This was the perfect can't put it down thriller to read after an extremely heavy character driven type novel. This was just what I needed, a twisty thriller that took me on a nice little thrill ride. I requested this based on the hype I heard on her last one and now I need to get my hands on jar of hearts pronto!

This one did start off a bit slow but around the half way point it picked up and didn't let up until the end. I honestly did not really care about any of the characters but in that there's a car accident and I can't help myself from gawking kind of read, that makes you not want to put down the book. I always mark up a star for an author who can get me to want to continue a story with unlikable characters. If you can give me a fast paced, interesting plot to keep me engaged i'm all in.

Thank you to Jennifer Hillier, Minotaur Books and NetGalley for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

UGH, SO GOOD!

I was obsessed with Jar of Hearts and even more so with Little Secrets. I loved the characters! SO fully developed and I loved and hated them appropriately.

The plot twist was not foreshadowed and I seriously had no idea how this book would end. Loved that even with their lifestyle and access to "things", Marin and Derek's life was far from perfect. I loved the raw emotions in this book.

Please don't stop ever stop writing, Jennifer! Forever fan, Erin.

Thx to Netgalley, Minotaur and Jennifer Hillier for this ARC. Like any book by this author, I want to grab it immediately and read, being interrupted by nothing and no one. So I was really excited by this one , having come down from Jar of Hearts and The Butcher. Those were books that kept me awake at night. So I needed a bit of a less horrific one after those. This was just the right book following those. It was suspenseful without being horror, but still a great thriller. Always a fan and forever devoted to this author. 5 stars !

This booked had me hooked from the very first page. It had my stomach in knots for most of the book because this is every parent's worst nightmare and I needed to know what the outcome was going to be. I don't want to go into a lot because well I'm not about giving things away. I'm looking at you blurb! I read the blurb and I so wish I hadn't. But in the end it did not take away the feelings this story gave so that is why we are sitting at 4 stars.

This is a very character driven story which I am here for. With that said, I don't think I can sit here and say I truly loved a character. Most of them are deplorable for different reasons. I think that very thing is what made this story so good though. You know you don't like any of them but you still find yourself rooting for a good outcome.

I did not want to put this book down once I started it and the fast pace kept me interested. Every little detail has its purpose and the author did a great job of making sure every little thing fit into the story. I think for anyone that likes a good, fast paced mystery you will enjoy this one so don't hesitate to pick it up.

Overall, I really enjoyed Little Secrets - it's a fast-paced thriller with a plot line that caught my attention from the first chapter. This was my first Jennifer Hillier read, and I'd definitely pick up another book by her. 

The thing about most thrillers (for me, at least) is that they always start to fizzle for me around 85%. Don't get me wrong - I like a plot twist. But most of the time, they start to get ridiculous. Little Secrets was one of these "typical thrillers" for me in that sense,  but it's still worth reading. 

I will say I'm not sure I would've picked this one up based on the cover. It's super generic and doesn't give us anything in the way of the plot. I think the something that let us know it was a thriller with the Seattle skyline or Pike's Place Market would've caught my attention more. 

4/5 stars!

Thanks Netgalley + St Martins Press for the opportunity to review early in exchange for an honest review! Will be posting a review on my Instagram (Bookish_Molly) prior to publishing date (4/21)

Marina’s life turned around completely when her young son, Sebastian, was kidnapped. Not only is she dealing with the loss of her son and the uncertainty as to whether he is dead or alive, but she has just found out that her husband is having an affair. With emotions running high, Marina makes an impulsive decision which sets off a twisted course of events which will alter her life and those around her forever.

I’ve loved all of Hillier’s books and was so excited to receive this. The writing is clever and the plot moves along quickly. I did figure out the plot twists fairly early on, hence 4 stars rather than 5. Nonetheless, this is a psychological thriller that you don’t want to miss!

