Review: A Song of Secrets

Sometimes a book falls into my lap by happenstance, which was the case for A Song of Secrets by Robyn Chalmers. Billed as a "sweet Regency," this debut, self-published novel finalled in two categories for RWA's inaugural Vivian Award (Best First Novel and Best Historical Mid-Length).  It's not a perfect read but like any good debut novel there's quite a bit on the page that excited me. To the point where I immediately went looking to see what the author's publishing schedule was.

Sarah Hayworth is La Luminosa, a talented and shockingly beautiful opera singer who has captivated audiences in Italy and England.  Adding to her mystique is that she rarely takes lovers, and you're flat out of luck if you're betrothed or married.  La Liminosa does not dally with men in (supposed) committed relationships and word is she's looking to snag a husband.  The problem being that an opera singer seems to attract a very specific kind of man - those that have no interest in marrying an opera singer.  However, she thinks she's finally bagged herself a single, titled gentleman only to find out on the night of her latest performance that he's engaged to someone "proper." Phooey!

Drama unfolds early on in this book during the performance and riding to Sarah's rescue is Evander Ambrose, a vicar and widowed second son of a earl. He and his father are at the opera because Dear Old Dad (who has been ill and slowly dying) wants La Luminosa to appear at his annual holiday musicale at their country home. Sarah agrees to appear mostly because she needs the money. The season is concluding, and she's strapped for cash thanks to a bad investment and sending what funds she has left to the parents who disowned her. She's desperate for funds, but still wants to land a husband - so can't come off as desperate.  Further complicating things is that while Sarah can usually play men like a fiddle, Evander can see right through her. Even worse? He seems immune to her charms.  But he's the second son, and not the one Sarah is interested in.  She's hoping his older brother Marcus is a different story.

Sarah sounds positively mercenary if you're just going by the back cover blurb, but in reality she's a women at a crossroads. What nobody knows, other than her best friend, is that while in Italy Sarah had an ill-advised affair that resulted in a daughter, now 5-years-old. Her parents did disown her, but given that Sarah kept the pregnancy hushed up they agree to raise her child as their own - as their child. Sarah is neither treasured aunt, cousin nor older sister. No, Sarah's parents have declared her "dead" to their circle.  Sarah knows the only way to get her daughter back is to marry a respectable, titled gentleman.  Instead she finds herself sparring with a vicar.

There is great chemistry in this romance between the hero and heroine and every time they are on page together (which is a lot) it is a joy to read.  The adversarial sparring early on has a slight enemies-to-lovers tinge to it, although there's no shared past between then.  A better description would be it's what happens when two very smart people get together, there's an inconvenient spark of attraction, their motives are at cross purposes, and they rub each other slightly the wrong way.  It's positively delicious.

Evander is a vicar who is having a career crisis.  The death of his young wife has rocked his faith, he's frustrated, at times, with tending to his flock, and he's got three rambunctious (read: handful) young sons who are sweet, but spend most of the novel being the kinds of terrorists that young boys are experts at.  His attraction to Sarah is not terribly practical given what his life is.

Unfortunately there are some bumps in the road.  This is a debut, and while it's great in many ways, there's some sharp turns that could have been smoothed out, especially in the final third of the story. A good illustration of this is Evander's brother Marcus (the heir) who "doesn't want to get married" and finally drops the bomb of WHY towards the end.  It was a ham-fisted way to set up a sequel - except the future books in this series don't feature Marcus as a hero (!).  Instead it appears the author has turned Marcus's story into a short story for her newsletter subscribers. Like, why? He drops the bomb on dear old Dad and Evander and then it's completely dismissed.  

Finally, there's the issue of the sex.  This is a "sweet Regency" so while there's some steamy kisses, there is no sex. It's not even fade to black - it's chapter ends, next chapter starts the very next morning and we, as the reader, know they "did it" but that's it.  Obviously if you've listened to me beat (ha!) this dead horse to death you know I am a reader who firmly (ha!) believes that romance novels do not require sex scenes.  They don't.  But this one?  Kinda does.  It's the tone of the story, the baggage (especially Sarah's past and current lifestyle), I wanted a sex scene to seal their commitment to each other.  Because a vicar and an opera singer?  There's going to continue to be mountains to climb even after the happy-ever-after is declared.

Given the no sex thing and the vicar with a crisis of faith thing, some readers may want to put this in the inspirational romance box.  It certainly has cross-subgenre appeal, for more open-minded inspirational readers.  Honestly some of the kisses are pretty steamy and Sarah's illegitimate child was born out of love, at least from Sarah's perspective. The "father?" Not so much (typical).  For me the religious aspects fit very well within the confines of secular historical romance (honestly, it annoys me no end when historical romances set in towns/villages completely ignore regular church attendance which was often the only "social" activity people had back in the day) and this is written in such a way that it didn't have the "feel" of an inspirational romance. And yes, I'm well aware that sounds vague as hell, but it's what I've got.  Inspirational romance is like porn. I know it when I see it. This, technically speaking, isn't an inspirational romance (says Wendy).

While there are many great things about this book, chief among them being the interplay between Sarah and Evander, it wasn't a seamless read for me. But while it does have some rough edges that I attribute to being a debut novel, there's a lot of promise and "good" on the page. I was excited to keep reading this book, impressed with what the author had created and happy to find a new voice in what is, and likely always will be, my favorite romance subgenre.

Final Grade = B