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Title: The Secret Pearl (Signet Super Regency) by Mary Balogh ISBN: 0-451-16991-3 Publisher: New American Library Pub. Date: September, 1991 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $4.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (6 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: I'm in the minority here!
Comment: I would rate this Mary Balogh no higher than 3 stars. I wish I knew what it is about Balogh, that I can only read & enjoy her short Signet Regency novels (Tempting Harriet, The Temporary Wife, etc.), but when I try to read her longer works (the "Slightly" series, etc.) she falls flat (for me). This is one of her longer romances (although still a Signet Regency), and I didn't like it!
I thought Fleur's disgust & fear of Adam, while completely understandable given their first encounter, were emphasized for too long, and thus I never believed her falling into love/sexual attraction to him at the end. I also felt Adam should have been more take-charge with his wife, and there should have been a scene of him kicking his brother's ass. Come on, ladies, the scenes where Adam keeps offering to call another dr. for his obviously consumptive wife, and she keeps refusing (I believe there are five times that he asks)-- it would have made me admire him more if he had just brought the damn dr. to her instead of constantly asking if she wanted him to!!! And couldn't he have at least given his brother a good strong put-down, verbally? No, he just lets him sleep with his wife and never reproaches either of them...he "understands"! Aaagh! It wasn't making me sympathetic to him, it just wasn't REAL!
I never felt that Fleur "took off" as a heroine, she seemed too bland & insipid to me.
All in all, pretty disappointed with this one.
Rating: 5
Summary: Poignant, heartwrenching, passionate love story
Comment: Several friends had given me raving reviews of this book, so I was a little afraid to have too many expectations and be disappointed. I shouldn't have! This was no doubt one of the most enthralling novels I've ever read -- I was still up at 4 am last night trying to finish it, because it is impossible to put it down once you start this book.
The story starts with a difficult, raw scene of a man using the services of a prostitute in a seedy London hotel. For the first time since he married, Adam Kent, Duke of Ridgeway, is being unfaithful and giving in to the temptation of needs that his wife doesn't fulfil. He hadn't planned to hire the girl's services, but something beyond his own understanding beckons him to her that night.
Fleur was once a Lady, until dreadful events forced her to run away from her home and left her alone and without resources. That night, selling her body is the last choice she has. She accepts her fate with courage and doesn't even flinch or show her disgust towards her customer's badly scarred body or his emotionless treatment.
It's too late when Adam Kent realises that Fleur was a virgin who is selling her body as the only alternative to starvation. Moved by what poverty can lead to, the Duke orders his secretary to find Fleur and offer her a post as his daughter's governess.
So it is a surprised and suddenly hopeful Fleur who settles in Willoughby a few days later, unaware that her new employer is her one and only customer. And for a couple of weeks, she allows herself to relax and put both the heavy secrets that sent her away from her home and the dreadful night in London to the back of her mind... until the Duke comes home and she discovers the truth of his identity.
It's difficult to put into words what is so exceptional about The Secret Pearl. It's amazing that someone who appears like an anti-hero in the beginning of the book, a careless man who pays the services of a prostitute despite his married state, and treats her with so much contempt at first, turns out to be a vulnerable, tender, loving and romantic hero. We progressively discover a man who has been badly scarred by life, not just physically but also emotionally, and who still puts his loved ones' happiness before his own. We fear for Fleur when she's cornered, caught between what made her run from her home and the secret that links her to Adam. Her fear of him, seen both through her eyes and Adam's, is remarkably real. The change of feelings between Fleur and Adam, whom she sees as the brutal man who took her virginity in her nightmares, then as the only person who can save her from losing herself completely, flows very naturally until it culminates in one of the most poignant love scenes I've ever read.
I had been impressed by several books by Mary Balogh before, but this one is simply outstanding.
If you're a fan of tearjerky romances, The Secret Pearl is a must-read... and must-re-read. :)
Rating: 5
Summary: 10 Stars for this one!
Comment: I had meant, for a long time, to write a little review of this incredible, seemingly perfect Balogh novel but did not get round to it. WMR-UK has really said everything I would have done so I would just like to say to anyone who loves heart-wrenching, stylishly written, character-driven, immaculately plotted fiction - do not miss this one. Once read, it will stay with you for ever after.
This is a story of two lonely, hurt people reaching out as best they can in the sad circumstances of their lives towards each other in an effort to find love, solace and completeness. The reader gains immense satisfaction in watching them achieve this.
I agree with WMR-UK -- I wouldn't part with my copy either -- it's firmly on the keeper shelf and I've read it more than once.
Mary Balogh is simply one of the very best writers around for the Regency period and she rarely disappoints.
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Title: The Devil's Web by Mary Balogh ISBN: 0451166949 Publisher: New American Library Pub. Date: August, 1990 List Price(USD): $3.95 |
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Title: Secrets of the Heart (Signet Super Regency) by Mary Balogh ISBN: 0451152891 Publisher: Signet Pub. Date: August, 1993 List Price(USD): $4.50 |
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Title: Dark Angel (Signet Regency Romance, No 7953) by Mary Balogh ISBN: 0451179536 Publisher: Signet Pub. Date: August, 1994 List Price(USD): $3.99 |
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Title: A Precious Jewel (Signet Regency Romance) by Mary Balogh ISBN: 0451176197 Publisher: Signet Pub. Date: June, 1993 List Price(USD): $3.99 |
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Title: The Gilded Web by Mary Balogh ISBN: 0451163303 Publisher: Signet Pub. Date: December, 1989 List Price(USD): $3.95 |
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