Book Review: Secret Christmas Ciphers

Book Title: The Secret Christmas Ciphers
Author: Carolynn Carey

Publisher: Amazon Digital Services
Format: ebook, paperback

Cost: $2.99, $6.79

Pages: 134

How I got it: Free Kindle via Pixel of Ink

My Rating:★★★★☆
Erotica Rating: N/A
Synopsis:

A Regency Christmas novella. Abigail can’t explain, even to herself, why she married Derek after he’d asked her to wait for him and then became engaged to someone else. If his poor fiancée had not died, he would now be wed to her instead of Abigail. But then Abigail begins uncovering some of the secrets that are a part of her husband’s life and wonders if perhaps there is hope for their marriage after all. Derek, Lord Westdale, wasn’t sure why Abigail married him; she obviously despised him. On the other hand, he knew exactly why he was marrying her: she was the only woman he would ever love, despite his having offered marriage to another. Unfortunately, he can’t seem to convince Abigail that he never really betrayed her after all. Can their decoding of a secret Christmas cipher bring an end to their misunderstandings and help them create their own special Christmas tradition?

My Review:
A quick read this regency romance follows a couple who met & fall in love as children & then life intervenes and they drift apart.

 OMGosh, this reminds me so much of Matthew & Mary *from Downton Abbey, not the being in love since children part but the rest* they were so in love but let other things come in between them.   Abigail loved her friend's older brother, and they learnt together all about each other as they grew up, he asked her to wait for him when he went to school and she did. Everyone expected them to marry, then came the news from London, Derek was engaged to another woman. Abigail has been dealt a blow she hasn't found a way to recover from, then Derek returns home and she finds herself standing at the altar marrying him even though she has no idea why.   She's decided to make him pay for everything; but the Derek she knew & the one she is married to are two different men.  this new Derek is more secretive than before she then discovers that her husband is working for the government and decodes ciphers as part of the war effort. With this she decided to help him & slowly they begin to bond.


 I enjoyed reading this & feeling like I was there.Well written, engaging a very good Christmas read. It was both good & sweet, It gave me a bit of a break from high suspense novels I'm a huge fan of & made me love the characters even more.  I really loved the epilogue, with the future Lord & his wife. Very endearing. I hope there are more from this author, she's new to me but I like her writing.

Hope you enjoy!!

 Buy on Amazon                            Add to Goodreads