Short and Sweet Review: Passionate Secrets by Lana Williams

Fans of Lana Williams rejoice! The second book of her Secrets Trilogy is now available! The first installment, Unraveling Secrets, swept readers up in a Victorian Romance filled with mystery and suspense...as well as some breathtaking romance.

Now Ms. Williams is back with book number two, Passionate Secrets. The underlying story of a science experiment gone wrong and the three young men whose lives were changed forever as a result, continues.

Michael Drury, the Viscount Weston, is one of these survivors, left with the ability to read a person’s aura that indicate success or failure for their current ventures. But Michael hasn’t dwelt on his new talent, instead he’s been trying to save the family fortune and honor, both lost by his parents whose passions clouded their judgment as well as their hearts, ultimately leading to their deaths.

Michael commits to avoid entanglements of the heart, feeling they lead to ruin. He makes his own fortune and plans to wed a cold but connected beauty whose father holds the key to the final piece of his inheritance. Just as the plan seems set, a woman from his past reappears.

Emma Grisby is the niece of the now-dead professor whose experiment changed Michael’s life. But is he dead? Michael has reason to believe he may not be. And Emma, intent on gaining his assistance with an interview for a governess position, seems oblivious to this new turn of events regarding her uncle.

Is Emma playing a game? Her family has fallen on hard times and her sister is desperately ill. Certainly she has every reason to rue an uncle who disappeared just as her family needed his help the most. But is he helping them now? Michael intends to keep her close to find out the truth, while keeping himself personally distant, avoiding those messy affairs of the heart. He has a plan after all.

Emma, however, whose dour and stand-offish exterior hides a woman of great talent and gentle nature, slowly softens that hard exterior making it very difficult for Michael to reign in his growing feelings...and find out the truth about the evil professor’s diabolical scheme to control the population, and possibly endanger them all.

Passionate Secrets is a great read all on its own, whether you read the first book or not...but it might make you want to read them both! Williams writes a fluid and compelling tale that will make you a fan of all her books. Luckily, readers can anticipate a third installment in the future.