The Girl with the Sweetest Secret

October 22, 2018
In Krahn’s busy but evenly paced second Sin & Sensibility Regency (after A Good Day to Marry a Duke), Reynard Boulton, current gossipmonger and future viscount of Tennehill, has his hands full with the headstrong, beautiful American heiress Frances “Frankie” Bumgarten, whose family he’s vowed to protect. Reynard doesn’t usually keep other people’s secrets—he’s focused on protecting his own—but Frankie earns his silence the moment he meets her. Frankie’s mother demands that all three of her girls marry titled gentlemen to secure the family’s place in high society, so when Frankie’s sister Claire runs off with a musician, Frankie enlists Reynard’s help in retrieving her before anyone finds out. Frankie has vowed to never get married—especially not to the sneaky, blackmailing duke who’s threatening to ruin her family if she doesn’t give in to him—but Reynard might change her mind. Reynard and Frankie are a perfect match in wit and strength. Tame love scenes highlight their deep desire. There’s a lot of romance in this romp, and Claire and Julian’s story could easily get its own novel; at times it threatens to overwhelm Reynard and Frankie’s story. Readers will enjoy watching all three of the book’s couples race to the finish line. Agent: Gail Fortune, Talbot Fortune.

Narrator Pilar Witherspoon portrays American heiress Frankie Baumgarten, whose mother is looking for a title to buy her. Nevada silver is the bait in the husband search for Frankie and her sisters. Reynard (The Fox) Boulton is a family friend and the king of gossip. Witherspoon gives him an upper-crust British accent that contrasts with Frankie's slightly Western twang. The two just cannot get along, so they spar with words first, and kisses later. As delivered by Witherspoon, their speech rises in pitch as they bait each other and becomes huskier as their romance deepens. Then a mad Prussian duke, who is depicted with a heavy Germanic accent, sets out to kidnap the lovely Frankie. Witherspoon delivers the three distinct accents and the innumerable plot twists smoothly, making for great listening. A.M.G. � AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine