My Reviews 2015

A Secret to Keep - Railyn Stone (18+)

Book – A Secret to Keep

Author – Railyn Stone

Star rating – ★★★☆☆

Plot – gives too much away, far too soon.

Characters – I find Sloane to be a wreck and Gates as the Alpha male with a soft side

Movie Potential – ★★★☆☆

Ease of reading – some sticky sentences that don't gel properly.

Cover – a bit bland, but fits the story

Suitable Title – Yes

Would I read it again – Currently Undecided

** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK, BY THE AUTHOR, IN RETURN FOR AN HONEST REVIEW **

This review contains spoilers, because it's impossible to explain how this book made me feel, without them.

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The first thing I have to say is that this book made me angry. Like, homicidal angry. I also have a few things to declare, before I go into my review:

1 – Railyn Stone is a new-to-me author

2 – If I hadn't agreed to review this book for the blog tour, it would have been a DNF by Chapter 5

3 – The more I read of the book, the more I gain an appreciation – if not quite an understanding – of the story

Because I've had such a struggle with the book, it's making reviewing it really hard, so I'm going to try to keep to bullet points and a brief explanation of those points, if I can.

This book sounded so interesting:

"Keeping secrets is a horrible way to live. Sloane Davis should know.
She's kept her son a secret from his father for almost a year.
Now, her worst nightmare is coming true. Her ex is re-entering her professional life in the midst of the biggest project of her career. She's about to come face to face with the only man she's ever loved – her son's father.
Gates McCall is a brash man. He hasn't always been this way, but when Sloane walked out on him, something inside him broke. When his company's newest acquisition brings the two of them together once more, little does he know seeing her will bring back a flood of memories, feelings, and an unexpected surprise."

The story had so much potential, but the execution of the plot and the personality of the MC 'Sloane' don't show off this great story to the potential it could be.

If this entire book had been in Gates' POV, I could have easily given it a 4 or 5 star rating and a glowing review. Because it's in Sloane's POV and she's made to be a victim, when – to me – she's nothing more than a selfish user, I can't go beyond 3 stars. And that's being generous. For me, Gates' POV and his character save this book from being a train wreck.

The main plot is this → Sloane and Gates were engaged, about a year ago. She left because she didn't get along with Gates' father, Victor, who thought she wasn't good enough, because she wasn't a 'Blue Blood'. When Gates started working more and she found one innocent text from old friend Allie, who Victor did approve of, Sloane's insecurities make her stupid. (Sorry, but it's true) She leaves Gates, without warning, leaving a Dear John letter with his best friend. She doesn't once stop to talk it out with him, to confront him or ask him to stop working so much.

So she leaves.

A year later, Gates shows up at her job and suddenly has control over a project dear to her heart. Whether they get the project or whether a big-rich company gets the job, balances on Gates being happy and convinced. So what does Sloane do? She panics, worrying that he'll look at her and know she's kept his 9-month old son a secret. So although this big project is on the line, she infuriates, accuses and mistreats Gates at every opportunity, blaming it on HIM. As if he's always been at fault.