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The Hidden Heart

The Hidden Heart

List Price: $6.50
Your Price: $5.85
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A MUST READ
Review: I adored this story. The hero and heroine are so cute. I love their confrontations and honesty with each other. The addition of several supporting characters helps keep the story moving and interesting. I love a gutsy heroine and Jessica delivers. She and Richard are the perfect duo and their love story sweeps you away.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Very Good Story
Review: I had waited for Richard's story, hoping Ms Camp would find someone to heal his wounded heart. I read this book in record time, I couldn't seem to put it down. Ms Camp has crafted a book that will renew your faith in love. Jessica is the perfect mate for the wounded Richard.

The tension between to the two builds through the whole book. With a wealth of background characters that will remind you of a old Charlie Chan movie. This is probably not the best book in the world but it is a fun read.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Very Good Story
Review: I had waited for Richard's story, hoping Ms Camp would find someone to heal his wounded heart. I read this book in record time, I couldn't seem to put it down. Ms Camp has crafted a book that will renew your faith in love. Jessica is the perfect mate for the wounded Richard.

The tension between to the two builds through the whole book. With a wealth of background characters that will remind you of a old Charlie Chan movie. This is probably not the best book in the world but it is a fun read.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Don't waste your time
Review: I think it was pure masochism on my part that allowed me to finish this book. It started well enough. In fact I quite liked the hero. It was the heroine that got to me--I found her too shrewish and quarrelsome. I'm not even sure why the hero fell in love with her in the first place. I especially found the scene where she told the servants to put up Christmas decorations disturbing, inspite of the fact that Richard's wife and child died only four years ago around the holidays. It implied that it's been four years therefore he should get over his grief and celebrate Christmas. I thought it terribly presumptous and insensitive on her part especially since the death of one's child is involved.

Furthermore, throughout the book it was reinforced that Richard supposedly loved his wife but towards the end of the book, he reveals that his love for his wife had "cooled" towards the end of her life. I was a bit peturbed and found this "revelation" inconsistent with the hero's behavior throughout the novel.

This is my first novel with this author, and frankly I'm not sure if I am going to put myself through a second one.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: good
Review: I thought it was wonderful. jessica and richards romance well developed. and their arguments were amusing. i think anyone who enjoys historical romance will like it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: 4 & 1/2 stars--this one REALLY needs the 1/2 star
Review: I was totally hooked with the prologue. Even though I discovered that this was the second in a series, I could not wait to read it.

Richard is a fabulous hero--very deep, emotional, and responsible, intelligent. His depression over his wife's & daughter's deaths leads him to contemplate suicide. But along comes brave, stalwart Jessica who, in her determination to protect Gabriella, is willing not only to battle his unwillingness to be the girls' ward, but also to bring him back from the brink of self-extinction. They are superb together.

Secondary characters run the gamut: Richard's sister-in-law Rachel (who stars in the next book), Jessica's ex-fiance, a Bow Street Runner, a mystery woman, and a murderous villain, among others. Several are not what they seem. The mystery is a bit convoluted, but nothing in it turned me off the book.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: good
Review: Romantic Mystery set in the snowy English countryside circa 1800. Richard the Duke of Cleybourne returns to his country home on the 4th anniversary of his wife and daughter's tragic death. His deep despair and somber thoughts of suicide are interrupted by the arrival of his new ward and her feisty, sharp-tongued governess Miss Jessica Maitland. To further frustrate the Duke's plans, his sister-in-law and his new ward's cousins arrive. In a final blow, a vicious snowstorm strikes and the passengers of a Mail Coach must take refuge at the Castle. Next there are a series of break-ins, a murder, and an intricate mystery unfolds.

For the most part, the novel was an ok read. The romance between Richard and Jessica was sweet and their confrontations amusing. All the characters were well defined and the writing smooth, but I found the "mystery" element of the story unsuspenseful and contrived. In one passage the villain confronts someone who has proof that will destroy him. The villain get angry, kills the victim, then says "oops" I guess I should have made him reveal "the proof" before I did him in. There are lots of things like that, lots of far-fetched coincidences that are critical to the mystery and as a consequence make the whole thing less believable.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Ok Read
Review: Romantic Mystery set in the snowy English countryside circa 1800. Richard the Duke of Cleybourne returns to his country home on the 4th anniversary of his wife and daughter's tragic death. His deep despair and somber thoughts of suicide are interrupted by the arrival of his new ward and her feisty, sharp-tongued governess Miss Jessica Maitland. To further frustrate the Duke's plans, his sister-in-law and his new ward's cousins arrive. In a final blow, a vicious snowstorm strikes and the passengers of a Mail Coach must take refuge at the Castle. Next there are a series of break-ins, a murder, and an intricate mystery unfolds.

For the most part, the novel was an ok read. The romance between Richard and Jessica was sweet and their confrontations amusing. All the characters were well defined and the writing smooth, but I found the "mystery" element of the story unsuspenseful and contrived. In one passage the villain confronts someone who has proof that will destroy him. The villain get angry, kills the victim, then says "oops" I guess I should have made him reveal "the proof" before I did him in. There are lots of things like that, lots of far-fetched coincidences that are critical to the mystery and as a consequence make the whole thing less believable.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: entertaining historical romance
Review: Seventy-two years old General Streathern appears near death having suffered apoplexy. Besides his beloved great-niece fourteen year old Gabriela Carstairs and her governess Jessica Maitland, his great-nephew Lord Vesey who likes young girls and the pervert's wife Leona who likes men attend the death watch. Miraculously, the retired military officer recovers and warns Jessica to take Gabriela away to her guardian Richard the Duke of Claybourne. That night a visitor kills Streathern.

After the reading of the will in which Gabriela inherits everything, Jessica flees with her charge for the safety of Claybourne because she knows that the Veseys will try to control the estate through Gabriela. Richard does not want visitors as he still mourns the loss of his wife and child four years ago in an accident but also plans to kill himself. Everything changes when the Veseys arrive because Richard refuses to hand the innocent teen to this depraved duo. Shortly afterward, whether it is the Veseys or some unknown assailant, someone wants Gabriela dead.

THE HIDDEN HEART, the sequel to the delightful Regency SO WILD A HEART, is an entertaining historical romance that readers will relish. The fast-paced story contains strong characters. Richard is a wonderful protagonist whose suicide thoughts end when he finds something to live for, the love of Jessica and Gabriela. The heroic Jessica risks her life for the safety of her beloved Gabriela who seems too mature for her age. On the other hand, the Veseys are purposely treated as caricatures of odious individuals. Thus the audience will enjoy this fun tale and demand more from the heart of Candace Camp.

Harriet Klausner

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: entertaining historical romance
Review: Seventy-two years old General Streathern appears near death having suffered apoplexy. Besides his beloved great-niece fourteen year old Gabriela Carstairs and her governess Jessica Maitland, his great-nephew Lord Vesey who likes young girls and the pervert's wife Leona who likes men attend the death watch. Miraculously, the retired military officer recovers and warns Jessica to take Gabriela away to her guardian Richard the Duke of Claybourne. That night a visitor kills Streathern.

After the reading of the will in which Gabriela inherits everything, Jessica flees with her charge for the safety of Claybourne because she knows that the Veseys will try to control the estate through Gabriela. Richard does not want visitors as he still mourns the loss of his wife and child four years ago in an accident but also plans to kill himself. Everything changes when the Veseys arrive because Richard refuses to hand the innocent teen to this depraved duo. Shortly afterward, whether it is the Veseys or some unknown assailant, someone wants Gabriela dead.

THE HIDDEN HEART, the sequel to the delightful Regency SO WILD A HEART, is an entertaining historical romance that readers will relish. The fast-paced story contains strong characters. Richard is a wonderful protagonist whose suicide thoughts end when he finds something to live for, the love of Jessica and Gabriela. The heroic Jessica risks her life for the safety of her beloved Gabriela who seems too mature for her age. On the other hand, the Veseys are purposely treated as caricatures of odious individuals. Thus the audience will enjoy this fun tale and demand more from the heart of Candace Camp.

Harriet Klausner


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