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The Secret of You
Journalist Anna McCall has never understood people who collect things so, when she’s asked to interview local collector and eccentric, William Kitson, she isn’t exactly looking forward to the experience.
But she soon falls under the charm of Fox Hill Manor as well as its owner, even though she thinks there’s something very strange about the collection there. What exactly is William hiding in the unused wing of the manor house? And is it a story Anna could sell?
Set in the beautiful Cotswolds, The Secret of You is a novel about love, trust and antiques from the bestselling author of A Weekend with Mr Darcy and Wish You Were Here.
* * * * *
Praise for Victoria Connelly:
‘Great fun. A real page-turner.’ Andrew Davies, screenwriter of Pride and Prejudice
‘Sunshine on a rainy day. A charmingly written slice of warm-hearted escapism.’
Lisa Jewell
‘A lovely feel-good story.’ Katie Fforde
‘Victoria writes with a deliciously light touch and joyous enthusiasm.’ Fiona Walker
‘Fun, amusing and heart-warming.’ Trashionista
‘Warm-hearted, very sweet and it will charm your socks off.’ Novelicious
‘Victoria Connelly is an exceptional new voice in romantic fiction whose stories shine with warmth, humour and heart. The Perfect Hero is romantic comedy gold from a fast-rising star!’ Single Titles
‘Fun, flirty fantasy from the gifted pen of Victoria Connelly. A magical story with a gorgeous setting and more than enough handsome men to go around!”
Carole Matthews
But she soon falls under the charm of Fox Hill Manor as well as its owner, even though she thinks there’s something very strange about the collection there. What exactly is William hiding in the unused wing of the manor house? And is it a story Anna could sell?
Set in the beautiful Cotswolds, The Secret of You is a novel about love, trust and antiques from the bestselling author of A Weekend with Mr Darcy and Wish You Were Here.
* * * * *
Praise for Victoria Connelly:
‘Great fun. A real page-turner.’ Andrew Davies, screenwriter of Pride and Prejudice
‘Sunshine on a rainy day. A charmingly written slice of warm-hearted escapism.’
Lisa Jewell
‘A lovely feel-good story.’ Katie Fforde
‘Victoria writes with a deliciously light touch and joyous enthusiasm.’ Fiona Walker
‘Fun, amusing and heart-warming.’ Trashionista
‘Warm-hearted, very sweet and it will charm your socks off.’ Novelicious
‘Victoria Connelly is an exceptional new voice in romantic fiction whose stories shine with warmth, humour and heart. The Perfect Hero is romantic comedy gold from a fast-rising star!’ Single Titles
‘Fun, flirty fantasy from the gifted pen of Victoria Connelly. A magical story with a gorgeous setting and more than enough handsome men to go around!”
Carole Matthews
253 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 11, 2014
87 people are currently reading
133 people want to read
About the author
Victoria Connelly
67 books510 followersVictoria Connelly grew up in Norfolk before attending Worcester College where she studied English Literature. After graduating, she worked her way through a number of jobs before becoming a teacher in North Yorkshire.
In 2000, she got married in a medieval castle in the Yorkshire Dales and moved to London. Five weeks after their wedding, her husband, a television news cameraman, was sent to Israel. Convinced something terrible would happen to him, she came up with the idea for a novel about a young widow who starts seeing angels on her desk at work, but was scared to write it in case she tempted fate. It was only years later that her husband admitted to having a bullet graze his shirt sleeve whilst filming in Israel!
Although having had articles and short stories published, it was only when Flights of Angels was published that Victoria was able to realise the dream of becoming a professional writer. Published as Unter deinem Stern in Germany, the novel was made into a film for television by award-winning Ziegler Film. Her second novel, The Unmasking of Elena Montella (Wenn es dich gibt), was published in 2007 and her third, Three Graces (Wohin mit der Liebe), was published in 2009. All three magical romantic comedies are now available as ebooks.