Many thanks to Netgalley, Minotaur Books and Jennifer Hillier for my complimentary e-copy ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

“Little Secrets” tells the story of a mother driven to the edge by the disappearance of her son learns her husband is having an affair with a much younger woman. Discovery of this affair sparks Marin back to life - she lost her son, but she’s not about to lose her husband too. As she sets a plan in motion, another revelation surfaces that has to do with her missing son.

I devoured this book in only a few sittings. The chapters I wouldn’t say are super short compared to some thrillers, but are a very fast-paced that you find yourself wanting to keep going. The story is typically told from Marin’s POV with the occasional POV from the mistress, Kenzie. This story is also told from 3rd person POV, which typically in thrillers I do not care for. I prefer the book to be told from 1st per POV, but it wasn’t a deal break for the story.

Marin, for the most, part is relatively liked character. She is a wealthy woman who misses her son and will do anything to have him come home. When she learns of her husband’s affair she goes a little crazy, which TBH I would too. Kenzie, the mistress, I have to admit is also a somewhat “likable” character. The author does not paint the picture of her being the completely villain character that most thrillers tend to do.

In regards to the big twist, I have to admit I guessed it from the end of part 1. I did not see one aspect of how the characters were connected completely, but I felt the twist was very easy to figure out. The 2nd part of the book did get a little blah for me, but it is needed to see how Kenzie links into the story completely.

Overall, it is a great thriller, however, I will be the person that thinks the hype for the book is a little overdone.
Pub: 4.21

Another excellent offering from Jennifer Hillier. A first purchase title for most general fiction collections, particularly where thrillers are popular.

This book was not what I expected. Little Secrets is gripping, suspenseful, and had many creative twists.

I was expecting Marin to be an alcoholic and/or drug abusing unreliable narrator like all other female protagonists in thrillers, but she absolutely wasn't. Her grief and desperation seemed realistic and it was refreshing to have a female protagonist that wasn't intoxicated for a majority of the novel. I really enjoyed the alternating perspectives with McKenzie, who is the complete opposite of Marin. McKenzie is the perfect embodiment of the current young generation. She is obsessed with social media and trying to portray the perfect life on Instagram. But she's also quite devious and manipulative. I liked how both Marin and McKenzie were more than just the grieving mother and young art student. They were well developed and even though I didn't really like either of them, I understood their struggles and wanted the best for both of them. There were a few minor characters that didn't add much to the story (e.g. McKenzie's creepy landlord, Marin's salon workers), but I liked the inclusion of the donut shop support group. It tied in other instances of missing children cases/abductions and it balanced out Marin's situation.

In terms of the plot, thriller novels are expected to have some major twists and Little Secrets did not disappoint. After a few twists were revealed, I ended up having to pause reading just to think back to some previous moments and see how everything connected with the new information. The book also dealt with a few hard topics, but it fit within the scope of the novel and it wasn't too disturbing.

Overall, Little Secrets was an exciting and captivating read. I'm looking forward to checking out other books by the author.

Holy cats this one was good! This was such a good thriller. Kidnapping, extortion, cheating, murder, conspiracy-this book had it all. Every single one of the characters had secrets and Hillier nailed the playing out of them and you can’t hate most of the characters because she made them so human. Highly recommend and I will definitely be reading more of her works

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Marin has the perfect life with her husband Derek and little boy Sebastian. While out one day, she takes a phone call and someone abducts Sebastian.

Flash forward a year and Marin is no longer herself; the police have stopped looking for her son and her husband rarely speaks to her. She hires a PI to start looking for her son, but she finds out something that she hadn't bargained for: Derek is having an affair with a much younger woman.

Marin is enraged and hires someone to "take care" of Marin but in the end, is this really what she wants?

Filled with twists and turns this book was fast paced and an easy read. Recommend to those that love quick moving, suspenseful novels.

I’d been hearing so much about Little Secrets I had to request it and to my surprise, I was approved! This was my first Jennifer Hillier book and I can say with complete confidence this won’t be my last. Her writing is so so good! If you’re familiar with the synopsis of this one, our main character Marin’s son is missing, and through Hillier’s writing you can truly feel her pain and anguish. I don’t have any children but this book definitely pulled at my heartstrings and brought me to tears at some points.

