A good story with some interesting twists and turns that I wasn’t expecting. I’d read more from the author.

Deadly Secrets was the first book I've read by this author.

The story surrounds Kevin Christopher, a thirty-three-year-old. To everyone else, he seems to have it all, but under the surface is something different. He uses his looks to get what he wants, while never letting anyone get too close. When his reckless ways catch up with him, he moves to Atlanta.

However, things change when family secrets come to light. Forced to confront his past, he eventually reverts to his old ways, and soon finds himself embroiled in blackmail, betrayal, and revenge.

The storyline is a great idea, I just felt it was missing something.

Great story with unexpected twists and turns. A great example in the suspense genre. I read this in one sitting, on the edge of my seat!

Thanks to Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

I wanted to like this book. But there wasn't much plot or character development, and I wasn't really sure whom I was supposed to be rooting for. Characters were jumping into things without much preamble, and it felt a little weird with some things discussed. I think with a little more work it could've turned into a much better story.

Thank you Netgalley for an ARC for this book in exchange for an honest review. I could not get into this book so unfortunately I was unable to finish it.

Nothing but short sentences and snappy dialogue. The characters are not very redeeming or interesting. In all, I would say this has been a very disappointing book.

I wanted to like this book, but I could just never get into it. Honestly, I never finished it so I can’t comment on the entire book. The part that I did read just fell flat for me.

This was great! It had lots of love, jealousy, womanizing & blackmailing what more could you need in a drama/mystery book. Kevin Christopher is the main character who is a drop dead gorgeous man who could get any woman he wants, and he does, but the story is more complex than just a womanizing hunk. It is a well developed story that shows how Kevin came to be the man he is and there are some great characters mixed in who played a part in Kevin’s life and helped shaped it. Awesome story, great characters and loved the challenges he goes through and definitely love the ending. I would definitely recommend this book. Total five thumbs up 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
🤓❤️📚❣️

Great read. The author wrote a story that was interesting and moved at a pace that kept me engaged. The characters were easy to invest in.

Excellent read. Hard to put the book down. Right from the start you were sucked in and new this was going to be a good one. The storyline was wicked. Not quite knowing where it was going next. There was lots of twists and turns in the road.

Deadly secrets by Karin Barnes.
A fantastic read with some great characters. Kevin was my favourite. Couldn't put it down. 5*.

This book felt like it was poorly written and had lost focus on the actual storyline the author wanted to share with the reader.
I found that there were too many storylines associated with a plethora of characters but they felt underdeveloped and rushed.

Badly written, jumping around in time and places. This is pure nonsense, and I don't see any point at all.

Kevin Christopher is a thirty year old bachelor who seems to have it all – looks, charm and his pick of women. Below the surface, lies a man scarred by an abusive childhood and broken heart. He uses his looks to get what he wants, while never letting anyone get too close. When his reckless ways catch up with him, he moves to Atlanta

Thank you to net galley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this book it was a great experience first time reading anything from this author

I received this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you NetGalley.

This book just totally fell flat for me. I wanted to like it, but unfortunately it wasn't there. I couldn't get into it. It was predictable and was just missing something.

What a dreadful book! Normally I try to be positive about books I have read, but there is really nothing redeeming about this book.
It is very poorly written, basically just a stream of short sentences and dialogue, jumping forward in time with no relation to what has just been happening, just to move the plot along. Very lazy writing, very sloppy and very irritating. There is almost no characterisation, and the reader is not encouraged to empathise or even care about any character in the tale. Kevin Christopher and the women he exploits certainly elicits no sympathy. Most of the characters seemed to have very unlikely career paths! Real life just isn't that forgiving of poor starts and bad choices and the element of unlikely coincidence was exploited to the full. The plot was very simplistic, and very predictable.
I am astounded a book written so poorly was accepted for publication. I only finished it because my commitment to NetGalley is to try to finish and review all the books I am privileged to read. Otherwise I would have given up very early on.
Thank you to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for allowing me access to the ARC in exchange for a (very) honest review.

Well... Not bad, but I can't honestly say it was good either.
Not the most interesting or captivating story of the year! I couldn't really connect with the story or characters. A bit predictable too... and I'm sorry to say boring.

