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Secrets & Sins / Hearts of Fire #5
Scandals and Secrets
Dark secrets, forbidden desires, scandalous discoveries...
Our glittering new six-part saga set in Australia continues. This, and every novel in the set, features a gripping romance that stands by itself, as the passions, scandals and hopes that exist between two fabulously rich families are revealed. But you'll also find yourself hooked throughout the series, as Gemma Smith searches for the secret of her true identity and fights for ruthless seducer Nathan Whitmore's love....
Celeste Campbell had lived on her hatred of Byron Whitmore for twenty years. Revenge was sweet--until news reached her that Byron was considering remarriage. Suddenly she found she could no longer deny all those long-buried feelings for him. Worse, she knew she wouldn't stop at desire! Nathan, however, had convinced himself that was exactly where Gemma's feelings for him ended. Though when Gemma overheard him talking with his ex-wife, Lenore, as if they were lovers, she knew for certain just how much she hail always really cared about Nathan...
Our glittering new six-part saga set in Australia continues. This, and every novel in the set, features a gripping romance that stands by itself, as the passions, scandals and hopes that exist between two fabulously rich families are revealed. But you'll also find yourself hooked throughout the series, as Gemma Smith searches for the secret of her true identity and fights for ruthless seducer Nathan Whitmore's love....
Celeste Campbell had lived on her hatred of Byron Whitmore for twenty years. Revenge was sweet--until news reached her that Byron was considering remarriage. Suddenly she found she could no longer deny all those long-buried feelings for him. Worse, she knew she wouldn't stop at desire! Nathan, however, had convinced himself that was exactly where Gemma's feelings for him ended. Though when Gemma overheard him talking with his ex-wife, Lenore, as if they were lovers, she knew for certain just how much she hail always really cared about Nathan...
185 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
15 people are currently reading
124 people want to read
About the author
Miranda Lee
816 books236 followersMaureen Mary was born on 1945 at Port Macquarie, a popular seaside town on the Mid-North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, and is the youngest of four children. Her sister was the novelist Wendy Brennan (Emma Darcy). Her father was a country school teacher and brilliant sportsman. Her mother was a talented dressmaker. When Miranda was ten, her father was transferred to Gosford, another coastal town in the countryside, much closer to Sydney. After leaving her convent school, she briefly studied the cello before moving to Sydney, where she embraced the emerging world of computers. Her career as a programmer ended after she married, had three daughters and bought a small acreage in a semi-rural community. Following this, she attempted greyhound training, as well as horse and goat breeding, but was left dissatisfied.
Miranda yearned to find a creative career from which she could earn money. When her sister suggested writing romances, it seemed like a good idea. She could do it at home, and it might even be fun! It took a decade of trial and error before her first romance, After the Affair, was accepted and published. At that time, Miranda, her husband Tony, and her three daughters had moved back to the Central Coast, where they could enjoy the sun and the surf lifestyle once again. Not long into her writing career, Miranda committed herself to writing a six-book series entitled, The Hearts of Fire, with a deadline of just nine short months. Bravely, her husband left his executive position to stay home and support Miranda’s writing career. He learned to cook and to clean, two invaluable household skills. Numerous successful stories followed, each embodying Miranda’s trademark style: pacy and sexy rhythms; passionate, real-life characters; and enduring, memorable story lines. She has one credo when writing romances: Don’t bore the reader! Millions of fans world-wide agree she never does.
Miranda was the sister of the late author, Emma Darcy.
Miranda yearned to find a creative career from which she could earn money. When her sister suggested writing romances, it seemed like a good idea. She could do it at home, and it might even be fun! It took a decade of trial and error before her first romance, After the Affair, was accepted and published. At that time, Miranda, her husband Tony, and her three daughters had moved back to the Central Coast, where they could enjoy the sun and the surf lifestyle once again. Not long into her writing career, Miranda committed herself to writing a six-book series entitled, The Hearts of Fire, with a deadline of just nine short months. Bravely, her husband left his executive position to stay home and support Miranda’s writing career. He learned to cook and to clean, two invaluable household skills. Numerous successful stories followed, each embodying Miranda’s trademark style: pacy and sexy rhythms; passionate, real-life characters; and enduring, memorable story lines. She has one credo when writing romances: Don’t bore the reader! Millions of fans world-wide agree she never does.
Miranda was the sister of the late author, Emma Darcy.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
August 11, 2019
Ugh squared.
Two themes at work in this epic trainwreck.
Lust
And
The characters:
Celeste, a heroine who has acted the slut with boy toys for decades and is now hurt that the love of her life thinks she’s a slut with young boy toys. She happens to be Gemma's biological mother.
Byron, the toxic POS that had sex with Celeste when she was 17 (he was 27) then marries her mean sister. Then has sex with her while married to her evil sister, as in broke his marriage vows, and puts all the blame on Mame, I mean Celeste that he's supposedly loved all these years. Oh, he’s a keeper. He's poor dumb, busty Gemma's daddy.
Gemma, a heroine so dumb she marries the horrible Nathan then befriends the even worse Damian, the unknowing Uncle who lusts after her. Yay, incest. Just waiting for that. Lucky girl. She has Nathan as a husband, and the toxic two as parental units. Better that she was raised bywolves the man that abused and raped her mother. She thinks her much older and suave husband has been having an affair with his first wife because....please refer to "so dumb".
Nathan, a hero so foul rapes his stupid Gemma then throws a mega pity party with cocktails because he wronged his wife, or did his wife wrong him. The music and dancing at the P. Party is so loud it’s drowning everything else out. Oh yeah, he kept her parents' identity from his beloved and very young wife knowing how important it was because he is a horse’s ass.
How do we know it’s love?
After decades of hate, spite and vitriol on both sides, Celeste cries and it’s true love again for both. All is forgiven. Byron really loved her all along, and did I mention she’s been celibate all these years. The gigolos were just a smoke screen.
As for Nathan and Gemma, well...he raped her. Overcome with jealousy he raped her which means love. At least by the standards of Hearts of Fire. She's angry for about five minutes then is on her knees begging for a second chance the next day even though she is innocent of the affair and it shouldn't matter anyway.
I will say this, nausea, teeth gritting and stomach churning aside, this series is hard to look away from. Like a car engulfed in flames on the freeway.
One more book to go.
Two themes at work in this epic trainwreck.
Lust
And
The characters:
Celeste, a heroine who has acted the slut with boy toys for decades and is now hurt that the love of her life thinks she’s a slut with young boy toys. She happens to be Gemma's biological mother.
Byron, the toxic POS that had sex with Celeste when she was 17 (he was 27) then marries her mean sister. Then has sex with her while married to her evil sister, as in broke his marriage vows, and puts all the blame on Mame, I mean Celeste that he's supposedly loved all these years. Oh, he’s a keeper. He's poor dumb, busty Gemma's daddy.
Gemma, a heroine so dumb she marries the horrible Nathan then befriends the even worse Damian, the unknowing Uncle who lusts after her. Yay, incest. Just waiting for that. Lucky girl. She has Nathan as a husband, and the toxic two as parental units. Better that she was raised by
Nathan, a hero so foul rapes his stupid Gemma then throws a mega pity party with cocktails because he wronged his wife, or did his wife wrong him. The music and dancing at the P. Party is so loud it’s drowning everything else out. Oh yeah, he kept her parents' identity from his beloved and very young wife knowing how important it was because he is a horse’s ass.
How do we know it’s love?
After decades of hate, spite and vitriol on both sides, Celeste cries and it’s true love again for both. All is forgiven. Byron really loved her all along, and did I mention she’s been celibate all these years. The gigolos were just a smoke screen.
As for Nathan and Gemma, well...he raped her. Overcome with jealousy he raped her which means love. At least by the standards of Hearts of Fire. She's angry for about five minutes then is on her knees begging for a second chance the next day even though she is innocent of the affair and it shouldn't matter anyway.
I will say this, nausea, teeth gritting and stomach churning aside, this series is hard to look away from. Like a car engulfed in flames on the freeway.
One more book to go.
August 22, 2018
Re Scandals and Secrets - Miranda Lee continues her Hearts of Fire series in this penultimate cliffhanger that finally reveals the deep, dark secrets of Gemma's and Byron Whitmore's past.
A word before I get on with the spoilerization. This book is EXTREMELY unusual for HPlandia in 1995. This book is a very thinly disguised exploration of using sex as a basis for power, domination and control of another person.
There is no 'lovemaking' in this book, ML doesn't use her very detailed sex scenes as a way to show a physical expression of a two people celebrating their love for one another. In this one, sex is a weapon and both the heroine and the hero use it try and force the other to submit to their will.
In an even rarer HPlandia event, it is the heroine, Celeste, who uses the old skool "forced seduction" technique to capture her true love, Byron. Celeste takes the classic HP Alpha H role in this and it is really Byron who is in the usual unicorn petting h role. (Not that Byron is a unicorn groomer, he is not, but it is very clear that he is also no match for Celeste.)
Then, just to balance out the scales with a little more old skool HP H non pcness - the secondary couple Nathan and Gemma- have a scene of flat out rape. In an even more surprising twist, the rape is actually inferred to be a kindness on Nathan's part - because in his quest to assert his control and power over Gemma he considers sodomizing her.
That is absolutely shocking for the HP standards of the time and I am surprised ML got away with it. (Tho it is written euphemistically enough that less worldly HP voyagers may not catch it right off the bat.) So be warned before reading this, the sex scenes border and then slip over into degrading acts of abusive power and it is NOT the usual comfortable HP read with some Purple Passion Lurve Mojo.
Byron is abusive, Celeste is abusive and Nathan is a rapist. There is a ton of misogynistic discussion about why men can have multiple partners and why women cannot and what women who do really are. It is very ugly, it is very demeaning at points and unfortunately it is also very typical of real world attitudes in the 1990's.
So with the big warnings out of the way, on to the spoilerizations.
PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS IN THIS BOOK
GEMMA SMITH WHITMORE: when her father dies, Gemma discovers a magnificent black opal worth a small fortune, and an old photograph, which casts doubt on her real identity. In search of the truth, she goes to Sydney. Fate introduces her to Nathan Whitmore, who seduces then marries her.
NATHAN WHITMORE: adopted son of Byron Whitmore, Nathan suffered a troubled childhood and is now ruthless and emotionally controlled. Will he ever be the loving, caring husband Gemma craves?
CELESTE CAMPBELL: head of Campbell Jewels, her beauty and business acumen make her a woman not to be toyed with. But she carries a torch for an old love, and an inner pain borne of a terrible event twenty years ago ..
BYRON WHITMORE: patriarch of the Whitmore family, his unhappy, loveless marriage came to a tragic end. His ambition has always been greater than his sexual desire ...
DAMIAN CAMPBELL: younger brother of Celeste, Damian abuses his position in the Campbell Jewels empire. He is only interested in selfgratification and sexual pleasure ...