While emotional, this is also an exciting domestic thriller! Marin and her husband Derek’s marriage is on the rocks and we find out over the course of the book all the “little secrets” they’ve been keeping from each other and ultimately what happened to their son Sebastian.

I really enjoyed the overall story and the final shocking twists. I honestly didn’t see it coming! There’s a lot of layers to this one that I really enjoyed. I think it’s best to go into this one without knowing too much. I highly recommend! Pick it up on April 21, 2020

4 stars

I need more stars for Marin!

This story is everything a mom fears, Christmas shopping with your child, and you drop their hand for just a minute, whether it’s to answer a call, pay for something, return a text or their hand is sweaty, and the next thing you know, your child is gone in less than seconds. And imagine looking at security tapes and finding out Santa was the one to take your baby.

Marin’s heartache and reactions are so completely understandable, even her more over the top ones - and she has several. And Derek’s actions, while I wanted to smack him upside the head repeatedly throughout the book, are more understandable, especially as the story unfolds.

I honestly don’t know what means more to Marin though, Sal or his texts, and I’m definitely sure that he doesn’t see the real Marin. The same holds true for Kenzie and Derek, I think she had become so jaded that she didn’t realize that she could have emotions, JR had screwed with her head for so long.

In addition to all the complicated emotions, the plot twists keep coming even in the epilogue - and while you may think you know what’s coming, it’s never quite the way you thought it happened or happens.

I was soooo excited when I got an advanced copy of this book!!! Thank you Netgalley and to the publisher!!!! I am a Jennifer Hillier fan!

Every once in a while you come across a book that you love every...single...character .....whether they are good or evil....the author writes these characters so vividly. There was never a dull moment in this book.... I sat on the edge of my seat the entire time and my heart aches and raced! It’s been awhile since I read a book where I didn’t want it to end . My only con was I wish we could have heard Derek’s POV through this. Because even though he was an $;) my heart still went out to him.

Beautifully written, suspense throughout the whole book until the end, BRAVO!!!

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/5

Little Secrets by Jennifer Hillier is Marin’s story following the kidnapping of her and husband, Derek’s, 5-year-old son, Sebastian. That it was Marin who let go of Sebastian’s hand a few days before Christmas devastates her all the more. The emotional toil her child’s kidnapping has on Marin is revealed in real time 16 months after the event and from the past perspective events following the abduction.

To add to her cruel circumstances, Marin discovers that Derek, her husband of 18 years, is having an affair with McKenzie or Kenzie, who is nearly half his age. Kenzie is the polar opposite of Marin in terms of face and build.

“Little Secrets” is told from alternating points of view (POVs) of Marin and Kenzie. While supposedly a thriller and mystery, the reading felt more like a drama. There is the emotional grittiness you would expect in a tale about a child being abducted. Crime statistics of missing children are propounded. There is a support group of parents of several missing children (only a single parent in each case – where are the other parents?), which is meant to add pathos and show characters empathetic towards Marin.

The intertwining storylines of a kidnapping and an affair make up the book. I was underwhelmed when this mystery story seemed intent on finding out about the husband’s mistress, only to then focus on her sordid little life. This wasn’t the purpose I was reading this mystery story for. What ‘Little Secrets’ did do was give a good perspective of the Kenzie sort of mistress, who preys on married men twice her age. It gave some empathy to her situation.

But let’s be clear, I would have been a lot more satisfied if the PI, Vanessa, was turning over leads in the abduction, and Marin was following up on these or her own leads, instead of focussing on the affair. That the affair and abduction are tied up together at the end is more the means to serve the end. The story moved sluggishly in the middle parts as it teased out the relationship between Marin and Sal – with emphasis on the word, ‘tease’ – between Marin and Derek, and finally the play out between Marin and Kenzie. The middle of the novel was very soggy with too much characters’ back story, biodatas and motives.

Things I didn’t like very much:
1) Marin’s and Derek’s astronomical wealth. This appears to be a plot device to allow Marin to throw money at her problems to make them go away.
2) The couple’s wealth doesn’t allow the reader to relate to Marin, as the author would like. Instead, Marin appears to be a spoilt, entitled, “beautiful,” youngish woman who has it all, including a fawning ex-lover and solicitous husband (when he wants to be).
3) The cliché that is Kenzie. She could have been unique and a lot more relatable. Instead she lives in societal squalor and doesn’t want to raise herself above it. This made it hard to relate to her actions or motives. Kenzie is an unlikable character who only thinks about herself. Why devote so much page-time to her then?
4) The support group’s inclusion adds pathos – very real but anguished and repetitive pathos – that does nothing to move the story along. Instead, it causes the reader to spiral downwards rather than be aware and interested in solving the mystery. Very Jodi Picoult-ish.
5) A few entire chapters were devoted to some of these anguished side stories that were not interesting for a crime reader like myself.
6) Sal! Really Marin’s "best friend" Sal, a former lover, is a character who is impossible to believe in or relate to. Why when she feels so comforted by him, did Marin choose to marry Derek and then defend Derek through all his infidelities and sometimes-narcissism? Sal is painted in a hallowed light to probably fool the reader as red herrings are set up, although there aren’t many of these. Most people are familiar with the village knowledge that a friendship across the sexes is based usually on attraction and is rarely platonic for long, especially when they are past lovers.

That Sal is like a puppy sniffing around Marin is unbelievable, when she gives him the cold shoulder time and again, and returns nothing in exchange to the relationship. Also Sal's lifestyle and other friends are diametrically opposite from Marin's that it’s hard to see why she returns to him, other than to be fawned over. This makes Marin unlikable, again. That Derek doesn’t mind is hard to accept. Of course, in Jennifer Hillier’s world, people are either super rich or super poor. So, Sal is super rich, which seem to be the only kind of friends Marin can relate to, potentially shallow.

7) The choices Marin makes are incredible, as in not sane at all. No spoilers here. It’s hard to put yourself in her shoes as a distraught mother when she acts in such a dumb way.

Things I did like:
1) The ending was a bit of a relief after a novel with few twists and turns, no worms exposed wriggling beneath rocks, as in a good whodunnit.
2) The writing was good, so that despite the novel turning out not to be what I thought it was, I kept reading till the end.

Better titled, ‘The Affair’ or ‘The Affairs’ or ‘Revenge’, ‘Little Secrets’ is more of a family drama than a thriller. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a free advanced reader’s copy (ARC) in exchange for an honest review. This review also appears in https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3201151527 and https://thereadersvault.blogspot.com/2020/02/little-secrets-by-jennifer-hillier.html

I received this free in exchange for an honest review. It took some time to get to this to read, to tell you the truth, I kept putting this in my to read pile and just could not get to it.
BUT once I did I wish I had read it right away. It was very good, and although it is an Uncorrected Digital Galley, I found nothing wrong. That may be because it was that good. It was fast with lots of unexpected twists.
Marin and Derek have been married almost 18 years when their son Sabastian goes missing at Pike Place Market.
The secrets they both have are every where. Both are self made and very wealthy and not true to each other or themselves.
The plot thickens when Marin wants to have Derek's girl friend removed from the equation. She confines in her best friend and former lover Sal who sets things in motion.
While a lot is going on, all is resoled and no secret is left in the dark. The story takes place over an almost two year period.
I was not sure I was going to like the plot given the child goes missing in the first chapter, but impressed how the story plays out.

Everyone has secrets! This book captured me from just the description alone. The book is told in two different perspectives and I loved that! This one is a page turner and a quick read for me! I loved it!

