Tag: Miss Serena’s Secret

Quote from Miss Serena's Secret by Carolyn Miller

#Throwback Thursday | Book Review | Miss Serena’s Secret by Carolyn Miller

It’s Throwback Thursday! Today I’m sharing my review of Miss Serena’s Secret, the second book in the Regency Brides: A Promise of Hope series by Carolyn Miller. The final book in the trilogy, The Making of Mrs Hale, is due out this month, and I definitely want to read it!

This review previously appeared at International Christian Fiction Writers.

The title is a little misleading.

Miss Serena actually has several secrets. These combine to persuade her that she will never marry. She will especially not marry a man like her father, a gambler who lost their fortune at the tables. So she is not impressed when she meets gambler and womaniser Lord Henry Carmichael.

This is a sweet and slow love story. It’s not the romance novel where we meet the hero and heroine and wham bam they’re together. Instead, both characters have plenty of time to get to know each other and to change—to mature into people who are able to fall in love and contemplate marriage.

Miss Serena is an artist, and her art plays a key part in the novel. I’m no painter, but I loved the painting references—the colours, the techniques, and the little upset at the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition.

Regency romance has had a resurgence of popularity in recent years, but many of the general market novels have a lot of sex and not much Christian faith—which seems at odds with the period. So it’s good to see more Regency romance coming out of the Christian market, from authors such as Julie Klaassen, Kristi Ann Hunter, and now Carolyn Miller.

Miss Serena’s Secret is Carolyn Miller’s fifth novel, and the second in her Regency Brides: A Promise of Hope series. If you’ve read the others, you’ll enjoy catching up with some of the characters from the previous stories. If you haven’t, don’t worry: this is a standalone novel.

Recommended for Regency romance fans.

Thanks to Kregel Publications and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

About Carolyn Miller

Carolyn MillerCarolyn Miller lives in the beautiful Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia. She is married, with four gorgeous children, who all love to read (and write!).

A longtime lover of Regency romance, Carolyn’s novels have won a number of Romance Writers of American (RWA) and American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) contests. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Australasian Christian Writers. Her favourite authors are classics like Jane Austen (of course!), Georgette Heyer, and Agatha Christie, but she also enjoys contemporary authors like Susan May Warren and Becky Wade.

Her stories are fun and witty, yet also deal with real issues, such as dealing with forgiveness, the nature of really loving versus ‘true love’, and other challenges we all face at different times.

Find Carolyn Miller online at:

Website | Facebook | Google+

Goodreads| Pinterest | Twitter

About Miss Serena’s Secret

How can a wounded young woman ever trust a too-flirtatious earl with her heart?

With devastating scars in her past, Serena Winthrop is sure no man can be trusted—especially not a man like the too-smooth Viscount Carmichael. His reputation as a flirt and a gambler is everything she despises. And the young artist makes sure that this disreputable heir to an earldom knows of her deep disapproval whenever they encounter one another.

Henry, Lord Carmichael, is perfectly aware of his charms. He’s gambled with plenty of ladies’ hearts as easily as he has with their husbands’ money. But lately he’s wondered if there’s more to life—and if his actions might prove unworthy of an admirable wife such as his friends have found.

When Serena’s guardian asks his best friend to protect his young ward, Henry promises to be on his best behavior and not woo her. But the more he learns of her, the more he realizes she might be his best reason for changing his character.

Then the lady’s art leads her to London infamy. Now Henry must choose between the life mapped out for him as the earl apparent and the love of his life. And Serena’s secret may mean the end of his titled family line.

You can find Miss Serena’s Secret online at:

Amazon | ChristianBook | Goodreads | Koorong

You can read the introduction to Miss Serena’s Secret below:

And you can click here to find Miss Serena’s Secret and other great Christian fiction recommendations in my Amazon store!

First Line Friday

First Line Friday | Week 52 | Miss Serena’s Secret by Carolyn Miller

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. Today I’m sharing from Miss Serena’s Secret by Carolyn Miller:

First line from Miss Serena's Secret: Warm summer sun lit the scene before her: a golden-yellow oak table boasting a squat blue vase with an arrangement of ferns and pink roses.

What’s the book nearest you, and what’s the first line?

About Miss Serena’s Secret

How can a wounded young woman ever trust a too-flirtatious earl with her heart?

With devastating scars in her past, Serena Winthrop is sure no man can be trusted—especially not a man like the too-smooth Viscount Carmichael. His reputation as a flirt and a gambler is everything she despises. And the young artist makes sure that this disreputable heir to an earldom knows of her deep disapproval whenever they encounter one another.

Henry, Lord Carmichael, is perfectly aware of his charms. He’s gambled with plenty of ladies’ hearts as easily as he has with their husbands’ money. But lately he’s wondered if there’s more to life—and if his actions might prove unworthy of an admirable wife such as his friends have found.

