Reviews

All His Secrets, by Maya Hughes

angelastl's review

3.0

Eh

Love the story idea. But to me it’s lacking any depth. Where’s the depth to the characters? Lust does not equal love.

jo81082's review

emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

emma_mon1's review

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

perselith's review

3.0

A good book but the hero was kinda stupid haha sorry

thewordyhabitat's review

2.0

 
As posted on the wordy habitat:

All His Secrets stood out to me because the premise sounded so nice. A single father whose daughter has not spoken to anyone except him for 3 years, suddenly shows up with a waitress and spoke to her? Wow. I wanted all those feels.

Unfortunately, the book didn’t live up to my expectations from the premise. The male lead was annoying, the romance was VERY annoying, and the female lead’s bond with the daughter made no sense. The girl simply started talking to her! Out of nowhere! No backstory, no reasoning, nothing. And we moved on from that quickly. I was so disappointed. 

eliza109's review

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

jpgrina's review

4.0

LITTLE ESME IS SO CUTE!! That little girl caught my heart and wow, I love her relationship with either Rhys or Mel. But seriously, she's an absolute precious bean. Heck, even her having tea parties with Derek was so adorable.

This was pretty short and a quick read but I loved it.

crazychriss93's review

5.0

5 Stars for the adorable little kiddo on this novel, the woman from a deplorable home who tried to find her way but couldn't make it on her own and the billionaire who despises the life he has to lead and the 'job' he has.

MCs?
Didn't really get why our heroine lived the way she did... There are people in the US who try to make ends meet with two to three jobs and she worked at a diner and crashed with a colleague? Why didn't she do anything else? How come she didn't have anything saved in her own separate account?? Thought that was pretty stupid...
And the hero? Argh... I was honestly sorry for him when I found out about his parents but come on, he was whining almost non-stop while leading a glamorous life...

Anyways, I still enjoyed reading this book even though the MCs annoyed me a bit and I thought that the premise wasn't really that plausible...

eve1972's review

4.0

I enjoyed this one for the most part. I thought after reading the synopsis that this was going to be a light, sexy insta-love type read, but it was a rather slow burn with mildly hot sex scenes. So I was a little bummed by the lack of heat, but like I said I still enjoyed it.



The deets...I found it to be well written and well paced. The plot (although a little heavier than I anticipated) was engaging and kept me turning the pages. I wouldn't say I found it to be overly angsty and there was no OW/OM drama. Like I mentioned above it was a pretty slow burn with no sex until 60% and the sex scenes were more on the mild side. There weren't very many secondary characters, but I loved both Esme and Derrick. Both main characters were relatively likable. I quite liked Melanie. I loved her interactions with Esme. She was sweet and had a big heart. Rhys was a bit more complicated for me. I loved how he was with his daughter (Esme), and at times he was charming with Mel. But I felt we were promised a hero with this "darkness" that scared women away and had them signing nondisclosure agreements, but except for losing his temper a couple of times, there was nothing dark about him. I'll be honest with all the talk about his "darkness" and him letting it out and wondering if she would be the woman who could handle it, I was expecting some kink. But no kink, nothing. *shrug*



I also had a couple of other issues that kept me from rating this one higher. There were a few loose ends (the heroines mother for example) that are just kind of left hanging, and the ending was incredibly rushed. From the big fight until the end it felt underdeveloped. Part of the problem is that we don't get enough of Rhys's POV about the aftermath of the big blowup. One minute he is a colossal asshole and the next we

Spoiler

find out he has been trying to contact her for weeks??

I needed a scene where he realizes that he made a HUGE mistake and it has cost him it all. Lastly, there wasn't enough groveling. He should have been crawling over broken glass and begging for forgiveness from both Mel AND Esme.

So a little bit of a mixed bag with this one. Some good. Some that could have better. But overall this one gets a solid thumbs up from yours truly.

myownbookshelves's review

5.0

In the vein of transparency, I didn't look at the blurb, reviews, or anything associated with this series. I literally picked this book out as I was determined to binge read on this author's entire backlist.

DUDE! I DIDN'T KNOW I WAS MISSING THIS! -
Alpha Billionaire who has jerk like tendencies? Check
Single Dad? Check
HAWT sexy times? Check

Rhys has secrets. And for good reasons, as he wants to protect his family. A darling little girl who scene steals she is in. Mel is looking to stop the cycle she is in and finds an unexpected connection to Esme. Rhys and Mel try to keep this strictly professional but fail spectacularly at keeping their hands off each other.

This book falls in my guilty pleasures romance. Those stories that offer this reader's heart a bit of Cinderella with a perfect alpha male who is flawed. If you enjoy alpha-holes from W. Winters, LJ Shen but looking for something not so dark and twisted like me, you'll get your happy romance heart binge on with this series.

Now, off to book 2 with a potentially even bigger flawed hero *swoon*