A Secret To Tell You

April Trent fixes up houses for a living, and sells them for a profit. Her parents and family do not approve of her choice in careers, nor do they understand her love of her job. Her current project is a 60-year old farmhouse in the Shenandoah Valley area of Virginia, and at only 31 years old she's financially independent in a field mainly dominated by men, doing what she loves.

As she is tearing down a wall in this particular farmhouse, she discovers letters that are obviously intended never to be found again. As she reads them, she realizes they may be of some importance. They are written in a foreign language, probably German, and with her high school German she is able to decipher that the letters were correspondence between a Norma Marsh and a man named Heinz, dated from the 1940's. A passport is also included, showing a young woman with blond hair, with stamps from London and Paris. April figures that Norma is now in her 80's, and begins to wonder who this woman could be.

Her brother Eric arrives to tell her about a political dinner being held for Quinn Santini, and after some discussion, April realizes that the home she is remodeling was formerly owned by Anthony Santini, Quinn's grandfather. And Norma, April learns, is Quinn's grandmother. But who was Heinz?

April soon meets Quinn and his grandmother Norma, when she tries to return the letters to Norma. Quinn accuses April of breaking and entering onto private property, and thinks she's going to blackmail the family to ruin his political career. But all April wants to do is return the love letters to its rightful owner, if indeed this was the same Norma.

Quinn is worried that indeed there is some dark secret in his family’s past that could ruin his chances for continued success in the world of politics, and he could be right.

A SECRET TO TELL YOU is one of the best stories so far in the EVERLASTING LOVE series by Harlequin. Unlike the previous novels, this book does not share the same formulaic structure. The story remains in the present, as opposed to going back to the past, and then having the story told chronologically up through the present.

The historical love story is told through letters that April finds, helping tell the story of Norma and Heinz, two star-crossed lovers who worked for opposite sides during W.W.II and who never had a chance at a happily ever after. Her subsequent marriage to Anthony Quinn and the knowledge that Heinz had died during the war forced her to put that part of her life behind her. But the letters' reappearance was now threatening to bring past memories into the present, possibly ruining the lives of Norma and her family. Norma's job as an Agent during W.W.II is part of her story, recounting how she was involved with a German named Heinz at the height of W.W.II, something she thought would never be revealed.

Both April Trent and Quinn Santini get caught up in his grandmother's mysterious past, a past that will change his life and that of his family's. At the same time, April and Quinn fall in love as they learn about the star-crossed lovers, a story that takes place during WW II, but does not find a resolution until April finds the missing love letters. April’s family members aren’t too happy about her association with Quinn, since politically they are on opposite sides, just as Heinz and Norma were working for opposites sides during the war. History seems to be repeating itself, and with some luck, April and Quinn’s story may have a happy ending, although Norma and Heinz did not. This reviewer gives A SECRET TO TELL YOU a big recommendation, and as always, will be looking forward to Roz Denny Fox’s next book.

May 2007