Little Secrets
By Jennifer Hillier
pub date April 21, 2020


This thriller was the perfect recipe to distract me from the world’s problems. It is well written, fast paced, and addictive. I fell in love with Marin Machado, the main character. She is a salon owner with an A-List clientele, a beautiful home, and a happy marriage until, “…a lollipop, a Santa suit, and 4 minutes,” upended her entire life. Her son Sebastian is stolen and Marin struggles to figure out how to go on living without him. Then Marin discovers that her successful husband Derek is cheating with a much younger woman, Kenzie. Kenzie is a pink haired barista, who live her life for instagram likes. She is the polar opposite of the successful and beautiful Marin. Discovering her husband’s infidelity undoes Marin. She decides not to allow anyone else to take anything more from her.

Everyone in Marin’s life seems to be holding onto secrets, huge, life altering, secrets. Secrets that can get you arrested. Marin is surrounded by people that go to great lengths to keep their secrets and lies safe. In the end though, Marin is sick of it, she won’t be wronged again. After 16 months of living without her son, she desperately wants to save her marriage. In the end, it boils down to the length a woman will go to to protect what’s hers.

Like Jar of Hearts, this was a 5 star read for me! I loved Marin, and the end of this book was perfect. Many twists and turns later I ended up an emotional wreck and crying but I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

Thank you @netgalley and Minotaur Books for an advanced copy of this book for my review.

The first thing I did when I finished reading Little Secrets was to contact my sister and tell her that she had to read this book. One of my favorites so far this year. The book stuck in my head throughout my day and I could not wait to get a chance to continue reading the story. An incredible plot with well-developed, powerful characters. Simply amazing!

This was the first book I've read by this author and I really enjoyed it! I was hooked from the very beginning of the book. It's faced paced and kept me engaged until the very end. I will be reading more books by Jennifer Hillier and definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys thrillers.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press and Minotaur Books for the advanced electronic copy in exchange for an honest review.

Marin and Derek's son is taken from a crowded shopping center just before Christmas. Prior to the kidnapping, Marin seems to have the perfect life. After, her world falls apart. Over a year later, Marin is still barely functioning when she finds out her husband is having an affair with a younger woman. The investigation into her son's disappearance has stalled but the affair she can do something about. Marin's anger sets a plan in motion and results in answers she never expected.

I wasn't surprised by some of the twists, but this book reminded me that you don't always have to be shocked by the outcome to enjoy the ride. I've heard good things about this author and can't wait to check out some of her other books.

Little Secrets, by Jennifer Hillier

Short Take: OH. EM. GEE.

(*Note - I received an advance copy of this book for review.*)

Well, my duckies, it seems as though the world truly has gone mad. When I turn on the news, it’s all pandemic, all the time. There have been earthquakes in Utah and floods and tornadoes close to me and even a plague of locusts in the Middle East. My state is on lockdown, schools and many businesses are closed and people are strongly encouraged to stay inside and keep to themselves as much as possible.

And I feel like I’ve been training for this my whole life. I can binge-watch shows and play with string to my nerdy little heart’s content, and do I even need to tell you that I’ve been reading some fantastic books? Does the pope poo in the woods?

In that vein, let me introduce you all to Little Secrets.

Marin and Derek are a successful, beautiful, self-made power couple. She owns a string of successful beauty salons and he also runs a lucrative business. They Have It All - the impeccably decorated house in the suburbs, the cars, the clothes, and an adorable five year old son named Sebastian, or Bash as he’s affectionately known.

Until the day Marin and Sebastian are Christmas shopping, and in the blink of an eye, Sebastian disappears.

Living every parent’s worst nightmare for over a year, Marin hires a PI to keep working the case when the police run out of leads. But instead of finding Sebastian, the PI instead learns about Derek’s Other Woman - the MUCH younger, beautiful, and carefree Kenzie, the anti-Marin if ever there was one.

Marin can’t track down and get revenge on the person who took her son. Terrified at the thought of any more loss, she can’t rail against her husband and take out her rage on him. Her best friend Sal is always there for her, she would never push him away.

But Kenzie is a different story, and Marin will be only too happy to get her out of the picture permanently.

You guys. YOU GUYS. This book is insane, and by that I mean freakin incredible. I’ve read a lot of thrillers about kidnapped children (I really shouldn’t do that to myself, I know) and I’ve read not-nearly-enough thrillers about cheated-on spouses Out For Revenge, but I’ve never seen the two combined, and oh my sweet nerdlings, this is chocolate and peanut butter to my sugar-addicted brain.

