Rowena’s review of Secrets by Freya North.

The most successful novel from a UK author with more than ten bestselling novels to her credit, Secrets will tug at your heart and whisper in your ear. Joe has a beautiful house, a great job, no commitments– and he likes it that way. All he needs is a quiet house-sitter for his rambling old place by the sea. When Tess turns up, he’s not sure she’s right for the job. Where has she come from in such a hurry? Her past is blank and she’s a bit of an enigma. But we all have our secrets. It’s just that some are bigger than others.

I was pretty stoked to read this book because it sounded like something that I would enjoy and while I did enjoy the book, it started off pretty slow for me. The way that this book is written made it a little hard for me to get into. The story was slow to unfold but I’m so glad that I stuck with it until the very end because the ride was well worth the slow beginning.

This story is about Joe and Tess. Joe has a big house and needs a sitter to live in it while he’s off working all over the place. He needs someone to take care of things while he’s away and while Tess isn’t exactly the person he had in mind for the job, he gives her the job anyway. She doesn’t come with references and she has secrets that are hard to miss but give her the job, he did. Tess, on the other hand, jumps at the chance to go far away from her life so that she can get her mind together. She needs to just get away and the house sitting job seemed like the perfect place to do it so she forces her way into Joe’s life and into his home.

What I liked about the story was seeing the love between Joe and Tess build. Their love story isn’t one of those instant attraction romances. It’s slow to build and even though that bothered me in the beginning of the book, in the rest of the story, it totally worked. By writing the story the way that she did, North made sure that the readers become very involved in the character’s stories, and in their lives. Joe and Tess became extremely real to me and I really enjoyed reading their story.

There were times when I wanted to give the both of them a swift kick in the ass but alls well that ends well. I enjoyed getting to know the both of them even when they were being stubborn. This book is definitely one that I will be re-reading in the years to come. When I put it down after I finished it, I was bummed because I wanted this story to go on and on and on. I really enjoyed seeing Joe and Tess find their way toward that happy ending. It was interesting and it was sweet and I was pleased with the way everything turned out. The differences and the similarities between both Joe and Tess was just a great way to spend a few hours. I completely recommend this book to anyone interested in a sweet contemporary read that is very enjoyable.

Grade: 4.25 out of 5

This book is available from Sourcebooks. You can buy it here or here in e-format.