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.

I don’t even know where to begin with my thoughts after finishing reading Little Secrets by Jennifer Hillier. So, let’s start from the beginning where it all started. I really wasn’t sure how this story would go and I am pleasantly surprised by the way it all turned out. To say this story is full of twists would be an understatement. The twists are pretty hard hitting and while they all seem pretty random, they all tie together quite nicely and unexpectedly.

On the outside, Marin seems to have the perfect marriage with her husband Derek and they have a beautiful little boy, Sebastian, they both dote on. All that changes in an instant when Marin lets go of Sebastian’s hand to answer a text. Within the span of just four minutes her child has been stolen and never seen or heard from again. It is now sixteen months later and Marin still does not have any closure. All leads have dried up and her son’s disappearance no longer seems like a priority. Marin still has not given up hope and hires a private investigator to continue on with the search, but instead of finding Sebastian, the PI finds evidence of Derek cheating on Marin with twenty four year old Mckenzie Li. This is the last straw for Marin and she vows that nothing and no one will take the only thing she has left in the world, her husband.

One would think that Marin would be a sympathetic character. I mean her child was stolen right from under her nose! But, Marin went from sympathetic to downright crazy with a snap of a finger and whatever sympathy I may have had her slowly started to diminish. Although I will admit, I did keep wavering back and forth quite a few times. Marin is not the only unlikeable character either. There is her husband Derek, the mistress Mckenzie and Marin’s best friend, Sal. Is any one of them worth redeeming? Hillier really shines here with her characterizations of all the major players in this story and each person is just so multi-layered and one might find themselves kind of caught in the middle teetering back and forth in a love/hate relationship with each of the characters.

There is a lot going on this story and attention is really needed while reading to pick up on all of the clues throughout the story. What might seem random at first finally hits you in its intensity when you are putting all of the pieces together. I will say though that the last quarter of the book really picks up and I found myself racing through the pages desperately needing to find out what happens.

If you love a multi-layered story, a cast of characters you will love to hate and hate to love, then you definitely will want to read Little Secrets by Jennifer Hillier.

I won't lie, this took me a hot minute to get into, like 60+%, I wanted to give up multiple times, but I am glad that I kept going, the plot twist wasn't predictable, I started to pick up signs of what was going on, but I didn't have it nailed down by the time it was revealed which I normally do which was why this got 4 stars.

Marin and Derek are an upstanding couple in their community until their son goes missing and things start to unravel. Maybe things aren't what they seem.... This was a book that kept me guessing and I thoroughly enjoyed trying to figure out what was next!

I heard about this from Merphy Napier's booktube channel and was super intrigued. But this just wasn't for me. I did not enjoy where the plot was going and how messy it got. DNF.

Loved this book and couldn't put it down. Definitely with reading. It's fast paced and keeps you guessing the whole way through.

In my unpopular opinion, there wasn’t a single MAIN character (Marin, Derek, Kenzie) to root for. Two of the secondary characters were worth watching for but since they were secondary I kept forgetting about them. The mystery was there and it did get twisty but the reveal fell a little flat.

I wasn’t expecting such a good book with this one! The story was entertaining and moved along at a good pace, and I didn’t get it all figured out ahead of time. The only problem was that about 3/4 of the way through, I needed to go back to reread some stuff, and it was hard to do on my kindle! Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exhange for an honest review.
"Little Secrets" is the 2nd book that I have read by Jennifer Hillier, the 1st book was "Jar of Hearts" and I really loved that book.
I was so happy that this book was also great. It was highly addictive and had a bunch of crazy twists and unexpected moments.
I can honestly say that Ms. Hillier is one of the few authors that are a must read for me.

thanks for the early read, i have been in a reading slump for a while now and this book pulled me out of it. I was drawn in from the beginning. I was always on Marin's side, and i can see why she did the things that she did. I couldn't believe that it ended the way that it did, i mean once i got almost to the end i was starting to see where the author was taking us and i was like WHOA! if you havent read this you need too!

This story starts with a kidnapping and disappearance of young four year old Sebastian. Marin took her eyes off him of seconds, but he is gone and is not found. She still holds out hope that he is out there and will return to them, but is constantly thinking about what could be happening to him. Sixteen months later, the police have basically given up looking for him, so she hires a P.I. Vanessa Castro, to see what she can find out. What she finds that apparently has nothing to do with Sebastian's disappearance, isn't surprising to Marin, but is the last straw for her.

Every time I thought I had this story figured out, there was a twist that sent me down another path. This story is full of unreliable narrators. Who is telling the truth? What is really happening here? This was a book that I couldn't stop listening to. There was a lot going on, and at times, I wasn't sure where Jennifer Hillier was going to take this story. Even though there seemed to parallel plots, the way they came together left my jaw hanging open. This was an emotional psychological thriller that kept me guessing to the end. There were secrets and more secrets, lies, and manipulation all rolled into a well written, well plotted story that kept me enthralled right to the last page. Another great thriller from Jennifer Hillier

I feel like I didn't read the same book as everyone else because I found it boring and predictable. There was exactly one twist that was easy to figure out.

Thanks to Minotaur and Netgalley for my copy to review.

CW: suicidal thoughts

I like thrillers, but don’t read them very often. From my minimal back knowledge of the genre, Little Secrets by Jennifer Hillier seems to fall right into the middle of the road.

There is basic writing with some pop culture references that will not age well. A page turning plot, but an ending that I predicted near the halfway point. Characters who are interesting at times, but are not very developed. And of course, as most thrillers are, it’s a quick, fun read. Overall, I did not regret reading it, but am not quick to recommend.

I definitely liked this, despite the fact that it's pretty predictable.

Marin loses her son in busy Pike Place Market right before Christmas. It's obvious from the CCTV footage that he was taken. And the book mostly deals with how Marin and her husband are dealing with this over a year later. Obviously not well.

It was entertaining. It was hard to put down. The ending is pretty predictable and so is the perpetrator. Although I did have someone else fingered as a possibility, but only occasionally. You'll see what I mean when you read it.

Disclaimer: I received an arc of this book in exchange of an honest review.


Hmm this one definitely was a pleasant surprise. You really shouldn't judge a book by its cover but I was actually a little on the fence with this one because of that.

Admittedly, I was wrong. The first chapter specifically really painted a picture and gave me chills and I'm not even a parent.

The book was a little all over the place and a bit easy to guess but was still well written and well planned, which made it overall enjoyable.

A lot of the characters make stupid decisions and it does annoy, but it felt realistic. Overall I enjoyed! Would recommend.

This was a slower read until the ending. I still enjoyed it some but its hard for me when books read slower. There were some good twists.

I am a HUGE Jennifer Hillier fan, and Little Secrets was no different. An amazing domestic thriller that will keep you guessing. This is one of those books that I wish I could read over and over without knowing what happens. Can’t wait for her next one!