Review: A Secret for a Secret

A Secret for a Secret by Helena Hunting
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Two people meet in a bar, both feeling incredibly low, what follows is an out-of-character one-night stand, until six weeks later when she turns out to be his general manager's daughter.

Ryan is almost pathologically a rule follower, he drives five miles below the speed-limit, dresses like a summer camp leader, drinks milk with his meals, and is focused on his hockey career. Until a vengeful ex spills family secrets he really didn't see coming.

Queenie has been drifting through life, she's given up on several college courses, got fired from several catering jobs and is reduced to living in her father's guesthouse and working as his assistant. Her mother abandoned them when Queenie was just a baby, unable to cope with bringing up a baby when she was only a teenager herself. When Queenie does speak to her mother theirs is not a healthy relationship.

This series is a bit of a see-saw for me, couldn't finish the first one, loved the second and in two minds about this one. I think my issues are with Queenie's character, she is so bold and outspoken in her sex life yet so insecure and suffering from feelings of inadequacy in most other areas of her life - the two sides of her didn't seem to belong to the same person. Similarly, I think for this to have been a successful opposites-attract romance Ryan should have been too regimented in sticking to the rules, too uptight, maybe missing out on something at work because he couldn't colour outside the lines. Instead, he was just this amazingly sweet guy, thoughtful, caring, polite and so when Queenie persuaded him to cut loose it was actually to do something potentially detrimental to his career.

However, not to be all negative-Nelly, there were things that I did like. Queenie's relationship with her father was sweet, her interactions with the other WAGs were fun and their children were adorable. There were a lot of 'drama' plot lines which kept the novel pacey and helped to tie this book into the previous ones. There was also a surprise pot twist that I didn't see coming, so that was good.

Helena Hunting knows how to write a fast-paced, engaging romance, sometimes her characters work for me and sometimes they don't - but I keep reading them anyway.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review

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