Finally she admits to herself that she loves him as a grown-up woman now, and wonders if there might be a chance he could return her feelings.
Miranda is well aware that her youthful passion for Turner was no more than calf-love, but when she goes to London under the aegis of Olivia and Turner’s mother, they are thrown together again and again and there is just no other man she likes half as much. Turner and Miranda’s dialogues are charming and funny, and I enjoyed every single one of them. The author does an excellent job here in portraying that rare instance in everybody’s life of meeting someone with whom you can talk about anything, right from the start. Although the two weren’t close before, now that they have really begun to talk to each other, they are very open and honest in their communication. This sets the tone for the greatest part of the book. He apologizes the next day and this leads to another conversation about his marriage and about her plans for the future. Finally, out of his self-disgust and despair, he kisses her. By accident, he and Miranda come across each other in the library at night, and begin to talk about an inappropriate remark Turner made during the funeral. His marriage was deeply unhappy, due to the late Viscountess’s unfaithfulness and generally disagreeable character, and Turner is convinced that everything good in him has been soiled and that he will be unable to love again.
Ten years later Turner and Miranda both attend the funeral of Turner’s wife. She falls in love with him on the spot and begins to write a diary the same day, as he recommended, to record her progress. Nigel, whom Miranda has never met before (yes, that does seem a bit contrived, although an explanation is given), tries to cheer her up and tells her that she needs to grow into her style of beauty. Another little girl at the party made cattish remarks about Miranda’s lack of beauty, and she is still bothered by that.
The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever starts off as vintage Julia Quinn, and that is high praise indeed! I was captivated after just reading a few pages, set aside some work that really had to be done and devoured the book in one sitting.Ī short prologue relates the first meeting of hero and heroine: Miranda, aged ten, attends her best friend Olivia’s birthday party and is taken home by Olivia’s nineteen-year-old brother Nigel, Viscount Turner.
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