Rating: 
Summary: Shell Game
Review: I loved a "Woman of Substance," so I jumped at the chance to purchase "Emma's Secret." As I read the book, I couldn't understand why some characters were not fully developed. Plot lines were hinted at, but never fully integrated. The ending left me with a "Is this all there is?" feeling. It turns out the story lines were incomplete on purpose. If you want to find out what happens to the characters, you have to wait until her next book, "Unexpected Blessings" is released. I realized that "Emma's Secret" and "Unexpected Blessings" are two halves to one book. I would rather have read one large complete book, than two halves of a whole.
Rating: 
Summary: Emma's Secret
Review: I loved Bradford's Woman of Substance it was a book that kept me awake until the wee hours of the morning, I literally couldn't put it down. In Emma's Secret it appears she didn't have anything else to write about so she rehashed the orginal and it was boring certainly not up to her usual standards, I expect more from a Bradford book. I am sorry I bothered with this one.
Rating: 
Summary: A Woman of Substance it isn't
Review: I read "A Woman Of Substance" about 20 years ago, and LOVED It. When I read that there was a new book in the series, I was thrilled. But let me say that "Emma's Secret" is NOT on the same level as the first book!
This book starts out with a death of a woman and the request to her granddaughter to find Emma Harte. So off the England the reader goes where they meet the newest generation of the Harte family who frankly lead soap opera lives. About 3/4 in the book the reader finds themshelves in War-Time London with Emma Harte, who has seem to lost her fire since reading the first book. Then after only a few chapters we are back with the young people for the secret to be known to all.
This book was not good at all in my opinion. It didn't not need to be written. The only reason that I gave the book two stars were for the war-time chapters. In truth, Ms. Bradford should had let the Harte family go out on the hight note.
Rating:
Summary: Very disappointing
Review: I read the three books by BTB starting with A Woman of Substance and loved every one of them. Wonderful books with great stories and characters. I was very excited to read Emma's Secret. It was probably one of the worst books I have ever read. Please, don't bother with it! It is very poorly written. Characters tend to speak in a way that no normal person EVER would. I found that nothing really happened in the book until the last few pages. Even then, she leaves you dangling and lets you know at the end that more books are coming. I found that Emma's Secret was just a "filler" book to get to her others that are coming. It traps you in! Too bad - I wish she had put more thought in to continuing this series.
Rating: 
Summary: I'm reading the books out of order..
Review: I read this one first! I loved it, and how tight the families were was a great story line. In this book Bradford puts a family tree of the Harte Clan which comes in very handy no matter which one of the books you're reading. Definitely on my Best Of Books of the year.
Rating:
Summary: Woman of Substance this is not
Review: I read Woman of Substance for the first time MANY years ago. I enjoyed it so much that I've read it several times since then... The sequels (i.e., Hold the Dream and To Be the Best) weren't as captivating as the original but they were 'good reads' nonetheless...Emma's Secret is not of the calibre of those books. There isn't much of a story ... Emma's "secret "isn't really anything big or shocking... I think the only thing that I did enjoy was knowing more about Emma's family The things that really bugged me about this book: - It ends abruptly. When it ended, I actually flipped through it to make sure that I didn't miss any pages. - For a sequel, it has SO MANY inconsistencies with the other books that you have to wonder if B.T.Bradford ever read her own books. For example... they mention that Paula's father fired Jonathan and Sarah (they say it more than once) ... but we know that it was really Alexander ... someone finds a picture of 'Big Jack' and Winstor Sr.... and winston was wearing his 'navy uniform' .. but Jack and Winston never met after winston ran off to join the navy... anyhow, there are numerous such inconsistences that really make it difficult for a 'fan' of the original books to take this book seriously
Rating:
Summary: Very disappointed
Review: I totally agree with Empty of 2/13/04. There were too many people, too much description of clothes, etc. and not enough plot. This book was so contrived! No ending! I think the author just wants to make money. A Woman of Substance was good. She should have stopped there.
Rating:
Summary: Come on, who really wrote this book?
Review: I was thrilled to see another Emma Harte book out since WOMAN OF SUBSTANCE was one of the best ever published. So I grabbed this as soon as possible. And what a let down. All Emma Harte's grandchildren and great grandchildren seem to do is have not very well written sex and/or hate one another. The character development lacks the deep recesses of the minds as we found in Emma, Adam Fairly, Winston Harte, and Blackie..even Paula. Paula was so in love with Jim Fairly at the end of Woman of Substance--how dare she now tell us it was a bad match? And now the Harte's are marrying into a Jewish family? Emma herself absolutely refused this because she knew it would never have been approved by David Kallinski--the head of the Kallinski family. Therefore, this match is diametrically opposed to the nature of the original book. And then there's the writing style--or lack thereof. The opening scene with Linnet on the Moor is no more classic Barbara Taylor Bradford then Dr. Seuss. Where is the glory in this writing? Where is the magic? Come on, who really wrote this book?
The one thing I'll give the book is this: the character names are correct and I couldn't find any misspelled words.
Rating:
Summary: Ms. Bradford, More Emma Please!!
Review: I was very happy to see another book about Emma Harte and her offspring, etc. This book is more about the children and great-grandchildren than about Emma. However, her legacy lives on in the values the members of the three clans have regarding Emma's businesses and her life's works. The book is wonderfully romantic as the great-grandchildren find their mates. It was wonderful to visit Emma via her diaries during World War II and remember why we fell in love with the Emma series in the first place. Ms. Bradford, don't keep us waiting so long next time!
Rating:
Summary: Literally a Disaster
Review: I will admit to enjoying the historical tidbits in this novel but beyond that I was totally disappointed by the incredible disregard for the reader. Let's face it, there was no ending. I agree with one reviewer who said it was like she got a call and stopped writing and just published this book. In addition with the revelation about the "secret" it's ok that these two are sleeping with eachother????? ::shuddering:: absolutely ridiculous and not thought out at all. It was like BTB had no idea where she was going with the story and we had to trudge along with her until she finally decided to give up....
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