The last book in the Huxtable series. I’ve enjoyed revisiting Balogh, even though I haven’t loved every book. I enjoyed this series as a whole much better than the Slightly series.
A Secret Affair by Mary Balogh
(2010, Regency Historical) 6/13/2010
Grade: 4
Everyone sees the Duchess of Delacorte as aloof, and gossips about her much older husband and her string of lovers. But Hannah is much different than the gossips know. Now that she is a widow, she is ready to take a lover, and settles on Constantine Huxtable – who also presents a face to the world that is quite different from the inner man.
Back to mild disappointment. This book had a lot of potential. The hero and heroine were fascinating characters, particularly the heroine who was full of contradictions, full of new layers that Constantine pulls back one by one. But the book was spoiled (at least a little bit) by the layers of sugar that Balogh piles on. There are far too many sugary-sweet reunions of the Huxtable family, too many characters who are too-good-to-be-true, and too many people sobbing on each other’s shoulders. A little of this goes a long way, and sometimes it seemed like Balogh wanted to drown us in a wave of treacle. However, the characters kept the story from completely falling apart, and I found the book very readable. Just not quite in keeper territory.
Now that I’ve spent a few weeks in Regency England, I think I need something completely different. I have a contemporary in my TBR pile about a country singer…
Karen Wheless
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