I don’t even really know what to say. I was so excited about this one because I’ve been wanting to read Halle’s writing for a while. Maybe I shouldn’t have started with this book. I didn’t get the romance and I thought the plot here was pretty weak to carry a whole book.

Our characters were okay, but they didn’t really feel more than one dimensional. While I did feel the chemistry, I couldn’t really believe anything else about their relationship. When did it turn into more than a vacation fling? I couldn’t tell you. From beginning to end I never really saw their relationship as anything other than sex.

Like I said before, the plot of Olivier’s past mistake was a bit weak. I don’t know if he was seriously afraid of being portrayed differently to the world or he was just really a weak guy overall. He was already seen as a rich playboy. What more harm could come to his image honestly.

All in all, I didn’t really enjoy this one. Maybe if I go back and read some of her previous works, then I will fall in love with her books. While the next book is about his sister and sounds really interesting, I’m on the fence on if I’m going to continue with this series. Well, I have until November to figure that out.

This first book in the romantic suspense Dumont Series packs a punch right away. The Prologue gives you an idea of what's to come and who to watch! Once you get to know the characters of this privileged, rich dynasty and what drives them, you'll be in for a ride. I liked Olivier immediately and was rooting for him and Sadie's HEA, but like any good romantic suspense, it certainly had quite a few twists and turns and edge-of-your-seat moments, as well as steamy ones. Olivier and Sadie had chemistry from the getgo, but it was more than just lust and it was nice to see them develop a deep relationship. Can't wait to read Seraphine and Blaise's story in the next book! I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC for NetGalley.

This book was alright - I feel like the last three Karina Halle books I have read have been similar in that the main character travels to a foreign country and decides to stay. In this story, I didn't like how fast Oliver and Sadie fell for each other, it wasn't realistic and there was nothing given in the book about why. What about Sadie did Oliver love so much, etc. There was no witty dialog, nothing that made me understand what they saw in each other.. just attraction? I didn't like Oliver and how he handled the whole situation with his uncle and cousins, the "scandal" was so dumb and it should never have lasted 10 years and had the consequences it did. He didn't even try to fight it, just accepted it and then ran away to another country! I thought when Sadie got involved she would have done something about it, but no, she also just left. Nothing was ever resolved?? After all that his uncle and cousin did.... eh

I loved this 5 star story so much that once I started it, I devoured it.

Sadie is backpacking her way through Europe. A journey she started with said boyfriend now ex-boyfriend. She has no way to get home earlier, so one night down on her luck, Olivier saves her. He makes her an offer she can’t refuse.


I really enjoyed immensely this romantic story that brought me on a travel through France. Karina is an expert traveler, so it shows in her stories. It was an highly entertaining and captivating story. I can’t wait to read more from hopefully a new series.

Standalone told in a dual POV with an HEA. I highly recommend this story.

Meh... this barely held my attention. It started off so good then nose dived quickly. Olivier’s wrong doing to me didn’t not seem like the ultimate betrayal that it was made out to be. It left me rubbing my head going: Really! That’s it?!? Then all the bad stuff that the uncle and cousin did and there is no closure or thought of revenge. Made no sense what so ever. This read was a total waste of time.

Received a copy from the publisher for an honest review.

Discretion
(The Dumonts #1)
by
Karina Halle (Goodreads Author)
From New York Times bestselling author Karina Halle comes a delicious saga of wealth, luxury, and scandal—and the wicked secrets of success behind an envied family dynasty.

The Riviera means indulgence—if you’ve got money. For Sadie Reynolds, a down-on-her-luck student, the Riviera means dingy hostels and back streets. When a wrong turn puts her in jeopardy, the last thing she expects is to be saved by the most handsome stranger she’s ever locked eyes with. When she later wakes up in a luxury suite with a Mediterranean view, she’s in the tender care of her rescuer: Olivier Dumont, France’s most eligible bachelor, billionaire hotelier, and heir to the Dumont fashion fortune.

Olivier also owns his reputation for scandal. But Sadie is unlike any woman he’s ever met. Her humble persona and wild innocence promise real passion. He’s promising Sadie something too: anything she wants. From Bordeaux to Cannes to Paris, Sadie’s past in America is swept away and replaced with a fantasy too good to be true.

