled around them would want you to pause a breather. I had to pause a couple of times also to think what I would do if it was me in the situation and I ponder what would eventually happened. Some areas are predictable but it's the kind of predictable situation where you would say "oh no, I know that would surely happened " but then you pray it wouldn't.... got me? :-)

The reason why I didn't rate this book a 5 stars was because of Shana Abe's over-descriptions of the past, emotions, surroundings and etc. I also agree with one reviewer that there is definitely lack of dialogue among the characters, especially between Tristan and Amiranth. They think more than they talk to each other. Also, the ending of this book was not disappointing but rather a wee bit lacking. I don't know if this book is part of a series or have a sequel (I guess, it would make a difference if it is)...but for now, I sure would have love to read an Epilogue that tells readers about the hero/heroines offspring's especially in Amiranth's situation.... of Amiranth past of the year 1342. I don't want to ruin it for others by telling exactly what I meant but once you read the book, u will know what I mean.

Overall, I find this book heart quenchingly sweet, endearing and a worthy entertaintment on a long hot summer night.

There were some parts of this book that was hard to believe. Initially, the love of Amiranth for Tristan and later vice versa. Hers was love at first sight and his was close to that by merely just holding on to a memory of her. Also, Amiranth is a strong, smart female character and to have her willingly stay in the godforsaken, stronghold Safere for 8+ years is another hard to believe aspect. I'm not quite sure about the ending and how she set up the mystery of the two brothers... who was suspect and all.. a little cliche. That could have been worked on more. Usually, if someone is truly innocent but their innocence is questionable, their actions can speak for them. I know the author didn't want readers to know who really did it until the end, but I didn't agree with her making both look questionable by their actions/looks (i.e. Tristan sometimes looking evil). I would have preferred more of the situational confusion that may make them look suspect (such as the part where Tristan threatens Hugh). I guess I like it more because it's a more thought out device, rather than an easy slap-on-a-evil-look trick to make one look guilty. Additionally, although I did love the book, I wished the ending could have gone on longer. Shana Abe does a great job with suspense and surprising twists, but I felt that by doing that, readers are on the edge of their seat a lot and that the ending should somehow make up for that by resolving it in a longer feel-good chapter or 2! :)

That being said, I did give the book 4 stars for a reason. I still truly loved the way the author did not fall into most cliches and though there were some cheesiness to it, it was far and few between. I loved that the female protagonist had more involvement in the end instead of just having the hero save her. The trials of her life definitely taught her to be smarter and it showed. I loved the romance, sexual tension between the two, and how the tension was relieved occasionally throughout the book (unlike some other romance books) but the emotional tension (which I think counts more, too) was resolved in the end. I think I truly appreciated that Abe pulled us through the book on emotional strings and not physical ones. I think that's why I would call her book a romance book and not a trashy romance one. In the future, I hope Abe will put more believability into some of the storylines, but aside from that I definitely will be reading more of her books!

This was the first book I've read by Shana Abe and this slightly cynical, long-time romance fan was astonished, touched and impressed by the experience. Successfully walking that fine line between romantic melodrama and genuine emotion which trips up so many writers, Shana created characters you could believe in and root for, then set them within the confines of a historically rich, accurate medieval world. Reading this book wasn't just reading, it was moving into another world for a few hours. That's really good historical writing. The quality of the romance and the well-matched, fully-developed hero and heroine made it even better. KUDOS to Shana Abe. You've earned a new, appreciative fan here! If you've never read medieval romance or Shana Abe, do yourself a favor and give this one a try. You won't be disappointed.