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Title: Secret Hearts

Author: Alice Duncan

Narrator: Cynthia Wallace

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-01-16

Publisher: Alice Duncan

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Romance, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

He was everything she ever wanted - and could not touch....

By day she was Claire Montague, prim, demure housekeeper of Partington Place. By dark of night she wrote the wildly popular dime novels that had made frontiersman Tuscaloosa Tom Pardee a household name. Suddenly her new employer, the heir to Partington Place - and the real-life hero of her novels - stood before her in the flesh. Claire had transformed Tom Partington into a legend, but never in her wildest dreams had she conjured the real man, who melted her resolve with his blazing blue eyes and knowing smile. With one look, Tom Partington had penetrated Claire's secret, passionate soul.

She yearned to be in his arms, yet she held him at bay. He'd never forgive her if he learned that she was Clarence McTeague, author of his unwanted fame. She couldn't tell him the truth any more than she could deny the passions that risked exposure of her double life. But how long could she continue this charade now that Tom had issued the ultimate challenge: to strip off her dowdy disguise and surrender to her hungry, yearning heart?

Members Reviews:

Fun story.

Setting: California, post-Civil War Miss Claire Montegue, wears drab, unflattering clothing, keeps her hair tightly braided in coils, and gives every appearance of being a very proper spinster. Hired by Mr. Gordon Partington to be the housekeeper of his grand estate when she was just seventeen, Claire managed to put the dark secrets of her childhood behind her. Through the years she learned to be a lady, as well as an efficient manager of Mr. Partington's large household; but hidden beneath the prim and proper exterior lies a passionate woman, whose bold thoughts have become unwelcome and very upsetting to her. Putting her vivid imagination to work, and fueled by Mr. Partington's tales about his nephew Tom's exciting exploits in the Army, Claire has been secretly writing dime-store novels about "Tuscaloosa Tom Pardee."

Although the books have certainly helped to promote the reputation of the real Tom, at the same time they have made him an object of ridicule among his friends...and caused him no end of embarrassment. When he arrives at Partington Place to claim his inheritance, he recognizes Claire as an invaluable asset and asks her to continue her employment as housekeeper for the estate. At the same time, Tom also senses there is much more to Claire than her outward appearance suggests. Some very humorous scenes follow when Tom decides that he is just the man to teach Claire about her passionate nature, which, up until now, she has kept so well hidden.

SECRET HEARTS is a fun story that has a very bewildered Tom trying, every which way he can, to learn more about Claire. He knows she is hiding something from him, but Claire is determined to keep her past a secret. She also fears the probable repercussions should Tom ever find out that she wrote the novels that made his life so miserable. Add to this some goofy, artsy secondary characters, and you have the makings of a lively tale told with much humor. ~Carol Carter for Bookbug on the Web

Charming

Claire Montaque knows how to keep a secret, and the ones she keeps are worth keeping; especially if she hopes to maintain her housekeeper position. As author of the infamous Tuscaloosa Tom Pardee dime novels, Claire steps through the looking glass when she meets hero face-to-face.