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House of Lords #1
The Secretary
When Clarissa Martin’s father died, he left her with nothing but a few useful skills--or skills that would be useful if only Clarissa were a man. Having served as his secretary and managed his career in the House of Commons for years, Clarissa knows all the ins and outs of Parliament, and now her only means of supporting herself is to return to the back rooms of the Palace of Westminster the only way she can--disguised as a man. Anders Rennick, Earl of Stowe, has just fired his nineteenth private secretary, and the appearance of Clarence Ford on his doorstep seems almost too good to be true. Soon Clarence’s talents become indispensible. It’s only after Anders learns his secretary’s true identity that he discovers how irresistible she truly is. But when Clarissa discovers a dark secret in her own past that threatens to tear them apart, Anders must decide whether he loves her enough to defy society.
247 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 5, 2012
9 people are currently reading
63 people want to read
About the author
Meg Brooke
4 books5 followersI've been in love with the Regency and historical romances since I picked up my first Jane Austen novel as a young girl. I enjoy intelligent, quick-witted characters and try to include as many of them as possible in my stories. We may all be fools in love, but that doesn't mean all lovers are fools!
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
July 23, 2017
3.5 stars. There are no particular crises in this book, or hurdles to overcome, but I quite enjoyed the setting, the politics and the heroine. There is also one of my favorite tropes (a female character dresses up as a man to accomplish some end) which was the reason I picked this up.
August 19, 2018
Rate it more like 3 and a half stars
Characters developed well, story very interesting,the insertion of the experiment issues great. Could feel the love,would prefer less sex scenes.
Characters developed well, story very interesting,the insertion of the experiment issues great. Could feel the love,would prefer less sex scenes.
August 10, 2013
There was so much to recommend in this book. I like the historical in historical romance to equal the romance, and here it does that beautifully. And if the book includes political history as well, expertly woven into the story, then I'm in heaven. The book did that beautifully as well. And both the hero and heroine were well drawn, interesting, mature characters, with lots of depth and facets to both.
The hero, Anders, is a member of the House of Lords. He takes his duties seriously, and is involved in the burning political issues of the day of 1833 - mainly the abolition of slavery, and reform of the Poor Laws. However, he's a perfectionist workaholic, and has run through 19 secretaries. He needs a new one quickly to organize him for the upcoming Parliamentary debates.
Clarissa, the heroine, was the daughter of a respected member of the House of Commons. She had served as her father's secretary, speech writer, and sounding board. However, her father was killed in a carriage accident, and left her destitute. She desperately needs a job, but has none of the usual skills a woman of that time needed to be a governess, seamstress, etc., although she's a brilliant political analyst and organizer. She disguises herself as a man, and applies for the job of Anders' secretary. Clearly, she's the best secretary he's ever had. Anders also meets Clarissa socially as her female self, and is immediately drawn to her. How Clarissa balances her male disguise as Anders' secretary, and her mutual attraction to him as herself, is an unfolding delight. He's pretty enlightened for his day, and is also drawn to Clarissa's superior intelligence.
Up until that point the book was terrific, solid 4.5 stars. However, two things caused me to downgrade the book. First, the author used some contemporary terms that were somewhat jarring. For example, Clarissa kept referring to herself as a liberated woman. Perhaps Mary Wollstonecraft (who is referred to often in this book) used the term, but I always thought it was a mid 20th Century term. Also, while Clarissa was certainly avant garde for her time, she was usually cutting edge within the context of her time. However, on occasion she sounded more 20th or 21st century than her time period. The book was just too good to allow these anachronisms to detract, although there weren't major or very many.
The other thing that downgraded the book for me were the numerous sex scenes. Yes, two people falling in love are sexually attracted to each other, and sex can serve to further the love relationship and the story. However, at one section in the book, the author would provide a page or two of story, and then stop for pages of very lengthy and extremely detailed sex scenes. If this had happened once, or even twice, it would have been okay. But it went on and on in this vein for an entire section of the book, and it became totally tedious. I spent too much time skipping over these scenes to get back to the story.
However, this is definitely a talented author to watch, and I would definitely recommend the book. I certainly plan to read the other two books in the series.
