A young woman often does foolish things to gain the attention of the man of her dreams. For Cassandra Martin, the foolish thing was to fake her own drowning so that he'd rescue her. Two things went wrong with her carefully crafted plan. First -- Jeffrey Ames had brought his fiancé with him to the pool, and two -- Cassie stayed under water far longer than she had intended. If she were older, she would have known better. To her regret, Cassandra was only twelve years old.
"Secrets" lives up to its title. A complex web of secrets, some on a small scale, and others part of a much grander plan, run throughout the book. Cassandra Martin, a lonely young woman disillusioned by her own childhood as the only daughter of a fiercely goal-oriented, high-achieving businesswoman, longs for a simple life. Once she meets the man she has determined to marry, she go es after him, and indeed does work her way into his life, but how he sees her is not the picture-perfect dream ending she would like for it to be.
Instead of the simple life she longs for, Cassandra is caught up in a world for which she had not bargained, one involving famous Hollywood actress, espionage and enough secrets to last a lifetime.
The author of "Secrets" was born Jude Gilliam in 1947 in Fairdale, Kentucky. Born into a large family, she earned an art degree from Murray State University. She began writing in 1976 and published her first book, "The Enchanted Land," in 1977 under the pseudonym Jude Deveraux.
Deveraux has written both romance novels and mysteries, setting them in both historical and modern settings. She has authored more than 30 New York Times bestsellers. She lives in Charlotte, North Carolina and maintains a home in Italy.
"I liked this one. It's a stand-alone novel, no relation to Montgomery/Taggerts or Edilean or Arundel. The whole spy premise could be considered far-fetched, and probaably wildly inaccurate, but I've got a soft spot for spy stories, so it gave me a little thrill.
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Melowin (4 out of 5 stars)