Secret Obsession

Sins #1

by Charlotte Lamb

Pride comes before a fall....
Will Nerissa's love for another man come before her husband?

Nerissa is married to Ben and she has tried to love him.

But, since she was a child, Nerissa has also adored her cousin, Philip. Now Philip lies in a coma and Nerissa's special bond with him is perhaps the only means of bringing him around.

But how can she tell Ben she must leave him for Philip's bedside? Ben is so proud and will never let her end their marriage!

Genres: Harlequin, Romance, Harlequin Presents, Contemporary Romance, Harlequin Romance, Contemporary, Hqn

189 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Sheila Ann Mary Coates Holland
aka Sheila Holland, Sheila Coates, Charlotte Lamb, Sheila Lancaster, Victoria Woolf, Laura Hardy

Sheila Ann Mary Coates was born on 1937 in Essex, England, just before the Second World War in the East End of London. As a child, she was moved from relative to relative to escape the bombings of World War II. Sheila attended the Ursuline Convent for Girls. On leaving school at 16, the convent-educated author worked for the Bank of England as a clerk. Sheila continued her education by taking advantage of the B of E's enormous library during her lunch breaks and after work. She later worked as a secretary for the BBC. While there, she met and married Richard Holland, a political reporter. A voracious reader of romance novels, she began writing at her husband's suggestion. She wrote her first book in three days with three children underfoot! In between raising her five children (including a set of twins), Charlotte wrote several more novels. She used both her married and maiden names, Sheila Holland and Sheila Coates, before her first novel as Charlotte Lamb, Follow a Stranger, was published by Mills & Boon in 1973. She also used the pennames: Sheila Lancaster, Victoria Wolf and Laura Hardy. Sheila was a true revolutionary in the field of romance writing. One of the first writers to explore the boundaries of sexual desire, her novels often reflected the forefront of the "sexual revolution" of the 1970s. Her books touched on then-taboo subjects such as child abuse and rape, and she created sexually confident - even dominant - heroines. She was also one of the first to create a modern romantic heroine: independent, imperfect, and perfectly capable of initiating a sexual or romantic relationship. A prolific author, Sheila penned more than 160 novels, most of them for Mills & Boon. Known for her swiftness as well as for her skill in writing, Sheila typically wrote a minimum of two thousand words per day, working from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. While she once finished a full-length novel in four days, she herself pegged her average speed at two weeks to complete a full novel. Since 1977, Sheila had been living on the Isle of Man as a tax exile with her husband and four of their five children: Michael Holland, Sarah Holland, Jane Holland, Charlotte Holland and David Holland. Sheila passed away on October 8, 2000 in her baronial-style home 'Crogga' on the Island. She is greatly missed by her many fans, and by the romance writing community.

Reviews

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heroine Nerissa has always been in love with Philip. But after she and Philip find out they are siblings (he is her half-brother) they know there is no future for them. Nerissa moves to London to put some distance between them. She eventually marries hero Ben, but after hearing Philip has had an accident and is in a coma she rushes to his bedside. Is her love for Philip always going to come between her and Ben?

This story had a lot of angst and tension. Ben was totally crazy about Nerissa, but she had a deep affection for Philip and she kept brushing Ben off, not realizing yet that she was in love with him. Ben and Nerissa connected well on a physical level, but Ben felt much more for Nerissa and had been secretly in love with her for a while.

I liked Ben, I always love a jealous and possessive hero! He was married in the past and his wife had an affair with his best friend so now Ben is extra cautious when it comes to women. He wasn't happy with Nerissa running off to be with Philip.

Great read by Charlotte Lamb full of secrets and forbidden love.

[boogenhagen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re Secret Obsession - Charlotte Lamb is back for another tour de force HPlandia mini-series.

This is book one of CL's Sins series. Each one of the seven books highlights a specific vice, in other words we are getting into an exploration of the Seven Deadly Sins.

Which probably makes a lot of people think "What the heck was CL thinkin'?" When I first read these many moons ago, I was thinking that myself. But interestingly there is a very big connection between love/romance and the seven mortal sins we are supposed to avoid at all cost.

Because originally, in at least two of the world's major theologies--Judaism and Christianity--people were taught the list of deadly sins and told that to give into them would lead to the gravest fate possible for a human soul.

Any practice of Pride, Greed, Lust, Envy, Gluttony, Wrath or Sloth would not only eventually cause them sorrow, tragedy and great pain, but be the ultimate rejection of Divine Love and would also permanently and ultimately exclude them from eternal life and acceptance.

The result of their rejection would lead to endless damnation, loneliness, isolation and a dark abyss of night that would forever separate the soul from the communion with the divine. It would literally be a fate worse than death - the fate of being consigned to nothingness and total personal nullification with no hope for salvation or light.

That is some serious stuff for HPlandia, in fact that is some serious stuff for anywhere. Mortal sins in their various forms have been explored in many famous areas of art and especially literature.

One of the most famous is Dante's The Divine Comedy. Three books dedicated to the exploration of the seven vices and their counterparts in virtue. In these stories, Dante associates each vice as a perverted twisting of the original pure Divinity of Love and through an epic voyage, vividly illustrates the consequences of their practice.

It is from Dante's definition of that Twisting of Love through Vice that leads us to the connection that CL considers worthy of exploration and gives her a path to test the theory that Love Can Conquer All.

Seasoned travelers through HPlandia know that those of us who wander here are all about the Love. We like our HEA's, we like our building of relationships and we are dedicated to the proposition that with enough True Lurve Force Mojo, any wall, mountain, deep dark hole or endless abyss can be breached and overcome.

Fortunately for us, CL believes that too and her mission is to show us, through the use of common HP standard plot points, that Love can indeed subsume and destroy the deadliest of vices.

CL is starts with what is considered the root of all sin and the father of all the others - Pride.

For most of us, Pride is not a vice or sin, it the sense of accomplishment we feel when we have finally achieved a long worked for goal.

But pride has a dark side and it was THE sin that led to all the others. Because when pride turns into vainglorious Hubris, or even worse, the self-idolation that every HP OW is familiar with - Vanity - then pride becomes a destructive and damaging force that Dante described as the "love of self perverted to hatred and contempt for one's neighbour".

It is the sin of Pride that caused Lucifer's fall and Pride again made an appearance later in the Garden of Eden. CL's take isn't quite so apocalyptic, but she writes to us about in her forward author's note:

'Dear Reader,

The Seven Deadly Sins are those sins which most of us are in danger of committing every day: very ordinary failings, very human weaknesses, but which can sometimes cause pain to both ourselves and others. Over the ages they have been defined as Anger, Covetousness, Envy, Greed, Lust, Pride and Sloth.

In this book I deal with the sin of Pride. In certain circumstances it can be deadly, particularly when family pride leads people to lie, to suppress the truth about the past, or when someone is too proud to admit their feelings.'

So with those words from CL in mind, we start with Nerissa, who is married to Ben, but really in love with Phillip. When the story opens, Ben is a tall, dark and very handsome prominent barrister who is on his way to the Hague in the Netherlands, he has an important case to argue before the High Court.

Nerissa is anxiously waiting for him to leave. She has a journey of her own to take and she knows that if she tells Ben about her trip, he will refuse to let her go.

It seems that young Nerissa, a very feminine and petite, fragile looking, dark haired, blue eyed nymph is going to Phillip and she knows that Ben will seriously not like that.

