A Secret Love

I am surprised by how much I loved this book.
Despite not reading the Bar Cynster series in order, I'm thrilled I ended with this one.

While I typically don't favor the enemies-to-lovers trope, it was thankfully not overly prominent here. I also had strong reservations about Alathea's "plan". Surprisingly, I didn't find myself disliking her for it. The way it unfolded didn't make me hate her so much as feel bad for her.

Gabriel's reaction and personality upon discovering the truth had me—and I'm practically head over heels in love now!

Overall, I found the book to be both romantic and steamy, and I genuinely enjoyed it.

A Secret Love
3 Stars

When Lady Alathea Morwellan learns that her loving yet gullible father has inadvertently risked the family fortune on an obvious scam, she seeks the aid of her childhood nemesis, Gabriel Cynster. Convinced that Gabriel would refuse her request, Alathea dons the disguise of a mysterious veiled woman and in doing so incites not only his curiosity but his passion as well. Will Alathea be able to keep her secret and can she withstand Gabriel’s wrath when he learns the truth?

Unfortunately, this is not one of the stronger installments in the series perhaps because it combines two conflicting tropes - the love/hate relationship (a favorite of mine) and the keeping secrets (a theme that irritates me no end).

This show more combination of tropes is problematic for several reasons. First, it affects the reader’s perception of the romance as the interactions between Gabriel and Alathea’s mysterious alter ego are superficial and lack the chemistry that sizzles during their disguise free encounters. Moreover, Gabriel and Alathea's relationship loses some of its charm once her true identity is revealed as their snarky banter all but disappears.

Second, these tropes require a great deal of suspension of disbelief as Gabriel and Alathea are hardly strangers and it is difficult to accept that he cannot see her true identity.

Finally, Alathea’s behavior is somewhat contradictory. On the one hand, she tries to keep Gabriel at arms length when she is using her assumed persona. However, once their relationship turns intimate, she is as aggressive in this area as he.

The mystery involving the scam artist is interesting and the climax and resolution are one of the more exciting in the series. Nevertheless, this cannot compensate for the weaker romance.

Lucifer’s book is next and I look forward to meeting the woman who will bring that last of the Bar Cynster to his knees. show less

I was very entertained by this story of a woman insulted by a man's attitude to her but who needs his help to fix a problem with a scam.
Althea Morwellan needs Gabriel Cynster's help, so disguised as a veiled widow she enlists his help. As the widow countess she falls in love, and he falls for her. Will he also love the woman behind the veil? Or will he let their old emnity continue.

It's interesting and fun, I enjoyed it hugely. There's nothing deep here but I had a fun read.

I liked the setup for the problem that brings them together, but not her scheme for solving it. I think the book improved once that ploy was finally resolved. It's sort of middle of the road, there were some fun parts but I doubt it will particularly stay with me.

Time to dive back into the realm of the Ton and the Bar Cynster. Gabriel is next in line who is running from destiny, he is determined (like those before him) not to marry. Of course he happens to be in town for the season and even though he chooses the events he goes to carefully he can not escape what happens next. A mysterious Countess approaches him and is in deep need of help, like any good Cynster male he can not say no to a woman in distress and so he accepts her deal of helping her and not knowing who she is. Will it stay that way however?

Well it is a Cynster book so of course he ends up finding out who the Countess is and it happens to be a woman he has known for his whole life his friend Thea. I really did enjoy this book a show more fair amount. While there were a couple of times I wanted to smack Thea and tell her just to admit how she felt, or admit to Gabriel who she was it was just because I wanted to see him turn on his full Cynster stubbornness. If your a historical Romance reader and a Stephanie Lauren’s reader there really are no surprises in the turns that take place, however that does not take away from the story. The characters are enjoyable the plot is good and over all it is a fun historical romance read, dive on in and give it a chance. show less

I don't remember this story and I know that I read it when I read the rest of the series. I do remember the first little bit of it but the rest of the story is a blank. I do like that we got to see more of Chillingworth. He is such a character and I am glad that Ms. Laurens wrote a story for him. I also like that we got to see so much of Alathea's family and the life of getting girls ready for their debut to society. There is also more of the things a family might have done for entertainment in the capital. It is great watching the family go the lending libraries and the museums. It is hard to imagine what those people did to enjoy themselves. Most of the woman couldn't read so they were limited needlework and shopping and going to teas show more and gossiping. The men were a little better they could go to sporting matches, riding, hunting and all the things that would go into managing an estate. One of the things that was good about this story is that Alathea is educated and she handles the family's finances. She is Gabriel's equal in many ways. The other thing that I like about this series is when the men find their love the stay in the country. The capital no longer holds any interest for them. This series is wonderful and well worth the time needed to read them. They also are very fast reads. show less

so boring. I skipped almost the whole book.