.png)
Series: Saint View High #2
Publication date: August 24th, 2020
Pages: 305
Synopsis:
They betrayed me.
Three boys I thought I knew.
Leaving me with the one I thought I hated most.
It was him who carried my broken, beaten body. Him who cleaned my wounds and held me tight.
The prince to my princess.
Lies.
I won't be that girl anymore. The one who fell for their smooth words and smoldering looks.
Colt is key to never being her again.
There's still a killer on the loose.
Still a murder left unsolved.
Still three boys who own my heart.
But some dangerous little secrets are better left buried.
His is one of them.
Dangerous Little Secrets is the story of three bad boys and a girl who knows how to stand her ground. It is a mature high school/new adult, #whychoose romance, meaning the main character has more than one love interest. This book contains enemies-to-lovers and bullying themes. It is the second book in an ongoing trilogy and cannot be read as a standalone. Book 1 is Devious Little Liars.
Available at:
Review:
After Lacey is humiliated when a sex tape between her, Rafe, and Banjo is released at her 18th birthday party, Lacey escapes to the beach where she encounters an even more evil entity. Her previous friend, and the sheriff's son, Owen, has beaten and attempted to sexually assault her only to be foiled by the appearance of the least likely of the boys she's involved with. Colt. Colt defends her honor and carries her to safety as she whimpers broken both in body in heart. Colt shows a different side of himself as he consoles and nurses Lacey back to health. As she struggles with nightmares from the trauma, he is there to hold her. Lacey is determined to never let something like that happen to her again. She enlists Colt to teach her how to defend herself so that next time Owen strikes, as she's sure he will, she'll be ready.
But what of the sex tape that started it all? Could Banjo and Rafe really have intentionally recorded them together in an attempt to make her leave Saint View High as they were meant to under Colt's instruction? Banjo is a shadow of his former self. Both Lacey and Rafe are furious with him and blame him for the sex tape being recorded and then released. He is utterly alone and now has to entertain the idea of joining her brother, Augie, in the family business to remain living with him. Lacey is open to hearing Rafe out and starts to find a connection with him that was just budding before the betrayal. Her relationship with Colt is also shifting as their attraction for each other starts to become overwhelming.
Lacey hasn't given up her mission to find who murdered her uncle though. It is in the pursuit that she discovers that one of the men she is falling for may have played a vital part in that night. And the man she knew has her loving and caring father figure uncle may have not been as innocent as she had thought he once was.
Colt and Lacey's relationship is amazing. I love that they have this snarky back and forth that just works for them. It is a sassy game of teasing each other until one cracks and pounces the other. Nobody has a relationship like these two and that is probably why they have been so drawn to each other from the start. But Colt has so many secrets. I don't know why he doesn't just open up to Lacey and see where that goes.
My heart broke for Banjo. He lost everything and was faced with an impossible dilemma. Rafe eventually came around, but Lacey was quick to tell him that earning her trust back was not going to be easy. He was such a good-hearted character that seeing him suffer the way he did, was worse than even seeing Lacey beaten and traumatized (not that it wasn't terrible).
There was a point in the story where it seemed like Banjo and Rafe were gonna go off on their own and have sex and my aversion to that aspect made me groan. But the author managed to grow the relationship between the two characters narrowly avoiding a solo sex scene between the two men. I was very relieved and started to appreciate the author's storytelling capabilities even more.
Dangerous Little Secrets will be the redemption story you have always hoped for with twists and turns unlike any you could imagine.
