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Her Secret Affair #1
Her Secret Affair
She was an innocent in a world of scandal...
The only child of a notorious madam, Isabel Darling will risk anything to find the man who murdered her mother-even if it means blackmailing her way into the exalted world of London society. Even if it means indulging her forbidden dream to take her place among the aristocracy. And even if it means battling Justin Culver, the Earl of Kern-the one man who can ruin her quest for justice.
Arrogant and powerful, Lord Kern vows to stop Isabel. Yet, as they engage in a clash of wills, the fiery commoner threatens to breach the wall around his hardened heart. She alone can make him neglect duty and decorum: she alone can cause his downfall. And she alone can bring him to the heights of true love...or the depths of betrayal.
The only child of a notorious madam, Isabel Darling will risk anything to find the man who murdered her mother-even if it means blackmailing her way into the exalted world of London society. Even if it means indulging her forbidden dream to take her place among the aristocracy. And even if it means battling Justin Culver, the Earl of Kern-the one man who can ruin her quest for justice.
Arrogant and powerful, Lord Kern vows to stop Isabel. Yet, as they engage in a clash of wills, the fiery commoner threatens to breach the wall around his hardened heart. She alone can make him neglect duty and decorum: she alone can cause his downfall. And she alone can bring him to the heights of true love...or the depths of betrayal.
339 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published May 15, 1998
About the author
Barbara Dawson Smith
27 books98 followersFrom http://www.barbaradawsonsmith.com/bio...
A member of Romance Writers of America since 1981, Barbara Dawson Smith sold her first historical romance two weeks after sending it to a publisher. Her books have won the Golden Heart Award from RWA, and Best Historical Romantic Suspense and Best Regency Historical from Romantic Times. She has been a finalist for the National Readers’ Choice Award, Romance of the Year by Affaire de Coeur magazine, the Golden Quill, and the Booksellers' Best Award. She has also been a five-time finalist for the prestigious RITA Award, and realized a lifetime dream in 2002 when she won the award for TEMPT ME TWICE. Barbara also writes romance as Olivia Drake.
Barbara lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband, two daughters, two cats, and who knows how many neighbor children running up and down the stairs. When she's not finishing a chapter or teaching a seminar on writing, she enjoys browsing in her collection of over a thousand research books.
A member of Romance Writers of America since 1981, Barbara Dawson Smith sold her first historical romance two weeks after sending it to a publisher. Her books have won the Golden Heart Award from RWA, and Best Historical Romantic Suspense and Best Regency Historical from Romantic Times. She has been a finalist for the National Readers’ Choice Award, Romance of the Year by Affaire de Coeur magazine, the Golden Quill, and the Booksellers' Best Award. She has also been a five-time finalist for the prestigious RITA Award, and realized a lifetime dream in 2002 when she won the award for TEMPT ME TWICE. Barbara also writes romance as Olivia Drake.
Barbara lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband, two daughters, two cats, and who knows how many neighbor children running up and down the stairs. When she's not finishing a chapter or teaching a seminar on writing, she enjoys browsing in her collection of over a thousand research books.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 15, 2018
This author loves to escalate the trainwrecky "love in the family" drama ! It happened in Dreamspinner where the H got married to 2 half sisters ( not at the same time ! ) and it happens in this novel too. I also had to suspend my disbelief a lot in order to enjoy this story because it's difficult to believe that the daughter of a famous courtesan would end up marrying the heir of a duke. It's even more titillating that the late courtesan had also been the lover of the duke ( the H's father ). But, I love a good scandalous romance sometimes and this delivered ! The only reason why I couldn't rate this with 4 stars was due to the fact that the H had been engaged to another woman for 90% of the story. The H's fiance was also a very wonderful, sweet woman so I felt sorry for her when he broke the engagement to marry the heroine. Of course, it's not as simple as all that because the engagement to the OW had been a longstanding betrothal that had been arranged since the H and Helen ( OW ) were kids. I know this will still be a huge trigger for readers who totally loathe all incarnations of cheating. However, I judge each case on an individual basis. The H had only ever kissed the OW on the cheek twice and his feelings for her were brotherly rather than romantic. So, his romantic attachment to the heroine didn't offend my sensibilities too much. And I'll probably be pushed into purgatory by the Goodreads cheaters' police for saying this, but I did find the developing forbidden relationship between the H and heroine to be vastly exciting. So-ooooo....