We get both Marin and Kenzie’s point of view, and for two such different women, they are both great characters - somehow sympathetic and unlikable at the same time, in different ways and for different reasons, both driven to similar ends by questionable means. And even as they focus on each other, Sebastian’s absence is ever-present, like a soft weeping from another room - you can’t forget, ignore, or fix it, all you can do is listen and maybe feel a cramp in your own tear ducts.

I could go on and on about the addictive pacing and fascinating cast of supporting characters and the brilliant twists (one I saw coming, others not so much), but I’m just going to urge y’all to read it.

I mean, what else are we doing right now? Stay home, stay safe, and happy reading (and snacking, of course) nerdlings!!

The Nerd’s Rating: FIVE HAPPY NEURONS (and some Reese’s peanut butter eggs, because now I can’t quit thinking of chocolate & peanut butter.)

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<p class="has-text-align-justify"><strong>5 STARS! EVERY STAR!</strong> This is the best thriller I have read in a long time and I am glad I did so . Do yourself a favor and read as little about it as possible before diving in.This is not one to miss, I predict it will be all anyone in the book world is talking about in April 2020!</p>
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<p><strong>Thank you to Jennifer Hillier, Minotaur Books and NetGalley for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.</strong></p>
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What a crazy ride! I read this 350 page domestic thriller in less than three days, but it seemed to pass by in a flash. The author did such a great job describing the excruciating pain that a mother goes through when her child is missing, when she believes that it is her own fault. I really felt the immense anguish that Marin experienced, and it made me hug my toddler son a little tighter that night.

The pacing of the book is consistent and does not lag, definitely what I would call a page-turner. The mystery had me guessing until the last minute, and the storyline was both complex and believable. I do wish the supporting characters were a little more multi-dimensional, but we were not able to see into their brains like we were able to Marin's and McKenzie's. Overall, it is a riveting and exciting plot-driven thriller that I would not hesitate to recommend.

Marin had the perfect life. She owned a chain of upscale hair salons. She was married to the perfect guy and they had the perfect little boy, Sebastian. Then one day, just a few days before Christmas, as they were finishing up Christmas shopping in a busy marketplace Marin let go of his hand to text her husband where to meet them. That was all it took for her perfect life to shatter into a million little pieces.
This book was so good. I could not put it down. It kept me guessing until almost the very end about what happened to Sebastian. This one is definitely a must-read!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC! For fans of Clare Mackintosh, make this your next read.

3.5 stars

What a page turner! The twists and turns in this story were sooo good. I usually have a hard time with stories that revolve around children disappearing, but this one was done very well. Marin was generally a likable (as likable a character can be for going through such a traumatic experience.) My main complaint is that the husband is utterly useless (but that's the point I guess lol).

A few days before Christmas, a young child is kidnapped from a crowded farmer's market in Seattle. Over the next year and a half, the boy's parents, Marin and Derek, struggle with guilt and their failing marriage. When Marin discovers that Derek is having an affair with a young woman named Kenzie, she focuses all of her anger and aggression toward her husband's mistress.

This book is psychological suspense at its finest. I couldn't put it down. The loss of a child is every parent's worst nightmare, and the author really captured the horror of not knowing what happened to your child. What would that do to a person? How far would it push them? One drawback for me was that I didn't really like any of the characters. I understand Marin and Derek are struggling with grief over the loss of their son, and thus acting inappropriately. But their extreme behaviors did keep me from connecting with them and truly caring what happened to them. Also, I'm not a fan of crass language/sexual content and wish authors would stop putting it in their books. Let strong writing and a good story speak for themselves, and stop alienating a good portion of your readers. Overall, Little Secrets is an intriguing story and it's well written, but I wish I could've connected more with the characters.

Finish Little Secrets by Jennifer Hillier over the weekend and it was a great thriller I was hooked from the beginning, starts with a mother worst nightmare, a child being kidnapped and I’m not saying more because I feel like the synopsis of this book gives way to much of the story and it makes the book feel predictable so I would recommend skipping it and going straight to chapter 1.
I took a star and gave it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ because I was not a fan of the ending but the rest of the

I'm not going to lie, I'm usually disappointed by domestic thrillers lately. I want one that gives me the same "oh my god" feelings that Gone Girl did. So far, I'm still aching to find a thriller novel that gives me the same feelings... but I will say that this one comes close.

This book starts off with a bang. A kidnapping in a busy mall - every parents actual horror story. We jump forward in time to a broken mother and wife, a distant husband, and a little boy who has never been found. This was a WILD ride from the very start, and it didn't let up throughout the novel. I didn't find myself bored or wanting to put the book down to read something else. I needed to find out what happened; I needed to know what Marin was going to do in order to gain some control back in her life. She had lost her son - she's not going to lose her husband too.

Obviously, I will not be saying any spoilers but I will say that I truly enjoyed this novel including the ending. I'm interested in picking up other books by this author now (I think she has another book called Jar of Hearts). Do yourself a favor and pick up Little Secrets!

This was a quick engaging read that starts off with the kidnapping of Bash a few days before Christmas. As the days turn into a year, the PI Marin hired to find her son gives her something new to focus on; her husbands affair. While the affair with the younger woman with a penchant for older, married, rich men gives Marin something to fixate on and 'fix' she has no idea it will come to mean so much more to her life than she could have predicted. Around the 85% mark I finished one chapter and said "HOLY SH*T" there is no way ... Even though I finally understood who could be involved, the rational and what actually happened was something I could not predict. Another great read by Jennifer Hillier! If you liked this, you should read Jar of Hearts by her as well (and if you liked Jar of Hearts, pick this up next)!

hank you Minotaure Books and Netgalley for ARC of Little Secrets. First, I want to say the cover is SSSOOO beautiful. Second, I was hooked from the first chapter. Little Secrets is the first book I've read by Hillier and I must read more from her.

What I liked:
- I liked reading from the perspective of Marin and Kenzie
- Hillier did a great job showing the raw emotions of a mother who lost her child. I sympathized with Marin ( now I didn’t agree with all of her decisions). I don’t know what I would have done if my son went missing.
- I liked the characters build-up.
- The end was amazing, it was everything I like in a good thriller.

What I didn’t like
- The characters build-up. I felt like I got the background stories of people who were not important. Just a simple outline would have been enough. Which I also think contributed to me losing some interest in the middle.

If you are looking for a juicy book that is filled with money, lies, betrayal, and even heartache than Little Secrets is for you.

WARNING ⚠️ : missing child, thought of suicide or attempted of suicide.

To what extreme would you go to keep your husband after already losing your child? This story explores the depths of despair a mother finds herself after her child goes missing and a year later she discover her husband is cheating on her. She starts to lose grip with her stability and starts to go down a dark path.
The secrets that are revealed by many characters in this story pull together the questions that arise. I loved the main character Marin. She loves deeply and I can relate to her. 5 star ..great read

I don’t typically love books about missing children, but I’ll read anything Jennifer Hillier writes. I requested this book without reading the synopsis. I saw Hillier’s name and knew I would enjoy it. The first chapter had me hooked after describing the kidnapping of Sebastian. Then it took a completely different turn. I don’t want to give spoilers, but there for awhile I was wondering if we would ever get back to the missing child storyline. Don’t worry. We did get back to that storyline with plenty of twists and turns along the way. Overall, this was a highly enjoyable thriller that I recommend to fans of the genre.

If there is a book that makes the reader say “damn” repeatedly while shaking their head, it’s this one. The book begins with a major nightmare situation as a young child is abducted from his mother’s side. I was chilled to the core just thinking of the terror and despair I would feel in that situation. *shudder*

The circumstances of the abduction were strange, and the story continues to build upon that horrible day as the affluent parents struggle to come to terms with what happened. Tensions grow and twists arise as this story leads the reader on the Mother’s quest for answers. But the kidnapping is really just one component, because the real story is what happens after...and it’s gets pretty dark. No character is innocent.

Hillier really nails this thriller with her impeccable writing and kept me turning the pages all day long. Fans of books like Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty and authors like Lisa Jewell or Gillian Flynn will enjoy this novel.
4.5/5 stars rounded up to 5 for this review

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this ARC.

This book was hard to put down. 5 Stars!!
An awesome thriller not to be missed. Definately keeps you intrigued.

I loved Jennifer's previous novel JAR OF HEART, so I was super excited when I learned news of this book. Sadly, I couldn't get into this one. I can see why so many people are going to love this book, but sadly it wasn't for me.

Little Secrets is the first book by this author for me. The title does not truly reflect the book. Little Lies or something like that would be better. Regardless, I did enjoy this book. This thriller about the loss of a child kept pace and my interest. I have been reading a lot of historical fiction so this was a nice change.

Marin and her husband Derek suffer the loss of their son who was kidnapped as a youngster. Each tries to move forward with their lives but deception, theirs and others, sabotages this. Who is honest, who is who s/he says s/he is?

The book kept my interest and a good read for my Shelter in Place enjoyment.

Thank you to NetGalley, St Martin's Press and Minotaur books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.