Secret Fantasy

by Cheryl Holt

Orphaned at a young age and sent to live with selfish relatives, Margaret Gray has no dowry and no chance of ever marrying. When her aunt invites Jordan Prescott for a visit, hoping to entice him into offering for Margaret's spoiled cousin, the dashing war hero instead tempts Margaret into a truly decadent decision. If Margaret cannot have a husband, perhaps she dares, just once, to taste the pleasures of the flesh? Now that she's awakened to her own desires and sensations, she is drawn body and soul into a rapturous clandestine liaison.

Since his dissolute father squandered the family fortune, Jordan is required to marry an heiress in order to provide for his half-siblings. Yet no woman has ever aroused him as much as Margaret. Her sedate exterior belies a bold, curious spirit and tantalizing sexuality. A single illicit tryst becomes a month-long journey in carnal abandon, but with Jordan's visit drawing to a close, can their passion survive the dangerous scheming that threatens to keep them apart?

Genres: Romance, Historical, Historical Romance, Erotica, Regency, Ebooks, Fiction

352 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 6, 2007

About the author

CHERYL HOLT is a New York Times, USA Today, and Amazon “Top 100” bestselling author who has published seventy novels.

She’s also a lawyer and mom, and at age forty, with two babies at home, she started a new career as a commercial fiction writer. She’d hoped to be a suspense novelist, but couldn’t sell any of her manuscripts, so she ended up taking a detour into romance where she was stunned to discover that she has a knack for writing some of the world’s greatest love stories.

Her books have been released to wide acclaim, and she has won or been nominated for many national awards. She is considered to be one of the masters of the romance genre. For many years, she was hailed as “The Queen of Erotic Romance”, and she’s also revered as “The International Queen of Villains.” She is particularly proud to have been named “Best Storyteller of the Year” by the trade magazine Romantic Times BOOK Reviews.

She lives and writes in Hollywood, California, and she loves to hear from fans. Visit her website at www.cherylholt.com.

Reviews

[Jo Reads Romance · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lacklustre and disappointing erotic romance
2 stars

Orphaned and destitute, Margaret Gray has lived at the mercy of her awful aunt and cousin her whole life. With no dowry and no marriage prospects, Margaret's life is destined to be dull and boring. Everything changes when Jordan Prescott, Viscount Romney comes to visit with the intention of offering for Margaret's spoiled cousin.

After his father squandered the family money, Jordan needs to marry and heiress in order to provide for his half-siblings. But Margaret makes him feel things he's never felt before and soon the pair are involved in something neither of them expected. Will they be able to survive the scheming and plotting that's going on around them?

I am a big fan of Cheryl Holt so I was disappointed to find this book lacklustre and flat. The plot was very similar to some of her previous books and didn't offer much in the way of exciting plot or characters.

My main criticism would have to be the lack of emotion throughout the story - I just didn't believe in the love which is never good in a romance. As a result, the sex scenes did nothing for me either. I liked both Jordan and Margaret but there were so few chapters dedicated to them that at times I forgot this was even their story. With so many other characters and storylines the real love story got completely forgotten at times.

Overall, I can really only give this book 2 stars. It was easy to read and to finish but the story didn't feel deep enough and I'm sorry to say that I wouldn't really recommend it.

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rated 3.5

[Lili Trudeau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spicy

[Netha · Rating 3 out of 5]

baca novel ini bikin aq sakit hati sendiri.
cowoqnya terlalu brengsek & menyebalkan & ga tanggung jawab.

nama2 tokoh di buku ini spt nama tokoh di buku cheryl holt yg lain.
sama2 ada penelope, lavinia.
ceritanya pun sama walo ada bbrp bagian yg berbeda.


jordan prescott, lord ramsey, the future of earl of kerring. saat pergi berperang semua simpanannya dihabiskan oleh sang ayah. karna itu jordan harus segera menikah dengan seorang heiress untuk dapat membantu adik2nya.

penelope gray, putri dari horatio & lavinia gray adl calon yg tepat apalagi lavinia sendiri yg mendorong penelope ke hadapan jordan.

duh sejak awal lavinia nih dah kelihatan ga ada pantas2nya jadi ibu.
dia menghalalkan segala cara untuk mendapatkan apa yg dia inginkan. dia bahkan tidak peduli dengan kebahagian putrinya sendiri.

margareth gray, keponakan horatio yg sejak kecil tinggal di gray's manor.
margareth sangat bertolak belakang dgn sepupu & bibinya.
margareth adl seorang guru di lingkungan mereka.
& jordan lebih suka menghabiskan waktu dengan margareth yg mempesona & polos daripada dengan penelope yg tidak menyenangkan sama sekali.
jordan jatuh cinta pd margareth tp tentu saja jordan tidak mungkin menikah dengan margareth, krn margareth tidak punya apa2.

novel ini bener2 penuh keruwetan & penuh dengan cinta bersegi2.

mulai dari jordan yg ternyata punya affair dengan lavinia kemudian akan menikah dgn penelope, putri lavinia, eh lalu menjalin cinta dengan margareth, keponakan lavinia.

lavinia sendiri menjalin affair dengan robert, tetangga mereka (orang ini nih yg tua kebusukan & kelicikan lavinia menyembunyikan harta warisan bagian margareth & malah membuat margareth hidup spt gelandangan - harta yg diincar jordan yg dikira milik penelope hingga membuatnya membuang margareth eh ternyata itu milik margareth... irnois sekali ya...)
lavinia juga punya affair dengan jordan juga dengan charles prescot, earl of kerring, ayah jordan (lavinia mengincar title charles)

eh charles juga punya affair dengan anne smythe, lavinia juga penelope (yup yup penelope tidak sudi menikah dgn jordan jd untuk membalas ibunya penelope berhubungan dengan charles.

ya ampun segi berapa tuh????

yah aq tau jordan melakukan semua tindakannya karna ingin menyelamatkan keluarganya tp dia menyerahkan nasib margareth ke tangan lavinia, orang yg udah jelas2 ga pernah peduli pd margareth, apa ga salah???

jengkelnya lagi saat jordan tau harta yg tersisa adl milik margareth eh dia langsung ngacir nyari margareth....
duh ini cowoq sebenarnya maunya gimana sih??? segitu rendahkah harga dirinya sampai rela menjual diri & harga dirinya pd seorang heiress???
kenapa dia tidak bisa spt margareth yg tidak peduli status tp mau bekerja demi hidupnya???
kenapa harus menyerahkan masa depannya ke tangan orang asing???

tapi setidaknya di akhir cerita semua tokoh2nya mendapatkan hasil yg pantas mereka dapatkan.
penelope dengan keegoisannya, lavinia dengan ketamakannya, charles dengan kekurang ajarannya, termasuk jordan...........

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of time is spent in this book covering the sex lives of secondary characters who are either villainous or unpleasant. When a person is that awful, I don't need repeated views of them being awful in the bedroom. Plus, the main characters seem a bit shallow--not in terms of their morality, but in the sense that I never really knew much about them or why they were so instantly attracted to each other.

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

I finished reading the book, barely. It was over the top. The H/h had no relationship development. He was an ass. She was lonely. That is what made them fall in love. There's an evil aunt, an evil cousin, an evil father, rape, discussion of a sickening 3-way. I could go on about some of the other craziness that happens in this book, but i won't bother. And neither should you.

[Lowry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow. Thoroughly dispicable characters make me question the author a bit. The only reason I kept going was because I wanted to see what happened because it really seemed like there was no way it'd turn out well. Total rubbish with only some redeeming steamy scenes.

[Shaebay · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yesss!! FINALLY! *celebrates* I am done with all of the Cheryl Holt books that my friend gave me. Freaking finally! The first conversation repeat happened on page 3 and again on page 65 (it was almost a whole page of repeated conversation). The ending was a little better than most, but meh.

[Shel · Rating 1 out of 5]

All I can say is OMGoodness!!!! Got to the mother/daughter menage(talking about it), dont know if that's what happened, but that was it for me. Gross with a capital G! Worst Cheryl Holt writing I've ever seen too.

[Mitzi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Worst book by Cheryl

[♥connie♥]

cant wait to read it

[Sodonas Townsend]

I couldn't put it down. Another great book by her.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. I had a hard time putting it down. I will look for another book by Holt to read.

[Gypsie Holley · Rating 4 out of 5]

HOT!!!!!!

[Dpic]

nothing but sex

[E. Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable read but I found there was too much time spent on the subplots with other characters and not enough of the love scenes were centered around the hero and heroine.