The hero, Anders, is a member of the House of Lords. He takes his duties seriously, and is involved in the burning political issues of the day of 1833 - mainly the abolition of slavery, and reform of the Poor Laws. However, he's a perfectionist workaholic, and has run through 19 secretaries. He needs a new one quickly to organize him for the upcoming Parliamentary debates.
Clarissa, the heroine, was the daughter of a respected member of the House of Commons. She had served as her father's secretary, speech writer, and sounding board. However, her father was killed in a carriage accident, and left her destitute. She desperately needs a job, but has none of the usual skills a woman of that time needed to be a governess, seamstress, etc., although she's a brilliant political analyst and organizer. She disguises herself as a man, and applies for the job of Anders' secretary. Clearly, she's the best secretary he's ever had. Anders also meets Clarissa socially as her female self, and is immediately drawn to her. How Clarissa balances her male disguise as Anders' secretary, and her mutual attraction to him as herself, is an unfolding delight. He's pretty enlightened for his day, and is also drawn to Clarissa's superior intelligence.
Up until that point the book was terrific, solid 4.5 stars. However, two things caused me to downgrade the book. First, the author used some contemporary terms that were somewhat jarring. For example, Clarissa kept referring to herself as a liberated woman. Perhaps Mary Wollstonecraft (who is referred to often in this book) used the term, but I always thought it was a mid 20th Century term. Also, while Clarissa was certainly avant garde for her time, she was usually cutting edge within the context of her time. However, on occasion she sounded more 20th or 21st century than her time period. The book was just too good to allow these anachronisms to detract, although there weren't major or very many.
The other thing that downgraded the book for me were the numerous sex scenes. Yes, two people falling in love are sexually attracted to each other, and sex can serve to further the love relationship and the story. However, at one section in the book, the author would provide a page or two of story, and then stop for pages of very lengthy and extremely detailed sex scenes. If this had happened once, or even twice, it would have been okay. But it went on and on in this vein for an entire section of the book, and it became totally tedious. I spent too much time skipping over these scenes to get back to the story.
However, this is definitely a talented author to watch, and I would definitely recommend the book. I certainly plan to read the other two books in the series.
October 25, 2015
Clarissa, a young woman whose professor-turned-politician father has passed away leaving her all alone in the world with no other living relatives at all, has come to the end of the small inheritance and finds herself nearly penniless and on the verge of homelessness if she cannot come up with the back due owing on her small rented room.
Having been raised in a non-traditional manner, and learned mathematics, philosophy, history, science but not much by way of needlework, cooking, child-minding, or other domestic skills, she is also nearly unemployable... as a woman.
Instead, having been her father's secretary for so many years while he served in the House of Commons (though no one knew his daughter was his secretary), she disguises herself as a man, and applies for job as secretary to a politician who has fired yet another secretary on the eve of the new session of parliament. He takes her on out of sheer desperation, and in short order she replaces the chaos of his office and habits with orderliness, efficiency, and dedication to her duties like no other secretary this "Lord" has ever seen.
Everything else become spoiler material but she ends up playing both herself and herself-in-disguise in a pleasantly twisting plot which entails romance threads as well as politics and her own self-preservation. A very enjoyable read!
The reader does meet the character who is the lead of The Tutor, also of this same series by same author, and towards the end a peek into the undercurrents that have carried both Clarissa and her friend of Cynthia to their adulthood.
Having been raised in a non-traditional manner, and learned mathematics, philosophy, history, science but not much by way of needlework, cooking, child-minding, or other domestic skills, she is also nearly unemployable... as a woman.
Instead, having been her father's secretary for so many years while he served in the House of Commons (though no one knew his daughter was his secretary), she disguises herself as a man, and applies for job as secretary to a politician who has fired yet another secretary on the eve of the new session of parliament. He takes her on out of sheer desperation, and in short order she replaces the chaos of his office and habits with orderliness, efficiency, and dedication to her duties like no other secretary this "Lord" has ever seen.
Everything else become spoiler material but she ends up playing both herself and herself-in-disguise in a pleasantly twisting plot which entails romance threads as well as politics and her own self-preservation. A very enjoyable read!
The reader does meet the character who is the lead of The Tutor, also of this same series by same author, and towards the end a peek into the undercurrents that have carried both Clarissa and her friend of Cynthia to their adulthood.
April 8, 2012
Work choices are practically non-existent for well born or educated ladies in Historical England. If that lady no longer has any family members or male family members to protect and negotiate a marriage for her, she is just about ready to go on the street and become a prostitute if she is penniless.
Clarrisa is smart, too smart for her time and is at the end of her funds so she goes out and does what has to be done (for her own survival). She becomes a young man and hires herself out as a secretary. Luckily for her, she has lots of experience because she was her own father's secretary until his sudden death the year before. She gets really lucky and finds a job with a young Earl. Lots more happy lucky coincidences and a cute HEA. I didn't think that the last minute complications about her true birth parents were not important and almost unneeded for the Earl to prove his love.
This was well edited with no noticeable errors or typos so a nice smooth read. I got this free for kindle and it was a great historical London novel. This seemed full length, but on my kindle I wasn't sure how many 'pages' it was.
2 stars
Clarrisa is smart, too smart for her time and is at the end of her funds so she goes out and does what has to be done (for her own survival). She becomes a young man and hires herself out as a secretary. Luckily for her, she has lots of experience because she was her own father's secretary until his sudden death the year before. She gets really lucky and finds a job with a young Earl. Lots more happy lucky coincidences and a cute HEA. I didn't think that the last minute complications about her true birth parents were not important and almost unneeded for the Earl to prove his love.
This was well edited with no noticeable errors or typos so a nice smooth read. I got this free for kindle and it was a great historical London novel. This seemed full length, but on my kindle I wasn't sure how many 'pages' it was.
2 stars
March 23, 2013
As so many other books I read before, this one I just picked because there was something that held my attention when I read the description.....and I was NOT disappointed.
The Secretary by Meg Brooke has a very interesting story line , the characters are unique from the "normal" regency novels Heroes and Heroines and that alone kept me reading. Beside that fact, the author opens up the political world of this time period in a very intriguing way. I must admit - I did actually learn something about this time and after finishing the book , got some more information about it from the internet. Really, how many books do that to you - especially when you read a regency romance novel.
After finishing this book I went right back to the Kindle Store and downloaded book two. I hope my expectations wont be shattered, but looking at the reviews I am confident that book two will be a winner as well.
I can recommend this book.
The Secretary by Meg Brooke has a very interesting story line , the characters are unique from the "normal" regency novels Heroes and Heroines and that alone kept me reading. Beside that fact, the author opens up the political world of this time period in a very intriguing way. I must admit - I did actually learn something about this time and after finishing the book , got some more information about it from the internet. Really, how many books do that to you - especially when you read a regency romance novel.
After finishing this book I went right back to the Kindle Store and downloaded book two. I hope my expectations wont be shattered, but looking at the reviews I am confident that book two will be a winner as well.
I can recommend this book.
September 23, 2012
Well, I can't quite believe that I finished the novella. While it was fairly entertaining, the whole process was quite tedious. There was no real conflict, no big drama. Most of the story's focus was about the bills being debated on in the current era, and the romance is just a vehicle to deliver historical information. I'd even go as far to say that this novella is a lesson in history with frosting on top.
Character-wise, they were not as significant as I would like though I found Clarissa's intelligence and efficiency admirable.
Not really a novella I would recommend to those looking for a quick fix of romance and drama, but it's pretty well-written so read if you dare. Patience is a must!
Character-wise, they were not as significant as I would like though I found Clarissa's intelligence and efficiency admirable.
Not really a novella I would recommend to those looking for a quick fix of romance and drama, but it's pretty well-written so read if you dare. Patience is a must!
June 6, 2012
This is such a lovely story. A lady struggling dresses as man to get by and then the story really takes off. Love the little detail about this story, and such a variety of character's. An enjoyable read.
July 17, 2012
Cute romance with no sizzle or spark between H and h.
August 5, 2012
This book is exactly what you would expect from the synopsis. If it interests you then read it and if it doesn't then don't.
kindle-i-own-to-read
October 26, 2012Amazon Freebie 10/26/2012
March 16, 2013
Good potential but never reached. No real conflict.
April 23, 2016
Good. Really between 3 and 4 stars.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews