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Hertsoginna saladus
"Mees, keda ta kunagi armastas, on tagasi, et ta endaga kaasa viia?
Rosalind üllatub, kui leiab ukselävelt Ash Hartfieldi – mehe, kellega koos ta seitse aastat tagasi põgenes! Ta oli tundnud end reedetuna, kui mees pärast nende pulmaööd, kus naise noorpõlveeksimus ilmsiks tuli, äkitselt Indiasse sõitis.
Teda taas nähes tunneb Rosalind endiselt liblikaid kõhus… aga nii palju on vahepeal muutunud! Mehest on saanud hertsog. Mida ta ette võtab, kui saab teada Rosalindi saladuse tagamaad?"
Rosalind üllatub, kui leiab ukselävelt Ash Hartfieldi – mehe, kellega koos ta seitse aastat tagasi põgenes! Ta oli tundnud end reedetuna, kui mees pärast nende pulmaööd, kus naise noorpõlveeksimus ilmsiks tuli, äkitselt Indiasse sõitis.
Teda taas nähes tunneb Rosalind endiselt liblikaid kõhus… aga nii palju on vahepeal muutunud! Mehest on saanud hertsog. Mida ta ette võtab, kui saab teada Rosalindi saladuse tagamaad?"
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2019
21 people are currently reading
41 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Beacon
122 books30 followersELIZABETH BEACON lives in the beautiful English West Country, and is finally putting her insatiable curiosity about the past to good use. Over the years Elizabeth has worked in her family’s horticultural business, become a mature student, qualified as an English teacher, worked as a secretary and, briefly, tried to be a civil servant. She is now happily ensconced behind her computer, when not trying to exhaust her bouncy rescue dog with as many walks as the Inexhaustible Lurcher can finagle. Elizabeth can’t bring herself to call researching the wonderfully diverse, scandalous Regency period and creating charismatic heroes and feisty heroines work, and she is waiting for someone to find out how much fun she is having and tell her to stop it.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 10, 2019
4.5 stars
Finally a second chance story I could enjoy ...
The reason for their separation was interesting and it was refreshing to read about a H who admits that he had been an immature idiot who really didn't deserve the H and his grandfather would have been ashamed of his behavior ...
The h was a brave and interesting character ... she agrees to resume their marriage but refuses to forgive him easily ...
and yes, he cheats while they are separated ... which h brings up a few times and H admits was bad of him ... of course it was!
and their little girl was beautiful ... a sweet character ...
I found this book to be worth reading ... what I liked ... strong h and a H who admits all his faults ...
Well written, fast moving and humorous ... enjoyed it ...
Finally a second chance story I could enjoy ...
The reason for their separation was interesting and it was refreshing to read about a H who admits that he had been an immature idiot who really didn't deserve the H and his grandfather would have been ashamed of his behavior ...
The h was a brave and interesting character ... she agrees to resume their marriage but refuses to forgive him easily ...
and yes, he cheats while they are separated ... which h brings up a few times and H admits was bad of him ... of course it was!
and their little girl was beautiful ... a sweet character ...
I found this book to be worth reading ... what I liked ... strong h and a H who admits all his faults ...
Well written, fast moving and humorous ... enjoyed it ...
September 1, 2019
The Duchess's Secret
Elizabeth Beacon
Release date 09/01/2019
Publisher Harlequin Historical
https://www.harlequin.com/shop/author...
Blurb :
The man she once loved…
…is back—to claim her?
Rosalind is surprised to find Ash Hartfield—the man she eloped with seven years ago—on her doorstep! She’d felt betrayed by his abrupt departure to India following the revelations of their wedding night. Seeing him again still gives her butterflies—but a lot has changed…not least that he’s a duke now! What will he do when he discovers her secret—that he has an heir?
My review:
Can a newly titled duke redeem his way and be forgiven by the wife he left behind.
I curse Harlequin Historical for releasing its six new stories every mont, always on the same day. As it is how I got books forgotten and left unread on my kindle shelves.
Just today, I had two preordered.
As I didn’t know which one read first, I just picked the one first downloaded.
I just loved it and swallowed it in a record time.
The first chapter sets the pace and mood of this moving tale.
Rosalind is a wonderful heroine. So strong and lucid of what to expect from life, she is no doormat to her coward of a husband. She is not perfect but to me she did nothing wrong in not advertising her runaway groom she was pregnant, after all he was the one whom left behind a young woman of eighteen.
