This is a charming debut, romantic comedy featuring friends to lovers with great mental health representation. The You’ve Got mail vibes were fun as I always love epistolary type elements within a romance.

This was cute but also dealt with real life issues people can relate to, hello anxiety.

I really enjoyed getting the perspective of Lucy as her online identity vs Lucy the guidance counselor. She was much more confident hidden online as most people are. The way her online and in person story unfolded with Fletcher was fun to watch. I also loved reading from Fletchers view point.

I really tried to enjoy this but the writing wasn't for me. Within the first few pages, Fletcher refers to his private area as a 'peacock' and when seeing Lucy for the first time, he's immediately thinking of running his hands DOWN HER FACE to test his 'soft skin theory.' I have nothing against being attracted to someone you just saw for the first time but that just creeped me out! The uncomfortable vibes just continued throughout and ultimately soured my opinion of the book. I'm disappointed because I was really excited to read this and I ADORE the epistolary trope but I just couldn't get into it.

Thanks to the publisher for the advance digital copy!

I really wanted to love this one but I did not. The characters were a no from me and it just felt like multiple red flags were there. I also was a little bored and DNFed at 50%.

I started this one and couldn't get into it, and I wasn't sure if I believed their feelings for each other given the little interaction they had.

Flirty Little Secret by Jessica Lepe is a rom com full of heart. It was a fun read but with depth too.

Someone said it had Abbott Elementary vibes and that totally sold me on it. And, actually, I had a hard time for a while visualizing the characters in my head NOT as the couple from Abbott.

In Flirty Little Secret, the two MCs have a disastrous meet cute on the first day of school as teacher and school counselor. But unbeknownst to them, they’ve actually been communicating anonymously online for more than a year. I liked the premise and it was executed well, except I actually wanted a little bit more drama from it after one person realized the hidden identity and the other one hadn’t yet.

I also liked the representation in this book, with mental health and anxiety dealt with sensitively. The author wrote from her own Mexican and Moroccan Jewish heritage and I found her family in the book so wholesome.

Overall, a great romance read!

This book is absolute perfection & I am kicking myself for waiting so long to read it!

I loved everything about this! The writing, the characters, the school setting! It was everything I could’ve hoped for & more!

Lucy is one of the most relatable characters I’ve read in a long time, & I saw a lot of myself in her day to day. There were times I felt like I was reading about myself & had to do a double take 🥰💕 And Fletcher just gets it! He understands her & doesn’t even think about trying to change her. I loved all of their interactions & wish I could give them both a big hug 🤗

I wish everyone would read this book! And you know it’ll hold a special place in my heart 💕❤️

What to expect:
✨dual POV
✨high school guidance councelor & history teacher
✨friends to lovers
✨secret identities
✨forced proximity
✨caretaking
✨fun/meddling siblings
✨rep (anxiety, depression, ADHD, Jewish, Latinx FMC)
✨he falls first
✨and so much more!

If you haven’t read this yet, you should add it to your list! I cannot recommend it enough 🥰💕

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC! I had a fun time reading this book, and while it wasn't perfect, I enjoyed following Lucy and Fletcher as they fell for each other. I also liked the representation and mental health discussions. Generally, I'm a big fan of You've Got Mail-esque stories where people fall in love through secret online identities as well as in-person, and if you're also a fan of that trope, I'd definitely suggest checking this out.

Title: Flirty Little Secret
Author: Jessica Lepe
Length: 320 pages
Format: ebook arc
Pub Date: March 19, 2024
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Rating Out of 5: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Spice Level: open door
Summary:
Lucy Galindo, a shy school counselor, is secretly the confident and popular @TheMissGuidedCounselor online, hiding her identity due to anxiety. Aldrich Fletcher, a history teacher, seeks advice from the same online persona while dealing with his complicated personal life. When Fletcher discovers Lucy's secret, both must face their feelings and decide if they can trust each other enough to reveal their true selves.

Thoughts:
I really wanted to love this book, but it was just meh. My favorite part about this book was how similar Lucy’s anxiety and depression manifests to how mine manifests. It was almost exactly spot on. It’s always nice to know you’re not the only one, and I do very much appreciate that. Other than that, I didn’t connect with the characters or their love story. I think it would be a nice audiobook to have on in the background, but there was just nothing that kept me wanting to keep reading it. In fact, I wanted to skip the whole third act breakup because it was so predictable and immature. The blurb for this book says it’s for fans of Lynn Painter, but Lynn has much more witty banter. I wouldn’t NOT recommend this book, but I also would recommend so many other books before I would recommend this one.

Special thanks to the @netgalley and @readforeverpub for the arc in exchange for my honest review!

This was so much fun! I had a bit of a difficult time connecting to Fletcher, personally, which is why I didn't give it 5 stars, but I love how he treated Lucy. She has a few different mental illnesses, and it really comes out to a lethal combination lol, but Jessica Lepe handled each topic with such care and respect. I very much admire how she was able to convey that the people who are paid to look out for us and our mental health need looking out for too!!

I'll be completely honest, I really did not care about what Fletcher was going through with his dad. I get that rich people have problems but you're really not going to get me to care about your daddy issues when you drive around the car he bought for you lollllll. Fletcher wasn't bad at all, he was so so sweet to Lucy, but I grew tired of his conflict avoidance. You're a grown man. Tell your ex-fiancee that you're not interested anymore.

This was my first ARC of the year, and I enjoyed in on vacation in January with my family. I often don't find a lot of time to read while on vacation, but gave this one a start one morning during breakfast, and then found myself carving out a few hours just a couple days later to finish it. Lucy and Fletcher are an adorable couple, though I thought that Fletcher's lie went on a little too long. I wanted him to finally come clean because the longer it dragged on, the less willing I was to forgive him.
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I thoroughly enjoyed the representation present in this novel, from anxiety and depression to difficult family relationships and dynamics to finding your identity amongst various cultures. Lepe clearly wanted to give multiple readers visibility and she was successful in painting the picture in a way that didn't feel surface-level. Overall, this is a cute read, especially if you're a fan of You've Got Mail or She Loves Me.

This was such a cute romance! Not only was it a breezy read (for the most part) but it also covered serious themes with grace and love.

Thank you Forever for providing an advanced reader’s copy on NetGalley. This is Jessica’s debut book, and I appreciate the opportunity to read it, especially with its Jewish representation.

Lucy Galindo is a high school guidance counselor who sometimes questions her qualifications due to her struggles with anxiety, depression, and ADHD. Ironically, these challenges make her exceptionally empathetic and effective in supporting her students.

This year, a new teacher, Mr. Fletcher, has joined the school, and Lucy finds him quite charming. She can’t help but crack jokes around him, feeling an unusual sense of comfort. What she doesn’t realize is that Mr. Fletcher is her online friend. Lucy has been insistent on keeping her online persona separate and private from her real life, and Fletcher has respected this, unaware of where his online friend lives.

The book was a quick, easy read and a delightful rom-com. It’s definitely a fun summer read, even though the story is set during the school year.

Thank you Forever Publishing and Netgalley for the review copy of the book! This book took me a bit to get into, but about 1/3 in it started to ramp up. I really enjoyed the characters in this and their chemistry was great. The premise was refreshing and I enjoyed this reading experience quite a bit!

This was a cute book yet it also packed a punch by blending in serious topics as well. I thought it was a clever plot line in how the two of them meet and befriend one another. They each have some difficult issues they're dealing with and it seems like life is really dealing them both a tough hand. However, they find that with a good person supporting you, it's easier to deal with the hard stuff.

I felt that the book seemed to handle many of the mental health issues that Lucy was trying to manage well. In addition, there were some personal battles that Fletcher was struggling with - - primarily with his family and the fallout of his father and mother's breakup and everything that led up to it. There was a lot of discussion of "owning" who you are and not being afraid to show yourself. This definitely applied to both Lucy and Fletcher.

There were spots where the book felt like it moved a bit slowly but for the most part, my attention remained focused. I was invested in this couple and wanted to see how things played out for them.

Every time I picked up "Flirty Little Secret", I was whisked away with this romance, and went on such an emotional journey with this incredible story.

Firstly, this cover is adorable!

Jessica Lepe's writing is so full of heart, and her storytelling jumps right off of the page.

Lucy and Fletcher work together, however, they have also been communicating with one another online (unknown to both at first), with Lucy as the well-known @TheMissGuidedCounselor. As the two become closer in person, and their relationship continues to develop, Fletcher soon puts it together who Lucy is, but is unsure how to tell her he is the gentleman whom she has been talking to online. I do not want to say too much about the plot due to spoilers, but, I will say, I could not put this book down. This book truly has so much in it: extremely important mental health representation, romance, secrets, family, culture, and so much more.

If you enjoy Contemporary Romance, I highly recommend this book!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the ARC of this book! All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Thank you NetGalley and Forever for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

In Flirty Little Secret, we meet Lucy Galindo, a high school guidance counselor who suffers from anxiety and depression and has ADHD. In real life she's a total mess, but online she presents a curated version of herself, providing advice and guidance to her followers. Fletcher is the new history teacher who left his previous traching job at an elite school. His first day is met spilled tea on his pants. He just moved back home to be with his mom after his parents' marriage imploded. Thankfully he has a close online friend he can turn to during difficult times.

I was looking forward to the You've Got Mail part of the story. While I think it's nice that Lucy and Fletcher became good friends online under their respective anonymous online identities, I can't help but wonder how this actually fits in with Lucy's anxiety. Wouldn't she be weary of befriending internet randos?

I liked that we got a little bit of the family dynamics from both MCs, and I would've loved to read more on it, especially Lucy's and how they support her. But at least with Lucy's POV, her anxiety and depression brain is exceptional at pointing out what she perceives as her flaws, and I can kind of see how she wouldn't be a reliable source for how her family feels about supporting her.

The book was too cutesy. Everything fell into place too quickly and too perfectly, and even the in-between was too clean. I needed a little more mess, a little more chaos in life, and not just in Lucy's head. Also, I didn't like how some of the workplace romance scenes played out, especially considering that they work at a high school.

I thought it had good anxiety and depression rep, and probably ADHD rep but I don't have ADHD so I don't feel qualified to speak on that. I appreciate the content warning at the beginning.

Thank you Forever Publishing and Netgalley for the review copy of the book. The overall premise of the book was very cute from the start but it took me a little bit to really get into the book. The realism and relatability of the characters made it easier to get sucked in and fall in love with them!

FLIRTY LITTLE SECRET is a penpal romance similar to She Loves Me/You’ve Got Mail.

You'll want to pick this up if you love:
💌 Pen pal romances
🍎Workplace romance
🧠Mental health representation (anxiety, depression, and ADHD)
☕️Adorable and hilarious meet-cutes
✡️Jewish representation
📱Texts/DMs on the page

Personally, this was a little overdramatic for me, but I did think it was fun!