Her first novel to be published in the UK – Molly’s Millions – came out in 2009. This was followed by a trilogy about Jane Austen addicts: A Weekend with Mr Darcy, The Perfect Hero (US title: Dreaming of Mr Darcy) and Mr Darcy Forever.
The Runaway Actress was published in April 2012 and she is currently working on another romantic comedy, Wish You Were Here.
In 2000, she got married in a medieval castle in the Yorkshire Dales and moved to London. Five weeks after their wedding, her husband, a television news cameraman, was sent to Israel. Convinced something terrible would happen to him, she came up with the idea for a novel about a young widow who starts seeing angels on her desk at work, but was scared to write it in case she tempted fate. It was only years later that her husband admitted to having a bullet graze his shirt sleeve whilst filming in Israel!
Although having had articles and short stories published, it was only when Flights of Angels was published that Victoria was able to realise the dream of becoming a professional writer. Published as Unter deinem Stern in Germany, the novel was made into a film for television by award-winning Ziegler Film. Her second novel, The Unmasking of Elena Montella (Wenn es dich gibt), was published in 2007 and her third, Three Graces (Wohin mit der Liebe), was published in 2009. All three magical romantic comedies are now available as ebooks.
Her first novel to be published in the UK – Molly’s Millions – came out in 2009. This was followed by a trilogy about Jane Austen addicts: A Weekend with Mr Darcy, The Perfect Hero (US title: Dreaming of Mr Darcy) and Mr Darcy Forever.
The Runaway Actress was published in April 2012 and she is currently working on another romantic comedy, Wish You Were Here.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
February 12, 2015
This was my first audio book and I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to get engrossed in the characters and storyline. I loved how you can multitask while listening to an audio book, will definitely try another audiobook.
This was a lovely story filled with warmth and humour. It had a sort of magical, ethereal quality to it. I loved hearing about the antiques and collectables and it was interesting finding out about Meg's background.
A wonderful story with moments of joy and sadness. Fun times and inspiring words and tender moments of love. Victoria has created some memorable characters in this novel and the setting of the story sounded idyllic, I felt like I had been transported to the Cotswold countryside.
This was a lovely story filled with warmth and humour. It had a sort of magical, ethereal quality to it. I loved hearing about the antiques and collectables and it was interesting finding out about Meg's background.
A wonderful story with moments of joy and sadness. Fun times and inspiring words and tender moments of love. Victoria has created some memorable characters in this novel and the setting of the story sounded idyllic, I felt like I had been transported to the Cotswold countryside.
November 26, 2017
What seemed to be a pretty average romance seemed to move from the sublime to the ridiculous when Anna, a journalist, discovers a 355 year old woman living with her subject for a writing piece on a collector at Fox Hill Manor! Although well written and I did finish the story, I can’t say I really enjoyed it. I didn’t like the main character, thought she was selfish and the whole idea of the London trip just seemed completely bonkers along with the storyline about her sisters out of control spending on collectibles. I was looking for an easy read and it was certainly that but for some reason the book just didn’t sit right for me.
December 29, 2023
Brilliant
Victoria Connelly is one of my favourite authors. Her books make you feel like you are actually there in person watching the events & characters come to life not like you are just reading a good book. I've never felt so many emotions in one storyline before. The storyline certainly didn't pan out the way I was expecting it to. I would have liked either a couple more chapters or better still a follow on book to find out what the future held for the sisters.
Victoria Connelly is one of my favourite authors. Her books make you feel like you are actually there in person watching the events & characters come to life not like you are just reading a good book. I've never felt so many emotions in one storyline before. The storyline certainly didn't pan out the way I was expecting it to. I would have liked either a couple more chapters or better still a follow on book to find out what the future held for the sisters.
March 19, 2019
Not one of Connelly's better books. Quite predictable, but still a lot of fun.
Read
September 6, 2020Dnf
January 4, 2022
super
A great book, the idea of collecting is often frowned upon the idea of William in his big house showed a different side to collecting. A good story
A great book, the idea of collecting is often frowned upon the idea of William in his big house showed a different side to collecting. A good story
March 16, 2022
3.5 rounded up. A comfort read for a stressful week.
May 4, 2020
I read this quite quickly, unable to put it down wanting to know how it ended.
I enjoyed this book but some things I found unsatisfying, some moments were just told they had happened rather then telling the story and being able to experience the moment. Example William (the collector in the story) does something nice for Anna’s sister Libby and it’s a really nice surprise and your waiting for Anna to tell her this nice thing his done and she first forgets when on the phone to her, then later on in the book it’s just mentioned oh Anna told me, thanks btw. Libby would of been ecstatic and kind of felt that moment was stolen.
I also think as a collector Libby getting rid of most of her collection would of been harder then portrayed in the book. It didn’t even seam a little hard for her and then again mentions they had one therapy session about it half way through packing it all up. And did she make enough to pay off those credit cards? How did the auction go?
The story was good, the secret was a bit different then I figured and was hoping for a secret about the actual collection but was a nice read.
This was written good for the most part. It was interesting, I’d recommend to read it.
I enjoyed this book but some things I found unsatisfying, some moments were just told they had happened rather then telling the story and being able to experience the moment. Example William (the collector in the story) does something nice for Anna’s sister Libby and it’s a really nice surprise and your waiting for Anna to tell her this nice thing his done and she first forgets when on the phone to her, then later on in the book it’s just mentioned oh Anna told me, thanks btw. Libby would of been ecstatic and kind of felt that moment was stolen.
I also think as a collector Libby getting rid of most of her collection would of been harder then portrayed in the book. It didn’t even seam a little hard for her and then again mentions they had one therapy session about it half way through packing it all up. And did she make enough to pay off those credit cards? How did the auction go?
The story was good, the secret was a bit different then I figured and was hoping for a secret about the actual collection but was a nice read.
This was written good for the most part. It was interesting, I’d recommend to read it.
August 5, 2018
It wasn’t one of my favorite of Victoria Connelly books and love her books
February 3, 2015
this book is sweet, predictable but it's okay.. I love stately homes or manors, so that what actually piqued my interest. Anna Mc Call is a freelance journalist who is going to write about William Kitson's collection in Fix HIll Manor. Anna stays during the writing and she finds a secret that William keeps from anyone, the secret is bit illogical and I absolutely have no idea about it at first (all my guesses go wrong), but this book is fiction anyway, so that will do it. Anna has a sister named Libby who has an obsessive behaviour on collecting (almost anything). Anna's determination to write about the secret William keeps and Libby's uncontrollable desire to collect, rooted from their past (being left by their mother), I think it will do this book more good if Anna and Libby's childhood been told more, how their mother left and how they dealt with it, it still can be detailed further.. so it will be more than 252 pages there. I got little annoyed by Anna's stubborness and William protectiveness of his secret, it rather doesn't make sense to me,they just need to talk to each other, but they have their own reason for sure. Overall it's a nice read..but I still like Molly's Million better than this book
February 2, 2015
The book opens with Anna, a journalist and her sister Libby, a compulsive collector of things. The setting is a fictional version of the Cotswolds. Anna accepts a commission to write about William Kitson and his house Fox Hill Manor. Here he keeps a vast collection of historical artefacts.
At first Anna finds William hard to get on with. The story slowly becomes a bit more complicated and some questions start to occur to Anna. Why is William secretive and evasive about some things? Who is Meg and why is she here? When William has a visit from his half-brother George, there seems to be a lot of friction, why?
There are sufficient twists in the tale to make this book worth a read. The interaction between the key characters is developed to maintain a feeling of intrigue. Will there be a predictable ending or not?
