The Lady and Her Secret (Return to the Ladies of Sommer-by-the-Sea Book 4)

HISTORICAL: A melancholy Lady Rachel Emerson, daughter of the Duke of Harrington, has returned to Sommer-by-the-Sea after a very long absence. It is the day before the Halloween Ball at Emerson Manor. The manor is being sold to the Historical Society at midnight, so Rachel only has a few hours today to search the manse to find her missing locket she lost so many years ago. She bumps into her childhood friend and sometime nemesis, Brenna Hutchington, several times, but each time, Brenna screams and runs away. Rachel reminisces about her one true love, Pryce Drake, Earl Sommerset. It is he who gave her the locket which read “My heart is yours – Forever”. They had a favorite oak tree where they often met and left messages for one another. Now she is hoping to see Pryce one more time before she leaves again, but bound for where?

Ms. Casie quickly draws the reader into her novella, “The Lady and Her Secret”, with her descriptive language which creates a general feeling of melancholy and loss of something dear. Rachel richly tells the story through flashbacks in between bits of real time activities. The reader questions why Brenna runs screaming from Rachel every time they meet, but this is eventually explained. One questions what the secret could possibly be since everything is so straightforward. This is revealed in a twist one never sees coming, and all of a sudden, everything in the entire story becomes crystal clear. A haunting tale which will stay with the reader long after the last page is turned.

Belinda Wilson