"If you don't want anyone to find out, don't do it." (Chinese Proverb)

The holidays spread us thin and cause us to lose sight of the near and the dear. That's what happened to Marin Machado when she lost the grip of her four year old son Sebastian's hand in a crowded Seattle outdoor shopping center. Her eyes swept down to the incoming text on her phone and diverted her from witnessing Sebastian being enticed by a stranger. Within seconds he was gone. Within seconds, Marin melts into the pavement.

A year passes and Marin has been hospitalized for deep depression. Her husband, Derek, worries that she will harm herself. The local police and the FBI have no leads. It's like Sebastian has disappeared into thin air. Marin attends sessions with her psychologist and a local group supporting parents of missing children. She eventually goes back to work as the owner of three highly successful hair salons that cater to the rich and famous. Derek is the CEO of a high performing manufacturing company. No money worries, but plenty of relationship worries.

Marin finds out that Derek is having an affair with a pink-haired coffee shop barista named Kenzie. Marin has plans for Kenzie and it's not in her best welfare. Kenzie has a secret life that even Derek is not privy to. There are plenty of cats and mice trying to entrap one another in this one. And they are all wearing false faces.

I enjoyed Jennifer Hillier's previous book, Jar of Hearts, as well. Little Secrets is an intriguing bundle of escapism when you want to fill your head with a few steps back from the dullness of real life. There are many threads to this one beginning with the shocker at the onset to the final scenes. Looking forward to what Jennifer Hillier has up her sleeve in the next one.

I received a copy of Little Secrets through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Macmillan (Minotaur) Publishers and to Jennifer Hillier for the opportunity.

Be prepared for some emotional whiplash when reading LITTLE SECRETS, a thriller detailing a woman's downward spiral after the kidnapping of her young son and, later, the discovery of her husband's affair. At times, the narrative is painfully heartbreaking as it plunges into the depths of a mother's grief for her lost child. But the novel doesn't stall in this register as manic energy also pervades the plot in the exploration of Marin's rage and ire directed toward her husband's mistress.

Now that I've finished the book, I understand why the two storylines in LITTLE SECRETS of a kidnapping and an affair really do need each other to create the neatly tied up ending that we are given. But during the actual reading experience, there were many times that the story felt fragmented, and I was asking myself if this was more a thriller dealing with a kidnapping or a thriller dealing with the vengeance of a lover scorned. I also felt that the middle of the novel sagged a bit with backstories; instead of Hillier keeping readers in the present action, she uses flashback scenes to flesh out some of her characters. Those scenes weren't uninteresting, per se, but they did slow down the novel's pacing.

One big issue I had with the book was Marin's relationship with her "best friend" Sal, who was a previous college boyfriend. I found the whole relationship to be really odd, and Sal's lifestyle was so vastly different from Marin's that it was just hard for me to imagine them continuing to rub shoulders. I wouldn't say that Hillier created a wholly unbelievable friendship--I'm certain these types of relationships do exist in "real life"--but their particular dynamic in the story just rang false to me. I couldn't imagine Marin's husband being okay with the closeness of their friendship that, in some ways, ran deeper emotionally than what she and her husband shared. Eventually I had to accept Sal and Marin as Hillier presented them and just go with it without questioning it too much, but I never fully accepted its plausibility.

Three stars for a thriller that was twisty, emotive, and engaging. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinions.

I will officially read anything Jennifer Hillier writes. Her style of thrillers just work for me and Little Secrets is no exception.

Told from the alternating POVs of the wife, Marin , and the mistress, Kenzie , we follow both women as Marin and her husband handle the kidnapping of their son and their shattered relationship. At first, this seemed more like a domestic drama, but Hillier brings out the intense plotting she is known for and delivers an ending that actually had me surprised (in a good way!). Her writing is standout as always and she fully develops Marin's character, letting the reader experience her palpable grief and trauma and need for revenge.

It's a fun and suspenseful read that i finished in one day. I could see this making an excellent mini-series a la Big Little Lies.

Thank you to Netgalley and Minotaur for an advancd copy in exchange for my honest review.