At first Anna finds William hard to get on with. The story slowly becomes a bit more complicated and some questions start to occur to Anna. Why is William secretive and evasive about some things? Who is Meg and why is she here? When William has a visit from his half-brother George, there seems to be a lot of friction, why?
There are sufficient twists in the tale to make this book worth a read. The interaction between the key characters is developed to maintain a feeling of intrigue. Will there be a predictable ending or not?
October 19, 2014
I was fortunate to have been given a copy of this book to review, and as a massive fan of Victoria Connelly's stories I was more than happy!
Anna is a journalist, and the opportunity to write a story about someone "famous" is something she can't ignore! However her chosen subject turns out to be someone she hoped to have avoided! Meet William Kitson, a collector of all things, for Anna whose sister Libby is also a collector she has ideas of what to expect but those ideas are quickly changed.
What secrets do collectors hide? What is Williams secret and is her sister also hiding a secret that she doesn't want discovered?
A beautifully written book, which is what you always expect from Victoria. It kept me turning the pages and the characters get into your head and your heart.
Anna is a journalist, and the opportunity to write a story about someone "famous" is something she can't ignore! However her chosen subject turns out to be someone she hoped to have avoided! Meet William Kitson, a collector of all things, for Anna whose sister Libby is also a collector she has ideas of what to expect but those ideas are quickly changed.
What secrets do collectors hide? What is Williams secret and is her sister also hiding a secret that she doesn't want discovered?
A beautifully written book, which is what you always expect from Victoria. It kept me turning the pages and the characters get into your head and your heart.
January 26, 2015
just lovely ...from started to finish had me gripped....loved the storyline and characters.it was one of those books that you wanted it to end so you could find out what happened......but on the other hand you were enjoying it so mush you wanted it to be a never ending story...its just ticked every box for me.... being set in the Cotswold where I live to it being bout antiques and collecting...coming from that background I found it very INTERESTING ....really enjoyed when William took Anna to the Auction..brought back fond memories of attending such events with my parents.I Totally recommend this LITTLE TRESURE..
March 17, 2016
I found this novel slightly difficult to start with due to the main character's sister, libby who was frustrating me as I could see the trouble she was getting herself in. However as I get further in to the book I found I couldn't put it down. The story is slightly far fetched regarding Meg but that's what stories are about sometimes but it had me captivated. by the end of the book I was in tears. its a wonderfully heart felt read.
June 1, 2015
Audiobook. Huh? Take a half dozen different plots, add a couple maybe / kinda / could be likable characters, put some decent writing into the mix, toss it all in a brown paper bag and shake vigourously. I gave up at what I think is about half way; I couldn't stay interested enough in any aspect of the plot or characters to continue. Too bad, I liked some of her other books.
October 31, 2015
Maybe it was because I listened to the audio version of this book, but I thought it was super annoying. Anna is ridiculous and pushy. She is so demanding of William for reasons that have nothing to do with her job. He really doesn't owe her any explanation's other than for the article. The narrator read this book at such a fast pace that the sentences all seemed to flow together.
March 5, 2015
I loved the idea of this book, and loved Meg I would have enjoyed more if the story had been more about her than Anna and William, I did enjoy the other story of Libby.
I thought the ending was very weak, I didn't want a non descript happy ever ending love story.
I thought the ending was very weak, I didn't want a non descript happy ever ending love story.
October 14, 2015
A lovely story of relationships
Loved Meg. Wish I could read Anna's story of her life. And I want to hear Anna and Williams story. Did Libby earn enough from the auction to clear up her debt? This story is begging for a sequel
Loved Meg. Wish I could read Anna's story of her life. And I want to hear Anna and Williams story. Did Libby earn enough from the auction to clear up her debt? This story is begging for a sequel
May 15, 2015
An enchanting story with an unusual but refreshing storyline. Very enjoyable and warm.
I purchased and listened to the story through Audible.
I purchased and listened to the story through Audible.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews