One minute is all it takes to ruin a life. Just ask Marin. She had it all — a loving husband, adorable son, and success — until she didn’t. Her son, Sebastian, is taken in broad daylight when Marin looks away for only a moment. A year later and Sebastian is still gone. The FBI have all but given up and her husband is a stranger lying beside her — when he actually does come home. Marin hires a private investigator to help find her son, but instead finds out her husband has secrets of his own — a young, pink-haired mistress with a name and a face to whom Marin can redirect all her rage.

Hillier does tells an excellent and twisted story of what happens when we keep secrets from the ones we love the most.

I started out this book really irritated by the main character, Marin, but she really grew on me and I was rooting for her by the end. I usually don’t read missing child books since they tend to upset me; however this one was really good. There was a lot going on here and it all fit together and tied up well. Some parts of the ending were super implausible but I enjoyed it anyway. Recommend.

I was so upset when I couldn't download this one. I went and bought a copy and I'm so glad that I did! I love Jar of Hearts and this one was just a twisty and dark. Will definitely be on the look out for her next release.

If you want to lose sleep, read Jennifer Hillier. Her twists are dark and dive deep into the shadows of every day people’s psyches. No spoilers with this review but take any mother’s worst nightmare and triple it! Definitely worth staying up one more hour to read.

Such a great book! I was so excited when I received it and couldn't wait to read it! Once I started I was unable to put it down. Has everything a person who loves thrillers could ask for. Thank you NetGalley!!

I loved this book, I couldn't put it down! I really like Jennifer Hillier's writing style, I think this is my favorite title by her so far. Fast-paced and tense, it was a real nail-biter!

I adored Hillier's CREEP and LITTLE SECRETS has the same suspense. The same feeling of not knowing how all the pieces fit together. And the same shocking conclusion. I will read everything Jennifer Hillier writes!

3.5 stars because this really was one helluva ride! BUT some facts/scenes just don't make sense to me. I was invested and on the edge of my seat the whole time though.

Thanks netgalley for giving me the pdf so that I can share my thoughts and opinions with y'all 🧡

Little Secrets by Jennifer Hillier

Secrets, heartache, betrayal, and lies....this book was so good!! From the very first chapter I was hooked. I absolutely loved Jar of Hearts so I knew I would probably love this one!! I was right! Jennifer Hillier is officially an automatic author buy for me from now on!!!

5/5 stars!

Thank you Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press and Jennifer Hillier for an ACR in exchange for my honest review.

Little Secrets was a great quick read. I really enjoyed it because it was suspenseful and twisty. The author truly captured Marin's character and beautifully showed her state of mind and her thought process and I could really understand her. This book was intriguing and held my interest cover to cover.

I love when I just cannot wait to get back to reading a book. This is a great thriller from beginning to end with no slow down and creative twists. Highly recommend. I thank Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This book was quite the roller coaster. Can't say I loved the ending - I feel like things just didn't add up. Serious spoilers ahead in trying to sort everything out:

<spoiler> Sal/JR was jealous of Marin and Derek and needed money to keep his bar/mom afloat. So Sal and Julian (whom he knew from a stint in prison) abducted Sebastian. The first money exchange/ransom was after Sebastian had been missing for a month. Julian and Sal coordinated the drop off with Derek, but they were late to the drop off - really? Late when picking up 250K? I find that really hard to believe. No reason was given for their tardiness and I still don't know if they ever received their money. Derek got lippy and Sebastian was crying in the background, so out of rage/frustration, Sal told Derek that Sebastian was dead and that was that.

Around that time (before the ransom? After?), Sal learned that Kenzie had been the mistress ("professional girlfriend") of Derek. She dates older, rich married men and more or less extorts them for money. She claims they offer her the money to keep quiet (she doesn't have to demand it) so that it's not truly extortion. I believe they begin dating several months after Sebastian is stolen and are together for about 6 months.

Sal discovers Kenzie is dating Marin's husband about a month after they start dating. So in a second attempt to get the money, Sal and Julian led Marin to believe that Julian was a hitman. Sal thought Marin would want her husband dead, but in actuality, she wanted Kenzie killed. Marin wired the 250K and Kenzie's roommate reports her missing a few days later. Kenzie has no clue about this because she has her own agenda to get roughly 100K from Derek the same way she has in the past. But Julian and Sal have their own agenda. They receive the first 250K from Marin, but decide they can use Kenzie against Derek. They punch and wound her to make it look believable and tie her up and send a text to derek telling him they will let Kenzie go for 250K. I'm still not sure at what point Julian, JR/Sal and Kenzie all became involved with one another and chose this path of extortion.