All I can add is that my reviews are always based on my honest feelings, even when those feelings are obviously going to be unpopular.
Anyway, moving on...
This storyline's about 18 yr old Isabel, the bastard daughter of a late courtesan called Aurora Darling. Isabel believes that one of her mother's many lovers had poisoned that lady because the latter had been threatening to do like Harriet Wilson and publish her memoirs. The heroine decides to use blackmail as a mean of infiltrating the Ton because it's the only way she'll be able to get close to the suspects. The H Justin ( who's mainly referred to as 'Kern' in the novel, since he's titled the Earl of Kern ) starts off totally loathing Isabella because he thinks she's a whore just like her late mother and because he wants to prevent her from publishing the memoirs and embarrassing his ailing father.
Isabella ends up blackmailing the Marquess of Hathaway whose younger brother ( a priest ! ) had been one of her mother's lovers. The marquess agrees to let her stay in his home and this provides her with the opportunity to investigate the suspects. He's unaware of her true motives because she's lied and said that all she wants is to have a London season and get a chance to meet eligible rich aristocrats. Later on it's revealed that
Interesting points:
1. The explosive sexual chemistry between the MC's. It's heightened by the fact that the H is absolutely not a manwhore because he's been celibate for 14 years ! Kern's only 28 but he's celibate because he doesn't want to be a lecherous rake like his ailing father and his one experience of sex ( at the tender age of 14 ) had left him hating himself. That had happened because his dear old dad had paid a 14 yr old prostitute to befriend and seduce him for his birthday. Kern thought the girl was the daughter of a widowed countess and he fell in love with her. He hadn't known that his dad had paid the young prostitute to pretend to be the countess' daughter, during a month long house party. The morning after he'd lost his virginity to the adolescent prostitute, his dad had turned up in his bedroom to congratulate him, pay off the girl and then take the girl into his own bedchamber for some sleazy pedophile sex. Anyway, Kern's libido has been in hibernation for 14 yrs and he's not even faintly attracted to his fiancee Helen. He's therefore filled with self loathing when his sex drive escalates after he meets Isabel. He's unaware that Isabel's a virgin who has no intention of ever becoming a prostitute like her late mother.
2. The murder mystery was riveting and I totally never predicted the identity of the killer ! The killer was the very last person I would have suspected and the author provided no hints or trail of evidence that would've raised my suspicions. That made the story itself very entertaining.
3. Isabel's "aunts" were very caring and loving, even though they were aging former prostitutes who'd been friends of her dead mom. A couple of these ladies did add some extra humour to the storyline.
4. The friendship between Isabel and Helen was bittersweet because poor Helen was so naive that she never saw how much the MC's were drawn to each other. I really liked Helen a lot and wished that the author had written a spin off novel and given her a chance to find her own true love after Kern broke off their engagement. It would've been so much easier if the author had portrayed Helen as a horrible, evil bitchy type of OW. I know it makes me a hypocrite but I do find it easier to turn a blind eye to certain things if the OW is evil.
The second half of the novel did stagnate a little because the MC's seemed to be going around in circles while they tried to solve the murder mystery. They kept investigating the suspects, coming up with no new clues and often talked themselves into a corner because of the very amateurish interrogation techniques that they employed. In a couple instances, the heroine made a few TSTL errors in judgement that endangered her safety and she was lucky that Kern was able to save her. Kern did make a huge mistake towards the end when he broke his engagement to Helen but asked Isabel to be his mistress. Kern was very concerned with his family's reputation and feared that a marriage to Isabella would bring a terrible scandal. It's only after the heroine dumps him that he decides to propose to her and he turns up in time to save her from being drugged and raped by the 2 villains.
The lack of an epilogue was a significant liability because I needed to see that these 2 were able to weather their scandalous marriage and deal with the wrath of a snobbish Ton. I also wanted to see that Helen and Isabel were able to become friends again. Helen hadn't been in love with Kern but her pride had obviously been hurt when he'd dumped her for her half sister. The heroine also annoyed me when she gave her puppy to Helen at the end. That had me shaking my head in bemusement: how on earth does it help a woman's pride when her ex-fiance's lover tries to make amends by giving her a puppy ? It made no sense to me, even though the author implied that it was a huge sacrifice on Isabel's part because she'd really loved the puppy. Giving away the puppy is a HUGE EPIC FAIL, in my opinion. The only consolation is that Helen adored the little bugger and would treat him to all sorts of luxuries.
HUGE SPOILER ABOUT THE IDENTITY OF THE KILLER. DO NOT OPEN IF YOU INTEND TO READ THIS NOVEL !
Safety: This will not be safe for some readers. The MC's didn't cheat on each other but the H had been engaged ( albeit in a totally platonic engagement ) to another woman for 90% of the novel. The MC's fought their attraction for the first 60% of the storyline, but eventually gave in to their passion and consummated their relationship. The H was not a manwhore. He'd been celibate for 14 yrs. He broke the engagement to the OW the day after he slept with the heroine. It would've been more tasteful perhaps if he'd broken it before...
This is the H, Justin ( the Earl of Kern )
This is the heroine, Isabel:
All I can add is that my reviews are always based on my honest feelings, even when those feelings are obviously going to be unpopular.
Anyway, moving on...
This storyline's about 18 yr old Isabel, the bastard daughter of a late courtesan called Aurora Darling. Isabel believes that one of her mother's many lovers had poisoned that lady because the latter had been threatening to do like Harriet Wilson and publish her memoirs. The heroine decides to use blackmail as a mean of infiltrating the Ton because it's the only way she'll be able to get close to the suspects. The H Justin ( who's mainly referred to as 'Kern' in the novel, since he's titled the Earl of Kern ) starts off totally loathing Isabella because he thinks she's a whore just like her late mother and because he wants to prevent her from publishing the memoirs and embarrassing his ailing father.
Isabella ends up blackmailing the Marquess of Hathaway whose younger brother ( a priest ! ) had been one of her mother's lovers. The marquess agrees to let her stay in his home and this provides her with the opportunity to investigate the suspects. He's unaware of her true motives because she's lied and said that all she wants is to have a London season and get a chance to meet eligible rich aristocrats. Later on it's revealed that
Interesting points:
1. The explosive sexual chemistry between the MC's. It's heightened by the fact that the H is absolutely not a manwhore because he's been celibate for 14 years ! Kern's only 28 but he's celibate because he doesn't want to be a lecherous rake like his ailing father and his one experience of sex ( at the tender age of 14 ) had left him hating himself. That had happened because his dear old dad had paid a 14 yr old prostitute to befriend and seduce him for his birthday. Kern thought the girl was the daughter of a widowed countess and he fell in love with her. He hadn't known that his dad had paid the young prostitute to pretend to be the countess' daughter, during a month long house party. The morning after he'd lost his virginity to the adolescent prostitute, his dad had turned up in his bedroom to congratulate him, pay off the girl and then take the girl into his own bedchamber for some sleazy pedophile sex. Anyway, Kern's libido has been in hibernation for 14 yrs and he's not even faintly attracted to his fiancee Helen. He's therefore filled with self loathing when his sex drive escalates after he meets Isabel. He's unaware that Isabel's a virgin who has no intention of ever becoming a prostitute like her late mother.
2. The murder mystery was riveting and I totally never predicted the identity of the killer ! The killer was the very last person I would have suspected and the author provided no hints or trail of evidence that would've raised my suspicions. That made the story itself very entertaining.
3. Isabel's "aunts" were very caring and loving, even though they were aging former prostitutes who'd been friends of her dead mom. A couple of these ladies did add some extra humour to the storyline.
4. The friendship between Isabel and Helen was bittersweet because poor Helen was so naive that she never saw how much the MC's were drawn to each other. I really liked Helen a lot and wished that the author had written a spin off novel and given her a chance to find her own true love after Kern broke off their engagement. It would've been so much easier if the author had portrayed Helen as a horrible, evil bitchy type of OW. I know it makes me a hypocrite but I do find it easier to turn a blind eye to certain things if the OW is evil.
The second half of the novel did stagnate a little because the MC's seemed to be going around in circles while they tried to solve the murder mystery. They kept investigating the suspects, coming up with no new clues and often talked themselves into a corner because of the very amateurish interrogation techniques that they employed. In a couple instances, the heroine made a few TSTL errors in judgement that endangered her safety and she was lucky that Kern was able to save her. Kern did make a huge mistake towards the end when he broke his engagement to Helen but asked Isabel to be his mistress. Kern was very concerned with his family's reputation and feared that a marriage to Isabella would bring a terrible scandal. It's only after the heroine dumps him that he decides to propose to her and he turns up in time to save her from being drugged and raped by the 2 villains.
The lack of an epilogue was a significant liability because I needed to see that these 2 were able to weather their scandalous marriage and deal with the wrath of a snobbish Ton. I also wanted to see that Helen and Isabel were able to become friends again. Helen hadn't been in love with Kern but her pride had obviously been hurt when he'd dumped her for her half sister. The heroine also annoyed me when she gave her puppy to Helen at the end. That had me shaking my head in bemusement: how on earth does it help a woman's pride when her ex-fiance's lover tries to make amends by giving her a puppy ? It made no sense to me, even though the author implied that it was a huge sacrifice on Isabel's part because she'd really loved the puppy. Giving away the puppy is a HUGE EPIC FAIL, in my opinion. The only consolation is that Helen adored the little bugger and would treat him to all sorts of luxuries.
HUGE SPOILER ABOUT THE IDENTITY OF THE KILLER. DO NOT OPEN IF YOU INTEND TO READ THIS NOVEL !
Safety: This will not be safe for some readers. The MC's didn't cheat on each other but the H had been engaged ( albeit in a totally platonic engagement ) to another woman for 90% of the novel. The MC's fought their attraction for the first 60% of the storyline, but eventually gave in to their passion and consummated their relationship. The H was not a manwhore. He'd been celibate for 14 yrs. He broke the engagement to the OW the day after he slept with the heroine. It would've been more tasteful perhaps if he'd broken it before...
This is the H, Justin ( the Earl of Kern )
This is the heroine, Isabel:
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 3, 2023
The book drags and the h was a back stabbing bitch of a wannabe lady.
She cheats with the H, who is engaged to her only friend/sister. SHE makes the first moves on him.
The ow is literally an angel, the sweetest character you’ll ever see.
Didn’t enjoy this book.
She cheats with the H, who is engaged to her only friend/sister. SHE makes the first moves on him.
The ow is literally an angel, the sweetest character you’ll ever see.
Didn’t enjoy this book.
June 11, 2013
OK for a trashy romance, especially since I actually read the whole thing (as opposed to tossing it 1/3 of the way through). The plot was pretty lol-worthy though. Obviously the best way for Isabel to discover the identity of her mother's murder was to confront each suspect and basically ask, "Did you kill my mother?!?!?!??" I'm sure the murderer would totally just say HELLZ YA IT WAS ME!
June 1, 2021
I loved it! It was unique and sweet
I highly recommend!
I highly recommend!
December 30, 2017
I used to like this book very much. And it's only been 1.5 year, and my opinion changed 180 degree. I was soooo disturbed with how Isabel & Justin cuckolded his fiancee, which turned out to be Isabel's half sister. And the way they so quickly fell in love was also unrealistic. I was so disappointed. Good thing the ending was still exciting.
December 10, 2012
This was the second book that I have read by Barbara Dawson Smith. I enjoy her writing style and also enjoy that it is a historical romance. It was unlike most romance novels and it was somewhat a mystery as well. The woman in the novel, Isabel, is the daughter of a woman of low character who lived in a brothel. Isabel never knew her father, but found her mothers detailed memoirs and suspected that instead of a sudden illness that led to her death, that her mother was poisoned by one of her many suiters when she indicated that she would publish her memoirs. The book begins by Isabel using the memoirs to try to find the person who murdered her mother. There is danger, suspense and, yes, there is also romance. Isabel was not searching for love and romance - it found her. The ending was in itself not a surprise, but how her life would change finally was a surprise to her.
April 21, 2015
There's a twofold mystery here, in that the heroine's mama has been murdered, and Mama isn't exactly the kind of woman whose untimely death the authorities would care about. Mama left memoirs that may implicate her murderer—and may implicate the heroine's noble father, as well. It isn't too difficult to see the latter mystery's solution. The solution to the murder, though, isn't obvious. If I was frustrated by the denouement, it wasn't entirely the author's fault..
December 11, 2011
A bastard daughter of a ladybird, Isabell is determined to find the person responsible for killing her mother. The cryptic memoirs of her mothers exploits as her only clues, Isabell plans to enter the ton and find the killer. Along the way she finds true love and alot of unexpected truths.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews