Product Description

1 March 1811. Today I fell in love. At the age of ten, Miss Miranda Cheever showed no signs of ever becoming a Great Beauty. Her hair was lamentably brown, her eyes the same muddy colour, and her legs, which were uncommonly long, refused to learn anything which might remotely be called grace. Only, in 1811, the nineteen-year-old Viscount Turner - eldest brother of Miranda's closest friend - had kissed the hand of an awkward ten-year-old girl and promised her that one day she'd be as beautiful as she was smart. Now, eight years later, Miranda is a woman grown, and Turner an embittered widower. But she has never forgotten his kindness. Indeed it is only in her diary that she confides the truth: she has never stopped loving Turner, and she has never stopped hoping that one day he will see her as more than a nave girl.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #28432 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Review
"'reminiscent of Bridget Jones' Time Magazine"

About the Author
Visit Julia Quinn's website at www.juliaquinn.com

Customer Reviews

Enjoyable tale set in Regency England
Julia Quinn's regency romances all have a very particular flavour; this author excels in writing dialogue between characters, usually witty and snappy, and her main characters are often intelligent people who are matches for each other.

"The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever" follows this pattern. Miranda Cheever first falls in love with Lord Turner, the eldest brother of her best friend, when she is ten. He's nine years older than her and is just helping out his sister Olivia's friend by escorting her home and giving her a little pep-talk. Olivia is clearly going to be beautiful when she grows up, Miranda is rather more plain and gangly and so Turner says a few nice words to her - and she promptly falls in love.

The story moves on nine years to the funeral of Turner's wife. Leticia turned out to be an awful woman and Turner is relieved at her death. He vows not to marry again and has become rather hard and cold. Unfortunately for him, with Miranda running tame about his parents house they meet up on many occasions and he finds himself rather drawn to her. When Miranda and Turner find themselves in an awkward situation they have to try to build an adult relationship out of what was a childhood infatuation.

It's in this part of the book that I felt the author was less successful. As in so many romances published today, the central point of the plot is that the hero can't say "I love you" even if his actions show that he does; resolution of the book only comes when the man realises his mistake and verbalises the words. I find all this rather difficult to believe in a Regency setting, particularly in a society when marriages often were for social position rather than love and this would be considered the norm for most people. As usual in Julia Quinn's books the historical setting is rather vague. Her characters speak with modern concepts and constructs, if sometimes in Regency language, they use American rather than English word forms in many cases, and their behaviour isn't accurate for the period in many cases.

Still it's an enjoyable read with a rather touching scene at the end when Miranda has a child and Turner is a pleasant enough, if sometimes a little vague, hero. The original avuncular relationship between him and Miranda still seems partly in place and Miranda's vacillating feelings, although understandable, are sometimes annoying. This book is, however, a great deal better than a lot of the Regencies out there because of the spirited heroine, pleasant hero and good cast of supporting characters.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book, www.curledup.com. © Helen Hancox 2007

So wonderfully real, I might re-read it!
This is the first romantic book I have read, I usually favour the horror genre (KING, KOONTZ) but The Secret Diairies of Miss Miranda Cheever was simply wonderful! I am now on my third Quinn novel. The characters are truly brought to life, you may find yourself thinking of them long after you have finished this journey. They are not flawless to any degree which is refreshing, believeable and relatable. What I enjoy most about Quinn is that the characters are not predictable, whenever I thought, Oh Gosh I know whats coming next, I was always surprised yet in a completely realistic, genuine way. Plus, I did laugh out loud with this novel ("Sheep", "Goats"...hilarious!). It is a bit cheesy in places but once your on the jouney who can resist it!

Wonderfully romantic
Ms. Quinn has written an interesting romance with shadings of Jane Austen. I read this book in a day and while it seemed a bit predictable for me, I enjoyed it. The writing style isn't heavy-handed and this book will appeal to anyone in the mind of an old-fashioned romance.