I think I’m going to make it a goal to read at least one Victoria Holt book a year. While I don’t like to read her books one right after another because they all have that similar feel, every once in a while they really hit the spot. I’m always surprised how she just sucks me right in to her story, usually starting off with the heroine’s childhood, following into the protagonist’s mysterious and romantic adventures. Holt (the amazing Eleanor Alice Burford) always manages to capture the perfect feel of the proper Victorian woman. Secret for a Nightingale sort of surprised me. It’s quite different from Holt’s usual story. Yes, it’s a mystery romance, but the mystery happens first, and then the romance happens later at the end of the book. I think this gave the book an awkward pace. The beginning surrounds the mystery of Susanna’s first husband, and I’ll be honest, mysteries aren’t really my favorite thing, so I’m not sure I was as caught up as I wanted to be. The mystery takes awhile to completely unfold too, so by the time everything was laid out, I’m not sure I cared anymore. What saved this book for me though was the wonderfully intriguing and sexy Damien Adair. Wow! What a character! I don’t think Holt has ever written a male character that resonated so much with me. I was swooning, eating up the dialogue between him and Susanna. And talk about sexual tension and conflict, they have it in spades. This book made me gush! Damien is going to be added to my top ten male character list, and believe me, I don’t just add anybody. I will be savoring this book for a long time to come. LOLSo where does that leave me in the review? Well....while I wasn’t too interested in the first part of the book, the second part I couldn’t put down. Damien won me over I suppose. It’s rare for me to find I character I adore. All in all, I enjoyed this book!
This is one of the (unintentionally) silliest novels I've read in awhile. And the melodrama! Let's not forget the melodrama.Susanna, the main character, has a healing gift (as her ayah in India noticed right off the bat...being a "rational" Englishwoman, it took her a while to catch on), but instead of putting it to good use, she marries the opium-addicted ne'er-do-well Aubrey St Clare (details, such as they are, to be found in the chapter entitled "Satan's Temple." I was hoping for some hair-raising, juicy stuff...but fear not, all ye prudish and retiring folk out there. This book is very tame!).Just in case anyone actually feels tempted to read this, I won't toss out any spoilers, but let's just say, her marriage crashes and burns, and she joins up with Florence Nightingale's nurses to tend the sick and wounded of the Crimean War. All the while plotting revenge on the man she thinks led her husband to ruin, the "Demon Doctor," Damien Adair. But what's going on? Damien is not only arrogant and rude, he's also totally hot! Sparks fly whenever they quarrel! Will they get together in the end? Sheesh. I really didn't care.Still, this one wasn't a total wash, as I did enjoy the scenes with Susanna being a nurse during the war, and the book inspired me to learn more about the real person, Florence Nightingale, and how she revolutionized nursing back in the day.
What do You think about Secret For A Nightingale (1987)?
I got this book from my mother. It's a bit of an old read but was very interesting. The whole book was lovely and I really was very drawn to it, but the last 40 pages or so were very predictable and not written very well like the rest of the story.I loved how many characters were woven in and out of Susanna's life. How very intersting her life in India and how she always had this magical memory of her life there. Then when she went back to England and thought she doesn't fit in until seeing for herself how India was after going back to join her father. I loved how she (in my veiw) was very strong to endure her marriage with Aubery and then decide to leave him when she could take it no more. Her days in Scutari was very well written and I loved how Florence Nightingale was introduced in the story and how very real events were woven into the events of book. It made me look into the Crimean war and all the struggle Florence Nightingale went through to establish the basics of Modern Nursing.All in all it was a very good read however I wish I could change the way the ending was put it and make it more interesting like the rest of the story.
—Book-a-Holic
I really loved Susanna, how she used her pain for others and became a Nightingale. She may be my favorite Holt heroine so far and I loved huge chunks of the story because of her. In the ending scenes I had the same problem I have with most of Holt's novels - I dislike her leading men. This is the umpteenth time one of her heroes is referred to as a "sinner" with a shady past of seduction (and orgies, OKAY), and the heroine fights him while finding herself drawn to his wicked ways - it's the classic hot bad guy scenario, but the fact that none of these guys is really a good person takes something away from the romance for me. What's wrong with the good guys?
—Lizzi Crystal
One of the longest VH's I've read. It's too long, meandering in fact, with too many locales and no big mystery to tie it all together. At least it doesn't dwell on the heroine's childhood. She's a young adult and soon married. (Clearly she didn't get my memo from an earlier VH review that when the heroine marries before page 50, hubby has the average life expectancy of a fruit fly).Sure enough, the marriage goes sour. At first all is magical in romantic Venice during their honeymoon. But one nig
—AgentScully
