A LADY'S SECRET

Author: Jo Beverley ISBN: 9780451224194 4/2008 HISTORICAL Publisher: NAL/Signet
Time Period: 1764 England/France

When Robin Fitzvitry, the fun-loving Earl of Huntersdown, encounters a cursing nun in a French inn, he can't resist the mystery. He offers to help Sister Immaculata reach England, expecting amusement on the tedious journey home from Versailles. Petre d'Avernio is not exactly a nun, though she has spent years in an Italian convent with her mother, whose death has left her in danger. She must find the only person who might protect her—her true father, an English lord who does not know she exists. The gorgeous earl Robin Fitzvitry will be a dangerous ally, but she's glimpsed her pursuers and must race to the coast. She will resist him, use him, and eventually escape him with her virtue and secrets intact-she hopes.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Normally I adore Jo Beverley's novels, but this one was alas, not one of my favorites. The heroine is Italian, and high spirited, and the granddaughter of a madwoman, all excuses, but a woman going around punching people is just not my idea of a heroine.

Before I became fed up with Petra, the Italian virago who'd taken a lover and decided she only wanted to be his wife, not his mistress, and therefore had fled him, I'd found the story a bit episodic for my tastes anyway. The hero, Robin, who rescues Petra from danger on the road, is worthy, but I didn't find him to be well matched. If you can't believe in the love story, what's left to like about a romance novel?

However, if you enjoy historical road trip novels and/or are a die-hard Beverley fan, I am sure you will enjoy this book, but there were just a few too many wall-banging moments for me.

Heather Hiestand