What a beautiful story. My heart ached for Adam who is so noble and always trys to do the right thing.He is so often handed lemons in his life and still makes lemonade. The characters are well fleshed out and there is humor in this often heart-wrenching story. I esp liked the relationship between the duke and his valet. The irreverent retorts that only a long time employee/friend could get away with are very funny.

This is the last book I needed to read to complete my Summer Reading Challenge. I AVOIDED this book and left if for last because it has adultery in it. I don't enjoy reading about adultery at all, but somehow, Mary Balogh makes it work. This book is very intense, it is a story about a hero and heroine that, have yet to catch a break, that is until an encounter with each other one night. The story starts off with a bang, and then moves a little slow. The story soon picks up and the writer does an excellent job of showing the spirit of the main characters. The journey for Adam and Fleur's love was a HARD road to go down, and I wondered how on earth Mary Balogh was going to give this story a Happy Ending. Despite that hard road, each brief encounter between the two proves to build up tension, and the realization that they were soulmates. As Jerry Maguire put it, They completed each other. I highly recommend this book. It's deep, but very well worth the time invested reading about this forbidden love.

Loved it so much I got my own copy! :)

Mary Balogh's The Secret Pearl starts off with an emotional wallop with the "brutal deflowering" of the destitute and starving heroine by the "hero." This is a book where the hero basically rapes the heroine and yet is NOT the villian of the story-- the villian is described as being worse. I could not fathom how these two could ever have anything like a HEA ending and it was that curiousity that kept me reading, but Balogh managed to pull it off, just barely. I think it's a testimony to her writing chops that I didn't throw the book even once, though there were countless in the plot where a lesser writer would have blown the whole thing to smithereens. This was not a happy book, despite the happy ending.

Not my favorite of Balogh's work, but still very enjoyable to read.

Balogh never fails to please and this time is no exception - a great book from one of the leaders in Regency historical romances.

A tale of temptation and seduction, of guarded hearts and raw emotion..and of a love so powerful it will take your breath away. This book features Fleur.

Oh so lovely!!! Hated to read the last page. Delicious, indeed!

One of the best historical Regency romances I've ever read! My sister loved it too.

A woman down on her luck has one her desperate decisions come back to haunt her.

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One of the more difficult of her books to read. I had real trouble getting interested in this one and that is unusal for one of Mary Balogh's books. Keep trying.

very much enjoyed this book great read.

Another good book by Mary Balough. It was a fast read because I became involved in the story quickly and couldn't put the book down.

Flleur takes a stranger to her bed and never expects to see him again, but then Fleur accepts a position as a governess to a young girl... and is stunned to discover that her midnight lover is a powerful nobleman. As threat of scandal hovers over them... one question remains: will she be mistress or wife?

great read

I have heard so many good things about this book, I am so glad that I read this book now I know what I was missing the first time around when this book first came out.

can a woman forced to barter her body become the wife of a gentleman without scandal? or will she stand by as his mistress while he marries another?

Very unique story. Highly recommended.

very good book.

As always, Mary Balogh provides a great read in this book. I loved it as I love all books by Ms. Balogh.

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