I might say I was angry at Ash most of the book, I wanted his to get a good set down and to grovel on a gravel filled path from India to England ...
I know I am bloodthirsty!
The young Rosalind felt guilty while confessing her secret when she should not have been, she is the victim here. Abused and abandoned. And when the one man, she put her trust in to reveal her past wound, whom should have been the shoulder on which she could have reposed her head on, left her, she was betrayed a second time. Instead of being a loyal lover, for a man in love, he easily turned his coat, he judged and condemned her as everyone in London society, throwing opprobrium like everyone and hurting her even more in the process.
He deserved a lot more than having missed the first years of his child, he so easily failed the one woman he pledged eternal love until do part us, thinking the worst of her without a second thought about what she endured.
Rosalind sucked all the oxygen in this story, she sort of glowed with her resilient character, having given up everything for her daughter, ready to battle for her. She put her own conditions before going back to her so-easily-mislead and unfaithful of a husband’s company.
He thought he could snap his fingers and she would jump back in the marriage bed.
I loved she has needs but didn’t listen to them just because he is back. She has feelings but does not let them take the best of her. She is so strong and tough, she had to rebuilt herself after everything she went through, even refusing others help. Prideful for sure, as she also knows the cost she had to pay for her freedom, but she won’t now settle for half step.
The side characters like Joan and Jenny brightened this poignant tale. But It is no sad narrative, much more a composition about the tenacity and courage of one woman when adversity stroke.
A big fat 5 stars.
https://www.facebook.com/429830134272...
Elizabeth Beacon
Release date 09/01/2019
Publisher Harlequin Historical
https://www.harlequin.com/shop/author...
Blurb :
The man she once loved…
…is back—to claim her?
Rosalind is surprised to find Ash Hartfield—the man she eloped with seven years ago—on her doorstep! She’d felt betrayed by his abrupt departure to India following the revelations of their wedding night. Seeing him again still gives her butterflies—but a lot has changed…not least that he’s a duke now! What will he do when he discovers her secret—that he has an heir?
My review:
Can a newly titled duke redeem his way and be forgiven by the wife he left behind.
I curse Harlequin Historical for releasing its six new stories every mont, always on the same day. As it is how I got books forgotten and left unread on my kindle shelves.
Just today, I had two preordered.
As I didn’t know which one read first, I just picked the one first downloaded.
I just loved it and swallowed it in a record time.
The first chapter sets the pace and mood of this moving tale.
Rosalind is a wonderful heroine. So strong and lucid of what to expect from life, she is no doormat to her coward of a husband. She is not perfect but to me she did nothing wrong in not advertising her runaway groom she was pregnant, after all he was the one whom left behind a young woman of eighteen.
I might say I was angry at Ash most of the book, I wanted his to get a good set down and to grovel on a gravel filled path from India to England ...
I know I am bloodthirsty!
The young Rosalind felt guilty while confessing her secret when she should not have been, she is the victim here. Abused and abandoned. And when the one man, she put her trust in to reveal her past wound, whom should have been the shoulder on which she could have reposed her head on, left her, she was betrayed a second time. Instead of being a loyal lover, for a man in love, he easily turned his coat, he judged and condemned her as everyone in London society, throwing opprobrium like everyone and hurting her even more in the process.
He deserved a lot more than having missed the first years of his child, he so easily failed the one woman he pledged eternal love until do part us, thinking the worst of her without a second thought about what she endured.
Rosalind sucked all the oxygen in this story, she sort of glowed with her resilient character, having given up everything for her daughter, ready to battle for her. She put her own conditions before going back to her so-easily-mislead and unfaithful of a husband’s company.
He thought he could snap his fingers and she would jump back in the marriage bed.
I loved she has needs but didn’t listen to them just because he is back. She has feelings but does not let them take the best of her. She is so strong and tough, she had to rebuilt herself after everything she went through, even refusing others help. Prideful for sure, as she also knows the cost she had to pay for her freedom, but she won’t now settle for half step.
The side characters like Joan and Jenny brightened this poignant tale. But It is no sad narrative, much more a composition about the tenacity and courage of one woman when adversity stroke.
A big fat 5 stars.
https://www.facebook.com/429830134272...
