Nita Good Book

Lately, I've been reading quite a bit a romance, mostly historical and paranormal with a little contemporary mixed in. I also enjoy fantasy, urban fantasy, and history.

Two Sinful Secrets - Laurel McKee In my review of the first book in this series, One Naughty Night, I wrote I hoped this was a series that would get better after the first book. That book had a great premise, but I thought the book focused a little too much on their physical relationship and the feud between the two families seemed all one sided. My hopes were met. I thought the second book much improved.

The feud still seems a bit one sided, but we get more explanation on why the St. Clare's hate the Huntington's so much. Lady Sophia Huntington discovers the journal of Mary Huntington. Mary was a St. Clare who married into the Huntington family a hundred years before. We get snippets of the journal throughout the book that shows what actually happened then - why there is such animosity from the St. Clare's. These journal entries really added to the story and made me more sympathetic to both families.

Sophia Huntington is a great character. She is the black sheep of her family. She eloped with a man her family did not approve of, Captain Jack Westman. Now a widow, she would like to find a way to support herself rather than go back to her family. But with no prospects she is traveling back to London and to her family. Sophia stops in Paris on her way and runs into a friend who has opened a gambling club. That friend offers her a job managing the club. Sophia is a natural at managing. Between her love of the city and her new employment, she finds happiness again.

Dominic St. Clare is in Paris with his family's theater company to perform a play. Dominic has a deep hatred for the Huntington's. But once he meets Sophia in Paris, he can't seem to stay away from her. I really enjoyed the play between Dominic and Sophia. I liked how one moment Dominic could be such a flirt and the next, very sweet. Dominic ends up showing Sophia she is stronger than she believes.

"Sophia, I think you could do whatever you set your mind to. You are obviously a determined, and brave woman."
Brave - no one had ever called her that before. Beautiful, headstrong, willful, foolish, all those things. But never brave.


There's a bit more drama beyond Dominic fighting his attraction for Sophia. She has a stalker, one Lord Hammond, who is very obsessed with making Sophia his mistress. No matter how much she shows she is not interested, Lord Hammond can't seem to take no for an answer. But the drama does not overshadow. Actually, I think the book had a great mixture of drama, the physical relationship, and the two getting to know each other and growing into their attraction.

I'm very glad I continued this series.

ARC provided through NetGalley.

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