Melissa’s Reviews > The Secret Pearl > Status Update

I always think of Balogh's books as gentle romances about good people, but this story's setup is surprisingly tawdry! I almost DNF'd after chapter 1, but I just keep going because I want to see if she can pull off a romance that starts in such an icky place. It takes a particularly talented author like P. Gaffney (e.g. To Have and to Hold) or Sherry Thomas to do so, and I'm not sure MB is at that skill level. ;)