Pulled into Olivier’s orbit of wealth, glamour, and excess, Sadie discovers that the Dumont dynasty comes with a legacy of wicked secrets. And Olivier’s secrets may be the most damning of all… (less)
Paperback, 288 pages
Expected publication: August 6th 2019 by Montlake Romance



5 Stars

This is the first book in the Dumonts series by Karina Halle.

I have read a few other books by Halle so I knew this was going to be a story with good characterization. And I wasn't wrong. This story gives you all the feels. I felt for Sadie as she reeled from her breakup with Tom and then again as she was attacked on her way to the train station. Enter Olivier. He's France's version of Hollywood Royalty. His family is uber rich with every luxury you can think of. He is exactly the opposite of Sadie. So, when he saves her from her attacker he already knows things are going to be different in his life from this day forward.

There is a lot of family drama in this and I don't want to give away any of the juicy details but needless to say, Olivier's uncle did a number on him when he was 20. Emotional blackmail. I felt sick that family could treat each other in this way. I had to pause my reading a few times because I really wasn't sure I wanted to know what the uncle had truly done to him. But it was this plot point that kept me reading. A lot of the family stuff isn't wrapped up yet... Obviously because this will be a series of books. I hope by the last book Olivier gets back what he lost here at the end of book one.

I was totally captivated throughout it all. Great suspense and a real page-turner. When his cousin Pascal watched them make love I was completely creeped out. I wonder if a future book will feature him. He needs to be redeemed in some way. They were all manipulated by the crazy uncle. I have hope this family will make it past the mountain of obstacles in front of them.

I wanted to take a second to thank the author. She went through a deep bought of depression while writing this. And I have to say I am glad she stayed the course and pushed through to recovery. This book is a testament to having the courage to know what you want in life and keep reaching for it every day.

Highly recommended.

I want to thank NetGalley, the author and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC in return for an honest review. I am blessed to be able to do this for them.

3 1/2 stars

Right off the bat, I felt like the cover of Discretion hit it out of the park. I also enjoyed the location where the book took place. You can never go wrong when you're in France, whether in real life or a fictional escape via a well-written book. Also, let's just say that Olivier's use of the French language was definitely not a hardship either. Sadie was definitely a lucky lady.

The plot line went from the classic boy meets girl/boy falls in love with girl to a more twisty and mysterious who dunnit type vibe. I definitely felt a little kickback here and there where I wasn't quite sure how Sadie fit into Olivier's life once they were back in Paris and questioned why she stayed. Of course, I know it all fit into the storyline. I feel like things still felt incomplete for me as the book wrapped up and I assume it is because it will be a continuing series. I look forward to reading the next book, which I noticed will be about Olivier's sister, Seraphine. Even though this wasn't the best book I've read by Ms. Halle, it is still worth reading and I'm hopeful that the series will continue to strengthen with the next book. I think there is strong potential with the storyline.

Thank you to NetGalley & Montlake Romance for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

We follow Sadie who went backpacking through Europe with her boyfiriend, halfway through the trip her boyfriend leaves and she is all alone. She is attacked and Oliver who is coined by Sadie as the sexy rich French guy rescues her. Sadie ends up staying with Oliver and they really get to know each other if you know what mean. Steamy scenes were a 10/10 for sure! I really enjoyed the relationship between Sadie and Oliver! In the beginning you find out that Oliver is being blackmailed and has been for the last 10 years. The reason for this you learn later and I have to say the reveal left me feeling a little underwhelmed but by the end I was totally hooked to the story that my feelings of being underwhelmed dissapeared. Towards the end things really pick up and I was for sure here for it.

