Reviews

The Secret Arrangement by Vanessa Waltz

amanda_lind84's review

emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

that1creativelady's review

1.0

This was SUPPOSED to be a retelling of the classic fairy tale Beauty & the Beast, but the "prince" turned out to be a manipulative, lying sack of shit.

Spoiler

I found so many issues with the story I could not stop rolling my eyes during the sex scenes. Like how do you plan to move your fiance to a Spanish-speaking country KNOWING she knows not one bit of Spanish? He could have at least bought her some Rosetta Stone in preparation. And I like an alpha male as much as the next romance reader, but come on. His controlling tendencies, kidnapping habit, and anger issues far surpassed alpha status and into scary domination. Plus, I get that their relationship bloomed pretty quickly, but then the brother is suddenly in love with her after a few weeks of being her guard??? Seriously? No deep conversations or nothing, huh? She was an idiot. I dont care how desperate you are, who moves to an unknown location with a stranger she met online, then tries to run away multiple times? In my opinion, she should just serve out her sentence as punishment for being a dumbass.

After reading all 3 books in the series I found a pattern in the women. They are all from crappy backgrounds. One is a foster child with abusive foster parents and a rapey foster brother, one has a brother and father who treats her like she has the plague, and this one is just homeless. No real insight into her background other than her father is racist trailer trash.
This is lazy writing. Using a crappy childhood to gain sympathy for your characters is fine, as long as the characters are likeable. Which none of them were. Plenty of insta-love though. *barf*

ssrosepetal's review

4.0

This book was quite interesting. The blurb really intrigued me and I was looking forward to reading it. This book though, it's not what you would expect. There's intrigue, heart breaking love, and people fighting against them. There are also lots and lots of secrets. I enjoyed this book greatly and read it in one day. However I did have a few issues. One of them really bothered me (and I wouldn't be surprised if it was supposed to bother me). I was NOT a fan of Alex. I understand the animosity that Lily felt for August but it really bothered me that she was more than willing to trust some man who she had just met in a foreign country (seriously!) but she couldn't trust the man she supposedly loved for not telling her the whole truth. She could have heart August out and then been smarter to NOT just go off with someone she had never talked to or knew anything about. Other than that I felt for both August and Lily. They really were in love but people (ahem Alex and the general) kept saying things to Lily to mess with her head. August had a lot of anger inside of him and I can understand why but I wish he had stepped up and fought for her love and attention more instead of waiting. All in all I really enjoyed this story and was glad I took a chance on it. *I voluntarily read an advanced copy of this book for my honest and unbiased review.*

vikingslyn's review

4.0

August admitted too late that he wanted Lily no matter the cost, not realizing how high the cost truly was. Lily and August had amazing chemistry from the very beginning, just not a whole lot of honesty and that nearly destroyed them. I loved how August tried to protect Lily at every turn and laughed at her stubborn streak whenever she tried to defy him.

'I received an ARC of this book and voluntarily reviewed it.'

laceyslibrarybooksta's review

3.0

3.5 stars rounded down.

This book was actually pretty shocking! I feel like it was such a different type of romance story..something unlike anything I've really heard before (why I gave it .5 extra)! However, there were somethings that fell a little flat for me and seemed kind of far-fetched.

kadijah_reviews's review

4.0

Really great book I love it so much....................................................................................

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

izziede's review

4.0

Really good. Bit unusual.

itskitasai's review

2.0

Just a bit boring and I couldn't get into the characters and all that jazz. 1.5/5