When Serena’s guardian asks his best friend to protect his young ward, Henry promises to be on his best behavior and not woo her. But the more he learns of her, the more he realizes she might be his best reason for changing his character.

Then the lady’s art leads her to London infamy. Now Henry must choose between the life mapped out for him as the earl apparent and the love of his life. And Serena’s secret may mean the end of his titled family line.

You can find Miss Serena’s Secret online at:

Amazon | ChristianBook | Goodreads | Koorong

Click the button to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today:

First Line Fridays hosted by Hoarding Books

You can then click the link which will take you to the master page of all this week’s #FirstLineFriday posts.

And you can click here to check out my previous FirstLineFriday posts.

Share your first line in the comments, and happy reading!

Quote from Winning Miss Winthrop by Carolyn Miller: While Italian arias were all very well, one's appreciation might be greater if one more fully comprehended Italian.

#ThrowbackThursday | Winning Miss Winthrop by Carolyn Miller

It’s Throwback Thursday! Today I’m sharing my review of Winning Miss Winthrop, the first in the Regency Brides: A Promise of Hope series by Carolyn Miller. The sequel, Miss Serena’s Secret, is due out later this month, and you’ll want to read Winning Miss Winthrop first!

This review previously appeared at Australasian Christian Writers.

Persuasion is not my favourite Jane Austen novel.

I find it frustrating, because the problems faced by the hero and heroine could be solved by one simple conversation. Unfortunately, Jane Austen lived in a society where men and women were unable to speak plainly to each other. That meant her hero and heroine spent most of the book at odds, even though they had mutual feelings towards each other.

Quote from Winning Miss WInthrop by Carolyn Miller: A woman does not have many choices in this world, but she can still be the heroine in her own life, and not just idle in the wings.

Winning Miss Winthrop is loosely based on Persuasion, and has the same central plot problem. Two years ago, Miss Catherine Winthrop fell in love with her third cousin once removed, Jonathan Carlew. She thought the feeling was mutual, but he abandoned her. Now she is twenty-five years old, at home, and on the shelf. But things are about to get complicated.

Her father dies, and instead of the estate going to the expected heir, it goes to Jonathan Carlew. Catherine and her mother are forced to leave their home and move into the Dower House, with a much-reduced income.

What follows is a frustrating yet enaging read as Catherine and Jonathan have to face up to being in the company of the other, both believing the other to have been at fault in the demise of their earlier relationship. Matters are not helped by Catherine‘s mother, the Dowager Lady Winthrop, who makes Elizabeth Bennett’s mother appear intelligent and self sacrificing.

As usual, Carolyn Miller’s is writing is spot on for the period and location.

Her locations come alive, and she captures the manners of the Regency period perfectly, while introducing a rare spiritual depth. Miller’s writing is full of the wit and subtext present in other Regency novelists such as Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer. And now I’m anxiously awaiting Miss Serena’s Secret, the second book in the series.

Quote from Winning Miss Winthrop by Carolyn MIller: Some people count the cost of things of eternal significance as too high, whilst others are simply blind.

Recommended for all Regency romance lovers. Thanks to Kregel and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

About Carolyn Miller

Carolyn MillerCarolyn Miller lives in the beautiful Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia. She is married, with four gorgeous children, who all love to read (and write!).

A longtime lover of Regency romance, Carolyn’s novels have won a number of Romance Writers of American (RWA) and American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) contests. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Australasian Christian Writers. Her favourite authors are classics like Jane Austen (of course!), Georgette Heyer, and Agatha Christie, but she also enjoys contemporary authors like Susan May Warren and Becky Wade.

Her stories are fun and witty, yet also deal with real issues, such as dealing with forgiveness, the nature of really loving versus ‘true love’, and other challenges we all face at different times.

Find Carolyn Miller online at:

Website | Facebook | Google+

Goodreads| Pinterest | Twitter

About Winning Miss Winthrop

Years ago, the man who stole Catherine Winthrop’s heart rejected her–and she’s never recovered from the grief. Now tragedy has brought him back into her life. This time it isn’t her heart he’s taking, it’s her home and her family’s good name.

Jonathan Carlew’s serious demeanor and connection to trade, not to mention the rumors surrounding his birth, have kept him from being a favorite of the ladies, or their parents. Now, suddenly landed and titled, he finds himself with plenty of prospects. But his demanding society responsibilities keep pressing him into service to the one woman who captured his heart long ago–and then ran off with it.

These two broken hearts must decide whether their painful past and bitter present will be all they can share, or if forgiveness can provide a path to freedom for the future.

Set in the sumptuous salons of Bath, Regency England’s royal breeding ground for gossip, Winning Miss Winthrop is the first volume in the Regency Brides: A Promise of Hope series. Fans of the wholesome and richly drawn first series won’t want to miss this new set of characters–or appearances by their old favorites.

You can find Winning Miss Winthrop online at:

Amazon | ChristianBook | Goodreads | Koorong