4.5 Stars!

Leave it to @authorhalle to NEVER, EVER disappoint you with a #romance novel. You may have felt that some books are a bit slower or focused differently, but the end result in all her romance novels, is a majestic and perfectly crafted #HEA.
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'Discretion' is that piece that I was personally missing from the worldwide experience Karina has had over the years thru her travels. From her hometown of British Columbia in Canada, to New Zealand, to Ireland to London to Norway and even beyond, Karina has gifted us thru the years with her knowledge of all these different countries and beautiful sceneries, and with this new story, she takes us to the beautiful French Riviera and Paris, world capital of –hellooooo- romance.
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Those chance encounters (or serendipities for lack of better word), albeit in a compromised situation, usually captivate you from page one (wherein Sadie meets Olivier for the first time)
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France is a magical place to fall in love (not necessarily Paris, the Riviera is pretty spectacular as well according to Karina)
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People are deceiving, but sometimes in a positive way (Yes, that does make sense. Olivier may not be your typical entrepreneur, but hey, being the sole owner of a hotel chain is pretty decent)
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Sometimes the best decisions you make in life are totally last minute and completely out of left field. (That whole backpacking trip turned out to be very beneficial for both Sadie AND Olivier).
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Beware the false motive of people (some people may have secret intentions, especially if a multi-billion dollar empire is at stakes)
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HEA are guaranteed in a romance novel BUT, not all are built the same way or take the same path to be achieved (which means YOU NEED to read this story to understand what I mean)
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So yeah, that’s Discretion in a nutshell. It is EVERYTHING you expect and a bag of chips 

(𝙰 𝙷𝚄𝙶𝙴 𝚃𝙷𝙰𝙽𝙺 𝚈𝙾𝚄 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚎𝚊𝚖 𝚊𝚝 #𝙼𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚕𝚊𝚔𝚎𝙿𝚞𝚋𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚕𝚎𝚐𝚎 𝚘𝚏𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚖𝚎 𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚢 𝚊𝚌𝚌𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚒𝚝𝚕𝚎 )

Karina is one is of my top authors. I absolutely love her writing style. She can take a story and through words transports the reader to a beautiful location. . It's a bonus many of the places she writes about in her stories she has visited. That first hand knowledge adds a descriptive active setting.

I also love how the story heats up and turns darker in the second half.. Dark family drama. Twist and turns. The characters are written well and deep. Definitely enjoyed that no matter what happens Oliver and Sadie stayed strong.

I was the story didn't have so many sex scenes. And gah that cliffhanger!!! Can't wait for the second book.

Thank you Netgalley for the advance reading copy.

Discretion was book that made me feel very unsure in the end.
While I fell in love with both main characters and loved the pull between them I felt like something was left out in the story.
Olivier and Sadie fell in love almost instantly and their attraction was like sparkles flying in the air, hotness pure, like magma flowing through their veins. While she was backpacking he saved her from robbery.
When they were in their pink bubble locked out from the outside world there were things happening to bring Olivier to his knees and strange things around Sadie, or was it all just paranoia?
When you are in the middle of the vortex of this lovely book you want to know more, to find out what´s happening. You want to fight against the wrongs, to do something, not just to sit and watch everything crumbling down, to give up. It´s the human nature to save what is to save right?
While the plot was greatly written I felt like I somehow got lost in the story, I lost the excitement, the tension, I felt like there was more potential to contend what´s right.

Anyway the writing was still amazing. Maybe it´s just me who feels this way ;) Or maybe it was
intention and we would be surprised in the second book

This was my first Karina Halle book and it certainly won't be my last. I devoured this book in one day I just couldn't put it down!
It had a little of everything in it to keep me gripped, drama, tragedy and steamy romance.
The story starts with a family secret that happens 10 years ago then we fast forward to present day France and follow the lives of Sadie who is on a backpacking trip getting ready to leave France for Spain when an incident happens and she meets Oliver a handsome French man. It follows their budding romance which is full of stumbles along the way.
I enjoyed the drama and the romance that surrounded the story line it was never to over the top for my liking. I am looking forward to reading more from the Dumont family to see what happens next

With a promising start and a unique premise, this book drew me in only to leave me feeling so disappointed. I’ve read and loved many books by Karina Halle in the past, so when NetGalley offered me an ARC in exchange for an honest review, I knew that I would love the writing style - and I did. This story of an American tourist who meets a wealthy French playboy when he saves her from a mugger caught my attention from the beginning. The chemistry between Sadie and Olivier was spot on, and he showed his caring, protective side right away.