LENORE LANGTRY: ex-wife of Nathan Whitmore and mother to Kirsty, Lenore is a talented stage actress, who has found love with top Sydney lawyer, Zachary Marsden. Though she still also maintains a close relationship with Nathan.
AVA WHITMORE: Byron's much younger sister, Ava has blossomed and is now engaged to handsome Australian-Italian businessman, Vince Morelli.
Book five opens with Gemma bailing on the Lightning Ridge fact finding expedition she left Sydney to go on in the last book. She comes home early and overhears Nathan and Lenore in what sounds like a rehash of a one night stand from the night before.
(It is pretty obvious to the reader that Nathan and Lenore are going over play dialog, but really, I am amazed Nathan ever even got a staging with how corny the whole script was. I think Nathan's plays are popular cause he has his actors tying the nude actresses to beds and whips and things, so maybe ML should have called him a Performance Artist instead of a playwright.)
In classic HP h fashion, Gemma doesn't storm in and slap Lenore and start throwing vases, she just turns around runs off to the nearest hotel. In pain and tears, she leaves a message for Damian to call her.
We jump over to Celeste, currently demoting Damian from his important marketing position and installing a younger, but more competent man. We get a lot of backstory as Celeste reflects on her reputation as a cougar, take charge kinda woman.
We learn Celeste fell in love with 27 yr old Byron Whitmore at 17, they had an affair. This was after Celeste was raped by a teacher at her boarding school when she was 14. The men blamed Celeste, because with her pin up model looks, she was just asking for it and Celeste gets expelled.
Celeste's mum totally believed Celeste and put her in another school -but not without the advice that Celeste just looks like a tart, so she needs to suck it up, buttercup and deal with it. Celeste not only deals with it, she emphasizes it.
She dies her hair blonde, takes no prisoners in the relationship department and likes to be seen around town with handsome younger men who work for her - she doesn't actually sleep with them,
but she has no problems letting people think what they like. Celeste is also a better businesswoman than Byron, she keeps Campbell's at the top of the opal industry and Bryon can't hide his resentment.
Byron also can't hide the fact that he hates Celeste because she makes him want her, the tawdry seductive Jezebel tramp. When 17 yr old Celeste and cradle robbing pedophile 27 yr old Byron were a thing, Irene, Celeste's witch half sister, told Byron that Celeste slept with lots of older men, including staff at her school.
Byron instantly denounces Celeste, conveniently disregarding that he had more than few lady buffet samples on his own tray and three months later marries Irene, thinking he would get control of Campbells and add them to the Whitmore empire.
Celeste steals the Heart of Fire on the day of the wedding and when Celeste's father dies, Irene did not get any of the company and Celeste runs it all.
Then Celeste and Bryon have another go at the piking moment a few years later and again Bryon blames HIS adultery on Celeste's tarty, trampy seductive wiles, not his own moral bankruptcy.
Celeste wasn't trying it on, she was trying to figure her teenage self out and Byron is verbally nasty and shaming, unwilling to see that his wife is a solid batstick crazy bovine slime slurper and kicks Celeste out of the Whitmore side of the family.
In retaliation, Celeste takes the fabulous Heart of Fire opal, runs off with an immigrant opal miner and then realizes she is preggers with Bryon's baby. Hence the attempt to fool the opal miner into thinking the baby is his.
The opal miner is a sadist, so beatings and abuse commence. When the baby is born, the opal miner beats Celeste unconscious and so badly she has to have a hysterectomy. Then he takes the Heart of Fire and the baby and runs off. Celeste has spent years looking for her child and that is why she bid so much for the Heart of Fire, she is hoping it will lead her to her daughter.
Back in the present, Nathan shows up at Celeste's estate looking for Gemma. Celeste lets him look and then finds out that Gemma believes Nathan cheated on her with Lenore when Damian calls to see if he can bring Gemma home.
Celeste decides to give Bryon a heads up on the situation and that phone call, combined with Gemma tying on a Captain consult, leads to inebriated forced seductions of Bryon. In retaliation Bryon does his own version of forced seduction fellatio with Celeste.
The two of them contemplate their next sex act power play while Byron also tries to find out why Celeste can't have children-as if it is really any of his business when all he can do is berate the woman he can't keep his hands off of.
Meanwhile, Damian brings Gemma to Celeste's home. Damian is into all kinds of kink, so he plans to roofie Gemma and have his way with her. That plan is foiled when Celeste keeps blocking Damian's nocturnal wanderings.
Gemma wakes up unmolested the next day and heads over to Damien's room looking for some aspirin for a headache. Nathan breaks into Celeste's estate and finds Gemma in what he thinks is a compromising situation. Even tho Damian is nowhere in evidence, he assumes that Gemma got her self seduced and cheated on him.
So he throws Gemma face first on the bed and considers alternative entry positions before raping her. Nathan runs off in horror at his actions, Gemma is in shock, Celeste is furious and big discussions about assaults vs marital rights are begun.
Gemma is clearly quickly coming to accept Nathan's seriously wrong actions, Celeste wants to see Nathan punished, but Gemma is still blinded by the HP fallacy that the greater the rape, the greater the buried love and really, Nathan probably feels more horrible than she does.
Celeste quickly determines that Gemma needs to get away, so when Gemma wants to go, she tells her she will help her. What is more concerning is Gemma thinks Damian is this wonderful friend and can't see that Damian is determined to abuse her more than Nathan did.
Celeste forces Gemma to not reveal her return to Lightning Ridge in the hopes of keeping Damian away from the vulnerable young woman.
