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!

Short synopsis: Lucy is a mess, working as a guidance counselor in real life, but behind the screen she the popular @themissguidedcouncelor, when Fletcher the new history teacher meets Lucy he instantly crushes on her not realizing they’ve already been talking online.

My thoughts: The concept of this was so fun, meeting online not realizing they knew each other in real life.

I think the mental health rep was really well written but also feel like Lucy had some major growing up to do.

Overall a cute story with an adorable Meet cute and lots of heart.

Read if you love:
- Jewish/Mexican Rep
- Friends to lovers
- Mental health rep
- Workplace romance
- Online secret identities

This is the type of miscommunication I love! This had some real topics that were addressed and they are so important! I would recommend to give this one a read! Different plot than what a lot of these books have.

If you’re looking for a relatable cast of characters who use IG as a primary source of communication with a sweet love story entwined look no further! I also laughed out loud multiple times which is a major plus for me.

about a school counselor named Lucy who struggles with anxiety and depression. Lucy, a school counselor who is not shy about her struggles with anxiety and depression, creates a secret online persona as a confident advice columnist. Meanwhile, a new history teacher named Fletcher arrives at Lucy’s school. They are both drawn to each other but unaware of the other’s secret identity… you know the one on IG where they are FLIRTING

This audio was SO cute and well done. Sometimes multimedia work doesn’t translate well on audio but I had no trouble transitioning from the IG messages and traditional writing. Definitely recommend this one to my rom com lovers who like a little drama and love mental health representation

This contemporary romance with a strong focus on mental health was a delightful new take on the modern romance. Told through the alternating first person points of view of Lucy and Fletcher we learn about Lucy's hidden anxiety and depression while she puts on a happy face as the school's guidance counselor and why Fletcher left his job at a fancy private school to work at a public school. As these characters get to know each other we see a strong bond form with acceptance of each others hardships in life. Lucy's supportive family is refreshing to see and you can tell they love her and support her no matter what she is going through.
The twist in the story is that Fletcher is withholding information from Lucy about his identity. It sometimes feels like an unnecessary part of the story because I think they would be drawn to each other without forcing Fletcher to deceive Lucy about their online relationship. But in the end I can see how it works into the story and leaves the reader with a grand gesture and a wonderful ending.
I am grateful for the opportunity to read a complimentary digital copy of this charming book from Forever Publishing by way of Netgalley. All of the opinions in this review are my own.

Flirty Little Secret is great for fans of…
🩷 Teachers
🩷 Forced Proximity
🩷 Hidden Identity
🩷 Mental Health Representation (ADHD, Anxiety & Depression)

As someone with ADHD & anxiety, I am always grateful for mental health representation. I think it was done very well. I appreciate seeing more mental health in books in general, but especially in romances.

I did struggle a bit to fully get lost in this story for some reason. I can’t pinpoint exactly why. I think the characters were both lovely, but I am not a big fan of the miscommunication or lack of communication with the secrets. So I think that is on me for not loving the setup/trope.

Massive thanks to NetGalley & Forever for the gifted copy, which I voluntarily read & reviewed.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC! This was such a fun romcom with excellent mental health representation. I loved the dual POVs and the cultural representation and importance throughout the story. This one had me giggling and kicking my feet - while simultaneously relating so hard to having clinical depression. I absolutely loved it!

This book was just ok! A quick read and loved the mental health rep. I could do without the social media/online stuff in books, just not for me!

"Flirty Little Secret" by Jessica Lepe brings humor and heartfelt exploration of mental health through Lucy and Fletcher's evolving relationship. Their journey is relatable and satisfying, making this book a delightful read.

The story is by a new-to-me author and the cover is very cute, so I decided to give this a try and was very pleasantly surprised. It was a delightfully charming read with a lot of heart. Lucy Galindo is leading a double life. To all that know her, she is a shy and sweet high school guidance counselor who is good at her job. What they don't know is that she suffers from anxiety and depression and that she writes an online column using a secret identity. She is bold when she is online and not afraid to speak her mind and has become popular giving advice to others. Fletcher is a new teacher at the high school and is intrigued by Lucy and develops a major crush on her. But he always seems to be at his worst around her. He reaches out to Lucy's online persona for advice. As Fletcher and Lucy become closer, it turns out that Lucy is not the only one hiding a secret.
I appreciated the mental health representation. It seems to be popping up more now in mainstream novels and that definitely helps provide more awareness, which is much needed. Unfortunately, I didn't feel a strong connection between Lucy and Fletcher, so the flow between them didn't seem as natural. That said, I think that overall this was a good debut novel and I am eager to see what the author comes up with next.
I received a complimentary copy from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.