Unfortunately, things changed for me right around the time of the first sex scene. What should’ve been a romantic scene showcasing our couple’s connection turned into a WTF moment for me when the family drama is introduced in the middle of it in the creepiest way. Add in the fact that Olivier’s romantic gestures included putting Sadie up in the hotel he frequents with other women and buying her fancy clothes... this really felt more like a hookup story than anything else. The couple admit to spending most of their time in bed, and any connection they felt beyond that wasn’t really seen by the reader. It’s not a bad book - the writing itself is too good for that - but it was disappointing. The promise of the first few chapters was never met and I was left with a more superficial, instalove-type romance than I’m used to from a book by Karina Halle.

I’m not going to lie. I was completely surprised that I fell in love with this story ass much as I did. Did it have its predictable moments? Yes! Did I still love every bit of it? Yes! Then only thing that I was disappointed with was the cliffhanger. I cannot wait to see what’s in store for this series though!

I enjoyed their book a lot, it was a super fun fast read. There was lots of suspense and cut throat characters. You want to hate the bad Dumonts and smack some of them around. LOL. The romance is so refreshing and heartfelt you can’t help but love Sadie and Oliver. There are lots of what ifs and he should have and she should done this differently. But in the end the story it has you still questioning the motives of every single character. I’m excited to see what happens next with Oliver and Sadie.

Eu sou uma fã da escrita de Karina Halle , mas esse é o livro que menos gostei dela. O livro não é ruim,mas infelizmente a maior parte dele não funcionou pra mim. Acho que Discretion tinha uma premissa boa e tinha tudo para ser um ótimo romance com toque de suspense , mas o segredo de Olivier foi fraco e ao meu ver sem sentido nenhum nos dias de hoje e também tenho que dizer que o romance entre os personagens não me convenceu nem um pouco.

I'm giving this one five steamy stars.

I love how Karina can write a story based in another country and make you feel like your actually there. She is descriptive when creating these places so much so that you can actually picture them. It's one of the the things the always draws me to her books.

I also love how the story seems like just a typical romance at the beginning but quickly heats up and turns dark, especially in the second half of the novel. There is a lot of steamy romance in discretion but also dark family drama.
The characters Karina creates really make the story what it is. If she hadn't made each character so different, even within the families, this story wouldn't be as good.

The only thing I would have like differently is the amount of sex scenes. I would have liked a little less of the story taken up by them and more of Sadie and Oliver's story and the drama that follows them.

Overall I loved Discretion and recommend it to other romance fans who like their books to be a bit more on steamy side.

3.5

I have loved all the books I’ve from this author. However, I wish I had seen more of a spark between the two characters. With that being said, I still enjoyed it. Sadie is traveling abroad by herself and she meets Olivier when he saves her from being mugged. From there he puts her under his protection since she is hurt and broke.
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It had romance, intrigue and action! I love it when a romance book also has some action in it. Olivier is being threatened by his uncle and cousins and therefore keeps Sadie a secret. However, no secret remains a secret and Sadie is soon being followed and threatened. This book is part of a series so I will definitely be reading the second book in order to follow the next couple being featured.

Thanks for Montlake and NetGalley for my review copy.

This book just didn't click with me. It didn't have the full character development and connection I normally find in a Karine Halle book. I also wasn't a big fan of the insta love. I do plan on reading the next in the series, because it does show promise.

First half, three stars, second half, two stars. Overall I enjoyed this romance set in the French Riviera/Paris, despite some misgivings. Who doesn't love a sexy rich Frenchman? The author does a nice job of describing lush and luxurious settings in the first half of the book, as well as creating nice sexual tension between the two main characters. It may have been fulfilled a bit hastily, but the first part still worked well and gave that true sense of an escape from reality. The Paris half of the book is less successful. Sadie started to seem less intelligent and the whole Dumont family drama didn't always work for me since I didn't feel the underlying scandal was worth all the fuss. That said, I liked that the surrounding drama was so over the top - it provided a nice soap opera quality to the story, which works well in the romance genre. The romance in the second half was less convincing also - how do they get from this strong attraction and chemistry to love? It's not explored well, it just happens.

Interestingly, the author note indicates that she struggled to finish this book due to depression. I think this really shows with the definite difference in tone between the two halves of the story. It ended a bit abruptly as well, but I see this is intended as a series. I would definitely read more based on the writing in the first half of the story.