Title: Surrey Secret
Author: Jo Anne McCraw
Published in November 2006 by Awe-Struck E-Books, Inc.
Genre: Regency
ISBN: 1-58749-581-3
Related Books:
Other Books by :
Lady Alys Middleton was at odds with her world, because her world has dealt her with a few extremely serious blows recently. Her beloved father, a man whom she scarcely knows but loves deeply has had a seizure while traveling to Chichester. For Alys, it is a most unfortunate set of circumstances, but they have been rescued. Unable to complete the trip, he has passed, leaving her in the very capable hands of Kenward William Dunleigh, Marquess of Armitage. Alys is distraught, and although Kenward appears to care for her, she would rather have love. The last promise she made to her father, the Earl of Middleton, was to marry for love. That the man had taken her in a marriage of convenience was not a promising situation. She had promised her father, but the marquis had taken that particular decision neatly out of her hands by demanding to be permitted to do the right thing. Alys finds herself in a quandary with her place in the scheme of things, and surrounding her are several problems she does not tell or trust her new husband to help her solve at this point. There is a problem with the papers she had taken with her to Harriet’s on their trip to Chichester, and it is there she discovers her father was a possible traitor.
Frightened of the feelings developing for her new husband, and anxious about the child now growing inside her womb, Alys runs to the only place she feels comfortable, the one place she is doomed to lose by her father’s death. Arbrook is home as far as she is concerned, and although it passes to a very distant and estranged relative, she must return to its comfort, familiarity, and to regain not only her balance, but her own personal mementos, and the personal effects of her parents she may wish to keep. In returning to the home of her childhood, Alys discovers she is now in possession of even more of the traitorous documents in which her husband may have even more interest. As she is well aware of the nature of her husband’s other pursuits, and unwilling to have her child raised by strangers as so many of the noble families are want to do, Alys uses the papers to black mail her husband into allowing her to raise her child until the age of twenty. What she doesn’t know is that she has now put her life in jeopardy, and by not confiding in Kenward, and letting him know of her feelings, her trepidations, and her fears, she may not only lose him, but also her own life.
To the Marquess of Armitage, the circumstances of his return to Grayswood and home went extremely well. He did not find the man he was to meet, however he may have solved another problem which had become quite a sticky one lately. It was not a happy time for Alys, but Kenward knows he is doing the right thing by marrying her. For Kenward, it is not only a matter of propriety and assuring her reputation is not smirched, but also a very good way out of the predicament he finds himself in regarding his marital status. He is really not anxious to be married, but he is well aware it is time, and so his Aunt Hortensia is constantly reminding him. She has a friend, with a particularly noxious daughter she wants Kenward to marry. It is not that he is opposed to marriage, but he doesn’t believe in love, Even so, he feels as though she should at least be attracted to his future wife, and the chit his aunt is trying to foist on him leaves him colder than cold. Old friend’s daughter or not, Kenward feels her cold assessing gaze when she is present, and is always aware of her totaling up his worth and deciding on how to spend his heard earned wealth.
What Kenward sees in Alys is a woman to whom he finds himself attracted. That in and of itself is enough to recommend her to him, but he also sees a young woman of independent nature, loving and caring about her very ill patent, and then truly devastated by his loss. This depth of feeling, the strength yet vulnerability he finds in Alys make him turn toward her, and then call her hand by pointing out the problems she may have due to the circumstances. With his marriage to Alys, he has now only one pressing problem. He must now discover the whereabouts of the agent assigned to deliver some very important papers he received from the supporters of Napoleon. These documents and letters are crucial to the plot hatching to spring Napoleon from custody, and place him back in power. Kenward needs to find the man, retrieve the documents, and then return to the War Office in London to see the plot foiled. Little does he know, the events around complications of the promise Alys made to her dying father will bring him into close contact with an assassin. One who is determined to recover that which was lost, and destroy the man who betrayed their cause.
Let me say from the start, I am not one who finds many Regency Romance to my liking. My preferences run to the Science Fiction, Paranormal, Futuristic, and the Fantasy genres when it comes to romance. Keeping that in mind, I will gladly recommend Surrey Secret to any who ask. Jo Ann McCraw has crafted a story that rivals the mysteries I so enjoy, and as a romance, the struggle between Kenward and Alys is approaching legendary. Well crafted characters bring the reader into the Regency world effortlessly, and Kenward and Alys work out her issues of trust, and his problem with the secrecy he must keep at all costs. Alys is frustrating in her naivety, but that is understandable in a young woman with her past. Having an absent father all those years, and seeing the loneliness her mother was subjected to, make her fight for something better.
When the two are forced by societal norms of the time to marry, Alys closed herself off, sets her mind, and refuses to positively entertain the possibilities her husband might actually be falling in love with her. Because “love” is not what she expected, she prepares herself for a life filled with rejection and sorrow, insuring it will be a self-fulfilling prophecy if she doesn’t wake up and open her most stubborn mind to reality. Surrey Secret is filled with all the best of the romance and mystery, in intrigue, misunderstandings, and a few well kept secrets that keep a reader on her toes, and her mind working to get the riddles solved. Jo Ann did a wonderful job with this book, Surrey Secret is one I am going to keep and read again and again. Don’t miss it at Awe Struck E-Books. I believe those who love Regency Romances will be most pleased with Surrey Secret.
Yours in good reading,
Rose!
Bio Interview Review Buy Books
Buy Books
