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Secrets of the Heart
PASSION BEFORE PRIDE
Theirs should have been the perfect marriage. Sarah was as wildly in love with the Duke of Cranwell as he was with her...until, on their wedding night, Sarah was forced to reveal the secret of her past. And that, midst great public scandal, ended their marriage almost before it began.
Then in fashionable Bath their paths crossed again. The stunningly beautiful Sarah knew it was folly to think this dashing and sought-after lord would ever get over her shocking betrayal. His fury made it painfully clear that they should separate again, this time forever.
Sarah could find a thousand arguments against the wisdom - or likelihood - of so miserable an edict. For one, the duke's ridiculous masculine pride was no match for the sensuous power of her affection for him...as she counted on love to melt the last shred of his resistance to her passionate surrender...
Theirs should have been the perfect marriage. Sarah was as wildly in love with the Duke of Cranwell as he was with her...until, on their wedding night, Sarah was forced to reveal the secret of her past. And that, midst great public scandal, ended their marriage almost before it began.
Then in fashionable Bath their paths crossed again. The stunningly beautiful Sarah knew it was folly to think this dashing and sought-after lord would ever get over her shocking betrayal. His fury made it painfully clear that they should separate again, this time forever.
Sarah could find a thousand arguments against the wisdom - or likelihood - of so miserable an edict. For one, the duke's ridiculous masculine pride was no match for the sensuous power of her affection for him...as she counted on love to melt the last shred of his resistance to her passionate surrender...
400 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
About the author
Mary Balogh
195 books6,480 followersMary Jenkins was born in 1944 in Swansea, Wales, UK. After graduating from university, moved to Saskatchewan, Canada, to teach high school English, on a two-year teaching contract in 1967. She married her Canadian husband, Robert Balogh, and had three children, Jacqueline, Christopher and Sian. When she's not writing, she enjoys reading, music and knitting. She also enjoys watching tennis and curling.
Mary Balogh started writing in the evenings as a hobby. Her first book, a Regency love story, was published in 1985 as A Masked Deception under her married name. In 1988, she retired from teaching after 20 years to pursue her dream to write full-time. She has written more than seventy novels and almost thirty novellas since then, including the New York Times bestselling 'Slightly' sextet and 'Simply' quartet. She has won numerous awards, including Bestselling Historical of the Year from the Borders Group, and her novel Simply Magic was a finalist in the Quill Awards. She has won seven Waldenbooks Awards and two B. Dalton Awards for her bestselling novels, as well as a Romantic Times Lifetime Achievement Award.
Mary Balogh started writing in the evenings as a hobby. Her first book, a Regency love story, was published in 1985 as A Masked Deception under her married name. In 1988, she retired from teaching after 20 years to pursue her dream to write full-time. She has written more than seventy novels and almost thirty novellas since then, including the New York Times bestselling 'Slightly' sextet and 'Simply' quartet. She has won numerous awards, including Bestselling Historical of the Year from the Borders Group, and her novel Simply Magic was a finalist in the Quill Awards. She has won seven Waldenbooks Awards and two B. Dalton Awards for her bestselling novels, as well as a Romantic Times Lifetime Achievement Award.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews
February 8, 2021
I can't believe I read the whole thing. Granted, I skimmed many a paragraph because, listen, life is too short to read this particular book carefully. It's a neverending, exasperating, torturous read, the longest 415 pages I have ever faced down.
The subject matter is a bit grim too. There's rape, blackmail, the scandal of divorce, false accusations, horrid misunderstandings, painfully wrong decisions made at every turn by the heroine, wishy-washy behaviour of the hero, and a Failure to Communicate that verges on being the worst ever in the history of HRs. That Failure to Communicate should be advertised in all caps, large font, and flashing neon colors.
I liked one (maybe two if counting the hero's younger sister) character in this story. The heroine's elderly cousin who invites her to be her companion. That woman was loud and brash and blunt, never failing to yell "yoo-hoo" across crowded rooms to get people's attention, wearing overstated clothing, and also a bit of a hypochondriac. Yet she was kind and caring and the only character who had a lick of common sense. She's the one who says to heroine Sarah, somewhere at the three quarters mark of this interminable book, that Sarah should have told the truth to the duke when she married him years ago and that now, better late than never, she should get it all out in the open. Too bad it took Sarah so long to follow that advice.
There are lots of secrets and lies here and misunderstandings and misconceptions and so much failure to tell it all like it was. Too much for my inherent lack of patience and high blood pressure to handle. And the hero and heroine in this book did a miserable job of handling anything. The only one who, except for his mild comeuppance at the end, went swimmingly through life was the pathological yet charming and handsome villain, a user of others, a rapist, and a blackmailer. Evil as he was, he knew how to get things done. The H and h were ineffectual bumblers.
The story deals with some very serious issues and the reader will feel some sympathy for the poor put-upon heroine, but she used up my sympathy way before the story was one third of the way in with her ridiculous actions and poor decisions. So I liked the elderly cousin and the hero's sister, but the rest of the cast of characters tried my patience endlessly.
You might think that one star is an unfair rating to give Mary Balogh, but this book was agony to read. Not only did the hero and heroine make terrible decisions throughout, but Balogh's slow, tedious, repetitive storytelling and the characters' endless and circular thoughts and internalizations were at their worst here. This is, by far, the most annoying Balogh romance I have read. This was published in 1988, during the time when authors had actual editors and proofreaders checking their books. It boggles the mind that they didn't suggest a few ways to improve the flow of the story.
The subject matter is a bit grim too. There's rape, blackmail, the scandal of divorce, false accusations, horrid misunderstandings, painfully wrong decisions made at every turn by the heroine, wishy-washy behaviour of the hero, and a Failure to Communicate that verges on being the worst ever in the history of HRs. That Failure to Communicate should be advertised in all caps, large font, and flashing neon colors.
I liked one (maybe two if counting the hero's younger sister) character in this story. The heroine's elderly cousin who invites her to be her companion. That woman was loud and brash and blunt, never failing to yell "yoo-hoo" across crowded rooms to get people's attention, wearing overstated clothing, and also a bit of a hypochondriac. Yet she was kind and caring and the only character who had a lick of common sense. She's the one who says to heroine Sarah, somewhere at the three quarters mark of this interminable book, that Sarah should have told the truth to the duke when she married him years ago and that now, better late than never, she should get it all out in the open. Too bad it took Sarah so long to follow that advice.
There are lots of secrets and lies here and misunderstandings and misconceptions and so much failure to tell it all like it was. Too much for my inherent lack of patience and high blood pressure to handle. And the hero and heroine in this book did a miserable job of handling anything. The only one who, except for his mild comeuppance at the end, went swimmingly through life was the pathological yet charming and handsome villain, a user of others, a rapist, and a blackmailer. Evil as he was, he knew how to get things done. The H and h were ineffectual bumblers.
The story deals with some very serious issues and the reader will feel some sympathy for the poor put-upon heroine, but she used up my sympathy way before the story was one third of the way in with her ridiculous actions and poor decisions. So I liked the elderly cousin and the hero's sister, but the rest of the cast of characters tried my patience endlessly.
You might think that one star is an unfair rating to give Mary Balogh, but this book was agony to read. Not only did the hero and heroine make terrible decisions throughout, but Balogh's slow, tedious, repetitive storytelling and the characters' endless and circular thoughts and internalizations were at their worst here. This is, by far, the most annoying Balogh romance I have read. This was published in 1988, during the time when authors had actual editors and proofreaders checking their books. It boggles the mind that they didn't suggest a few ways to improve the flow of the story.
February 3, 2020
As a rule, I love Mary Balogh's books. This one, however, was hard to read and hard to finish for 2 reasons: the heroine is just too stupid to believe in (the hero is not much better) and the villain is just too convincing. In fact, the villain of this story is such an amazingly convincing depiction of a psychopath that he leaps off the page and turns what is supposed to be a romance into a horror story. Not exactly what I was looking for when I started the book ...
August 16, 2013
I know a lot of people found it hard to like this one because of the villain. I think another reviewer said the villain was so realistically psychopathic, that it turned the book into more of a horror story than a romance novel. Granted...perhaps.
Still, I think the strong villain really makes this story! The triumph of the hero and heroine means more if the obstacle they must overcome is all that more difficult--or in this case, evil.
I did have some serious issues with the behavior of the hero and heroine, but they are all aspects typical of Balogh. Her characters are often very reticent, keeping secrets for far too long, never speaking when they should, etc. I'm starting to think this is the curse of English people, since half of Austen's characters behave the same way! LOL.
I do have to object, however, to the heroine's misplaced self-righteousness. She spends the entire book convincing the hero that she is something she isn't (for good reasons, though), yet decides to act outraged and offended when the hero treats her exactly like the thing she has pretended to be. Well, how dare he!? It's not like she didn't go out of her way to foster his misapprehension. How can she then accuse him of bad behavior? She also resorted to the modern-influenced speech about the "unfairness" of the double-standard between men and women. While I agree with this as a modern person, I don't think it belongs in an historic novel. I don't think women of that era would ever have said such a thing, or perhaps even thought it. Women enforced the double-standard as much as men did.
Another pet peeve (and this applies to most of Balogh's works) is that the villain almost always gets off light. They are either not punished at all for their heinous crimes, or their punishments are ephemeral and only mildly satisfying. I will only say that the crimes of this villain deserved death, and he didn't get it. =(
Still, I think the strong villain really makes this story! The triumph of the hero and heroine means more if the obstacle they must overcome is all that more difficult--or in this case, evil.
I did have some serious issues with the behavior of the hero and heroine, but they are all aspects typical of Balogh. Her characters are often very reticent, keeping secrets for far too long, never speaking when they should, etc. I'm starting to think this is the curse of English people, since half of Austen's characters behave the same way! LOL.
I do have to object, however, to the heroine's misplaced self-righteousness. She spends the entire book convincing the hero that she is something she isn't (for good reasons, though), yet decides to act outraged and offended when the hero treats her exactly like the thing she has pretended to be. Well, how dare he!? It's not like she didn't go out of her way to foster his misapprehension. How can she then accuse him of bad behavior? She also resorted to the modern-influenced speech about the "unfairness" of the double-standard between men and women. While I agree with this as a modern person, I don't think it belongs in an historic novel. I don't think women of that era would ever have said such a thing, or perhaps even thought it. Women enforced the double-standard as much as men did.
Another pet peeve (and this applies to most of Balogh's works) is that the villain almost always gets off light. They are either not punished at all for their heinous crimes, or their punishments are ephemeral and only mildly satisfying. I will only say that the crimes of this villain deserved death, and he didn't get it. =(
April 23, 2011
4.5 stars
At the age of 17, Sarah is raped (they say "ravished") by an older cousin who threatened, physically forced her, and ultimately blackmailed her. With her parents dead, her only brother feeble-minded, and her aunt and uncle beliving their son was the sun and the moon, she had no one in whom she could confide, and she kept the terrible secret. She thought herself ruined, buying into the idea that a woman's virtue is her most important asset. As sad and as difficult as that was to accept as a premise for what ended up keeping the hero and heroine apart, it rang unfortunately all too true and all too plausible.
Sarah falls in love with George and marries him, but when he discovers her lack of virginity, they argue and she ends up pushing him away (into divorce). There was a part of me, especially early in this story, that kept shouting, "Just tell him the truth! It will all be okay if you'd just tell him!" And of course, it would have been, but she truly believed herself unworthy of him or his love, especially when she could not bring herself to tell him the truth before their wedding, or even their wedding night.
They meet again 4 years later, and circumstances force them into one another's spheres. Sarah must not only confront the man she still loves but can never have, but also her former rapist, who is continuing to charm everyone he meets -- and who still wants Sarah as his mistress.
The only reason I rounded down instead of up was that the middle of this book did seem to stretch a bit, partly because a single truth was all that kept the hero and heroine apart. But I ached for the two of them throughout, especially after a series of flashbacks finally spelled out their past history, and completely understood why each one had behaved the way they did.
