Books like Seven for a Secret

What a mess of a book! I usually enjoy Holt, even if I don't necessarily like her romances, but this book was a complete mess. It started off quite interesting with Frederica growing up with a bitter mother who pines after her old grand life. But when she moves to be with her aunt, the story becomes becomes darker. The first half of the book held my interest. There is the secret of the Seven Magpies, her new friends, Rachel and Tamarisk, and the different men in the vicinity to keep the story moving. But then the plot got convoluted and every two pages I began to exclaim "Wait, what, why?" Like, a man agreeing to accept some other man's child as his own. What if it had been a boy, and not a girl? What about inheritance and such? I asked the same question about Tamarisk blithely telling Crispin he must stay on and deal with the estates. What if she had a son? Would she be happy about this child living in some remote island or would she want him to receive his inheritance? What if she had a daughter - wouldn't the money come in handy to provide a dowry for her? The entire British aristocracy was built on such flimsy ideals. Why even depict it when you're just going to evade it all to suit your story? I also did not really feel the romance between Frederica and Crispin. I mean, what the hell, really? He lied to her about having a living wife and was going to go ahead with a fake wedding with her because he "loved" her. Instead of being furious and protecting Frederica, which would be their duty under Victorian custom, her aunt and father prose on and on about true love. What utter nonsense! How about introducing her to other eligible bachelors? As for Frederica's trip to some island near Australia, it didn't add anything to the plot or the story. It didn't even make any sense. Some of the dialogues were excruciating and didn't bring out any emotions at all. Frederica particularly annoyed me consistently with her pompous dialogues. Tamarisk tells her about the biggest tragedy in her life and all she could say was "Poor Tamarisk!" Same with her other friend, Rachel. I mean, who talks like that? There was also incessant repetition with the dialogues. She told her father five times that he ought to have returned to Aunt Sophie to be cared for and he responded five times that he couldn't have done that because she deserved better. Didn't understand it the first time, Fred? Are you stupid? Same with Crispin. Same, same, same, ugh!There are other books by Holt that make better reading and at least have a coherent plot, if nothing else. This book was published the year before Holt died. Clearly not her best effort!