Byron decides that he and Celeste can have some dirty afternoons and nights on the sneaking around side, but Celeste puts the nix on that - she doesn't hide her light under a bushel and if Byron wants an affair, he can own it publicly.
Byron asks Celeste to bring Gemma back to Belleview so Lenore can explain the play dialog incident and then we get the worst advice ever, (but unfortunately always,) delivered to an HP h - if she really loves him, she must fight for her man. Gemma decides to contemplate the situation, but she does believe she needs to talk to Nathan.
Byron makes a lot tarty tramp comments to Celeste and then he tries a forced seduction of his own. Celeste isn't giving in again and when Byron won't quit with the gropey assault, she totally knocks him on his hiney and walks out.
Nathan and Gemma's big confrontation is up next, Byron delivers Gemma to Nathan's place and she explains about the really cheesy dialogue mixup. Nathan accuses her of having and affair with Damian and then tells her they are over.
Gemma tries the HP matyrdom sainthood act and tells Nathan she forgives him for his violence, but ML tells us that Nathan is so appalled at his behavior, the only thing he can do is drive Gemma away. We finally find out that Nathan's investigator found out that Gemma is Celeste's stolen daughter and Nathan deliberately lied and now admits it.
That puts the kibosh on any further forgiveness from Gemma until the next book, so we flip back over to Byron and Celeste.
Gemma and Celeste have a lovely emotional discovery parental moment and Celeste reveals that Bryon is her father, the past is explained and now it is time for Celeste and Byron to wrap up their romance and get themselves hooked up.
Celeste goes to Bryon, explains her backstory and Bryon admits that he really has always loved Celeste. He distrusts love because Celeste's father was married to Byron's mother before Bryon's father seduced her and impregnated her.
The pregnancy broke the marriage up and Byron grew up in knowing he was the product of a scandalous affair and when Celeste appeared on the scene, Bryon thought history might repeat itself or something.
(Which of course it did, but Celeste had more character than either Byron or Irene, Byron's wife and decided to take care of herself while Byron just put his head in the sand and ignored everything while insisting that everyone else suffer Irene's abuse.)
Whatever, Byron kinda sorta makes a halfhearted apology and claims he has turned over a new leaf and Celeste just wants him, so they get engaged and decide to sell their respective estates and buy a new place together, equal partners in life and love for their long awaited HEA.
Next up, the sixth and final book of the Hearts of Fire series - Nathan and Gemma's story comes full circle - but will Damian finally get his way and how far is Gemma willing to go in her quest to fight for her man?
A word before I get on with the spoilerization. This book is EXTREMELY unusual for HPlandia in 1995. This book is a very thinly disguised exploration of using sex as a basis for power, domination and control of another person.
There is no 'lovemaking' in this book, ML doesn't use her very detailed sex scenes as a way to show a physical expression of a two people celebrating their love for one another. In this one, sex is a weapon and both the heroine and the hero use it try and force the other to submit to their will.
In an even rarer HPlandia event, it is the heroine, Celeste, who uses the old skool "forced seduction" technique to capture her true love, Byron. Celeste takes the classic HP Alpha H role in this and it is really Byron who is in the usual unicorn petting h role. (Not that Byron is a unicorn groomer, he is not, but it is very clear that he is also no match for Celeste.)
Then, just to balance out the scales with a little more old skool HP H non pcness - the secondary couple Nathan and Gemma- have a scene of flat out rape. In an even more surprising twist, the rape is actually inferred to be a kindness on Nathan's part - because in his quest to assert his control and power over Gemma he considers sodomizing her.
That is absolutely shocking for the HP standards of the time and I am surprised ML got away with it. (Tho it is written euphemistically enough that less worldly HP voyagers may not catch it right off the bat.) So be warned before reading this, the sex scenes border and then slip over into degrading acts of abusive power and it is NOT the usual comfortable HP read with some Purple Passion Lurve Mojo.
Byron is abusive, Celeste is abusive and Nathan is a rapist. There is a ton of misogynistic discussion about why men can have multiple partners and why women cannot and what women who do really are. It is very ugly, it is very demeaning at points and unfortunately it is also very typical of real world attitudes in the 1990's.
So with the big warnings out of the way, on to the spoilerizations.
PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS IN THIS BOOK
GEMMA SMITH WHITMORE: when her father dies, Gemma discovers a magnificent black opal worth a small fortune, and an old photograph, which casts doubt on her real identity. In search of the truth, she goes to Sydney. Fate introduces her to Nathan Whitmore, who seduces then marries her.
NATHAN WHITMORE: adopted son of Byron Whitmore, Nathan suffered a troubled childhood and is now ruthless and emotionally controlled. Will he ever be the loving, caring husband Gemma craves?
CELESTE CAMPBELL: head of Campbell Jewels, her beauty and business acumen make her a woman not to be toyed with. But she carries a torch for an old love, and an inner pain borne of a terrible event twenty years ago ..
BYRON WHITMORE: patriarch of the Whitmore family, his unhappy, loveless marriage came to a tragic end. His ambition has always been greater than his sexual desire ...
DAMIAN CAMPBELL: younger brother of Celeste, Damian abuses his position in the Campbell Jewels empire. He is only interested in selfgratification and sexual pleasure ...
LENORE LANGTRY: ex-wife of Nathan Whitmore and mother to Kirsty, Lenore is a talented stage actress, who has found love with top Sydney lawyer, Zachary Marsden. Though she still also maintains a close relationship with Nathan.
AVA WHITMORE: Byron's much younger sister, Ava has blossomed and is now engaged to handsome Australian-Italian businessman, Vince Morelli.
Book five opens with Gemma bailing on the Lightning Ridge fact finding expedition she left Sydney to go on in the last book. She comes home early and overhears Nathan and Lenore in what sounds like a rehash of a one night stand from the night before.
(It is pretty obvious to the reader that Nathan and Lenore are going over play dialog, but really, I am amazed Nathan ever even got a staging with how corny the whole script was. I think Nathan's plays are popular cause he has his actors tying the nude actresses to beds and whips and things, so maybe ML should have called him a Performance Artist instead of a playwright.)
In classic HP h fashion, Gemma doesn't storm in and slap Lenore and start throwing vases, she just turns around runs off to the nearest hotel. In pain and tears, she leaves a message for Damian to call her.
We jump over to Celeste, currently demoting Damian from his important marketing position and installing a younger, but more competent man. We get a lot of backstory as Celeste reflects on her reputation as a cougar, take charge kinda woman.
We learn Celeste fell in love with 27 yr old Byron Whitmore at 17, they had an affair. This was after Celeste was raped by a teacher at her boarding school when she was 14. The men blamed Celeste, because with her pin up model looks, she was just asking for it and Celeste gets expelled.
Celeste's mum totally believed Celeste and put her in another school -but not without the advice that Celeste just looks like a tart, so she needs to suck it up, buttercup and deal with it. Celeste not only deals with it, she emphasizes it.
She dies her hair blonde, takes no prisoners in the relationship department and likes to be seen around town with handsome younger men who work for her - she doesn't actually sleep with them,
but she has no problems letting people think what they like. Celeste is also a better businesswoman than Byron, she keeps Campbell's at the top of the opal industry and Bryon can't hide his resentment.
Byron also can't hide the fact that he hates Celeste because she makes him want her, the tawdry seductive Jezebel tramp. When 17 yr old Celeste and cradle robbing pedophile 27 yr old Byron were a thing, Irene, Celeste's witch half sister, told Byron that Celeste slept with lots of older men, including staff at her school.
Byron instantly denounces Celeste, conveniently disregarding that he had more than few lady buffet samples on his own tray and three months later marries Irene, thinking he would get control of Campbells and add them to the Whitmore empire.
Celeste steals the Heart of Fire on the day of the wedding and when Celeste's father dies, Irene did not get any of the company and Celeste runs it all.
Then Celeste and Bryon have another go at the piking moment a few years later and again Bryon blames HIS adultery on Celeste's tarty, trampy seductive wiles, not his own moral bankruptcy.
Celeste wasn't trying it on, she was trying to figure her teenage self out and Byron is verbally nasty and shaming, unwilling to see that his wife is a solid batstick crazy bovine slime slurper and kicks Celeste out of the Whitmore side of the family.
In retaliation, Celeste takes the fabulous Heart of Fire opal, runs off with an immigrant opal miner and then realizes she is preggers with Bryon's baby. Hence the attempt to fool the opal miner into thinking the baby is his.
The opal miner is a sadist, so beatings and abuse commence. When the baby is born, the opal miner beats Celeste unconscious and so badly she has to have a hysterectomy. Then he takes the Heart of Fire and the baby and runs off. Celeste has spent years looking for her child and that is why she bid so much for the Heart of Fire, she is hoping it will lead her to her daughter.
Back in the present, Nathan shows up at Celeste's estate looking for Gemma. Celeste lets him look and then finds out that Gemma believes Nathan cheated on her with Lenore when Damian calls to see if he can bring Gemma home.
Celeste decides to give Bryon a heads up on the situation and that phone call, combined with Gemma tying on a Captain consult, leads to inebriated forced seductions of Bryon. In retaliation Bryon does his own version of forced seduction fellatio with Celeste.
The two of them contemplate their next sex act power play while Byron also tries to find out why Celeste can't have children-as if it is really any of his business when all he can do is berate the woman he can't keep his hands off of.
Meanwhile, Damian brings Gemma to Celeste's home. Damian is into all kinds of kink, so he plans to roofie Gemma and have his way with her. That plan is foiled when Celeste keeps blocking Damian's nocturnal wanderings.
Gemma wakes up unmolested the next day and heads over to Damien's room looking for some aspirin for a headache. Nathan breaks into Celeste's estate and finds Gemma in what he thinks is a compromising situation. Even tho Damian is nowhere in evidence, he assumes that Gemma got her self seduced and cheated on him.
So he throws Gemma face first on the bed and considers alternative entry positions before raping her. Nathan runs off in horror at his actions, Gemma is in shock, Celeste is furious and big discussions about assaults vs marital rights are begun.
Gemma is clearly quickly coming to accept Nathan's seriously wrong actions, Celeste wants to see Nathan punished, but Gemma is still blinded by the HP fallacy that the greater the rape, the greater the buried love and really, Nathan probably feels more horrible than she does.
Celeste quickly determines that Gemma needs to get away, so when Gemma wants to go, she tells her she will help her. What is more concerning is Gemma thinks Damian is this wonderful friend and can't see that Damian is determined to abuse her more than Nathan did.
Celeste forces Gemma to not reveal her return to Lightning Ridge in the hopes of keeping Damian away from the vulnerable young woman.
Byron decides that he and Celeste can have some dirty afternoons and nights on the sneaking around side, but Celeste puts the nix on that - she doesn't hide her light under a bushel and if Byron wants an affair, he can own it publicly.
Byron asks Celeste to bring Gemma back to Belleview so Lenore can explain the play dialog incident and then we get the worst advice ever, (but unfortunately always,) delivered to an HP h - if she really loves him, she must fight for her man. Gemma decides to contemplate the situation, but she does believe she needs to talk to Nathan.
Byron makes a lot tarty tramp comments to Celeste and then he tries a forced seduction of his own. Celeste isn't giving in again and when Byron won't quit with the gropey assault, she totally knocks him on his hiney and walks out.
Nathan and Gemma's big confrontation is up next, Byron delivers Gemma to Nathan's place and she explains about the really cheesy dialogue mixup. Nathan accuses her of having and affair with Damian and then tells her they are over.
Gemma tries the HP matyrdom sainthood act and tells Nathan she forgives him for his violence, but ML tells us that Nathan is so appalled at his behavior, the only thing he can do is drive Gemma away. We finally find out that Nathan's investigator found out that Gemma is Celeste's stolen daughter and Nathan deliberately lied and now admits it.
That puts the kibosh on any further forgiveness from Gemma until the next book, so we flip back over to Byron and Celeste.
Gemma and Celeste have a lovely emotional discovery parental moment and Celeste reveals that Bryon is her father, the past is explained and now it is time for Celeste and Byron to wrap up their romance and get themselves hooked up.
Celeste goes to Bryon, explains her backstory and Bryon admits that he really has always loved Celeste. He distrusts love because Celeste's father was married to Byron's mother before Bryon's father seduced her and impregnated her.
The pregnancy broke the marriage up and Byron grew up in knowing he was the product of a scandalous affair and when Celeste appeared on the scene, Bryon thought history might repeat itself or something.
(Which of course it did, but Celeste had more character than either Byron or Irene, Byron's wife and decided to take care of herself while Byron just put his head in the sand and ignored everything while insisting that everyone else suffer Irene's abuse.)
Whatever, Byron kinda sorta makes a halfhearted apology and claims he has turned over a new leaf and Celeste just wants him, so they get engaged and decide to sell their respective estates and buy a new place together, equal partners in life and love for their long awaited HEA.
Next up, the sixth and final book of the Hearts of Fire series - Nathan and Gemma's story comes full circle - but will Damian finally get his way and how far is Gemma willing to go in her quest to fight for her man?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 3, 2017
Trigger warning for rape.
This series is bananas. Let's check in on our couple, Gemma and Nathan as their marriage in trouble continues to be . . . in trouble.
Gemma returns early from her trip to the Outback and overhears her husband and his ex talking about how the night before was "just sex" and they don't really love each other, but that his wife would never understand. The poor girl is horrified and runs away without confronting them. Since I've read more romance novels than Gemma, I knew right away that they were rehearsing lines from his play, but she didn't. She goes to a hotel and calls Nathan and tells him not to pick her up at the airport. She's leaving him.
The next day she can't decide what to do so she calls the snake (brother of the femme fatale)and he comes right over to her hotel. Luckily for her, she is too distraught for even a creep to seduce, so he take her to his family home where the femme fatale lives. The femme fatale is actually very nice to Gemma and warns her snake brother off. She also calls Nathan's father to tell him what Gemma thinks she overheard. (Nathan had been there earlier, thinking she had run to the snake directly and he told FF that he didn't know why Gemma was leaving him.) That night the snake gives Gemma a double dose of sleeping pills so he can rape her, but his sister is upset and walking the hallways and occasionally checking on Gemma. He decides he'll drug both of them the next night so he can have his prize.
When Gemma wakes up the next afternoon, she has a horrible headache and goes looking for aspirin - in the snake's bedroom. It is there that Nathan finds her in her nightgown. Gemma tries to explain that nothing happened with the snake, but Nathan is angry and rapes her. When he realizes what's he done, he leaves in agony and disgust and tells her she can have her divorce.
Gemma holds it together until femme fatale gets home from work. Femme fatale tells her she's been raped and she should divorce Nathan. Seems FF has a history of abuse and sexual assault (which she doesn't tell Gemma) so this is triggering for her.
Eventually Nathan's father calls and asks FF to bring Gemma to his home so the ex can tell Gemma the truth of what she had overheard. They do go. The ex shows Gemma the script and she realizes she was wrong. The ex urges her to make up with Nathan. Gemma decides to spend the night at Nathan's father's house. The next day Nathan's father takes her to Nathan. Gemma explains what she overheard and how the ex set her straight. Nathan still wants a divorce because he thinks she slept with snake. In retaliation he gives her the private eye report that explains who her mother is. Gemma is actually happy with her mother's identity since she has gotten to know her over the past week.
Have you guessed it yet?
It's femme fatale. The foreshadowing was there when the FF was thinking about the baby that had been stolen from her 20 years before and how she can't have any more children. There is also a lot of foreshadowing about the identity of the father. Spoiler - it wasn't the miner Gemma lived with.
So Gemma and Nathan are still estranged at the end of this book.
Our featured couple in this story are the Femme Fatale and Nathan's father. It is an enemies to lovers story, a secret baby story and a second chance story. Backstory of FF - when she was 14, she was raped by a male teacher at her boarding school. The headmistress didn't believe her and she was expelled. Luckily, her mother believed her and put her in a different school. At 17 she met Nathan's father who was 10 years older. They began a sexual affair. They were both smitten until the FF's older half sister got wind of it. She told NF that her sister slept around and he wasn't the only one. So he dropped FF and ended up marrying the sister - the psycho who made everyone's life miserable for the next 20 years. FF was so upset she stole the Heart of Fire from the safe the day of her sister's wedding.