I highly recommend to romance lovers.
www.chrsitineamsden.com
At the age of 17, Sarah is raped (they say "ravished") by an older cousin who threatened, physically forced her, and ultimately blackmailed her. With her parents dead, her only brother feeble-minded, and her aunt and uncle beliving their son was the sun and the moon, she had no one in whom she could confide, and she kept the terrible secret. She thought herself ruined, buying into the idea that a woman's virtue is her most important asset. As sad and as difficult as that was to accept as a premise for what ended up keeping the hero and heroine apart, it rang unfortunately all too true and all too plausible.
Sarah falls in love with George and marries him, but when he discovers her lack of virginity, they argue and she ends up pushing him away (into divorce). There was a part of me, especially early in this story, that kept shouting, "Just tell him the truth! It will all be okay if you'd just tell him!" And of course, it would have been, but she truly believed herself unworthy of him or his love, especially when she could not bring herself to tell him the truth before their wedding, or even their wedding night.
They meet again 4 years later, and circumstances force them into one another's spheres. Sarah must not only confront the man she still loves but can never have, but also her former rapist, who is continuing to charm everyone he meets -- and who still wants Sarah as his mistress.
The only reason I rounded down instead of up was that the middle of this book did seem to stretch a bit, partly because a single truth was all that kept the hero and heroine apart. But I ached for the two of them throughout, especially after a series of flashbacks finally spelled out their past history, and completely understood why each one had behaved the way they did.
I highly recommend to romance lovers.
www.chrsitineamsden.com
March 25, 2019
I am not mad about the way the heroine acted. She behaved like a true victim of a heinous crime. Also her behavior was historically accurate....women were blamed for things like these which still happens today but not to the same extent. The hero also behaved like a typical confused man who didn't know whether to be fair or uphold the unfairness of society against woman. What really really really ticked me off about this book was that the villain only got a bad beating for all his despicable behavior. He should've been exposed for safety of other young girls and he should've been punished severely like transported to suffer for the rest of his days....dead is too simple a punishment. But he didn't. I hate this book because of that alone.
June 7, 2017
I actually liked this one more while reading it, but after the fact, I thought about it and realized how indignant I really was over Sarah's treatment by the men in her life. I understand Winston, because he's supposed to be garbage, but George was so shabby towards her for far too long.
That being said, something I liked that doesn't happen often is that there was an actual divorce between the two mains. It's always threatened in books but never happens, but I felt like this was realistic, because men really were that ridiculous over ~purity~ (and sadly, still are in many ways).
That being said, something I liked that doesn't happen often is that there was an actual divorce between the two mains. It's always threatened in books but never happens, but I felt like this was realistic, because men really were that ridiculous over ~purity~ (and sadly, still are in many ways).
July 7, 2016
I could not resist searching out and buying this book. The mixed reviews intrigued me. I suspected the readers who thought Sarah and George should be more forthright with each other were responding with twenty first century morays. There is a lot of angst here, but I believe the characters fit the ethic of the times. Even 50 or 60 years ago people kept their feelings controlled and never shared dark secrets. People did not discuss rape, incest, or mental retardation.
The characters are richly drawn and multidimensional. Lady Murdoch is great. Winston is slimy and deserving of a vile ending; deserving of a sequel to mete out his vile ending. Unfortunately, he is 'real,' also.
The characters are richly drawn and multidimensional. Lady Murdoch is great. Winston is slimy and deserving of a vile ending; deserving of a sequel to mete out his vile ending. Unfortunately, he is 'real,' also.
March 2, 2021
Hated it
Oh the writing wasn’t bad or anything like that, but I think I actually despise the heroine. I’m not fond of communication barriers to begin with - you know those stories where the main problem is that the hero or heroine is incapable of saying something to the other. Nothing wrong with bluntness in my book. Anyway on top of the whole I can’t tell him thing her solution to the problem of her rapist trying to entangle himself with someone else is to marry the a hole??? Yes it’s a different age and all that, but seriously. And the author doesn’t even kill the bad guy at the end. If you’re going to make me suffer through his presence for the whole book, can’t you at least give him a fitting horribly painful death. Very horribly painful preferably. Then there’s the issue that both the hero & the heroine look stupid. Her- so she’s bribing the bad guy to marry her and she gives him the money before the wedding!!! How stupid can u be? Him for not putting 2+2 together. Ugh
Oh the writing wasn’t bad or anything like that, but I think I actually despise the heroine. I’m not fond of communication barriers to begin with - you know those stories where the main problem is that the hero or heroine is incapable of saying something to the other. Nothing wrong with bluntness in my book. Anyway on top of the whole I can’t tell him thing her solution to the problem of her rapist trying to entangle himself with someone else is to marry the a hole??? Yes it’s a different age and all that, but seriously. And the author doesn’t even kill the bad guy at the end. If you’re going to make me suffer through his presence for the whole book, can’t you at least give him a fitting horribly painful death. Very horribly painful preferably. Then there’s the issue that both the hero & the heroine look stupid. Her- so she’s bribing the bad guy to marry her and she gives him the money before the wedding!!! How stupid can u be? Him for not putting 2+2 together. Ugh
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 7, 2021
Mary Balogh. I love her more recent books, especially all the series. Her older stuff is very hit or miss
This one is a definite miss. The heroine is a spineless martyr and the hero is...both naive and lacking in self esteem.
I truly hate it when protagonists play the "they're better off without me" game. Their need to suffer means everyone else suffers as well. So, it's not quite a throw against the wall, but it's close, and I'm definitely not wasting anymore reading time on it. Having said that, if you don't mind the things I hated, it is a Balogh, and you may enjoy it.
I got to 8%, and that was pushing it. I think I may re-read one of the Baloghs that I love, just to get the taste of this one out.
This one is a definite miss. The heroine is a spineless martyr and the hero is...both naive and lacking in self esteem.
I truly hate it when protagonists play the "they're better off without me" game. Their need to suffer means everyone else suffers as well. So, it's not quite a throw against the wall, but it's close, and I'm definitely not wasting anymore reading time on it. Having said that, if you don't mind the things I hated, it is a Balogh, and you may enjoy it.
I got to 8%, and that was pushing it. I think I may re-read one of the Baloghs that I love, just to get the taste of this one out.
August 15, 2010
This is one of those books where the whole misunderstanding-conflict could have been resolved with a 5min conversation between the sensitive beta-hero and the very beautiful heroine. And yet I still found myself very much engrossed to the story because the writing was done so well. However, I do agree that the heroine dragged out her secret for far too long that will frustrate most readers.
July 23, 2009
This is, far and away, my favorite Mary Balogh book This is not your typical historical romance by any stretch of the imagination, which makes it not just memorable, but also heart-breaking and wonderful. Please do not let the unusual premise or beginning of this book turn you off to one of the most powerful and emotional stories I have ever had the privilege to read.
September 29, 2018
This could easily be one of the best villains I've ever seen written, the perfect conscience-less sociopath. And even though the hero and heroine are stupid beyond belief, and they have the most pointless miscommunication drama, the Sarah-Win dyanamic was easily interesting enough to keep me to the last page.
February 3, 2020
Dumb and stressful, what a combination.
August 25, 2021
Good plot and well writing. However, again written in typical of MB style which is telling a story back and forth in time and all scenes told repetitively.. Reader get to read almost every scene in the book at least three times, 1) when it is actually happening 2) Her view of what happened 3) His view of what has happened ... I had to skip two third of the book.
January 31, 2011
Mary balogh is always a guaranteed good read. She also always manages to capture angst, guilt and shame very well. The story starts out with the heroine Sarah going to live with a distant cousin in Bath. It emerges that she was abused by her step cousin over the course of two summers: the first summer he starts touching her inappropriately and thereafter the next year he raped her on three occasions. I did feel that there was a degree of realism in terms of her inability to tell her aunt and uncle what was going on due to fear and shame. Sarah became more withdrawn until the hero (a duke) called George then meets her and is drawn to her. He eventually brings her out of her shell and they marry. Sarah feels unable to inform the h what has happened and is afraid of the wedding night. When the h discovers that she was not a virgin, he takes this very badly and calls her a whore and then abandons her. Sarah feels very guilty about what happened and determines to allow the duke to free himself of her. She wrongly admits to adultery and a divorce is obtained in parliament causing terrible scandal. She then goes and lives quietly in the country for four years. When we meet the heroine the villain has stolen all her money and she is living with a distant cousin as a last resort.
In Bath, she then comes across both the villain of the piece and her former husband, as well as his fiancé and sister. All parties hide their relationship as the H is living under a different name than that known in the scandal. The duke initially makes fairly cruel comments to Sarah and accuses her if whoredom on a number of occasions but despite this she continues to love him.
What I found to be incredible is that despite all the wrongs that winston (the villain) has done her and that he makes her flesh crawl, is that she continues to associate with him; she allows him to be alone with her and to further threaten and manipulate her. Why did she not simply refuse his company or deny him access ?? There is one scene when she is alone in the house and he calls , yet she tells the maid to shut the door as he is her cousin - and then is surprised when he threatens her and inappropriately touches her again!!! This just did not make any sense!! Winston is a particularly irredeemable villain who continues to assert that he wants Sarah as his mistress and when she agrees to marry him (she bribes him with money extorted from the hero in order to avert his attentions from the duke's sister or fiancé) he forces his attentions on her whilst telling her she loves it and plotting to get out of the engagement. He also steals more money from her - although I could not get over the fact that despite ALL that had gone before (including her knowledge of his debts, dishonesty, and lack of faith that he would actually marry her) that she was stupid enough to have actually given him the money in advance of the wedding. It was just incredible!
In any event things come to a head at the duke's country estate. Winston tries to run off with Hannah ( the fiancé) and the heroine finally confesses all to her cousin and tells the hero the truth about winston. They all live happily ever after.
There were many things that did not make sense in this story and the heroine just consistently made things worse for herself; divorce was a terrible scandal at the time and did not fit with the personality of the hero, who was presented as truly worthy - but yet cruel to the heroine. Also the fact that none of the other characters clued into to the reality of winston was quite difficult - it made the hero seem quite unheroic!
Nonetheless it was a good read with well drawn personalities and emotions and Ms Balogh does not disappoint.
In Bath, she then comes across both the villain of the piece and her former husband, as well as his fiancé and sister. All parties hide their relationship as the H is living under a different name than that known in the scandal. The duke initially makes fairly cruel comments to Sarah and accuses her if whoredom on a number of occasions but despite this she continues to love him.
What I found to be incredible is that despite all the wrongs that winston (the villain) has done her and that he makes her flesh crawl, is that she continues to associate with him; she allows him to be alone with her and to further threaten and manipulate her. Why did she not simply refuse his company or deny him access ?? There is one scene when she is alone in the house and he calls , yet she tells the maid to shut the door as he is her cousin - and then is surprised when he threatens her and inappropriately touches her again!!! This just did not make any sense!! Winston is a particularly irredeemable villain who continues to assert that he wants Sarah as his mistress and when she agrees to marry him (she bribes him with money extorted from the hero in order to avert his attentions from the duke's sister or fiancé) he forces his attentions on her whilst telling her she loves it and plotting to get out of the engagement. He also steals more money from her - although I could not get over the fact that despite ALL that had gone before (including her knowledge of his debts, dishonesty, and lack of faith that he would actually marry her) that she was stupid enough to have actually given him the money in advance of the wedding. It was just incredible!
In any event things come to a head at the duke's country estate. Winston tries to run off with Hannah ( the fiancé) and the heroine finally confesses all to her cousin and tells the hero the truth about winston. They all live happily ever after.
There were many things that did not make sense in this story and the heroine just consistently made things worse for herself; divorce was a terrible scandal at the time and did not fit with the personality of the hero, who was presented as truly worthy - but yet cruel to the heroine. Also the fact that none of the other characters clued into to the reality of winston was quite difficult - it made the hero seem quite unheroic!
Nonetheless it was a good read with well drawn personalities and emotions and Ms Balogh does not disappoint.
February 5, 2021
An interesting, if today rather disturbing, early Balogh, which participates in the emerging cultural dialogue in the 1980's about the topic of sexual abuse and rape. The story opens in Bath, where Miss Sarah Fifield, cousin/companion to Lady Murdoch, encounters a man from her past: George, the Duke of Cranwell. As their backstory gradually unfolds, we discover that
Balogh shows through flashbacks how Sarah's charismatic, charming, "kindly" older step-cousin gradually lulled/persuaded/threatened 16-year-old Sarah into greater and greater sexual intimacies with him while he was home during school breaks. Ickily, though perhaps necessary at the time to show readers unfamiliar with the idea of date/family rape how such a thing could happen, Balogh shows Sarah's "ravishment" right on the page.
The really disturbing part, though, is that this cousin (an accurately depicted sociopath), is still obsessed with Sarah and becomes determined to persuade her to become his current-day mistress when he meets her again in Bath. And he charms and manipulates everyone around him except for Sarah. Sarah is polite and accepts his worming his way into her social circle (which, due to the friendship of Lady Murdoch and the grandmother of George's betrothed, increasingly includes George) without telling anyone else about the violence he perpetrated against her. Understandable, perhaps, given the norms of the period, as well as Sarah's self-loathing (at times, she believes her voluptuous beauty caused her rape, rather than her cousin's lack of moral character—woman as inherent temptress). But oh so painful to see unfolding on the page, as is the way George treats Sarah, insulting her whenever the two are alone because he doesn't want to acknowledge that he's still attracted to someone he finds morally reprehensible.
Given today's norms around sexual abuse, it's not hard to understand why this is one of the last of Balogh's early books to be reissued in e-book form...
Balogh shows through flashbacks how Sarah's charismatic, charming, "kindly" older step-cousin gradually lulled/persuaded/threatened 16-year-old Sarah into greater and greater sexual intimacies with him while he was home during school breaks. Ickily, though perhaps necessary at the time to show readers unfamiliar with the idea of date/family rape how such a thing could happen, Balogh shows Sarah's "ravishment" right on the page.
The really disturbing part, though, is that this cousin (an accurately depicted sociopath), is still obsessed with Sarah and becomes determined to persuade her to become his current-day mistress when he meets her again in Bath. And he charms and manipulates everyone around him except for Sarah. Sarah is polite and accepts his worming his way into her social circle (which, due to the friendship of Lady Murdoch and the grandmother of George's betrothed, increasingly includes George) without telling anyone else about the violence he perpetrated against her. Understandable, perhaps, given the norms of the period, as well as Sarah's self-loathing (at times, she believes her voluptuous beauty caused her rape, rather than her cousin's lack of moral character—woman as inherent temptress). But oh so painful to see unfolding on the page, as is the way George treats Sarah, insulting her whenever the two are alone because he doesn't want to acknowledge that he's still attracted to someone he finds morally reprehensible.
Given today's norms around sexual abuse, it's not hard to understand why this is one of the last of Balogh's early books to be reissued in e-book form...
December 23, 2023
I must check and see if I've ever before given a Mary Balogh novel 3 stars, it's usually 4 or 5 from me, but this is such a hard book to review. One the one hand it made me so angry, I just wanted to shake the h so hard and shout at her to tell the H the truth about what had happened. She was very nearly her own worst enemy. On the other hand the villain was so well written, he was such a convincing, charming, evil man, although I was sorry he didn't suffer more than he did for his crimes. The H let him off very lightly for not only the sexual abuse but also the large amount of money he stole from the h.
March 22, 2021
not good, for a couple of reasons.
1. whoever wrote the Goodreads blurb for this book is gross. "sensuous power" and "passionate surrender" are not the way to talk about a book about a victim of childhood incest, even if she does find a loving partner who eventually pulls his head out of his ass when someone finally explains what it means that this girl/woman is, seemingly inexplicably, terrified of men.
2. the main female character's inability to talk about ANY problem she faces in the book is annoying as hell, but not unrealistic, given she's probably got PTSD, so I'll give that a pass, but...
3. Everyone ELSE not talking about things that obviously need to be discussed is awful.
1. whoever wrote the Goodreads blurb for this book is gross. "sensuous power" and "passionate surrender" are not the way to talk about a book about a victim of childhood incest, even if she does find a loving partner who eventually pulls his head out of his ass when someone finally explains what it means that this girl/woman is, seemingly inexplicably, terrified of men.
2. the main female character's inability to talk about ANY problem she faces in the book is annoying as hell, but not unrealistic, given she's probably got PTSD, so I'll give that a pass, but...
3. Everyone ELSE not talking about things that obviously need to be discussed is awful.
November 28, 2013
Horrible villain. Separation that is seemingly never-ending. I'd give it a one & 1/2.
February 4, 2021
Love Balogh Books
I love anything Mary Balogh writes, and I loved this book, too. But it is never easy to read about sexual abuse.
I love anything Mary Balogh writes, and I loved this book, too. But it is never easy to read about sexual abuse.
February 7, 2021
Introducing The Delta Hero
She’s a titian-haired green-eyed siren who was gently reared into a country bumpkin. He’s Farmer Duke, with a taste for art, and no less bucolic of an upbringing. They fall in love and marry, but things go awry on the wedding night and they divorce bitterly. Four years later, they meet again and are thrown together constantly by forces that seem beyond their control, compelling them to the reckoning that they sought to escape with the divorce.
This was a rather painful read, not just because it has the best, most effectively fleshed-out villain, but because it deals with a very real aspect of romance that is neither fictional nor confined to the Regency era: our worthiness to love and be loved. It is heart-rending and engrossing. The tension is coiled effectively a few pages in, and it grips the reader and doesn’t let go until the protagonists have said their i-love-yous. This is truly masterful storytelling.
We all know the Beta Hero, and if you read Mrs. Balogh, you love them most (probably. With certain exceptions, like Wulf or Percy). Our hero George is the progenitor of our most beloved Betaroes Lucas, Hartley, and Avery (this book was published in 1988). But here’s another thing that makes this a difficult read: he is not exactly on par with the Betaroes in anything except for the fact that his height and looks and basically everything about him screams average. He does nothing heroic throughout the entire book, in fact (until the very end), and he has nothing to recommend him except the fact that the heroine loves and worships him and he loves her back. So I have invented a category for him: the Delta Hero.
The delta hero is, well, not so much a hero (in the sense we know and understand in our beloved HRs) as a real man we recognize, who thinks and reacts in ways that we know our lovers to think and react—yes, even in the present day. He has no remarkable traits, and his character is nothing special. He could well be a guy you dated or married.
George, our delta hero, believes the absolute worst of the heroine when she fails to explain her trauma. He persists in this belief even after he admits to himself that he is still in love with her so many years later. After the wedding night debacle, Sarah gives him an obviously far-fetched explanation, which he again believes. He maintains this until she finally discloses the truth. Good old Farmer Duke does not recognize or even suspect the villain for a second—not even when another perfidy is committed right before his eyes.
In the same vein, though, Sarah fails miserably to be worthy of George’s love. She does ignite and compound the misery in their love affair by lying to him (or withholding the truth, which is the same thing in this context). She has her reasons for not exposing the villain at first. However, her weakness becomes increasingly difficult to understand as the story goes on, especially as it becomes clear that other girls are in grave danger from the villain. She further aggravates her faults by manipulating and taking advantage of George in order to carry out a scheme that, to her mind, is self-sacrificing but which is actually quite vicious if one considers that she is supposed to love George.
So what we have here is a love story between two weak (but real, and thus recognizable) people, and I suppose that is why I liked it so much. The protagonists are naive, unimaginative, have fragile egos, and given to lashing out at each other. You know, like the rest of us. How worthy are we of our loves? When it comes to the point, how many of us display the incredible fortitude necessary to love and be loved? We want to tell ourselves that our lovers value us to the degree that would prevent them from assuming the very worst aspects of our character, that they can see through the self-protective artifice we construct and recognize the truth we are trying to hide. But hey, if that were not the stuff of fiction, would we be reading romance novels? I think not.
For all that though, this is also a story about the constancy of love. You know, the “against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement” type. It is just that in this novel, the author illustrates how we could well miss bringing this love to fruition when we don’t buck up and attempt to overcome the shadier parts of our nature so that we might then ascend that pedestal before our love’s eyes, and be worthy of standing upon it.
She’s a titian-haired green-eyed siren who was gently reared into a country bumpkin. He’s Farmer Duke, with a taste for art, and no less bucolic of an upbringing. They fall in love and marry, but things go awry on the wedding night and they divorce bitterly. Four years later, they meet again and are thrown together constantly by forces that seem beyond their control, compelling them to the reckoning that they sought to escape with the divorce.
This was a rather painful read, not just because it has the best, most effectively fleshed-out villain, but because it deals with a very real aspect of romance that is neither fictional nor confined to the Regency era: our worthiness to love and be loved. It is heart-rending and engrossing. The tension is coiled effectively a few pages in, and it grips the reader and doesn’t let go until the protagonists have said their i-love-yous. This is truly masterful storytelling.
We all know the Beta Hero, and if you read Mrs. Balogh, you love them most (probably. With certain exceptions, like Wulf or Percy). Our hero George is the progenitor of our most beloved Betaroes Lucas, Hartley, and Avery (this book was published in 1988). But here’s another thing that makes this a difficult read: he is not exactly on par with the Betaroes in anything except for the fact that his height and looks and basically everything about him screams average. He does nothing heroic throughout the entire book, in fact (until the very end), and he has nothing to recommend him except the fact that the heroine loves and worships him and he loves her back. So I have invented a category for him: the Delta Hero.
The delta hero is, well, not so much a hero (in the sense we know and understand in our beloved HRs) as a real man we recognize, who thinks and reacts in ways that we know our lovers to think and react—yes, even in the present day. He has no remarkable traits, and his character is nothing special. He could well be a guy you dated or married.
George, our delta hero, believes the absolute worst of the heroine when she fails to explain her trauma. He persists in this belief even after he admits to himself that he is still in love with her so many years later. After the wedding night debacle, Sarah gives him an obviously far-fetched explanation, which he again believes. He maintains this until she finally discloses the truth. Good old Farmer Duke does not recognize or even suspect the villain for a second—not even when another perfidy is committed right before his eyes.
In the same vein, though, Sarah fails miserably to be worthy of George’s love. She does ignite and compound the misery in their love affair by lying to him (or withholding the truth, which is the same thing in this context). She has her reasons for not exposing the villain at first. However, her weakness becomes increasingly difficult to understand as the story goes on, especially as it becomes clear that other girls are in grave danger from the villain. She further aggravates her faults by manipulating and taking advantage of George in order to carry out a scheme that, to her mind, is self-sacrificing but which is actually quite vicious if one considers that she is supposed to love George.
So what we have here is a love story between two weak (but real, and thus recognizable) people, and I suppose that is why I liked it so much. The protagonists are naive, unimaginative, have fragile egos, and given to lashing out at each other. You know, like the rest of us. How worthy are we of our loves? When it comes to the point, how many of us display the incredible fortitude necessary to love and be loved? We want to tell ourselves that our lovers value us to the degree that would prevent them from assuming the very worst aspects of our character, that they can see through the self-protective artifice we construct and recognize the truth we are trying to hide. But hey, if that were not the stuff of fiction, would we be reading romance novels? I think not.
For all that though, this is also a story about the constancy of love. You know, the “against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement” type. It is just that in this novel, the author illustrates how we could well miss bringing this love to fruition when we don’t buck up and attempt to overcome the shadier parts of our nature so that we might then ascend that pedestal before our love’s eyes, and be worthy of standing upon it.
Read
October 4, 2025This book was written in the 80s and you can tell.
CW for rape in the past but on page in the heroine’s memories. The crux of the story was that for a variety of gaslighty and manipulative reasons she was abused and raped by her cousin, when he was away she fell in love and got married but her husband realized she was not a virgin after their wedding night and they both handle that very badly, he divorced her, and now they are reunited four years later and her awful cousin is still around.
This was a book that was not fun to read, it was stressful and the cousin did not nearly receive the dismembering vivisection he deserved. You feel extremely bad for the heroine but she does not make great choices with how to deal with the problems she is facing and the characters didn’t tell each other the truth until extremely late, and when she does finally tell the maternal figure in her life she is extremely supportive but if written in this day and age I think the events of the plot would unfold in an extremely different manner. We handle that kind of plot very differently.
However, it was written in the 80s and beyond the way we handled assault and rape and psychological manipulation back then, it exists in this authors body of work along with a couple other of her books that have really awful villains and all read as rather historical thrillers or psychological suspense historicals almost. The tension is there for a reason, the villains stick around for the whole book for a reason. And in this era there were all those thriller movies in the 80s, there were tons of long drawn out suspense romances as well and I think this as well as HEARTLESS, DECEIVED, TANGLED, etc all fall into that category. But I think HEARTLESS succeeds better as a romance in this area because of when the characters admit the truth to each other, the MMC doesn’t act so awful (IIRC), the heroine doesn’t cast herself in an intentionally bad light because of trauma, etc.
So while SECRETS OF THE HEART was interesting to read as a historical text, it was not a fun or favorite read. But I’m glad I read it because I love this author and it was a point in time for the genre and her body of work.
CW for rape in the past but on page in the heroine’s memories. The crux of the story was that for a variety of gaslighty and manipulative reasons she was abused and raped by her cousin, when he was away she fell in love and got married but her husband realized she was not a virgin after their wedding night and they both handle that very badly, he divorced her, and now they are reunited four years later and her awful cousin is still around.
This was a book that was not fun to read, it was stressful and the cousin did not nearly receive the dismembering vivisection he deserved. You feel extremely bad for the heroine but she does not make great choices with how to deal with the problems she is facing and the characters didn’t tell each other the truth until extremely late, and when she does finally tell the maternal figure in her life she is extremely supportive but if written in this day and age I think the events of the plot would unfold in an extremely different manner. We handle that kind of plot very differently.
However, it was written in the 80s and beyond the way we handled assault and rape and psychological manipulation back then, it exists in this authors body of work along with a couple other of her books that have really awful villains and all read as rather historical thrillers or psychological suspense historicals almost. The tension is there for a reason, the villains stick around for the whole book for a reason. And in this era there were all those thriller movies in the 80s, there were tons of long drawn out suspense romances as well and I think this as well as HEARTLESS, DECEIVED, TANGLED, etc all fall into that category. But I think HEARTLESS succeeds better as a romance in this area because of when the characters admit the truth to each other, the MMC doesn’t act so awful (IIRC), the heroine doesn’t cast herself in an intentionally bad light because of trauma, etc.
So while SECRETS OF THE HEART was interesting to read as a historical text, it was not a fun or favorite read. But I’m glad I read it because I love this author and it was a point in time for the genre and her body of work.
May 5, 2021
For me, this novel is not so simple. Sarah was raped when she was 17; and throughout the book, I was frustrated because I wish she would fight back. But I realize the year the story was based on. A period where women were considered property and were even blamed for being raped. Even being divorced, women were shunned. Even today, women do not have equal rights and they fear reprisals when speaking up. My other take away from the novel is that appearances can be deceptive. Here you have Winston Bowen who is tall, blond, and handsome and very amiable towards others. Then you have George who is ordinary looking and not very tall. He is a quiet person who gives the impression of being a stick in the mud. And then there is Sarah, who has titan hair, beautiful, and sensual. One is to believe she is a flirt and vivacious; but she is the opposite, keeps to herself, and a nice person. It seems Sarah is the only one who really knows George’s true, ugly character. At first, she goes along with George’s manipulation to protect her brother but hates herself for the things she has done. She blames herself. But as time goes on, I feel she becomes a stronger though she herself ends up manipulating George to protect George and his family.
April 1, 2021
I am so angry 😤 I couldn’t finish this book.
Why are women responsible for all the troubles of the world? She was naive. She was continually raped, blackmailed and extorted into keeping quiet by a lying, manipulating, psychotic stinking lowlife bastard. THEN, met a self righteous prig who cannot believe she is not a pure virginal, untouched woman who was unscathed by life and was supposed to be sitting and waiting on a golden shelf just for him!
Mary Balogh deals with difficult topics and clearly illustrates how far we’ve come as women (still work to do) but this one dragged on too long and was a bit too difficult to continue. I will assume that it has a happy ending but I’ll probably never know.
Ok update because I couldn’t not read until the end. My overall opinion had not changed of the characters, the time period and related morality. If I could shorten some of the long whining descriptions of the heart and inner reflections, cut out the middle third, and get to the good part where the hero kicks the bad guy’s behind (not a spoiler it wouldn’t have been a romance if something hadn’t happened to him). But it was better than a one star. 3.5 without the middle of the book.
Why are women responsible for all the troubles of the world? She was naive. She was continually raped, blackmailed and extorted into keeping quiet by a lying, manipulating, psychotic stinking lowlife bastard. THEN, met a self righteous prig who cannot believe she is not a pure virginal, untouched woman who was unscathed by life and was supposed to be sitting and waiting on a golden shelf just for him!
Mary Balogh deals with difficult topics and clearly illustrates how far we’ve come as women (still work to do) but this one dragged on too long and was a bit too difficult to continue. I will assume that it has a happy ending but I’ll probably never know.
Ok update because I couldn’t not read until the end. My overall opinion had not changed of the characters, the time period and related morality. If I could shorten some of the long whining descriptions of the heart and inner reflections, cut out the middle third, and get to the good part where the hero kicks the bad guy’s behind (not a spoiler it wouldn’t have been a romance if something hadn’t happened to him). But it was better than a one star. 3.5 without the middle of the book.
November 27, 2021
one of a kind estranged married plot
The plot was .not the usual HR plots. Ms. Balogh is one of the best authors in this genre and this book def show her masterpiece even more. She created a villain w physical traits and manner that you always found in male main character. and After you read so many books for years w sameo2 plots and when you found now and then out of the norm is v refreshing and pleased my jaded soul worth my time and money. 🙃
We heard so much of a girl being physically abused by their closest relatives and sometimes we wondered why can they stop from this happening. You can see how someone in that situation thru Sarah''s experience expecially when they're young and were also depend on them. Most of the time I dont like my heroine weak but you feel compassion and understood in her situaton.
Why some rated 1 ⭐ coz they felt offended of the story line, theres non-consensual relationship but thats how this book was one of the kind not the same boring HR plots. Its angst overload for our heroine but at the end good will win over evil.
The plot was .not the usual HR plots. Ms. Balogh is one of the best authors in this genre and this book def show her masterpiece even more. She created a villain w physical traits and manner that you always found in male main character. and After you read so many books for years w sameo2 plots and when you found now and then out of the norm is v refreshing and pleased my jaded soul worth my time and money. 🙃
We heard so much of a girl being physically abused by their closest relatives and sometimes we wondered why can they stop from this happening. You can see how someone in that situation thru Sarah''s experience expecially when they're young and were also depend on them. Most of the time I dont like my heroine weak but you feel compassion and understood in her situaton.
Why some rated 1 ⭐ coz they felt offended of the story line, theres non-consensual relationship but thats how this book was one of the kind not the same boring HR plots. Its angst overload for our heroine but at the end good will win over evil.
March 30, 2021
I hadn't realized I had already read this. I must have a hard copy of it tucked away someplace. Details sounded familiar and I started predicting what would come next. On the whole, I liked the book. I like most of the characters. Most of it really fits the period. Better than a lot of period romances. And I like a lot of her earlier writing better than some of her later writing. There was a greater complexity to this than some of her most recent books. My only complaint is that I find Cran, the male lead, to be a bit dense. He fails to see a lot of things right in front of his face, he jumps to conclusions that don't make a lot of sense even based on his limited knowledge at hand. On the whole, the book is good but it could have been just a little bit better with a slightly stronger love interest even if he operated within the mores of the time period.
January 29, 2023
Hmmm, its difficult to say I liked this book, it was pretty painful to read due to the amount of mental anguish the heroine endured, and it was for the majority of the book. The resolution kind of came in the last 10 pages, so personally I found it unsatisfying. I wish George had been less of an idiot and that more of the book was taken up with them learning to love and trust each other again rather than mental anguish - moment of tenderness and care - someone says something stupid - mental anguish begins again - physical attraction occurs - more mental anguish. The romance honestly didn't really feel believable, the romance they had before they married did, but there wasn't much of that getting to know you part when they reunite. I read books for romance and hugs, not 375 pages of mental anguish with 25 pages of romance, kindness and tenderness.
August 7, 2024
George, Duke of Canwell, divorced Sarah after one day of marriage. Four years later, they meet once more. She's acting as a companion to her elderly cousin while he is in Bath with his new, young fiancee. Divorce in Regency England was rare, and it was always the woman who suffered the scorn of society, so Sarah used her mother's maiden name but lived in fear of being discovered. George worries about her moral influence on his sister and his fiancee.
Through judicious use of flashback memories, what went wrong with the marriage is gradually revealed. I loved both Sarah and George, but I didn't see how there would be a HEA in this book, so I was pretty tense while reading. Ms. Balogh comes through in a compelling and lovely way. This is an older book, one of her back catalog that is being released as ebooks. Some of those have been hit or miss, but this one is definitely a hit!
Through judicious use of flashback memories, what went wrong with the marriage is gradually revealed. I loved both Sarah and George, but I didn't see how there would be a HEA in this book, so I was pretty tense while reading. Ms. Balogh comes through in a compelling and lovely way. This is an older book, one of her back catalog that is being released as ebooks. Some of those have been hit or miss, but this one is definitely a hit!
May 9, 2021
This was a disturbing story on so many levels. The heroine is sexually abused by a stepcousin as a teen and later victimized again. The need to keep a socially acceptable facade allows it to continue. The societal double standard for women increases the victimization and the heroine’s own self-blame for what is not her fault makes it impossible for her to stand against it. Although a happy ending it was not a satisfying process for getting there.
It was a very early book for this author and during a time when romances frequently portrayed the heroine succumbing to the hero in what was really only a thinly disguised rape. Perhaps she was very brave to point out the hypocrisy of that. It did not make it any easier to read, though.
It was a very early book for this author and during a time when romances frequently portrayed the heroine succumbing to the hero in what was really only a thinly disguised rape. Perhaps she was very brave to point out the hypocrisy of that. It did not make it any easier to read, though.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 15, 2025
Historically accurate? Yes. Fun to read through? Not at all. And to be honest, for the first half, the heroine's decisions make sense. But the fact that even after her rapist no longer has any blackmail on her, she continues to spend time with him and lie to everyone else to *protect his reputation*? I lost any and all sympathy for her.
The hero also sucks. And he should have had to grovel for a lot longer than two pages to win back her affection after having society ostracize her for five years and labeling her a whore for so long.
Like, I just didn't like anybody in this, and so many decisions were made just so that Balogh could keep the page count going. This was her first novel to be over 300 pages, and it could have been at least 50 pages shorter and it still would have felt like a complete narrative. As it is, it's long and boring and leaves you with no one to root for during the majority of its tale. Skip this one.
The hero also sucks. And he should have had to grovel for a lot longer than two pages to win back her affection after having society ostracize her for five years and labeling her a whore for so long.
Like, I just didn't like anybody in this, and so many decisions were made just so that Balogh could keep the page count going. This was her first novel to be over 300 pages, and it could have been at least 50 pages shorter and it still would have felt like a complete narrative. As it is, it's long and boring and leaves you with no one to root for during the majority of its tale. Skip this one.
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