Rating: 
Summary: what happened?????????
Review: I've read all her books and loved them. Now I've struggled and struggled to read this one. I give up. I'm about in the middle and I can't take anymore! There's no reason to care for any of the people in the book or about their relationships. I ordered the book before it was published. I sure wish I'd waited to read the reviews and saved myself 25 dollars!
Rating:
Summary: Terrible
Review: This book was very disappointing. So many things could have been developed to make it exciting but none of them ever were.
The book doesnt seem to really have any ending. It felt like the last chapter must have been left out. I have read Bradford before and this has got to be her worst.
Rating: 
Summary: More than one person got mugged --
Review: This frothy piece should have been titled 'Women Obsessed with Style,' for surely the book had no substance. Bradford's original 'Woman of Substance' remains a timeless clasic, but her third generation twit offspring are less than inspiring. Most troubling to me, less than 6 pages from the end - what was the red herring mugging? A few hundred words later, why did evil Jonathan suddenly disappear? Obviously all that was a springboard to the next book, but where the heck was the ending of this one? Bradford seems to have committed the same faux pas with her readers as politicians often do with their constituents: she lost respect for our intelligence.
Rating:
Summary: A Weak Book with Missed Opportunities
Review: This is the first book of the Emma Harte series that I read. I read it because it was chosen by our book club for this month's selection. I found it hard to read because of the numerous people in it from the various families that I had to continually refer to the chart of each family in the beginning to understand the characters. I thought the book was very shallow. It lacked suspense. I figured out who was behind the "secret" very easily and I kept expecting something more interesting to happen but it never did. Jonathan Ainsley was built up to be this sinister figure and his plotting never materialized. I guess that is going to be in the next book. It was a rather silly story, something perhaps a teenager might enjoy. But it did prompt me to read the first book in the series, A Woman of Substance. That book at least had some "substance" in it and was much more interesting reading. I would only read this if I were a die-hard fan of Emma Harte and had a lot of spare time that I didn't mind wasting.
Rating: 
Summary: Great follow-up to A Woman of Substance
Review: This was a very good book where we can read about the incomparable Emma again. I literally couldn't put it down. Everyone who's read the first one should read it. If you haven't read it yet, get it now and read, read, read. You won't be sorry you spent the money!
Rating: 
Summary: Empty
Review: this was a waste of time and money..seems Ms. Bradford could have told the story in 12 pages...written on a 4'th grade level with entirely too many descriptions and a dialoge that was pitiful...why do so many authors not quit while they are ahead?
Rating:
Summary: Really bad
Review: This was the worst book Barbara Taylor Bradford has ever written. Woman of Substance was so outstanding that I thought that surely this might come close to it. WRONG!!! It was boring. It jumped around and who really cares about what she thinks of Winston Churchill, which was the majority of the book. Please Barbara, do better next time.
Rating:
Summary: Cleverly disappointing
Review: When I first read the 'family tree', I was scared I wouldn't be able to follow all the characters. However, Bradford effortlessly leads you through the meandering storylines of several different characters - and not once did I get lost! Emma's' Secret is definitely a page-turner, yet I feel Bradford went off on a few 'filler' tangents. Instead, I wish she focused on an ending that would have satiated all the readers who devoured this beautiful story as quickly as I did. I know its probably more advantageous to Bradford to leave the story 'open' for her next novel, but the cliffhanger was disappointing to say the least! The ending definitely makes me wonder what will happen to the characters. However, I feel cheated - its almost as if I read the book for nothing! Honestly, the ending was way too blunt and it made me realize that Bradford is just another greedy saga author looking to rope readers into buy her next book.
Rating:
Summary: Back to the Harte's again.... (with a spoiler or two)
Review: With "Emma's Secret," Barbara Taylor Bradford returns yet again to the world of the Hartes. This story centers around the mystery of Evan Hughes, a young American woman who is somehow connected with the Hartes. Interspersed with this story is a look at how Emma, Blackie and the other original characters got through World War II. Compared to the other section of the book, this one just shines, making me wonder if perhaps this was cut from the original manuscript of "A Woman of Substance."The rest of the story, I'm sorry to say, was just tame. The characters are a bit flat. and a lot of the original conflict and spark is leached out of the story. The ending also appears rushed. We get cameo appearances by Jonathan Ainsley, who is still sociopathic and evil, but never actually DOES anything, except lurk and make menacing speeches. Sarah Lowther also reappears, but it seems that she is now a sympathetic character, without a hint of rancor about how Paula summarily tossed her out of the family several years earlier. I found that incomprehensible. I also found the conflict between Tessa and Linnet somewhat unrealistic. The mystery never really held my interest and the open ending seemed rushed (or an invitation to buy the sequel?). I'm giving this two stars for the great Emma Harte excerpts.
Rating:
Summary: Back to the Harte's again.... (with a spoiler or two)
Review: With "Emma's Secret," Barbara Taylor Bradford returns yet again to the world of the Hartes. This story centers around the mystery of Evan Hughes, a young American woman who is somehow connected with the Hartes. Interspersed with this story is a look at how Emma, Blackie and the other original characters got through World War II. Compared to the other section of the book, this one just shines, making me wonder if perhaps this was cut from the original manuscript of "A Woman of Substance." The rest of the story, I'm sorry to say, was just tame. The characters are a bit flat. and a lot of the original conflict and spark is leached out of the story. The ending also appears rushed. We get cameo appearances by Jonathan Ainsley, who is still sociopathic and evil, but never actually DOES anything, except lurk and make menacing speeches. Sarah Lowther also reappears, but it seems that she is now a sympathetic character, without a hint of rancor about how Paula summarily tossed her out of the family several years earlier. I found that incomprehensible. I also found the conflict between Tessa and Linnet somewhat unrealistic. The mystery never really held my interest and the open ending seemed rushed (or an invitation to buy the sequel?). I'm giving this two stars for the great Emma Harte excerpts.
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