Tour & Giveaway: Secrets and Suitors by Joanna Barker

Secrets and Suitors by Joanna Barker.
Audience/Genre: Historical Fiction, Clean Read, Romance.
Publication: October 1st 2019 by Covenant Communications, Inc.

Reluctantly returning to London for yet another Season, shy Nora Hamilton has nearly given up hope that she will ever find the love match she longs for. After all, the one man she does harbor feelings for—her closest friend, James—has made it perfectly clear he views her as just that: a friend. With James traveling half a world away and Nora's father pressuring her to marry for wealth and status, Nora is forced to set aside her desire for love and accept the future she has always dreaded.
Until James returns unexpectedly and Nora's feelings once again rush unbearably close to the surface. Determined to save what is left of their friendship, Nora ignores her own heart and allows herself to be swept up in the London Season, soon finding herself the object of two very different gentlemen's affections. Though she should be thrilled, both men come with a glaring fault: neither is the one man who holds her heart.

But there is much more at stake than heartbreak. When long-kept secrets are laid bare, Nora must face the fears that have plagued her all her life and decide what true love is worth.

Reviewed by Kelly.
I really enjoyed reading Secrets and Suitors! I could feel all the warm fuzzies and the sorrow, disappointment, family bonds and healing! I felt urgency with the characters and was drawn to keep reading to find out what would happen next! There was a question from the very beginning that I knew the answer to but wanted to find out what had happened that formed that question! There were so many secrets. I am ever so grateful I did not live in those times! Just putting that out there!

Nora and James have been friends since childhood. James knew Nora better than I think Nora knew herself. He could pry anything out of her. He knew when things were not right with her. Last summer he left to his plantation in Jamaica for business and left Nora devastated. She had thought he loved her but he had left. She is trying to move on. He returns and is ever there for her again and Nora’s heart can’t seem to get over him. But Nora has been forced to marry Mr Weston by her seemingly uncaring father. Nora then notices that Lord Worthington has noticed her. He is attentive to her and she thinks that maybe she can get him to propose to her so she would not have to marry the quiet and humble looking Mr Weston.

Meanwhile James who is in need of an investor into his plantation has also been invited to Lord Worthington’s grandmother’s home for a visit along with Nora who had fallen ill and needs the country air and has also become good friends with Lord Worthington’s sister. James is hard to let go of. I wouldn’t let him go either. The author writes him so kind and caring and really a wonderful man that I want him too! Hehe! But Nora tries hard to be herself and get Lord Worthington to be hers.

Nora and James are a match if ever there was one! He would grab her hand and just pull her somewhere and the way the author wrote it, I could feel her hand in his and her feelings over a simple act. She reacted every time he showed up in a room! How difficult it must have been. I forget that it is just a story and not real! I enjoyed learning all these secrets everyone has kept and how it impacted soo much of the story and you don’t even know they did until the secrets come out! I love watching people grow. I also love watching people do stupid things as well. Keeps the book interesting! Haha! And stupid things were done!! And you don’t really know who Nora will end up with till the end after all the secrets are out!

If you like stories of families who grow, people who guard their hearts to protect from getting hurt, rakes, secrets, tree climbing, little brothers who adore their older sister, lions, running away from home, families who make mistakes but learn to fix them, intimidating people, deceiving people, and doing what is right and kind and fair and full of love than this story might be for you. As for me, it is on my shelf to be read over and over!

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Joanna Barker was born and raised in northern California. She discovered her love for historical fiction after visiting England as an eleven-year-old, and subsequently read every Jane Austen book she could get her hands on. After graduating Brigham Young University with a degree in English, she worked as an acquisitions editor before devoting herself full-time to writing. She enjoys music, chocolate, and reading everything from romance to science fiction. She lives in Utah and is just a little crazy about her husband and two wild-but-loveable boys.

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