The Secret Daughter (Catherine Spencer)**

Another day, another Mills & Boon. This is from the Presents series which I think is now called Modern Romance. In other words, non-explicit sex and not a lot of it.

There were things I loved about this book, but so many things that infuriated me. Firstly, most importantly, the big twist is not just revealed in the blurb, it’s revealed in the TITLE. It would have been so much more exciting if this hadn’t been given away before I’d even read the first sentence. It’s actually a really interesting story, weightier than a lot of Mills & Boons. So I feel a bit deprived really.

The plot was probably slightly wasted on Mills & Boon. I don’t really mean that in a snobby way, but there’s a lot going on with all the characters, not just the central couple Imogen and Joe, and a 50,000 word novel where the main focus has to be on the romance doesn’t really give Catherine Spencer the opportunity to explore all the stories in detail. There are lots of really interesting characters who barely feature, such as Joe’s family and Imogen’s old nanny. And Imogen’s horrible mother Suzanne is great. Her behaviour is despicable from the beginning to a page or two from the end, but it’s hard not to feel some sympathy for her. She seems so unhappy. And her views aren’t so much wrong as desperately old-fashioned. She’d have got on fine a century or two ago.

Joe, like a lot of M&B heroes, really annoys me. I can understand why he finds Imogen irritating, but the aggressive way he treats her is pretty disgusting. As usual, he expects all to be forgiven because he loves her, but I wouldn’t forgive that easily. Maybe he does love her (although I certainly wasn’t convinced), but that doesn’t change all the horrible things he said to her, and it also doesn’t change the fact that the same could happen again the next time he gets stressed about something.

A quickie wedding that certainly isn’t based on love is the last thing Imogen needs. The poor girl really has nothing on which to base her expectations for a happy marriage. Yes, she is irritating, and not very intelligent, and her sudden u-turn from being snobby about Joe to practically begging him to love her does seem rather pathetic. But no-one deserves to be treated like that. All I can say for Imogen is she’s very lucky she lives in a Mills & Boon. It’s her only hope of happily ever after.