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The Lady's Secret (2011)

by Joanna Chambers(Favorite Author)

3.71 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1426892578 (ISBN13: 9781426892578)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Carina Press

review 1: Pro bono advice: when you're going to reference the theatre and Twelfth Night (especially if you fancy Viola/Cesario as the source of your inspiration)you simply must come up with something that would justify the noble ambition. Equally, when you include a side story of homosexual love (and the writer seems to specialise in same sex HRs, so you'd expect her to know better) in Britain circa 1810, do take the trouble to spend 10 minutes trying to imagine what it would have been like to be threatened with execution (the awful 'Buggery Act' of 1533 was still in effect in 1810, and homosexual acts/relations were punishable by death). As you must try and imagine what would have been like to be a woman, to be illegitimate, to be 'lower class', etc., in 1810. References to froc... moreks and carriages and Whitby jet don't satisfy anyone but the most incousiant. I simply find writers who pretend to write historical romances, while spinning a hackneyed contemporary, and picking a date from way back when to plant it in, very very tiresome. I'd have thought one writes HRs because one is intrigued by the past. And that intrigue commits one to taking that past on its own terms (otherwise it's better left alone). The way idealisations ('romances') and happy resolutions can be obtained from the realities of a past world must, surely, constitute the main challenge of writing in the genre. But enough of this. The extra star of this review is for the few scenes where the hero (who starts as an interesting character in his own right and ends up as a mere prop mouthing what Cosmo shaped personae want to hear) having discovered his valet is a woman, spends some days observing her with scientific-voyeuristic delight. For the rest, the book is unevenly paced, it took ages for something to happen and then, in the last 40 pages, we hit the rush hour, and proves to be rather dull and uninteristing (quite a feat for a book with such an interesting set of premises). P.S. I was surprised to find out the author lives in Scotland. Usually British writers in the genre stand out (not in the sense that they are the best, far from it, but in the sense that I can tell they are British). Joanna Chambers' voice sounded very American to me.
review 2: AWESOME!!!!!!! Love the storyline & characters!!!! Towards the end the language and intimate scenes are more bold then any true regency era novel would of been I.e. Jane Austen & Georgette Heyer as the leading authors of that glorious era!!!!! GREAT NOVEL none the less!!!! Love that the in-depth research and use of items & daily lifestyles of both the aristocracy & servants were portrayed!!!!!!! Such a fun adventure of a read!!!!! :) less

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