August 25, 2019
This was a great read. It gives you a view into the past and how honesty can be misunderstood. Rosalind's love for Ash is never in doubt. The secret is such a big one that it will surprise you. I like her style of writing and the way she built this story. For what happens in the past happens also happens in our time. People are affected by what happens to them and it shows in what they do as you see in Ash. I love how these 2 fall in love again. Its definitely a second chance story. I found myself routing for Rosalind time and time again. I love the hidden strength in her. I also love Ash's character but he needed to heal before moving forward. I look forward to Ms Beacon's next book. For if its even close to as good as this one I will enjoy it.
December 31, 2021
I just finished this book. Got it discounted in Google books and thought, why not?... It is heart wrenching! I'm reading, but haven't finished "Nobody's Duke by Scarlett Scott and the plot is somewhat similar, the difference is that this couple managed to elope and get to Scotland, and married, but the "hero" is a total entitled idiot and left his wife after the wedding night.
Rosalind Feldon at the beginning of the book is an orphan under the "care" of her step-father, who wants to marry her off to some old lord with money so he can pay his debts. She had a secret and her step father constantly tells her he will reveal it unless she does what he wants.
Asher Hartfield is the Duke of Cherwell's grandson but he is not to inherit anything from him. He is the second son of the second son, nothing for him. He meets Rosalind in a ball and they fall in love. Her step-father refuses to let her marry Asher and they elope to Scotland where they marry.
They spent their wedding night somewhere in Carlisle, where she confessed her secret, some guy made her drunk and took advantage of her 2 years prior..she wanted to start their marriage without secrets and that's why she confessed it...but the stupid "hero" practically blamed her, called her names, told her she was a strumpet and a liar like his mum that had left with a lover and his little sister had died because of it, and left her there alone at the inn. After that he went back home and his grandfather sent him to India on business.
Rosalind had to go back home to her step-father, said nothing about the elopement, but when she realised she was pregnant, she left with her maid to some cottage she had inherited from her grandmother or some other relative, in Livesey. She changed her name to Rose Meadows and told everybody she was a widow and her husband was lost at sea (in a way it was true, she never heard back from him, he might have died as far as she knew).
8 years later the stupid hero is still very stupid, he has not been back to England in all that time, and receives a letter of bad news. His cousin the Duke of Cherwell has died in an accident and he is the only one left, so he will inherit the dukedom and properties attached to it. As far as he knows they are ruinous for what his cousin told him in letters, so he has to spend money in repairs and also needs to find a wife...oh but he has a wife, that he has tried to forget about... he will track her down and divorce her, or annul the marriage. No doubt she has been sleeping with other men for these 8 years and he can get some other quiet woman that will produce heirs and stay in the country.
However, Rose Meadows has a secret... and he doesn't want him to know, even if he tracks her down. She learns of the demise of the Duke, so she knows Asher has to come back to England. She dreads their encounter, but hopes he won't know about her secret and won't make a problem with the annulment. She hopes to finally be free of that stupid man that made her cry so much ... or does she?
Anyway, I won't spoil more... just to say the hero is very hateful throughout the story, he is annoying, arrogant, immature, etc. I loved the heroine though, Rosalind is a very strong woman, has learnt to survive in adverse circumstances and her daughter (her other secret) is a very nice imp, has lived a full life even without a father and is loved and cherished.
Asher changes when he finds his wife and learns about his daughter. He doesn't talk of feelings but proposes a marriage of convenience. Of course Rose knows that from her part it can never be just a marriage of convenience, she still loves the stupid oaf even if she resents him.
Little by little the differences are cleared and they go back to share their lives, but there is something that still bothers her and him...
After all, the problems are worked out and he redeems himself in some way. He apologises and she discuses their problems openly so they can start anew.
Good story, I just wished the hero would not have been such a stupid arrogant fool, and also would have liked a better epilogue. I would have given 3 stars but Rose deserves more stars so 4!
Rosalind Feldon at the beginning of the book is an orphan under the "care" of her step-father, who wants to marry her off to some old lord with money so he can pay his debts. She had a secret and her step father constantly tells her he will reveal it unless she does what he wants.
Asher Hartfield is the Duke of Cherwell's grandson but he is not to inherit anything from him. He is the second son of the second son, nothing for him. He meets Rosalind in a ball and they fall in love. Her step-father refuses to let her marry Asher and they elope to Scotland where they marry.
They spent their wedding night somewhere in Carlisle, where she confessed her secret, some guy made her drunk and took advantage of her 2 years prior..she wanted to start their marriage without secrets and that's why she confessed it...but the stupid "hero" practically blamed her, called her names, told her she was a strumpet and a liar like his mum that had left with a lover and his little sister had died because of it, and left her there alone at the inn. After that he went back home and his grandfather sent him to India on business.
Rosalind had to go back home to her step-father, said nothing about the elopement, but when she realised she was pregnant, she left with her maid to some cottage she had inherited from her grandmother or some other relative, in Livesey. She changed her name to Rose Meadows and told everybody she was a widow and her husband was lost at sea (in a way it was true, she never heard back from him, he might have died as far as she knew).
8 years later the stupid hero is still very stupid, he has not been back to England in all that time, and receives a letter of bad news. His cousin the Duke of Cherwell has died in an accident and he is the only one left, so he will inherit the dukedom and properties attached to it. As far as he knows they are ruinous for what his cousin told him in letters, so he has to spend money in repairs and also needs to find a wife...oh but he has a wife, that he has tried to forget about... he will track her down and divorce her, or annul the marriage. No doubt she has been sleeping with other men for these 8 years and he can get some other quiet woman that will produce heirs and stay in the country.
However, Rose Meadows has a secret... and he doesn't want him to know, even if he tracks her down. She learns of the demise of the Duke, so she knows Asher has to come back to England. She dreads their encounter, but hopes he won't know about her secret and won't make a problem with the annulment. She hopes to finally be free of that stupid man that made her cry so much ... or does she?
Anyway, I won't spoil more... just to say the hero is very hateful throughout the story, he is annoying, arrogant, immature, etc. I loved the heroine though, Rosalind is a very strong woman, has learnt to survive in adverse circumstances and her daughter (her other secret) is a very nice imp, has lived a full life even without a father and is loved and cherished.
Asher changes when he finds his wife and learns about his daughter. He doesn't talk of feelings but proposes a marriage of convenience. Of course Rose knows that from her part it can never be just a marriage of convenience, she still loves the stupid oaf even if she resents him.
Little by little the differences are cleared and they go back to share their lives, but there is something that still bothers her and him...
After all, the problems are worked out and he redeems himself in some way. He apologises and she discuses their problems openly so they can start anew.
Good story, I just wished the hero would not have been such a stupid arrogant fool, and also would have liked a better epilogue. I would have given 3 stars but Rose deserves more stars so 4!
April 17, 2022
Non so come ho fatto a fare a meno degli Harmony fino ad ora , gli storici tra l'altro. È il secondo Harmony history che leggo e mi è piaciuto tanto anche questo. Sono delle letture davvero piacevoli,e molto veloci. Ve le consiglio animatamente.
Non impegnative ,amori con uno sviluppo lento sì ma molto profondo. Qui vediamo già una protagonista femminile diversa dalla tipica donna che ci si aspettava in quei tempi ,più intraprendente. Ash invece mi ha conquistata strada facendo ,si è vista la crescita avvenuta nei 7 anni mancanti. Per non parlare del loro amore che era ovvio dall'inizio che non fosse mai finito, a dispetto del loro lungo periodo di chiusura. L'amore vince su tutto❤️
Non impegnative ,amori con uno sviluppo lento sì ma molto profondo. Qui vediamo già una protagonista femminile diversa dalla tipica donna che ci si aspettava in quei tempi ,più intraprendente. Ash invece mi ha conquistata strada facendo ,si è vista la crescita avvenuta nei 7 anni mancanti. Per non parlare del loro amore che era ovvio dall'inizio che non fosse mai finito, a dispetto del loro lungo periodo di chiusura. L'amore vince su tutto❤️
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 24, 2023
It was a good story and I enjoyed how it war written. I'm just angry for her and angry for what he did to her. All well and good that she found her person but the timeline of their love story irks me.
February 3, 2023
disgusting H, the entire book passed and he didn’t say sorry ONCE or even felt guilty
June 8, 2023
Very sweet book.
June 26, 2025
The same problem rehashed a thousand times throughout the book. I mean, I know it's a Harlequin Historical, but I have rarely seen two more stupid main characters--contrived separation, etc.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews