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Bitter Secret
Sophie's world was orderly, well controlled
Then the charismatic new owner of Sedbury Hall made an unwelcome intrusion into it. "You're just a taker, Seth Huntingdon," she told him. "You see something you want and it doesn't matter who is standing in your way."
After the heartbreak of the past, Sophie was not going to risk further hurt and she certainly had no room for a man in her life.
Which was a pity--because even though she loathed what Seth stood for, there was definitely a strong attraction between the two of them.
Then the charismatic new owner of Sedbury Hall made an unwelcome intrusion into it. "You're just a taker, Seth Huntingdon," she told him. "You see something you want and it doesn't matter who is standing in your way."
After the heartbreak of the past, Sophie was not going to risk further hurt and she certainly had no room for a man in her life.
Which was a pity--because even though she loathed what Seth stood for, there was definitely a strong attraction between the two of them.
192 pages, Paperback
First published February 15, 1991
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 17, 2018
Another heroine's journey romance that uses the enemies to lovers trope as the romantic conflict.
Schoolteacher heroine meets property developer hero at a dinner party. He is bowled over by her and uses his best lines, but she is unmoved. He winds her up about his plans for the Elizabethan manor house he has just bought, but doesn't realize that she is already wound as tight as anyone can be and still function.
Hero tries to make it up to the heroine, but she is adamant about not having any sort of a relationship with him.
What this author does so well is show that the heroine really needs some kind of relationship as she tries to keep the first "bitter secret." She's covering for the headmistress of her school who is showing signs of dementia.
The hero steps up beautifully when she finally confides in him. He holds her while she cries, tells her she can do it, and then leaves her alone for the two weeks she needs to focus on the school inspection.
The next bitter secret isn't so easy to solve. But the hero manages to pry it out of her.
I really liked the heroine in this. Her pain was not of the self-pitying kind, but she added to her suffering by not opening up and living in denial. The hero managed to break through her shell, but she did the actual work of facing up and letting go. That the hero is a restoration architect is no coincidence. He only wanted to restore the old house, not change it - same with his approach to the heroine. He liked her schoolmarm ways just fine.
The hero lets the heroine think he has a girlfriend for far too long - and that aspect of the heroine helping the hero "cheat" might not appeal to some readers. It was so transparently obvious that he didn't have girlfriend and he was smitten with the heroine, that it didn't bother me.
Schoolteacher heroine meets property developer hero at a dinner party. He is bowled over by her and uses his best lines, but she is unmoved. He winds her up about his plans for the Elizabethan manor house he has just bought, but doesn't realize that she is already wound as tight as anyone can be and still function.
Hero tries to make it up to the heroine, but she is adamant about not having any sort of a relationship with him.
What this author does so well is show that the heroine really needs some kind of relationship as she tries to keep the first "bitter secret." She's covering for the headmistress of her school who is showing signs of dementia.
The hero steps up beautifully when she finally confides in him. He holds her while she cries, tells her she can do it, and then leaves her alone for the two weeks she needs to focus on the school inspection.
The next bitter secret isn't so easy to solve. But the hero manages to pry it out of her.
I really liked the heroine in this. Her pain was not of the self-pitying kind, but she added to her suffering by not opening up and living in denial. The hero managed to break through her shell, but she did the actual work of facing up and letting go. That the hero is a restoration architect is no coincidence. He only wanted to restore the old house, not change it - same with his approach to the heroine. He liked her schoolmarm ways just fine.
The hero lets the heroine think he has a girlfriend for far too long - and that aspect of the heroine helping the hero "cheat" might not appeal to some readers. It was so transparently obvious that he didn't have girlfriend and he was smitten with the heroine, that it didn't bother me.
June 7, 2017
Re Bitter Secret - continuing the theme of simple romance in February of 1991, Carol Gregor brings us the low key, but highly intense romance between a primary schoolteacher h in a small English village and the incomer H - who describes himself as a property developer but has a elusive background that keeps him a bit mysterious for half of the book.
There are actually three subplots worked through this story, but the h and H's reactions to each other is at the fulcrum of all of them.
The first is the H meets the h when she is invited to make up the numbers at the local social climber's dinner party. The h wears a dress that is rather more daring than she is used to and she gets a lot of notice. The H is very aggressive in his pursuit of the h, to the point of forced punishing kisses when he gives the h a ride home, and she is outraged and extremely angry that he put his hands on her.
She has bruises from the goodnight struggle in the car and she has NO problems telling the H where to go and what to do when he gets there - she is absolutely NOT interested, no matter how witchy the jealous married local social climber is that the H is interested in the h. The h has some dark tragedy in her past and that tragedy is clearly affecting her current actions, but big kudos for the h really telling the H off after their first encounter and REALLY meaning it.
The second sub-plot is the local Elizabethan small manor estate the H has bought. He teasingly told the h he is a property developer and plans on decimating the interior and turning it into a leisure resort. The h is on the local heritage committee and she is NOT happy about this news either, the locals take a keen interest in the freehold of their village and they don't want to see the manor and it's lands destroyed.
The H eventually reveals that he is only going to build some affordable housing on a small part of the estate, but really he wants to restore the manor house back to its original condition and make it a family home. (Of course that is dependent on the h succumbing to his attraction, and for a large portion of this book, it really looks like he is going to lose on that option.)
The third subplot is that the h is the deputy for the elderly headmistress who runs her primary school. Unfortunately the headmistress is very close to retirement age and her mind is starting to wander a bit. There are school inspectors coming and the headmistress is too vague and confused to prepare for them. The h has to get the school ready for inspection and convince the headmistress that it might be better for her to retire rather than be forced out.
(The h is truly concerned that if other people see how badly the headmistress has deteriorated, the lady will be ridiculed and humiliated. Since the headmistress has been at the school for over 30 years, the h is hoping that a renewed interest in visiting her grandkids and her garden can give her a alternative interest in life and get her to gracefully retire. )
All of these subplots play out against the backdrop of the H being absolutely head over heels about the h. Yet she is determined not to even give him the time of day. There is the manner of the punishing kiss of their first encounter and the jealous social climber's statement that the H has a London girlfriend who is an international model. The H doesn't dispute the claims that the model is his girlfriend either and the h makes it very clear she doesn't poach.
Of course she only finds out about the girlfriend after the H lends a nonpartisan sympathetic ear to the h while she ponders about what to do about the headmistress's mental state and they wind up almost boudoir bouncing in the aftermath of the school inspector's evaluation-- when the h was tipsy and stressed out with exhaustion. This spurs the h into greater efforts to deflect the H in his pursuit, but he doggedly keeps trying.
We eventually find out the H really isn't a property developer. He is a world renowned conservation architect and he bought the local manor cause he fell in love with the place right before falling in love with the h. This relieves the h's fears that the H will destroy a valuable piece of local heritage and they start to develop a tentative friendship that is seething with underlying attraction.
The H still has a girlfriend in the h's mind tho, plus she has decided to apply for the headmistress position and the h still has her dark past hanging over her. She thinks she is too young to get the post, as she is only 25, but the h seems to feel that she will only ever have her teaching career to rely on in the future. (She doesn't get the position either, but she is okay with that cause she wasn't sure she wanted the responsibility.)
She continues to reject the H's advances, even after he apologizes and goes out of his way to redeem his initial actions. The jealous local social climber is spreading gossip left and right about the h and H and the h has to deal with the gossip when it comes to her interview for the headmistress position.
Finally the h breaks down and explains what is behind her persistent attempts to drive off the H. When the h was 19, she went to London for teacher training and took a job in a London primary school. She got engaged and moved in with a graduate chemist teacher and then the relationship started to go bad. The h wanted to break up, but then the h's fiance was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease.)
The h was stuck and couldn't leave a man who was gradually losing all nerve function and becoming a vegetable right before her eyes. The fiance did not want to die and was a very difficult patient. He did not want to go into hospice either. So the h, at 20 yrs of age, took on the responsibility of caring for him in their home - in addition to continuing to teach as well. The disease process took a few years to run its course and the h developed extreme caregiver fatigue. She was trapped in a major caregiver role and did not feel she could leave, but the going was really, really hard on her.
The fiance was also very bitter that she did not love him enough to marry him and extremely angry about his illness. Tho the h never says what he said exactly, it is made very clear that the fiance blamed the h at least partially for his illness.
When he died the h felt like she was a murderess, cause by that point she was praying he would pass on and she would be able to escape. All of that is very common in long term illness, but this is the first time something like this is ever addressed in HPlandia and CG handled the depiction of the process extremely well.
The H is horrified that the h had to endure that at such a young age and he is extremely remorseful that he pushed the h so hard in his romantic pursuit. He even goes to the h's doctor and tries to figure out ways to get the h some help to deal with her grief and her guilt.
Of course after all the big revelations, the woman the h thought was the H's girlfriend very tactfully indicates that they haven't been an item in over a decade and tells the h that the H is absolutely mad about her but unsure of how to proceed. After a big storm burst in both the weather and in the H and h's tempers, the h and H wind up lurve clubbing in the garden in a rage of fiery passion. This leads to true love declarations on both sides, the H and h are getting married and they will live in the now restored manor with lots of kids and architecture and teaching for the big HEA.
This one was well done, except for the whole pretend girlfriend thing with the H for most of the book. I got why he did it, cause the h was an absolute concrete wall about any dating, but that part was frustrating since it was so obvious the H and the model were NOT a couple. I really liked how CG handled the fiance's illness and death and how that affected the h, but I did think it took CG a bit too long to get to the big explanation part. Even tho CG gave us the headmistress sub plot and the misdirection about the H's actual occupation, I kinda wanted more in the courtship department and the h's resistance to the H to end about a chapter sooner.
Overall tho, this was an intense but quiet book. There was a LOT going on that kept those pages turning. While I had some frustrations at various parts with both the H and h, I really enjoyed this one and the HEA was definitely believable.
The big surprise was the sensitivity with how the caregiver fatigue was handled and how the H genuinely tried to get the h some help with it. I do wish CG had devoted a little more page time to that part of the plot, but the fact that it was there at all makes this a really unique and worthwhile trip to HPlandia and worth a read if you run into it.
There are actually three subplots worked through this story, but the h and H's reactions to each other is at the fulcrum of all of them.
The first is the H meets the h when she is invited to make up the numbers at the local social climber's dinner party. The h wears a dress that is rather more daring than she is used to and she gets a lot of notice. The H is very aggressive in his pursuit of the h, to the point of forced punishing kisses when he gives the h a ride home, and she is outraged and extremely angry that he put his hands on her.
She has bruises from the goodnight struggle in the car and she has NO problems telling the H where to go and what to do when he gets there - she is absolutely NOT interested, no matter how witchy the jealous married local social climber is that the H is interested in the h. The h has some dark tragedy in her past and that tragedy is clearly affecting her current actions, but big kudos for the h really telling the H off after their first encounter and REALLY meaning it.
The second sub-plot is the local Elizabethan small manor estate the H has bought. He teasingly told the h he is a property developer and plans on decimating the interior and turning it into a leisure resort. The h is on the local heritage committee and she is NOT happy about this news either, the locals take a keen interest in the freehold of their village and they don't want to see the manor and it's lands destroyed.
The H eventually reveals that he is only going to build some affordable housing on a small part of the estate, but really he wants to restore the manor house back to its original condition and make it a family home. (Of course that is dependent on the h succumbing to his attraction, and for a large portion of this book, it really looks like he is going to lose on that option.)
The third subplot is that the h is the deputy for the elderly headmistress who runs her primary school. Unfortunately the headmistress is very close to retirement age and her mind is starting to wander a bit. There are school inspectors coming and the headmistress is too vague and confused to prepare for them. The h has to get the school ready for inspection and convince the headmistress that it might be better for her to retire rather than be forced out.
(The h is truly concerned that if other people see how badly the headmistress has deteriorated, the lady will be ridiculed and humiliated. Since the headmistress has been at the school for over 30 years, the h is hoping that a renewed interest in visiting her grandkids and her garden can give her a alternative interest in life and get her to gracefully retire. )
All of these subplots play out against the backdrop of the H being absolutely head over heels about the h. Yet she is determined not to even give him the time of day. There is the manner of the punishing kiss of their first encounter and the jealous social climber's statement that the H has a London girlfriend who is an international model. The H doesn't dispute the claims that the model is his girlfriend either and the h makes it very clear she doesn't poach.
Of course she only finds out about the girlfriend after the H lends a nonpartisan sympathetic ear to the h while she ponders about what to do about the headmistress's mental state and they wind up almost boudoir bouncing in the aftermath of the school inspector's evaluation-- when the h was tipsy and stressed out with exhaustion. This spurs the h into greater efforts to deflect the H in his pursuit, but he doggedly keeps trying.
We eventually find out the H really isn't a property developer. He is a world renowned conservation architect and he bought the local manor cause he fell in love with the place right before falling in love with the h. This relieves the h's fears that the H will destroy a valuable piece of local heritage and they start to develop a tentative friendship that is seething with underlying attraction.
The H still has a girlfriend in the h's mind tho, plus she has decided to apply for the headmistress position and the h still has her dark past hanging over her. She thinks she is too young to get the post, as she is only 25, but the h seems to feel that she will only ever have her teaching career to rely on in the future. (She doesn't get the position either, but she is okay with that cause she wasn't sure she wanted the responsibility.)
She continues to reject the H's advances, even after he apologizes and goes out of his way to redeem his initial actions. The jealous local social climber is spreading gossip left and right about the h and H and the h has to deal with the gossip when it comes to her interview for the headmistress position.
Finally the h breaks down and explains what is behind her persistent attempts to drive off the H. When the h was 19, she went to London for teacher training and took a job in a London primary school. She got engaged and moved in with a graduate chemist teacher and then the relationship started to go bad. The h wanted to break up, but then the h's fiance was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease.)
The h was stuck and couldn't leave a man who was gradually losing all nerve function and becoming a vegetable right before her eyes. The fiance did not want to die and was a very difficult patient. He did not want to go into hospice either. So the h, at 20 yrs of age, took on the responsibility of caring for him in their home - in addition to continuing to teach as well. The disease process took a few years to run its course and the h developed extreme caregiver fatigue. She was trapped in a major caregiver role and did not feel she could leave, but the going was really, really hard on her.
The fiance was also very bitter that she did not love him enough to marry him and extremely angry about his illness. Tho the h never says what he said exactly, it is made very clear that the fiance blamed the h at least partially for his illness.
When he died the h felt like she was a murderess, cause by that point she was praying he would pass on and she would be able to escape. All of that is very common in long term illness, but this is the first time something like this is ever addressed in HPlandia and CG handled the depiction of the process extremely well.
The H is horrified that the h had to endure that at such a young age and he is extremely remorseful that he pushed the h so hard in his romantic pursuit. He even goes to the h's doctor and tries to figure out ways to get the h some help to deal with her grief and her guilt.
Of course after all the big revelations, the woman the h thought was the H's girlfriend very tactfully indicates that they haven't been an item in over a decade and tells the h that the H is absolutely mad about her but unsure of how to proceed. After a big storm burst in both the weather and in the H and h's tempers, the h and H wind up lurve clubbing in the garden in a rage of fiery passion. This leads to true love declarations on both sides, the H and h are getting married and they will live in the now restored manor with lots of kids and architecture and teaching for the big HEA.
This one was well done, except for the whole pretend girlfriend thing with the H for most of the book. I got why he did it, cause the h was an absolute concrete wall about any dating, but that part was frustrating since it was so obvious the H and the model were NOT a couple. I really liked how CG handled the fiance's illness and death and how that affected the h, but I did think it took CG a bit too long to get to the big explanation part. Even tho CG gave us the headmistress sub plot and the misdirection about the H's actual occupation, I kinda wanted more in the courtship department and the h's resistance to the H to end about a chapter sooner.
Overall tho, this was an intense but quiet book. There was a LOT going on that kept those pages turning. While I had some frustrations at various parts with both the H and h, I really enjoyed this one and the HEA was definitely believable.
The big surprise was the sensitivity with how the caregiver fatigue was handled and how the H genuinely tried to get the h some help with it. I do wish CG had devoted a little more page time to that part of the plot, but the fact that it was there at all makes this a really unique and worthwhile trip to HPlandia and worth a read if you run into it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 4, 2025
An intense story, which dealt with serious topics such as single-working-woman-in-a-small-town (and the pros and cons of it), preserving old buildings for the sake of nostalgia or destroying to build something that could be used in the present time, as well as caregiver fatigue during chronic illness.
Though the heroine's refusal to explain her secret was at times, frustrating, at the end, I understood, why she felt that she could not share it fully with others.
It was quite different and I liked it.
Though the heroine's refusal to explain her secret was at times, frustrating, at the end, I understood, why she felt that she could not share it fully with others.
It was quite different and I liked it.
September 29, 2012
Je sais que je l'ai lu car j'ai le livre.
Mais je ne me souviens de rien.
Il ne m'a donc pas laissé un souvenir impérissable !
Mais je ne me souviens de rien.
Il ne m'a donc pas laissé un souvenir impérissable !
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