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

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Got My Eye On (8)

Image
I saw a post over at  Mailbox Monday  that was encouraging readers to share their best finds of the week via their  Books That Caught Our Eye  posts. I love, love, love that idea so this is my warped version of it. Here are the books I've added to my wishlist over the last week or two with credit to my enablers :) Bookfanatic @  Booklikes   Buy  /  GR What Remains by Garrett Leigh (m/m romance) Web designer Jodi Peters is a solitary creature. Lunch twice a week with his ex-girlfriend-turned-BFF and the occasional messy venture to a dodgy gay bar is all the company he needs, right? Then one night he stumbles across newly divorced firefighter Rupert O’Neil. Rupert is lost and lonely, but just about the sweetest bloke Jodi has ever known. Add in the heady current between them, and Jodi can’t help falling hard in love. He offers Rupert a home within the walls of his cosy Tottenham flat—a sanctuary to nurture their own brand of...
Read more

Giveaway: The Fourth Monkey Box of Goodies

Image
Booklover Catlady Publicity and HQ has offered up a box of goodies to celebrate the release of The Fourth Monkey to a lucky reader of my blog. The box includes: * Signed Copy of The Fourth Monkey * Stickers * 4MK handwritten letter * A small white box tied with black string and a surprise inside * Blank 4MK diary to write down your own evil thoughts! Take a little peek inside the box: Pretty cool, huh?  To win just sign into my Rafflecopter Giveaway thingy below. I've made it easy, all you have to do is leave a book recommendation for me because I'm selfish like that. US and UK winners only (sorry to anyone else).  PS The book is great! a Rafflecopter giveaway Good luck and thank you   for the goodies!
Read more

Author Feature: Hitting the Cons with Mark Cassell

Image
Today I welcome author Mark Cassell to talk a little bit about hitting the cons. I've never been to a convention but hope to change that one of these days. If you missed my review of Mark's newest work yesterday, Hell Cat of the Holt, please click here to check it out. Hitting the Cons  Over the last few years here in the UK, the comic convention scene has exploded. More venues around the country host them with some fantastic guests giving us the opportunity to meet our heroes, whether from our childhood or present-day. Plus it’s great to see the incredible effort people go to with their costumes, taking the experience of visiting a comicon to a more personal level. Walking the con with pride, these cosplayers become their heroes. Stalls vary from creative-minds to collectable shops. We have artists and authors like myself, prop builders and gamers, clothing and comics and everything between. All of this in a venue charged with an atmosphere impossible to imit...
Read more