Review: Little Secrets by Jennifer Hillier

Hmmm . . . what to say about this one?


Little Secrets by Jennifer Hillier

Released April 2020

Source: Library Borrow

Dark Fiction  |  Goodreads  | Amazon

Marin had the perfect life. Married to her college sweetheart, she owns a chain of upscale hair salons, and Derek runs his own company. They're admired in their community and are a loving family—until their world falls apart the day their son Sebastian is taken.

A year later, Marin is a shadow of herself. The FBI search has gone cold. The publicity has faded. She and her husband rarely speak. She hires a P.I. to pick up where the police left off, but instead of finding Sebastian, she learns that Derek is having an affair with a younger woman. This discovery sparks Marin back to life. She's lost her son; she's not about to lose her husband, too. Kenzie is an enemy with a face, which means this is a problem Marin can fix.

Permanently.

All it takes to unravel a life is one little secret...

Overwhelmed by tragedy, a woman desperately tries to save her marriage in award-winning author Jennifer Hillier's Little Secrets, a riveting novel of psychological suspense.

My 2 Cents for Free!

This thriller started out well (and grueling) when a little boy is kidnapped after his mom lets go of his hand for one brief moment. The anguish that follows and the wreckage to her marriage/life was absolutely heart-wrenching and I was completely hooked. For a moment. Unfortunately the heroine hires a private investigator who discovers hubs is a cheating cheater who is messing around with a much younger woman while Marin is still grieving and from there the plot consists of Marin obsessing over the lover and wanting her dead while giving hubs a complete pass. GROAN. 


Marin doesn't want to divorce him because she doesn't want to lose her fancy life and ugh, this bugged me so much. Guilt and misplaced rage fuel the bulk of the story and the kidnapped child takes a backseat for an eternity. Everyone here is awful and they're all hiding things and I usually like that kind of thing but here it didn't work for me for a big chunk of the story once it shifted gears but that's probably on me.

I'm settling on a 2.5 but don't get me wrong, I didn't actively dislike it. It just bugged me a big bit and had me yelling at Marin. But it's better than not caring at all, right?! I enjoyed Hillier's JAR OF HEARTS so much more so maybe I was putting too much pressure on this book. I dunno. I'm a jerk, I guess.

⭐⭐1/2


Comments

  1. Mary KirklandWednesday, January 04, 2023

    Oh boy, sounds like this could have been better.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lark Thursday, January 05, 2023

    It's never good when you end up yelling at the main character.

    ReplyDelete
  3. GregTuesday, January 10, 2023

    So kill the other chick and gove hubs a pass? That does seem iffy...

    ReplyDelete

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