Two years later the FF was visiting her half sister and NF. They ended up having sex and being caught by the half-sister. NF was so guilty and angry that he vowed to never have anything to do with FF again. FF then took up with a recent immigrant to Australia (the miner Gemma lived with for 20 years). When she realized she was pregnant with NF's baby, she decided to have sex with the immigrant and try to make a family with him. Unfortunately, the miner liked to have it rough and beat FF constantly. After the baby was born, the miner beat the FF so severely she would have died if a passerby hadn't found her. Then he stole the baby and the opal. The FF was hospitalized and had to have a hysterectomy. She spent years and all kinds of money to find her daughter.
The miner realized he couldn't sell the Heart of Fire without FF finding her daughter, so he forged a birth certificate and never sold the gem. That's why FF bought the gem - not to spite the other opal family, but to find her daughter.
The FF has lived an outrageous lifestyle to torture NF, since he was always very jealous and sexually obsessed with her. She was in pain, so she wanted to make him feel pain. NF, for his part, found it easier to view FF as an immoral jezebel rather than see his own culpability in their relationship. They begin a sexual affair (lots of explicit sex scenes) after NF demands to search her house, convinced Gemma is there with the snake.
First NF wants to keep his affair with FF a secret, but she won't have any of it. They later join forces to help Gemma. Eventually NF finds out he is Gemma's father. Now don't worry, kids. Nathan is adopted - Gemma is not married to her brother. But snake is Gemma's uncle so it's good he didn't get his rapey wish.
The story ends with Jade (the h from book two) coming over to meet her half sister and to hear the news that her father is marrying FF. Auntie Ava from the book four is there discussing her February wedding to her Italian fantasy man - the last set piece in the series, I would imagine. Gemma is daydreaming - realizing she could be pregnant from the rape and that she wants the baby and her complicated rapey husband. Oh, Gemma.
The women in this story discuss rape and sexual assault and consent. Some of these conversations would not be appreciated in 2017 -but I thought they were a good representation of the gamut of feelings and thoughts that occur after such an incident.
On to the last story!
This series is bananas. Let's check in on our couple, Gemma and Nathan as their marriage in trouble continues to be . . . in trouble.
Gemma returns early from her trip to the Outback and overhears her husband and his ex talking about how the night before was "just sex" and they don't really love each other, but that his wife would never understand. The poor girl is horrified and runs away without confronting them. Since I've read more romance novels than Gemma, I knew right away that they were rehearsing lines from his play, but she didn't. She goes to a hotel and calls Nathan and tells him not to pick her up at the airport. She's leaving him.
The next day she can't decide what to do so she calls the snake (brother of the femme fatale)and he comes right over to her hotel. Luckily for her, she is too distraught for even a creep to seduce, so he take her to his family home where the femme fatale lives. The femme fatale is actually very nice to Gemma and warns her snake brother off. She also calls Nathan's father to tell him what Gemma thinks she overheard. (Nathan had been there earlier, thinking she had run to the snake directly and he told FF that he didn't know why Gemma was leaving him.) That night the snake gives Gemma a double dose of sleeping pills so he can rape her, but his sister is upset and walking the hallways and occasionally checking on Gemma. He decides he'll drug both of them the next night so he can have his prize.
When Gemma wakes up the next afternoon, she has a horrible headache and goes looking for aspirin - in the snake's bedroom. It is there that Nathan finds her in her nightgown. Gemma tries to explain that nothing happened with the snake, but Nathan is angry and rapes her. When he realizes what's he done, he leaves in agony and disgust and tells her she can have her divorce.
Gemma holds it together until femme fatale gets home from work. Femme fatale tells her she's been raped and she should divorce Nathan. Seems FF has a history of abuse and sexual assault (which she doesn't tell Gemma) so this is triggering for her.
Eventually Nathan's father calls and asks FF to bring Gemma to his home so the ex can tell Gemma the truth of what she had overheard. They do go. The ex shows Gemma the script and she realizes she was wrong. The ex urges her to make up with Nathan. Gemma decides to spend the night at Nathan's father's house. The next day Nathan's father takes her to Nathan. Gemma explains what she overheard and how the ex set her straight. Nathan still wants a divorce because he thinks she slept with snake. In retaliation he gives her the private eye report that explains who her mother is. Gemma is actually happy with her mother's identity since she has gotten to know her over the past week.
Have you guessed it yet?
It's femme fatale. The foreshadowing was there when the FF was thinking about the baby that had been stolen from her 20 years before and how she can't have any more children. There is also a lot of foreshadowing about the identity of the father. Spoiler - it wasn't the miner Gemma lived with.
So Gemma and Nathan are still estranged at the end of this book.
Our featured couple in this story are the Femme Fatale and Nathan's father. It is an enemies to lovers story, a secret baby story and a second chance story. Backstory of FF - when she was 14, she was raped by a male teacher at her boarding school. The headmistress didn't believe her and she was expelled. Luckily, her mother believed her and put her in a different school. At 17 she met Nathan's father who was 10 years older. They began a sexual affair. They were both smitten until the FF's older half sister got wind of it. She told NF that her sister slept around and he wasn't the only one. So he dropped FF and ended up marrying the sister - the psycho who made everyone's life miserable for the next 20 years. FF was so upset she stole the Heart of Fire from the safe the day of her sister's wedding.
Two years later the FF was visiting her half sister and NF. They ended up having sex and being caught by the half-sister. NF was so guilty and angry that he vowed to never have anything to do with FF again. FF then took up with a recent immigrant to Australia (the miner Gemma lived with for 20 years). When she realized she was pregnant with NF's baby, she decided to have sex with the immigrant and try to make a family with him. Unfortunately, the miner liked to have it rough and beat FF constantly. After the baby was born, the miner beat the FF so severely she would have died if a passerby hadn't found her. Then he stole the baby and the opal. The FF was hospitalized and had to have a hysterectomy. She spent years and all kinds of money to find her daughter.
The miner realized he couldn't sell the Heart of Fire without FF finding her daughter, so he forged a birth certificate and never sold the gem. That's why FF bought the gem - not to spite the other opal family, but to find her daughter.
The FF has lived an outrageous lifestyle to torture NF, since he was always very jealous and sexually obsessed with her. She was in pain, so she wanted to make him feel pain. NF, for his part, found it easier to view FF as an immoral jezebel rather than see his own culpability in their relationship. They begin a sexual affair (lots of explicit sex scenes) after NF demands to search her house, convinced Gemma is there with the snake.
First NF wants to keep his affair with FF a secret, but she won't have any of it. They later join forces to help Gemma. Eventually NF finds out he is Gemma's father. Now don't worry, kids. Nathan is adopted - Gemma is not married to her brother. But snake is Gemma's uncle so it's good he didn't get his rapey wish.
The story ends with Jade (the h from book two) coming over to meet her half sister and to hear the news that her father is marrying FF. Auntie Ava from the book four is there discussing her February wedding to her Italian fantasy man - the last set piece in the series, I would imagine. Gemma is daydreaming - realizing she could be pregnant from the rape and that she wants the baby and her complicated rapey husband. Oh, Gemma.
The women in this story discuss rape and sexual assault and consent. Some of these conversations would not be appreciated in 2017 -but I thought they were a good representation of the gamut of feelings and thoughts that occur after such an incident.
On to the last story!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 23, 2016
This one was hard to read for me. Can't say I enjoyed this part at all.
February 25, 2018
4.5 🌟
What an explosive reunion story!
What an explosive reunion story!
November 18, 2011
ohh how could i forget this one,another wall banger,will not waste my time-energy by reviewing it just ignore it
Do Not Recommend it
Do Not Recommend it
June 12, 2019
I can't for the life of me figure out how this title, got 4 stars; much less how the entire series is so highly rated. The violence against women, the misogyny is revulting. Every woman, including the heroine, who disagrees with the hero is an immoral b***h and a liar. And the heroine side story, the only reason I bothered with this horrible series because I wanted to learn who Gemma's mother was, gets raped by her husband.
Yet instead of condeming or getting help for Gemma, the author focuses all of her time rationalizing the husband's actions and how he didn't really mean it, he was under pressure, and if Gemma had just trusted him he wouldn't have done it. This is just so foul I would give the book negative stars if I could.
I feel like perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised because this series has been one attack after another on women, and I guess this was just another esacalation in that theme. But how anyone could think that this is what a romance novel should be is beyond me.
Yet instead of condeming or getting help for Gemma, the author focuses all of her time rationalizing the husband's actions and how he didn't really mean it, he was under pressure, and if Gemma had just trusted him he wouldn't have done it. This is just so foul I would give the book negative stars if I could.
I feel like perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised because this series has been one attack after another on women, and I guess this was just another esacalation in that theme. But how anyone could think that this is what a romance novel should be is beyond me.
October 20, 2018
Half of book is about Gemma defending and making up excuses for her husband raping her. It's refered to as rape too but she 'understands why he did that'
Disgusting
Disgusting
October 8, 2007
08/18/05 #143
TITLE/AUTHOR: Scandals & Secrets by Miranda Lee
Rating: 4/B
GENRE/PUB DATE/# OF PAGES: Romance, 1995, 185 pgs
TIME/PLACE: 1990's, Australia
CHARACTERS: Celeste Campbell and Byron Whitmore
COMMENTS: #5 in the Hearts of Fire series. More secrets
from the past are divulged. Celeste has an outward dislike
for Byron to hide her true feelings that she has been hiding for 2 decades. Finally, Byron & Celeste are reunited.
TITLE/AUTHOR: Scandals & Secrets by Miranda Lee
Rating: 4/B
GENRE/PUB DATE/# OF PAGES: Romance, 1995, 185 pgs
TIME/PLACE: 1990's, Australia
CHARACTERS: Celeste Campbell and Byron Whitmore
COMMENTS: #5 in the Hearts of Fire series. More secrets
from the past are divulged. Celeste has an outward dislike
for Byron to hide her true feelings that she has been hiding for 2 decades. Finally, Byron & Celeste are reunited.
April 17, 2017
I'm not sure why I'm still reading this series. I mean the leading men basically (or sometimes it's even admitted) rape the women they're supposed to be in love with. Also not a huge fan of the macho culture the books seem to present as sexy. I usually have had a better taste, even as a teenager... I guess it's the nostalgy that keeps me reading. Well, there's only one book after this. Luckily.
April 21, 2012
Titre vf : Les amants terribles (saga Secrets et scandales 5)
September 29, 2013
Cool for Celeste, Byron and Gemma. Now Nathan must just sort his crap out...
April 19, 2017
Scandals & Secrets
This is part five of six in this series. Here as well as the other books is written in a soap opera form. Certain parts have HEA endings but not all at once. This story line would be great if it could be updated. And rereleased. I would but it.
This is part five of six in this series. Here as well as the other books is written in a soap opera form. Certain parts have HEA endings but not all at once. This story line would be great if it could be updated. And rereleased. I would but it.
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