Both Marin and the PI Marin had hired discovered that Sal and Kenzie grew up in the same city and have been in a relationship in the past. The two connect the dots and assume Sal was in it for the money the whole time and that her son is probably somewhere on Sal's mom's property. Once all this is discovered, everything comes to a head between Derek and Marin. They confess nearly everything to one another. Derek had no clue Kenzie was a professional girlfriend and Marin asked him if he thought her being held hostage was real, or fake. Derek had planned on giving them the money out of guilt. Marin, Derek and the PI all drive to Sal's mom's house and that is where we discover that Sebastian wasn't dead. Roughly 15 months later we find out that they kept Sebastian for over a year.

A year?! They kept him for over 15 months hoping that they could pretend to hold Kenzie hostage in order to get an additional 250K from Derek? What does any of this have to do with Sebastian? Seems like quite a long time to care for a kid and kind of crazy they would try to pull of another ransom on the same interconnected people. It's like the kid was just forgotten. What if they got the ransom for Kenzie? Then what would have happened to Sebastian? Or what if Kenzie got her 100K and was out of the picture? Once Sal told Derek that Sebastian was dead, what were his plans for the kid? Too many questions, not enough answers. I had to think too hard and reread parts to try to sort it all out. The more I try to talk it out, the crazier it all seems. And I probably don't even have all the facts right.

In the end, Derek doesn't press charges on Kenzie for extortion. Marin visits Kenzie and gives her 250K 1) to clear her conscience, and 2) because Kenzie was nice to Sebastian for the 5 minutes she met him when the police were trying to get into the wine cellar. Sal shoots himself and dies and Julian kept the 250K Marin wired him when she hired him to kill Kenzie and he is never heard from again. I think.</spoiler>

The end became a little too muddy for me, but despite my confusion, this was otherwise a pretty decent book. I read it fast, was on the edge of my seat and thought it was a decently unique plot, but some big facts just don't add up for me.

Marin had a perfect life. She is a successful business owner, married to her college sweetheart and together they have a son, Sebastian. It is Christmastime - Marin and Bash go shopping at a crowded shopping center. She becomes distracted on her phone and Bash disappears in mere seconds - the perpetrator dressed as Santa. The story then moves forward 16 months later with Marin still trying to recover from the kidnapping of her son and her world continuing to fall apart. She hires a private investigator to help find her son and the PI finds out that her husband Derek is seems to be having an affair with a much younger woman. This discovery sparks life back into Marin - she's lost her son; she's not going to lose her husband too. She would rather the woman having the affair with her husband go away FOR GOOD.
I loved this book!! It was so fast paced and full of twists and turns. I loved Marin and felt her pain and heartache. Definitely unputdownable!!
Thanks to Jennifer Hillier, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC.

Hands down, one of my favourite books of the year. Gripping, twisted and unputdownable. Our book club ended up reading this and we all raved about it. It’s a solid 5 star! I wouldn’t change anything.

One of my favorite thrillers of 2020. This book was so captivating, and I couldn't put it down. I loved this story and look forward to Jennifer Hillier's next

This was a decent book, but definitely not the best thriller I've read. It wasn't one that kept me awake at night wanting to finish it. I feel like I didn't relate to the characters in this book (more than likely because I do not have children). I can only imagine how scary and frightening it would be to lose a child. I would recommend this for people who might be able to relate to this situation more or be able to picture it better. Those people would probably really enjoy this book and be able to give it 5 stars. Overall, it was still a good book and I would still recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley & Minotaur Books for providing an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review and opinions.

3.5 stars

I didn’t read the reviews. I didn’t read the blurb. I went in blind and highly recommend other readers do the same on this one. I will only say that a child is kidnapped in the first chapter so be prepared for intense grief and the emotional layers that go along with this type of loss.

What I liked - Plot was full of twists and turns that made it unpredictable. Was never sure where it was going. The revenge fantasy aspect. A well crafted mystery.

What I didn’t like - The characters! They were all unsympathetic except for the little boy and the PI. The pacing was off at times and the plot stalled a bit.

I appreciated the change in plot direction about midway through. It spiced the story up. However there were instances of reality suspension required. This was a thriller with many lies and secrets that kept me guessing and wondering what was going to happen. A gracious thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A brilliantly dark read. Hillier gifts her readers with a binge-able story containing emotion, betrayal, and one amazing ending. This one is an all-night read. Loved it!

A kidnapped four year old leads Marin to despair. A year later, after the FBI search has gone cold, she realizes that Derek, her husband, is having an affair with a younger woman. This causes her to think about some desperate measures for getting rid of Kenzie, the younger rival, in a riveting mystery thriller with an excellent ending.

Little Secrets took me a while to get into the book and I was struggling to keep reading. I almost had a DNF with this one. I kept on reading though and, about halfway through, the story finally picked up. It wasn't bad, but I did find it a bit predictable. The ending wasn't bad, but it just didn't have the wow factor I was hoping for.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC.