One of my favorite books of 2023 was Jordan Harper’s Everybody Knows, which follows a PR executive and a disgraced PI as they unravel a gritty neon-noir mystery at the heart of Los Angeles. Ever since I’ve been looking for that magic pairing of “PR and PI” in the hopes I can find more books where these two seedy, seamy undersides of Los Angeles come together in some kind of mysterious tangle.

I was hoping Your Dark Secrets would give me the high I was searching for, but I spent the whole book chasing it and then was absolutely upset with myself at the end for sticking with it.

The first half of this book is interesting, if a slower build than I like to see in a jet-set suspense thriller with so much on the line for the main characters and taking place over what seems like a pretty short time frame. The pacing is off, there’s a bit too much filler, but it wasn’t unsalvageable. Sadly, in the back half of the book it just fell apart for me: the pacing was all over the place, the characters were inconsistent, there was too much filler, there was a very obvious evil villain monologue, and everything was either tied up too neatly or left dangling like a snagged sweater.

Ultimately, it was a very flawed book, in my opinion.

I was provided a copy of this title by Netgalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Reviews rated three stars or below will not appear on my social media. Thank you.

File Under: Suspense Romance/Suspense Thriller

I just finished Your Dark Secret by Elle Marr and it was just okay. The bones of a good story were there, but the execution was lacking. There were way too many moving parts and the reveal of the conspiracy totally fell flat after the way it was built up. I keep waiting for some big time players to get involved and that never happened.

I read this one in two days! There was a lot going on,
but I followed it all pretty well. I was just as much invested it the relationship as I was with the who has killed all these people. Addison and Conner set off together trying to solve mysteries after a rough past between the two of them. Can they figure out who is killing Addisons clients or is it one of them?
Thank you NetGalley for the arc.

Novel Concept: 5/5
Execution of Novel Concept: 5/5

Title: 3/5
Characterization: 5/5
Dialogue: 4/5
Plot: 4/5
Atmosphere: 5/5
Theme: 5/5
Prose: 5/5

Does this pass the Bechdel Test: Yes

Title
I think the place where this title is mentioned feels natural and fitting. And for the purpose of a mystery thriller this title is practical and it engages with the theme of secrets. My issue is that the person if specifically connects to does not appear enough to warrant the title space and I do fear that this book's title feels somewhat generic. It doesn't seem indivisible from the story the way that other titles do.

Characterization
Addison and Conner are two idiots sharing the same braincell and I love that. Each of them feel like fully realized and developed characters with quirks and flaws. They are like perpetually flipping magnets, both pulling each other close and repelling away from each other. They are a difficult due, and that's what makes them so interesting.

The minor characters are fleshed out and fascinating. Authors have to be economical about minor characters because of how little time they get and I do feel that each minor character glows in a unique way, taking full advantage at what little page space they have. I am a personal fan of Emelia. She had two scenes and cooked each time. What a legend.

Our antagonist felt correct. Sometimes I worry about being dragged by a red herring only to have the real answer shoved in the end with complex enough mental gymnastics that Simone Biles would be impressed--but the shoving in here was minimal and the true antagonist of the story haunts the narrative in an effective enough way that I was willing to buy into it and didn't even realize there was a red herring until it was quite literally pointed out.

Dialogue
The dialogue is witty and fun. It seems like the author was having a fun time embodying cold hearted Addison and I really enjoyed her perspective. Conner's interior monologue is also ripe with humor and quirk, and was equally a pleasure to read.

My hitches are, probably to no surprise, the Villain Monologue and Phineas' last chapter. The Villain Monologue just felt anticlimactic. It's difficult to keep tension past sixty seconds and honestly? No idea why Mx. Big Bad Evil Guy would be so honest. Was is truly ego? In a book that's all about public relations and lawsuits, I would think it's understood that in court it is never about what's true, it's all about what you can prove. The story that you can spin and get people to believe. There were 3+ witnesses to that villain monologue. What????

Finally, the Phineas' final chapter. There's a section in that chapter that ties up all the lose ends and I found it fairly clunky. I like where it's placed in the narrative and I like the way that it ends. I like the context in which it's being recorded--it's just the overexplaining of the final questions this book has seemed unnecessary ESPECIALLY when the author chose to end it the way that it ended. I think that Phineas' final chapter belongs there, I don't think his explanations of the final plot threads does.

Plot
The plot is engaging and I seldom got lost or turned around. The conspiracy was working well, the glamor and travel. The ruthlessness of a PR firm. Everything was coming together.

But why Addison does what she does at Fashion week? I don't understand her actions and I feel like the book never explains it and I am left confused. Why did she do that? I'm just confused at what game of 5D Chess Addison thinks she's playing.

The other plot point that cases the plot to stumble and cough is the connection point between Conner's benefactor and Mx. Big Bad Evil Guy. Yes the information is technically planted and Addison recalls it but there's more to seeding information than digging a hole and sticking the seed in there, metaphorically speaking. All in all, Mx. Big Bad Evil Guy felt completely underutilized and a lot of their relevant information comes right in at the end, sort of shoved in. It's not enough that I feel the need to dock a star, admittedly this is nitpicky, but for someone who so effectively haunts the narrative and get's the TITLE, I would want him to haunt the narrative a little harder. Have the information that's relevant about him exist in more places than just the very end of the story. This book needs to be so haunted by this guy that The Ghost Busters, The Scooby Gang, and The Winchesters show up.

Atmosphere
The nuances of being in PR came to life in this story and it felt well researched enough or the writing is well established in the rules it sets for itself that I believed the world that the author was feeding me. This story unveils the glamorously dark world of Public Relations and scandal that exists just below the surface of what the media is saying.

And for a mystery and thriller, I did generally feel stressed. Stressed that The Dumb Genius Duo struggled to get along and stressed about the collapsing world they're forced to sift through. A good stress. What is a thriller if you're not stressed just a little?

Theme
This book is about the deconstruction of truth. How easily it can be swayed. How a lot of the world is pointing people in the right direction so they can hide the stuff no one needs to see. It's also about ego--the way people drive themselves forwards and sometimes off a cliff in the name of being right or being successful. The genuine difficulty of admitting wrongdoing. And most important, the way that progress is not linear. It is a frustrating gallop of back and forth, and this novel executes that fairly well.

Prose
The prose is easy to follow and I seldom got lost in terms of comprehension. I wish I recorded my reaction to Phineas' first POV. I was just so thrown for a loop but man, I AM HERE FOR IT. What an interesting way to provide dramatic irony and context to the things that Addison and Conner are doing. Phineas meets a dude and in a few chapters that name shows up again in Addison or Conner's POV and your mind is like !!!!!!!!!!!!!! we know that guy!!!! from Phineas!!

The shifting perspective is good because neither Conner nor Addison are truly honest with the reader. Again, ego is a theme of the story and part of that is believing justification and full transparency is beneath you. So no, Conner and Addison feel no obligation to be honest with each other nor to you the reader so when we are switching POV's we cannot fully trust that the stuff we don't witness is the full truth. It's almost like each POV is a camera recording and if we don't see Addison doing something recorded--we can only take Addison's word on it--and she already lies to everyone and us so it's on us to really decide if we believe her or not. I live for unrealizable narrators and the fact that these two dumb idiots struggle trusting each other and being fully transparent with the reader adds to the (good) stress of reading this book. You want them to work together, but hell, you can't even trust them yourself.

Conclusion
This book was very fun to read and I had a great time and honestly, that's what I find the most valuable in a book. While there were plot details that my careful eye caught that fully didn't make sense to me, it wasn't enough that it soured my reading experience. I'd tell people to read this book--it was fun.

I was not the biggest fan of this book. When I read the synopsis, I thought it sounded amazing and so fully of mystery. Once actually getting into the book, it seemed too choppy and rough. I thought that there were some good twists and turns throughout the book, and I kept reading hoping it would get better. Unfortunately, I do have to rate this one 2 stars, just because of how rough of a start I had with this book. I do hope to read more from this author in the future to see what she can come up with.

Thank you for allowing me to read an early copy.

I struggled to get into this, it started slow but towards the end it started to pick up. The ending/big twist was jaw dropping though and made the whole book worth it. I also enjoyed the whole rivals to lovers aspect to the book. The relationship between Addison and Connor was fun and interesting!!

I tried to read this, I did. I just could not get into it. The beginning was terribly abrasive and as much as I wanted to give it a chance because I love romantic thrillers, I couldn’t do it. The first chapter was ridiculous and not realistic at all, I cringed the whole time I read it. DNF@ 10%. I’m not even rating it on Goodreads because I don’t think it’s fair to drag the average down when I couldn’t get through at least 1/3 of it.

Honestly, I did not care for this book. The way this synopsis sounded makes this book sound amazing. For me it felt slow and fell flat.

I did not finish. I got half way through. It was not for me. I am not leaving a good reads review because I want people to base their choice for reading this off what they think, or the reviews that have finished this book.

Sometimes you read a book with some unlikeable characters but you still like the book. I really wasn't a fan of either main character but the book was good. I thought they would get better as the story progressed, but they didn't.


Thank you to Net Galley and Hyperion Avenue for the early review copy. All opinions above are my own.

A great twisty yarn, where the female lead is feisty with a broken background but thankfully this is not over exaggerated. What I enjoyed most was the sharp back and forth between the characters which are quick witted and not always kind, but always on point.
I’ll definitely look for more by this author.
Thank you to NetGalley for a complimentary ebook.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc. This one was a romantic thriller. The chapters were a little long, and it seemed more mystery than thriller. I love this author's books, however and will continue to read them. It had suspense and intrigue.

A regrettable miss from me for this enemies to lovers mystery thriller that coulda shoulda been a good read. Addison and Connor have a complicated back story but now they've got to work together because Addison's client has been murdered. among other things. This moves back and forth in time and, as others have said between first and third person. Neither Addison or Connor is that appealing, although I did like that he's got a more interesting back story complete with gambling debts. This would have benefited from a critical edit. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Over to others.

The premise of the book sounded great, However, the book was very slow to me. I had a hard time engaging with the characters. The traveling to different locations was interesting. The storyline, unfortunately, didn’t pull me in and grab my attention. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced free copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Meet Addison, a ruthless PR executive who will do anything to hide the secrets of the rich and famous, thrown into a high- stake mission that unravels a dangerous web weaved by Hollywood's most powerful figures.

thank you netgalley for the e-arc. thanks, but definitely no thanks. the voice notes were my favorite sections. the characters seemed very one-note, surface level and could have used some building during the editing process. nothing particularly exciting or thrilling happened until almost the end and the twist wasn't worth the wait. also what's with all the kevin bacon references?

this one definitely needed a bit more editing before releasing - which I hope it did! because the constant switching between first person POV and third person POV alone made my head spin 😶 and for an advertised mystery thriller, it read more like a forbidden enemies to lovers romance!

I did love the concept as the flight attendant is one of my favorites, however I felt that it failed in its execution. this could have been majorly cut down in its length (almost 500 pages for what?), and with a bit more editing, it could get crafted into a better outcome and plot line.

additionally, a lot of the legal aspects surrounding the plot were murky at best. I think the author would benefit from having a police consultant to clarify a few of these concepts!

overall a quick and bingeable read but ultimately forgettable 😳

rating: 2.5 stars
wine pairing: columbia valley chardonnay

Really enjoyed this book! I thought the characters were very developed and enjoyed the writing style.

This story is about betrayal, lust for money fame, and revenge. It's about a complicated relationship between an accomplished PI, Connor Windell, and a ruthless PR woman, Addison Stern. I can't say I liked the characters they were shallow and relentless. Successful because of their ways but when one ruins the reputation of the other even while in a relationship it ends bitterly. Then years later they find they must work together to solve a mystery and save themselves things get dicey. Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

In the fast-paced world of Los Angeles, where glamour and intrigue collide, Addison Stern and Connor Windell find themselves entangled in a dangerous game of deception and betrayal. Addison, a masterful PR executive at the prestigious Ovid Blackwell Group, is known for her ability to shape narratives and protect the secrets of the rich and famous. On the other hand, Connor is a former top private investigator whose career was derailed by a personal betrayal at the hands of none other than Addison herself. However, as their joint endeavor transcends all expectations, revealing a meticulously crafted network of malevolent power brokers at the pinnacle of Hollywood's hierarchy, they realize that their survival hinges on their unity. From the dazzling lights of the Vegas Strip to the sun-kissed beaches of Monaco, this transcontinental escapade teems with misplaced trust, conflicting motives, and an undercurrent of sizzling chemistry between Addison and Connor. As they navigate through the perilous terrain of deception and deceit, their journey unfolds into a pulse-pounding romantic thriller that keeps readers on the edge of their seats, ensuring sleepless nights and a fervent desire to unravel the mystery alongside our intrepid protagonists.

I was unable to finish this book and thus will not be posting a full review. I found it muddled and uninteresting. I tried to force myself to continue reading but ultimately I had to stop. Thank you for the opportunity and consideration.