We learn that something happened over a year ago, Phillip and Nerissa were in love and then tragically parted. Nerissa's family are Northern Border farmers and their life on the bleak and windswept moors was very limited in both resources and outside connections.

Nerissa had lived there since she was three, when her mother died and her father could no longer take care of her. He took her to her aunt's home, before going to Australia and dying. There on the family sheep farm, she and her aunt's son Phillip grew up together, best friends and companions, together in heart and in spirit in all things.

But something happened that tore them apart and as Phillip was needed to stay and work the farm, Nerissa had to leave. She took herself off to London, unused to city ways and feeling an outcast from the very simple life and isolated from all that she had known.

She was lonely, shy and terribly alone. But then she met Ben at a party and they soon began talking to each other, she liked him and he had a lot of charm. Then Ben asked her out and hesitantly, Nerissa went.

Nerissa feels a physical chemical connection with Ben, he makes her knees weak and insides melt. So because of her heartbreak and her mourning of what she is sure is the only romantic love she will ever know and cannot have, she agrees to marry Ben in a semi-marriage of convenience and mutual passion.

Ben was married before and prior to meeting Nerissa he had planned to avoid any thought of marriage again. Ben married his sister's BFF and then came home one day to find her in bed with HIS BFF. This has soured Ben on love and his discreet divorce certainly did NOT help his career.

But Ben has needs and he and Nerissa generate a powerful amount of heat. Plus where his cheatin' tart harlot from before was a manipulative cat and greedy with it, Nerissa is sweet, gentle and completely in thrall to the mighty lance of Ben's Purple Passion Mojo.

Nerissa explained quite clearly that she can never love him and when Ben dragged her back home so he could meet her family, he quickly figured out why. But Ben wanted Nerissa. Casual affairs are not his thing and she does have a very domestic way about her, so he convinced her passion and a certain mutual compatibility will allow them to forge a good life together.

Except Ben never counted on the strength of Nerissa's obsession and he truly doesn't understand how she can tolerate even being around her family after she found out the full extent of their lies. Nerissa tries to explain that love doesn't work like that, it isn't turned off like a tap and time can heal many things.

But Ben has closed his heart to love. His wounded vanity will not allow him to accept that he could love another woman who might humiliate him and his hubris tells him that he has all the skillz he needs to happily conjoin with a woman who lights his fiery passion, whilst remaining immune to the tender emotions of the heart that passion might engender.

That doesn't stop him from wild outbursts of rage when Nerissa looks like she is thinking of her northern home or Phillip, Nerissa believes it is because he sees her as a possession and as his lust for her hasn't burnt out yet, he is not willing to let her go.

Nerissa has to go home tho, Phillip was driving recklessly, in great mental pain over their mutual tragedy, and he wrecked his car. He is unresponsive in a coma and her aunt and uncle are begging her to come. They hope that Nerissa's presence can bring Phillip back from the dark well of unconsciousness and so Nerissa packs a bag and as soon as Ben is off on his trip, Nerissa goes.

We get a lovely vision of the Northern moors and a glimpse of a very simple village life when Nerissa arrives. Her aunt is tearfully happy to see her, it is clear that she believes that the sound of Nerissa's voice will call Phillip back from his oblivion.

Nerissa is desperately frightened, Phillip was a huge part of her world for so long and he is so dear to her, she just can't stop fretting about what might mean a major loss for her entire family. Then Ben shows up and he is livid.

Even when Nerissa explains the situation with Phillip, Ben is in a stormy rage and determined to rip Nerissa away from the familiar world of her childhood. Finally we learn the awful truth from Ben's rantings.

Phillip and Nerissa were each other's constant companions growing up, there wasn't really anyone else in the farm's isolation to be with, so they were naturally paired together.

As young things tend to do when they reach a certain age, Phillip and Nerissa fell in love. When they went to tell the aunt and uncle that they wanted to marry, their whole world fell apart.

Because Phillip's father is Nerissa's father too.

When Nerissa's aunt was in hospital after a difficult birth with Phillip, her younger 17 yr old sister had a one night stand with her husband and the sister got pregnant with Nerissa. When Nerissa's mother realized she was pregnant, the uncle confessed what had happened to the aunt and then Nerissa's mother left the area.

Nerissa's mother went to London and met a guy and married him. He knew she was preggers, but he loved her and did not care. Then Nerissa's mother died of Leukemia three years later.

The stepfather couldn't care for a child and Nerissa's aunt and uncle had worked things out between them, so they took Nerissa in and loved her and raised her alongside their son. Never thinking that the children would eventually fall in love, but very quick to bury any hint of wrongness.

Ben figured out the truth based on his keen observations and Nerissa's inability to hide things for long. He feels that the uncle seduced his wife's little sister cause he was a lout, but Nerissa is quick to point out that it was probably her mother who did the seducing and her aunt agrees.

Nerissa's uncle is a fairly placid and uninspired man. He likes his farm and his sheep and his major anchor in life is Nerissa's aunt, who is the dominant partner in the relationship. In fact the aunt is the one who is the talker in the family and everyone else just listens.

Nerissa believes that her mother knew something was wrong with her and just grabbed at whatever joy in life she could find, never thinking of the consequences in her quest to find fulfillment. The uncle was traumatized and adrift and Nerissa is pretty sure he never knew what hit him.

Ben believes Nerissa's aunt is a living saint, she is very kind and obviously loves Nerissa. But in Ben's view of things, pride should keep a person from accepting a betrayer back and Nerissa's aunt believes that true pride means that you accept mistakes and apologies if the betrayer is genuinely contrite and resolute not to betray anyone again.

Ben doesn't quite get that, but it doesn't matter. He is more interested in forcing a physical connection with Nerissa in her childhood home and determined to get his way. He seduces Nerissa later that night after an argument, he is hoping the judicious application of the lurve club will break what he thinks is Nerissa's continuing obsession with Phillip.

He tries it on again out in the fields too, but they get interrupted by the pub owner's dog. After a few days of Nerissa fretting and Ben seething and angry mojo moments, Phillip wakes up to the care and charm of a very attractive nurse and it seems he is coming back to life again.

Nerissa has been vacillating all over the emotional spectrum during all of this and it finally hits her that she loves Ben. But she believes that Ben only wants a warm body filled with passion and that isn't enough for her. When Ben first showed up, Nerissa asked for a divorce. Ben angrily refused and that anger was fueling his desire to lurve it up all over hill and dale.

Now that Phillip is awake and Nerissa's aunt's peace of mind has been restored, Ben wants Nerissa to leave with him. There is no future for Nerissa on the farm and they need to move on with their separate lives. Nerissa isn't ready to go yet, she has to put the remnants of her childhood to rest.

But Ben doesn't get the deep and loving connection that Nerissa still has for her family. So he tells her she can stay, but he is done and their life together is over. Nerissa is upset, she is torn between her love for her family and her newfound love for Ben.

Then Nerissa's aunt comes home, happy that Phillip is recovering well and explains to Nerissa that she can go without guilt. Ben isn't like them at all, but Nerissa loves him and needs to let time and distance cure the lingering hurt over the lies that the aunt and uncle told.

Nerissa finally calls Phillip her brother out loud and her aunt realizes that the big break between Nerissa's childhood and her entry into full adulthood is complete. Nerissa's aunt also explains that it was her pride that made Nerissa and Phillip live a lie and she is sincerely sorry for it.

The aunt felt that it would be too humiliating to have everyone in the area know about what her sister and her husband did, so she made silence a term of taking her husband back. Now all these years later, she regrets putting conditions on love, especially since her sister running away made it easier to make the choice that she figured she would have made anyway.

The aunt explains she had great anger that took a few years to get over, she is not a saint. But she also had great love and she just kept on doing what had to be done, biting her tongue when she had to in her determination to make things work. She tells Nerissa that if she really loves Ben, she needs to put aside her own pride and go fight for the man she loves.

Nerissa packs up her things and leaves, but when she gets home, Ben isn't there. Nerissa starts calling around to find him and when she hears that both he and his wanna be OW secretary are out of the office together and the secretary has left several messages on their home answering machine, Nerissa starts to think the worst.

That worst is soon becoming a reality as Nerissa spies Ben and the wanna be OW secretary getting out his car and it looks like Ben has spent the night with the woman. Nerissa hides while the secretary is in the house, then she starts sobbing in a miserable mopey moment when she thinks they have left.

But Ben isn't gone, he wrecked his car while driving home in a fit of temper and he had an emergency client meeting in London. So he got his secretary to go pick him up on the motorway and bring him back in time to make it. The secretary drives a similar car to his, but he has never been interested in her except in her work role.

There is a few accusations of infidelity thrown about and Ben firmly denies them. Nerissa believes him, but she is still dubious about their marriage working out. So Ben finally admits how he really feels.

He is in love with Nerissa, he has been since he met her. But she was so obviously NOT in love with him and there was so much passion between them that he took a chance and conned her into marrying him with the promise of a passionate MOC, then found himself being torn apart by jealousy.

Ben believed that he really could lurve club Nerissa into falling in love with him, but she is still holding out, so he decides to throw away his pride and just tell that he loves her, he adores her and he always wants to be with her, she is the true beloved other half of his soul.

Nerissa breaths a big sigh of relief and avows her love back, she was fretting that Ben might love the secretary and then she would have to let him go be happy with someone else and she did not know if she could handle it, cause he is the other half of her soul too.

CL gives us a nice little epilogue with the birth of Nerissa's and Ben's son a year later. Ben and Nerissa are shown to be really happy and loving together and their son is pretty cute. They named him after Nerissa's uncle, now openly acknowledged to be her father and the whole family is reunited when her father, aunt and Phillip come to see the new addition.

Ben isn't angry or jealous of Nerissa's family, now that he is secure in her love and Phillip is healed too. He shows up with the nurse who cared for him in hospital and the big news is that the two of them will be marrying soon and living on the farm.

Nerissa acknowledges how love can mend all things, heal all hurts and overcome all obstacles and overcome the sins of hubris and vanity. Both she and we are basking in the glow of a sunshine filled HEA for a really intense and very riveting HPlandia outing.

The next book in the series will be Deadly Rivals - and we explore the sin of covetousness - or hankering after forbidden fruit, avariciously desiring what is not yours to have.

[⚔Irunía⚔ · Rating 1 out of 5]

When I already felt an irresistible temptation to smack this heroine with a frying pan a couple of times, she was that annoying, she just goes and says dumbass shit justifying dickhead husbands who cheat on their wives aka new mothers because the whole pregnancy thing makes them feel (*insert uncomprehending face*)

"a terrible sense of let-down. They get depressed but nobody is taking any notice
of them, nobody realises they feel very low. And that is when they sometimes look elsewhere for comfort"
🗿🗿🗿Dude, you're so full of bullshit🔪🔪🔪

That's what my faithful besotted baby Ben🥺 says, though:

"If my wife had a baby I wouldn't go looking for another woman."

Anyways, the book was much smuttier than others I've read so far by Ms. Lamb but less emotion inducing, which surprised me a little. Also it was too OTT ridiculous for me to feel any angst or to even take it seriously.
Then I saw the publication date and realised that this is one of her latest works... As far as I can see her earlier ones are way more adequate for my special tastes

[*CJ* · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Secret Obsession" is the story of Nerissa and Ben.

Aww.. LOL.

Well. Hero is obsessed with the heroine. Heroine is obsessed with her "cousin". Cousin is obsessed back. Uncle aunt are like WTF. Hero is like "oh hell nah". There are comatose relatives, crazy jealousy, loads of angry sex, denial, yearning, drama, outbursts, revelations and a sweet HEA. In the end, I have one word for this book- ridiculous.

Safe
3.5/5

[Verity · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ben is a gray-eyed barrister (another 1 !) who's been burned B4. He caught his ex-wife & his BFF in bed & since splitsville, he doesn't wanna fall in luv again. He meets Nerissa & H/H get married soon after. Both reveal all their cards on the table & the unofficial pre-nuptial agreement : he's not in luv w/ her & vice versa. She's been in luv w/ Philip, her couzin (ick) & they grew up together @ their farm since she's raised by her uncle & aunt. Ben tries his darndest to exorcise Philip from their marriage bed. The only thing in common between H/H is mutual physical attraction. The book opens 3 months after marriage, they're still strangers to 1 another in a lotta ways. Ben is leaving outta town for a court case. Unbeknownst to Ben, the moment he leaves, Nerissa goes back home 'cuz her beloved couzin, Philip, is in a coma after a car accident. I thought it's a flimsy excuse that Nerissa is too terrified to tell Ben 'bout her family emergency 'cuz she thinks Ben won't allow her to go. There's more to it than meets the eye 'cuz as the book progresses, family skeleton is dug up (tho' it didn't take Hercule Poirot to take a shot in the dark on what's really going on). Ben shows up uninvited & stirs things up. It's a sticky situation, he knows exactly how Nerissa feels for Philip & gives her the ultimatum : if she sticks around @ the farm, their marriage is a bust. Things need to be said. Ben forces Nerissa to face her past demons & be true to herself, regardless how painful it may be. In the process, Nerissa discovers that whenever she & Ben bone each other, it's not based on luv & it's no longer enuff. She gets a wake-up call that it's time she needs to fight for what's more important in her current life.

I wavered between 3 & 4*. There were sections that felt like unnecessary fillers holding back the pace & made me skim, but I also liked the undercurrent tension & explosive passion, even when they didn't like each other v. much due to the luv triangle. Ben's pride won't let him lower himself to beg her to pick him over Philip. He's opinionated & as soon as he steps on the family scene, he makes no bones about the fact that Nerissa's family secret belongs in the past & he's not the kinda guy who shares. He doesn't forgive & forget. Past & present don't gel @ all. He shows his jealous-possessive streak but Nerissa thinks it's only 'cuz he thinks of her as an object. It's up to her to make him luv her after she has the epiphany that she's luved Ben all along & not Philip. I didn't like the part when she comes back to their home & he's nowhere to be found. Pages of pages of introspection & jumping to the wrong conclusion that he's bangin' his hawt secretary (who's shown her dislike of heroine from the get-go). I luved the ending, the luv scenes & the naughtiness of Ben in wanting to have her anywhere & however he wants, to hell w/ the location & relatives' proximity. He's been obsessed w/ her & acknowledges in the end that he did what it took to get her to notice & marry him, even tho' she's not ready yet. Nerissa thinks he's projecting his bitterness (ex-wife's infidelity) on his current marriage & she wants more than what he can give her. He's guarded alpha. Ruthless he may be, he also shows sensitivity & intuitiveness. He confronts Nerissa to face the truth, to take a risk. I luved the insights, the complexities of emotions & relationships. Nerissa's aunt dispenses her sage advice that letting bygones be bygones is imperative to a successful, long-lasting marriage but Nerissa has her work cut out for her, she gotta convince him that she really luvs him. In the end, even tho' I thought this book bore some similarities to 'Dark dominion', there were good enuff moments that bumped up the rating. It's not that intense but it hit the right notes.

[Azet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh Dear,Charlotte Lamb sure knows how to tug at my nerves and make me skitterish all over the place."Secret Obsession" is one of her very intense reads which is about a couple that has been married for three months.Without her husband knowing,the heroine Nerissa goes to her family village after knowing that her beloved cousin Philip is in danger of dying.Her very jealous husband,the forceful and dynamic lawyer hero Ben Havelock goes after her to take her back.

This was intense,riveting and a painful read.I felt so bad for the hero that i wanted to strangle the heroine at times.How the hell could she cry after another man,tell Ben she loves another man and reject Ben for another man just like that!???All this in front of the hero!Ben is one of CL´s intimidating,obsessive and dangerous heroes.He was also very clingy and stuck to Nerissa like glue once he went after her.I found him very sexy and couldn`t understand how Nerissa even could think the thought of dumping him like that!!!Well i am happy she came around by the end and decides to fight for her husband,or else i would have really hated her.

All the 5 stars is for Ben Havelock,i found him insanely charismatic and sexy as a hero!

[Raffaella · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a dirty mind ms Lamb has!
This one goes really beyond all hp boundaries.
We have a married couple with an obsessed hero and a stupid heroine who doesn’t understand he loves her to death. He’s a barrister, and here I think that CL has her stereotype of English barrister: outside they’re are cold as Ice, inside burns the fire of dark passion. Do you remember the hero of Dark Dominion? This is his mirror image.
They married without love, because he was divorced and so once bitten twice shy, and she was in love with another man.
So it you have a problem with an idiot heroine who thinks she’s in love with om for almost all the book, don’t read this one.
I was almost quitting when I read she was in love with om.
But it’s very difficult to leave a CL book once you’ve started it.
The heroine is kissing her husband goodbye because he’s leaving for his job and he will be away for a week.
Then she packs and goes to her aunt and uncle, that basically raised her since she was 3, together with her cousin. The cousin has been seriously hurt in an accident and is in a coma.
This family lives in a country village near Scotland, a small and isolated village with few people who knows each other very well.
Imagine the village of that movie with Burt Reynolds, Deliverance, where four friends goes fishing for a weekend and the weekend becomes a chilling nightmare. That village where all people were very strange, the autistic boy playing banjo, and all of them are very likely related and all that inbreeding made them very peculiar and twisted?
That’s the same village where our heroine grew up.
She, her uncle, her aunt and her dear cousin.
Male cousin.
Do you get it?
Yes you do!
He’s the man she loves instead of her husband.
Her first cousin.
And that was weird and twisted enough because I mean, aren’t there any free men in the village that she could date? Just her cousin? I find it quite creepy and not very sane because inbreeding is not good for children. When they’re born you have to count their fingers and their toes.
But in that far lil village maybe there were not so many men available for our heroine so she and her cousin fell in love and decided to get married.
But uncle and auntie didn’t let them so she married the hero with whom she has fantastic sex but nothing else, aaaaaand there’s always the third one in their bed too! Not so nice, heroine!
So the hero finds out she’s there and he goes there too to be near her and to tell her that she has to stop this mad obsession with her cousin.
The heroine is very unpleasant and I must say that I really hated her because she married a man but was cheating on him- even if only emotionally.
She lives in the past with the memories of her true love.
The hero is jealous and possessive- and hurt of course! But she doesn’t realize this, because she’s a selfish cow.
But what almost made me throw up and throw away the book was the reason why she couldn’t marry her cousin.
Because he was her half brother instead.
Her dear uncle had sex with her teenage mother when he was already married with her aunt, so she and her love are half brother. She and her cousin found out this thing when they were engaged!
Isn’t it creepy? Kinky? Perverted?
What darlings her aunt and uncle!
And the heroine had two choices: go to a psychologist and have analysis for 4 years, leave the past behind and forget her treacherous family.
She did none. She messed with a good man who already had a nasty experience.
So, beautiful and interesting family relationships, very very good job ms lamb.
Oh, of course the heroine realizes she’s in love with the hero and he confess he’s been in love with her since he first saw her and the cousin is recovered and engaged to his nurse.
Really CL went beyond all my expectations this time.
If this is not incest I don’t know what is…
(And the uncle screwing hi sister in law???)
Jeez…

[Naksed · Rating 2 out of 5]

H is butthurt that his ex wife cheated on him with his bestie. h is in taboo love with her half brother. They decide to enter a marriage of convenience to escape their problems. They are hot in the sheets and that's about it. No communication whatsoever. Eventually, they realize they are in love yaddi yaddi yadda. Not one of CL's best.

[KC · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heroine Narissa loves Philip who loves used to love Nerissa, but it's forbidden so that's why Nerissa married hero Ben who secretly loves Nerissa.

I find fictional love triangles frustrating in theory, but if I come across one I usually can't help but read it. Maybe they are my thing? Anyway, this one was a doozy! Add a taboo factor (Nerissa and Philip are half-siblings, ew), a jealous-possessive hero, plus a heroine out of touch with her feelings and the result is an angst and drama fest.

I loved how besotted Ben was. He fell in lust/love with Nerissa at first sight, hiding his obsession from her because he didn't want to scare her off. He also had his pride to protect since he knew she was still not over her ex. So when they agreed to marry for convenience Ben mouthed all the right words claiming he wasn't looking for love as he'd been there, done that and didn't want a repeat divorce (his first wife had cheated on him with his best friend). Nerissa bought it hook, line and sinker. Was there a better way to forget Philip? It was all going "well" until a few months into their marriage when Nerissa rushed to be at Philip's side after he'd become comatose after an accident. She didn't bother telling Ben any of this, leading Ben to conclude she'd left him.

Poor Ben. I felt sorry for him: he had to chase after his wife who was obsessed with another man and give her an ultimatum. I thought Ben acted with considerable restraint considering the situation. Sure, Ben did press for sex in risky places like the great outdoors and a bedroom next to the one Nerissa's aunt and uncle shared. But he didn't choke or blackmail her, or deliberately use another woman to make her jealous. So yeah, pretty restrained for a Charlotte Lamb hero I'd say, LOL.

Nerissa, meanwhile, was one confused woman. It wasn't until Nerissa thought she'd lost Ben forever that she realized she had been in love with him for a while. She'd misunderstood the deep affection she had for Philip as romantic love and dismissed what she felt for Ben as only physical attraction. In hindsight, Nerissa realized she never would have wanted Ben so badly if she was still in love with Philip. Speaking of whom, I couldn't understand how Nerissa still pined for Philip after discovering the truth about him. If I were in her shoes, knowing Philip was my half-brother would be a real buzz-kill.

Backstory: Nerissa and Philip had fallen in love thinking they were cousins, not siblings, and were only told the truth when they declared their intention to marry. Her uncle was actually her father who'd cheated on his wife with his wife's younger sister.

Philip himself didn't play much of an active role in the triangle. I received the impression that he'd had an easier time moving on, unlike Nerissa. In fact, he was too busy recovering from his injuries and being doted on by his nurse to take much notice of Nerissa's problems.

Nerissa may have been out of touch with her feelings, but I think this is why I found her strangely sympathetic and not pathetic as one might imagine. What was pathetic, though, was her wimpy attitude after just proclaiming to herself that she would fight for Ben and their marriage (he'd returned back to London after stating their marriage was over if she stayed with Philip and her family). Right after declaring this she actually started crying in bed, thinking Ben had come home with his sexy colleague to have hot, animalistic sex. Too bad Nerissa was too busy moping to see the irony of the situation. Her feelings of jealousy, rejection and hopelessness were probably very similar to what Ben had had to endure during their marriage.

Luckily for Nerissa her pain was short-lived. Turns out Ben hadn't given up on her: he's always loved and wanted only her. His secretary had dropped him off because his own car was out of commission. They clear the air and reconcile for the HEA—so well, in fact, that they happily welcome a healthy and fat baby boy to their family a year later!

[Aou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, everybody obsessed with somebody.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heroine and hero are married but her love for her half-brother always comes between them. When she finally realizes she is in love with her husband she is afraid it is too late. Loved the angst, the very jealous hero and the sweet epilogue!

[Wendy Darling · Rating 4 out of 5]

A++++ angst porn, complete with desperate longing (him!) and absolutely ridiculous but highly enjoyable soap opera-style wtfuckery. So satisfying.

[Kitcatscratch · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a rare Lamb occurrence: a hero that you actually really like. The H TOTALLY has his head screwed on straight (at least to me) and I thought he put up with a lot with his mary sue (can't we all just forgive and forget?) wife. I felt the H was totally justified in his anger at his previous wife who cheated on him with his best friend then proceeded to try and milk him for all the alimony and goods she could get. However, his current wife, the h, keeps harping about it being the damage to his pride that made him so angry and unforgiving. Well, yeah. That and betrayal and lies and greedy, grasping supposed loved ones. But if you want to harp on it all being about his pride then go ahead. The irony is that at the end it was HER pride that wouldn't reach out to him. In fact, I never saw where she did. It was the H who had to basically confess and grovel his love to her.

Bah.

Oh, and another reason to love the H is that he is outraged at the fact that the h's "uncle" had cheated on his wife (the h's aunt WITHOUT the air quotes). The excuse the h gives is that the aunt had been in labor, had a difficult birth that exhausted her and kept her in the hospital so while she's there recuperating, he sleeps/seduces her 17 year old sister.

The h defends the "uncle." She says how she was mad at first but then it was explained to her that men get left out of the picture during the birth and feel lonely and neglected and in a moment of weakness may turn to someone else. Also that maybe the sister was a little in love with him to begin with and seduced him instead. The H calls total BS on that. He said it sounded more like men closing ranks to condone unforgivable behavior. He also states that no matter how much the girl MIGHT have thrown out lures, she was 17 and a dependent in that home. He also says that he knows for a fact, he would never sleep with another woman while his wife was having his baby. In fact, he planned to be there experiencing it with his wife. Also there's the fact that after the 17 year old girl sleeps with the "uncle" (technically the girl's brother in law), she has to run away from home in shame. Goes to the big city and gets a job to support herself where after a few short years she dies from leukemia. Mary Sue, I mean his wife, still doesn't buy his opinion of not forgiving such behavior and goes on blathering about how love was stronger and forgiveness was cleansing. Or something like that. I don't know, I practically wanted to choke her by this point.

So by now I am totally in love with the H and THIS from a Lamb hero?

Otherwise, it was a pretty decent story. Funny thing is that in stories where you root for the h, the H (in a Lamb story anyways) usually slaps them silly. Now, when you want the h to be slapped silly you get no satisfaction. So 3 stars. Now if the h had groveled to the H (and isn't it usually the other way around?), I would have bumped this up another star. Or at least had a slap or 2.

[RomLibrary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pride comes before a fall....

Will Nerissa's love for another man come before her husband?

Nerissa is married to Ben and she has tried to love him.

But, since she was a child, Nerissa has also adored her cousin, Philip. Now Philip lies in a coma and Nerissa's special bond with him is perhaps the only means of bringing him around.

But how can she tell Ben she must leave him for Philip's bedside? Ben is so proud and will never let her end their marriage! (less)

[MBR · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Do I have to remind you that it was me you married, not him?'
'I want a divorce, Ben!' Nerissa broke out in a voice that shook, and the room filled with an intolerable tension.
'I'll fight it,' he said curtly. 'I'll use any weapon I have to -even if it means bringing him into it. What do you think that will do to your family pride?'His face was taut, his eyes hard.

Secret Obsession by Charlotte Lamb, first published in January of 1995, is an unusual story at best, the reason why I picked this up to read in the first place. Told in the third person from the heroine's perspective, Ms. Lamb brings to readers the story of Ben Havelock and his wife Nerissa who have been married for just three months when the story begins.

Ben and Nerissa's had been a whirlwind romance, where Ben had pursued her in earnest since meeting her a year earlier at a party given by one of his clients, who happened to work with her. Ben being a very successful and wealthy barrister and a divorcee at that, had convinced Nerissa that they would work after managing to draw out all the truths about Nerissa and leaving her pretty much in the dark when it comes to understanding who Ben is during their courtship.

Things come to a head when Nerissa receives the news that her adored cousin Philip is in a coma, Philip whom Ben would never agree to let her go to be by his side. For Ben knows the truth of Nerissa's feelings for Philip and the reality behind the family unit within which Nerissa had grown up which makes for interesting reading.

Nerissa flies the coop (of course), to be with the man who had been the most important person in the world to her up till the point where the truth had been forced out leaving both of them devastated in the process. Nerissa is a woman torn about how she feels about her husband Ben; she wants him, thinks about him when he is not around, he is necessary for her, but she does not know him as she does Philip, and therein lies the problem.

When Ben comes in hot pursuit of her and forces her to face the ugly truths about her past (which is also very much present) which she has been playing ostrich about, it is up to Nerissa to decide whether she wants to fight for her marriage and the man who has become the most important person in her life unbeknownst to her, the man that she had actually fallen for without realizing the hows and whys.

As mentioned earlier in the review, Secret Obsession is not your usual run of the mill variety of story, the most shocking revelations being about Nerissa's past and how that had shaped her up as the person she is at present. Nerissa meets Ben at a turning point in her life, when she had been desolate about the futility of the future she had envisaged of a love that was impossible.

For Ben, trust is a hard commodity to find, having held up the short end of the stick in his previous marriage. Some would say that Ben is a glutton for punishment given how he who swore off marriage altogether, and then goes onto tie the knot with Nerissa, a woman who was definitely going to cause him a lot of heartache and pain along the way.

I loved how Ben forces Nerissa into examining the depth of her own feelings when it comes to a whole host of issues that are revealed along the way and his patience with her. Most men would not have found it possible to be that patient, knowing that your wife's heart belonged to someone else, the wife that you fell for a long way back.

While the story had a lot going for it, I found the execution of some of the aspects to be a bit problematic. There were elements of the story that definitely held my attention, like how obsessed Ben actually is about his wife, even when he had sworn off of marriage altogether when his first marriage failed so spectacularly.

I was also intrigued by Nerissa's feelings - seldom do novels explore the nuances of the female emotions as it does Nerissa's in this story. The raw emotions and the psychology explored in the story was riveting but the continued rehashing of how wounded Ben's pride was and how his ex-wife had done a number on him made the story a tad tiresome. Skipping chunks on inner monologues in the story made it all worthwhile!

Recommended for fans of Charlotte Lamb and her unusual stories. I am guessing, given the ratings for most of her books, she is either a hit or miss for readers!

Final Verdict: Secret Obsession is a fitting title for a story that explores a husband's hidden infatuation with his wife, whom he pursues and wins over through the biggest gamble of his life!

Rating = 3.75/5

For more reviews and quotes, please visit A Maldivian's Passion for Romance

[Debby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very intense.

They are married. He’s a besotted, jealous H, but she is still with her thoughts with the other man.

I have to say that I really don’t understand why she says what she says to him after she came back to their house. So that is a little flaw in the book in my opinion.

But nevertheless, the story telling is so good, the writer’s little wisdoms are so good and especially the H is so good that it’s definitely a 5 stars HP for me.

[Tia · Rating 4 out of 5]

HOLY SECRET TABOO!

Oh my, this novel was definitely unexpected and quite the thrill. Adored it!

[Márcia L · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book reminds me of 'Abduction' also by Charlotte Lamb, some of her heroes are the fews ones that truly loved the heroines despite the way they treated the heroine sometimes. This book is different from 'Obsession' where the H was truly a despicable womanizer that didn't really love the heroine.
Nerissa reminds me of Marisa from 'Abduction', and both heroes had a similarity the way they feel about the h. In 'Infatuation', I think the H felt the same way, at the beginning of the 3 stories the three Hs just need to be near and see the heroines but later it was not enough, although in 'Infatuation' he needed to talk and listen to the heroine too, the h in 'Infatuation' was very different, she was an independent career woman, although not beautiful she wasn't mousy either. In their ways I think they suffered because they think that the heroines didn't return their feelings. Nerissa and Marisa are a very quiet characters, shy, aloof, always in a state dream in their worlds.
I didn't like that Ben loved and married the OW before and beat the OM to a pulp because of the cheater. Why they always fall for a worthless slut. But I do believe that their love/obsession for the heroine is much more powerful than what they felt for the former OW. Nerissa and Marisa will never be second choice for any OW. In this the H is the character that was uncertain, and in some ways he is vulnerable and not so sure about himself if the h love him enough or at all. In 'Infatuation' the story is different, but in the 3 books, it is the few times that I find that the Hs's love/obsession is bigger for the heroine. Nerissa has the same characteristics than Marisa, but she is more attractive while Marisa is more mousy.
I don't know how Ben could think that Nerissa would sleep with her half-brother, it is not in her nature and she was a virgin when they married. It is a stupid thing, if she had wanted to make love to the OM, she could have had before she knew that they are related.
The sexual pull that Ben had over Nerissa is like all the other heroines, that 99% of them just have sexual desire for the Hs. It shouldn't happen in this way, Nerissa should have take time to feel the desire but she felt for him at first sight, not an animal magnetism like she thought it was, but for him the H, maybe like all the hs they love only the Hs that they are attracted to. But I do believe that if Phillip wasn't her brother she would never have met Ben, or even if she have met Ben she would choose Phillip to a life partner and she would have been happy with him, and in some sub-level of conscience she would block Ben from her mind. But knowing Ben he still would stalk her. Marisa from 'Abduction' didn't feel the pull of the attraction for the H until the end. Both Nerissa and Marisa can be stubborn and defiant towards their Hs even if they fear them. I can relate to Marisa's coldness and aloofness and I understand her. Nerissa has more feelings, she is more human. Ben and Gabriel took one look at their heroines and wanted/fell in love, Luke from Infatuation didn't even see Judith the first and second time that he met her and never remember that they met before, just at the third time when he really had a conversation with her he started to paying attention to everything she did.
Ben was a relentless character with strong opinions and more intelligence than other Hs, and he did care for justice, did care for his clients, although he was blind to treachery between his ex and his former friend, in this case he was blind as a bat. And I don't know why he thought that it was his former friend that made the first move and not the cheater OW. How could a strong man like him let the bitch humble his pride and make him squirm? If it was before he caught the cheating, he was a dumb for not divorcing her before, at least he was smart enough not to let her take him to the cleaners. And he was blind that he never knew that his secretary was attracted to him, or he chose to be blind in this case. The OW must have a high salary (that she didn't deserve) because her tastes are expensive or she had very generous lovers like all the OWs had, a rich fool. How could Ben not see the way his secretary treated his wife? Even the most intelligent of man can be dumb/blind about the other woman. Ben can read Nerissa's mind and discover her secrets but Gabriel from 'Abduction' couldn't do the same with Marisa. Marisa is more cool and aloof than Nerissa, I think the only person that Marisa truly loved was her son, maybe she just started to want/love for the H at the end, while Nerissa had her love and caring for her auntie and uncle/father and Phillip. And Nerissa did want her husband touch but Marisa didn't. Ben and Gabriel they pampered their hs unlike other Hs that only pamper their mistresses. I hope that he didn't pamper his ex like he did to Nerissa, it would look meaningless the gestures if he did. He should be glad to what happened to his former friend and the ex because when he met Nerissa he was free. Altough I suspect even if he were married he would still be obsessed by Nerissa, but I'm not sure if he would have divorced the OW without cause.
I didn't think that Nerissa and Ben had a whirlwind courtship, he was very patient, it took like 9 months to get her to marry him. At the beginning of the book, I can see that he was an affectionate husband that can't keep his eyes or hands off his wife. And he was caring towards in some parts of the book even if he was distraught because of her feelings for Phillip, when he was in a coma. It isn't only desire, if it was only desire he wouldn't have had the patience for the courtship, it was love and obsession, and I truly believed that he didn't even look at other women. And I think that it was pride that make him say that he wanted a MOC. If he wanted her love and that she should forget Phillip he should have find other ways, not saying that he only wanted her body, not her heart, in truth he wanted her body, heart, soul and mind. Although her body loved and recognized Ben her mind wasn't, it was in the past with Phillip in a dream world.
One of the few things that I didn't like it, like all her Hs, because of desperation, rage he wanted to hit the heroine and he shook her so hard like a rag doll, at least he didn't slap her like some of her Hs and he never called Nerissa a bitch or insulted her like most of her Hs, in Infatuation the H also didn't insul the heroine, and I didn't like that sometimes he wanted to kill her too. And I didn't like that he was forcing on her to have sex in her relatives home to replace her happy memories from the past. The closeness that she had with Phillip while growing up in the same home should get them to behave like brother and sister, but they felt different towards each other, even if they were really cousins it was very close, almost incestuous relationship because they were cousins in first degree. And we never will know who was the to blame, if it was her father or her mother. But her father has 2 strikes against him, he was married and was older. And he did got the girl pregnant after his wife gave birth to Phillip, Grace almost died giving birth to him and he seduced a teeanager. I can understand Ben's contempt for him because this lapse, but in some way Ben should be glad, because of what happened, Nerissa came to the world. And both her family despite everything that happened loved her and so did Ben. And Ben still bitter towards his ex and former friend, it meant that he cared his for his ex deeply at time. Would he wanted them back without Nerissa in his life? And what the old doctor saying excuses for her father was a bullshit, that the men feel lonely and depressed after the birth of the child, what about the depression of the mother? In this case she almost died giving birth, she is the only one that got the pains and betrayal from her husband, the only person that it's supposed to be on her side and he wasn't. And I don't know why Nerissa and her auntie put the blame on Nerissa's mother when she was just a teenager. Women should stick together in these cases instead of doing the reverse. The poor thing died young at the age of 21. But I did like that Grace accept Nerissa as her own child and she was a good, forgiving and wise woman. And I do believe that Nerissa's mother left because she loved her sister and her brother-in-law or at least had feelings for him. I hope that in 3 years that she lived after, that she was happy with a man that loved her. Such a short life, such a waste.
And Ben was right putting the blame on the uncle, and this is one of the few times that the man didn't get wrong. Nerissa's mother didn't even knew she was pregnant because she was a innocent. Ben stated that if the man really loved the witfe he would't never betray the woman that he loved. I'm thinking what would happen if he were still with his ex-wife and Nerissa came in scene. Would he love Nerissa or would he contain his obsession? In 'Abduction' the Hs wife died, but he knew she was a cheater, but he loved her at the beginning of their marriage. I'm curious if in both of the books to know what would happen if the OWs are still in their lifes.
The feelings that Phillip had for Nerissa was changed after he came back from the coma, I think one of the reasons is because the nurse Courtney who he felt that he knew her somewhere, it wasn't only because of her voice, I think.
I don't know how Nerissa's sister-in-law was still friends with the cheat that betrayed her brother and was awful to Nerissa.
And in some way it was very sudden when the heroine wake up that she didn't love Phillip anymore in that way after having a long and honest conversation with Ben. But for all his obsession/love for the heroine I think he gave up soon on her. If she didn't go after him, did he would return to her? How long would it take? And how could he be laughing with his secretary after leaving the woman that he loved? And the OW more than hinted that she wanted his house and was greed to get it, how could he be deaf and blind to her. Hell the OW even have the same car than Ben, how could she afford it, a secretary wasn't an business executive. I do believe that he never slept with his secretary and were never interested in her and he stated that he never ever kissed the woman. And I think he was one of the few guys that don't like to mix pleasure with business, it is not in his character.
And in a way Nerissa was a strong h, she knew that sex wasn't everything, if Ben didn't love her she would leave him. And the threat to chose between him and her family he made was an empt threat he would never let her go.
In Secret Obsession, Abdcution, and Infatuation, the Hs loves the heroines regardless if they are beautiful or not, it wasn't important. In Infatuation the H stated that he would love the heroine even if she were ugly because he love her mind, her humor and mostly of all I think he fell for her laughing/smiling eyes.
The title was applied for the obession of the two main characters.

[DamsonDreamer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The best part of this incestuous mess is the H, Ben. So if an icy hot barrister Dominant is your thing there are some killer lines and scenes. Man is he Mr Sexually Possessive.
Eg, when he hunts her down to her family home up north and she wakes from an afternoon nap to find him sitting watching her from across the room. First words out of his mouth? "So you hurried back to him" closely followed by "Have you been sleeping with him?" When she tries to leave the bedroom to get dressed and he insists on her doing it in front of him. Why? "Because I know you don't want to." I mean he is on her - and in her 😂 - VERY enthusiastically and
... er...dominantly. Teeters on the brink of dubious consent (topples over really) and there's a couple of shakings and I could hit/kill yous (which no one should be putting up with IRL ofc). But if you read vintage Charlotte Lamb you know what you're gonna get. Anyhow, those kinds of passionate scenes are like little jewels on a beige outfit. So much dull farmhouse domestic stuff. So much repetition. And the constant referring to the aunt and 'uncle' who raised her by full name - John Thornton this, Grace Thornton that - was really jarring. I am guessing CL's trying to emphasize the hidebound,rural nature of the community where long family histories and the good name of the family count for a lot but it felt dated (unsurprisingly). A lot of it felt a bit padded and the end was very telling not showing epilogue.
.

[Shan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A small bookstore had a clearance sale last week. It was mostly Charlotte Lamb's harlequin series. They were all so cheap. I think I might have bought them all. lol. No regrets with this one. I loved it. Will binge read her books for the next few weeks.

[Roub · Rating 4 out of 5]

i read this one quite some time ago n remembered liking it very much ! seems i 4got 2 rate it. nerissa confused brotherly affections wid love

[Tianna✸loves books✸]

Seriously I was trying to like this book. But it bored me. I tried, tried and tried. I was feeling zero connection with the MC. The H is at least bearable. But the h is stupid dumb ass.
Yawn........

[ANGELIA · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, this was pretty over-the-top, would have been great for a soap opera! The incest vibes aren't for everyone, and planning to marry your first cousin doesn't sit well with me, despite it being legal in the UK. (Who wants a kid with a Habsburg chin???) And the whole "marry for lust, not love" between the H and h (even though they were both denying their true feelings, especially the h) isn't one of my favs. Still, it's entertaining reading.

That poor aunt! She was a strong woman with a good heart, and had way too much thrown at her, like a son in a coma after what might have been a suicide attempt (never verified), his falling in love with his half-sister, her own sister's betrayal of her by sleeping with her husband, and (worst of all) her husband sleeping with her 17-year-old sister while his wife had just given birth to his son!! (And no, I don't think his possibly feeling neglected by the newborn a good excuse to get in his teenage sister-in-law's panties, however much she may have wanted to remove them for him.) And to top it off, she ends up raising their "love" (make that "lust") child, after sis croaks and her hubby (a lovesick fool, whose love didn't extend to his stepdaughter) dumps the little girl (the h) on her. Unbelievable!!! This woman should have been canonized!! (I was glad when she later admitted she gave both those cheaters a bit of Hell at first and wasn't sure she wanted to stay married to Mr. Crummy. Then she determined not to be bogged down by anger and let it go.)

As for the H and h: they both had relationship issues. The h, growing up in the isolated Northumberland moors with her aunt, "uncle", and "cousin", made an ideal haven out of that life and got too attached to it, as well as to the OM/cousin, who she never would have known was actually her half-brother if they hadn't fallen in love (forcing his parents to tell them the whole story). And they probably wouldn't have fallen in love if they had been around more young people, instead of being so isolated and relying too much on each other. When the truth is told, the h leaves for London, where she meets the H at a party and soon has to deal with sexual feelings she never felt for the OM/cousin/half-brother (what a mess!), which should have told her something.

As for the H, his pride had been badly damaged (as well as his ability to trust) when he caught his first wife and his good friend in bed together. (It was a double betrayal for him.) After that, it was strictly sex between him and other women, until he met the h and decided he wanted to go the respectable route and raise a family. They each told their sad stories and agreed there was to be no talk of love, as they were both through with all that.

Yeah, right!

Ironically, it's just at the point when the h realizes that the feelings she had for the OM were more a fantasy, a way to try and hang on to the idyll of childhood (an obsession with her, hence the title), and that she had loved the H all along (which explained her intense desire for him, which she told herself was just the horndogs), the H decided he'd had it with their sham marriage and her continued fixation on the OM and walked out on her. (This happened right after the OM came out of his coma, and ironically, it was that event that made both the h and OM realize their love was no longer romantic, but brother/sister, a bit of a stretch, don't you think???)

I really wanted to see the h grovel for all the nonsense she filled her head with, and the H give her a tough time for a while, but instead the author threw the OW into the mix (or token OW, as the H had no romantic/sexual interest in her, however she may have felt about him) to further confuse the h, who then (despite a long talk with her aunt about how pride can mess things up) kept her feelings of love to herself, afraid of being rejected, and waited until the H confessed to those feelings first. (I really wanted it to be the other way around.)

The last seen went over-the-top hokey, but it was still kind of sweet, like something from an old movie.

It has more than its share of flaws, but still worth checking out.

[Anuradha · Rating 2 out of 5]

More of a sordid mess than a love story, with pride as the underlying theme.

The girl is in love with her half-brother. Both are keen to marry. Their parents break the unholy mess upon them being siblings only then. They recoil and their love is shattered !!!

She runs away. Meets the hero, a barrister. They find each other 'sexually compatible'. So they get married. !!!

The husband knows about the whole 'my lover is actually my brother' business. And he is disgusted with the whole thing, quite rightly so. Every time the hero gets into enquiry mode about her past relationship, she says "You know I haven't had a relationship with the OM after getting married to you". Does that mean, they did have a sexual relationship before??? Yuck, disgusting @%^&@%#

He keeps trying to pull her out of that mess. She keeps wanting to jump right back in. Especially because the poor brother is in a coma now, as a result of an accident.

However distrustful and disrespectful they act towards each other, their sexual relationship is kicking and thriving. Is it even possible , I wonder !?! Or it is a theory strictly for the HP alternate universe!?

Abruptly the author puts a brake on the old love and suddenly portrays the heroine to be in love with her husband. May be she just realized, harping on the old love business is not going to lead to a HEA even in 1000 pages. Time to reboot...

Now the girl is in love with the husband. The guy is suspicious when she comes back to him. Then she displays some typical wifey jealousy in connection to his secretary. That builds his hopes a little. Then of course comes the mighty confession.

The husband saying "I have been crazy for you ever since, but you dint care a damn". The wife saying "I thought I was in love with my half brother but all the while I was in love with you" !#$#$@#@#@## How does this sort of nonsense even work ??

The author decidedly wades into grey territory in this tale, in the pretext of analyzing human frailties, pride, fear of social recrimination, etc.

Where is the pride then, you might ask. The parents who hide the whole mess from the kids, because of bad name in society. The hero who conceals his love for his wife out of pride. Blah, Blah. Nope, doesn't ring true to the premise. Pride could have been portrayed in an infinitely better story.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a northerner I was deeply offended by this book 🤣

I realise this was written in the 90's and things are different now and some of the stuff isn't acceptable but I accept that it was at least somewhat okay in the 90's.

I read this because a friend's grandma has a library full of these bodice rippers and we dared her to pick one at random and read some, at that point I was hooked and had to read it, thankfully it was only 99p.

For less than 200 pages it dragged soemthing chronic. I was constantly laughing at how bad the writing was and i gave my friend a play by play of the points throughout the book.

This book was all over the place with drama, it had grammatical errors through out, mostly missing spaces between words. I highlighted some of the stuff i found weird or just odd, like...
-'The unmistakeable sound of a taci throbbing away outside.' WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? How does a taxi sound different to other cars? How does a car throb?
-"Durham is almost Scotland, you know." God i was hoping this was a joke... We aren't that close to scotland (this is one reason as a northerner I am deeply upset)
-'Was he ever going to wake up?' Maybe I'm being a bit cold hearted but seriously its only been 4 days!
-Our MC hasn't slept well her aunt says this... "Your eyes look like holes in a white paper bag." I don't even know what to say about this except for WTF?!
-Comparing Philip who is bandaged for a car accident and head injury to an Egyptian mummy?!
-"I was amazed when my told me I'd been out of it for so many days" DUDE, it has ONLY been 5 days thats not long at all!

There was so much wrong with some of the situations, the first sex scene is essentially him forcefully kissing her until she says yes... That ain't okay. The next almost scene was essentially her husband is about to force her... That is definitely NOT okay in any way - thank god for interrupting dogs. It took far too long for them to explain what her uncle had done, it was long and drawn out and it was obvious that he'd had an affair.

Most of the language used was weird and explaining it away as being northern is offensive as hell. Also calling your aunt and uncle slow, country people is not good.

I laughed so hard when she realised she loved Ben only for him to give her an ultimatum and walk out 🤣

[Shivani Singh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nerissa is married to Ben. Both of them desire each other and have a good *** life. But all is not hunky dory.

Ben is intensely jealous. He knows Nerissa thinks of her half brother when she is with him in bed as also all the other time. As he tells her at the end, he hurts to see Nerissa sleep walking through life. He is crazy about her. She barely notices him.

There is a backstory. Nerissa’s father slept with the seventeen year old younger sister of his own wife.

His wife had just given birth to their son Philip.
Nerissa was the result of that affair. Or one night stand.
Nerissa’s mother died and her husband dumped the child with its real father and his wife (her aunt).

The two half siblings grew up not knowing that they were more closely related than cousins.

When they wanted to marry each other the family secret was revealed to them and so Nerissa had left the farm where she grew up.

She went to London which seemed alien and scary and there she met Ben who was an embittered divorcee because his first wife had slept with his best friend and left him for that man. Double betrayal.

These two scarred people decide to get married.

Ben has of course fallen for her. He deduces the whole family secret and still wants to marry her.

Anyway. The book starts with Nerissa rushing off to Yorkshire? because a phone call comes informing her that the half brother has crashed his car and is comatose.

Ben follows her.

Scenes where Ben threatens her and forces himself on her and gets angry she is worrying about Philip.

There isn’t much in the way of light hearted happenings.

The feel of the story is quite heavy and terribly sad and real.

The end is pleasant.

No fireworks.

She and Ben have a baby boy.

There wasn’t enough spark between the hero and heroine. That’s what I felt. All her feelings were centred on Philip the half brother till the end.

It seemed too real. The intensity of love for the other man and then settling for the hero.

That was my takeaway from this story.

Not one of my favourites for future rereads.

[Nightwitch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Talk about your old school Harlequin: basically every argument ends with the hero initiating - well, I guess we're supposed to call it "sex" but it's the kind with punishing kisses and the heroine wailing "No!" (she's always wailing it, I don't know why) until her body betrays her and she can only sob the hero's name etc. Given that the hero and heroine in this book are married this is even more annoying than usual. The heroine's big secret is relatively easy to figure out but the Other Woman drama is minimal, thank God, and there's the usual Big! Giant! Emotions! and some good groveling towards the end.

[Bea Tea · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a bonkers melodrama it's fine, but as a romance it's a hard fail from me. Every now and again I'll get to the end of a book by authors like Lamb or Reid and all I can think is 'well your relationship is doomed'. Not once do I feel the frisson of romantic excitement, the thrill of people falling in love. It's just relentless unhappiness. I just don't buy a happy ever after here - it's two miserable people with a TON of issues who are aggressively in lust with each other... and then apropos of nothing they are suddenly 'in love' about 3 pages from the end.

Don't even get me started on the 'other man' stuff - it skeeved me out no end.

[Anooja · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charlotte Lamb is one of my favourite authors in the HP Land. And Secret Obsession sure surprised me, it was definitely different from the usual type. While predictable and we get to guess the storyline pretty early, it's the well written main characters that keeps you invested. I liked Ben and even though Nerissa was spineless initially I did start liking her flawed self towards the end.

[May · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is great if you’re doing a book challenge for an 80’s romcom and trying to find the absolute most insane and cringy book. If that’s your goal, 5 stars! This book will have you saying things like “oh wow, is that legal?”, “surely that’s not what the author meant…. Omg. It was”, and “I feel like my eyes are burning”.