Apparently I am not the only one with those thoughts on the book

Thank you to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for the access to this book. This is my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Kevin moves to Atlanta and immediately has an affair with his new boss. His grandma is sick so he visits her and his uncle. His father, that he had never known, left Kevin a letter that states he (his father) would like to meet Kevin. The meeting does not fare too well. Once back at work, Kevin's attitude has changed. Yet, he redeems himself by having been a college roommate with a possible major client.
Ms. Barnes has some GREAT ideas and if she reapplies them this could be a very good read!
The plot goes on and on. I did not particularly enjoy this story. It was kind of shallow and predictable.

Perhaps a deeper plot woven among the rest of the story would have worked well.

Many Thanks to BooksGoSocial & NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I cannot believe I wasted my time on this book! It was so awful! The writing in the story was juvenile most of the time, and the storyline was ridiculous.
I know that this is an uncorrected proof, But the chapters weren’t even clearly marked throughout 95% of the book and it was like reading one long run on sentence.
I would not recommend this book to anybody unless they want to be bored out of their minds-it was cringe worthy.

More like 1.5 stars but okay. I don't like giving negative reviews but in this book, I really can't do anything else. I'm obligated to write an honest review of the book and so, here it is.

As the blurb says, this is the story of Kevin. Kevin is rich and attractive but has suffered from an abusive childhood and has a dysfunctional brother. If it appears like there isn't much of a plot here, that's because there really isn't much of a plot here. We see Kevin live his life, date people, have lots of sex, mess up other people's life and well, that's pretty much it. The plot seems to depend on pregnancies, car accidents and everyone being attracted to Kevin.

Oh, Kevin. The name Kevin still reminds me of the bird from Up and I far prefer it. Kevin here is a douchebag. Now, I don't think a character needs to be perfect, but really, I couldn't sympathize with Kevin at all. He seems to act without ever caring about anyone. It's always all about his own interests. He really has nothing going for him, character-wise.

For full disclosure, I'm a huge sucker for that style of character. Like, the attractive guy who's cocky, suffered a traumatic childhood, gets everything he wants and occasionally has a good heart (thinking about you, Archer from the tv series Archer). However, Kevin is simply annoying. I can't even cheer for him when he blackmails people because I simply don't think he deserves a happy ending. He is everything that's wrong and like, there isn't even an American Psycho style conversation here. Just zero character development.

This is a problem that shows up consistently in this book. There are a lot of characters but I didn't care about them because they all seemed the same. Characters are introduced and then simply disappear. They get introduced like this "Character has blue eyes and is 6'2. They are attractive. When they were 15, they were abused by their grandfather." As you can see, it's hard to care about a character when you know their life story and looks but nothing else.

The dialogue is another weak point here. The author has a tendency to force the characters to share intimate parts of themselves incredibly quickly. Everyone seems to be showing off their scars. This doesn't help me care. It's so much better to show than to tell. A scene of Kevin needing to take care of his mother would go so much further than him talking about drugs. We need to see in order to feel, it's not about what happened, it's about how it's written.

Beyond these problems, as a feminist, this book drove me insane. As you can see from my statuses, the way this book talks about women is quite off putting. I realize this book was written by a woman but I still can't stop seeing this attitude that simply isn't right for 2019. Sexual harassment and relationships are a currency and it's not even addressed in any literary way. Nope, whatever problems the characters encounter are solved but there isn't any broad conversation about anything of the unsettling behaviors.

Generally speaking, I couldn't find any literary value, any type of idea that makes you think. John Green's video "How I Read and Why" expresses my thoughts about this much better than I could ever but I don't feel this book, in its current form, deserves our attention.

Okay. I'm being mean. I just truly think this book needs more work. First person would do a lot of good here because Kevin would appear like less of an asshole. To narrow down the story to only Kevin and his life would also help. Building a dynamic between him and his brothers. Asking bigger questions. Giving the plot a solid shape, a beginning, end and middle. Making sure each and every scene follows into each other naturally. Creating tension, upping the odds. Read out the dialogues out loud and make sure they sound natural. Why is this story important? Who is this meant to affect?

I didn't see the twist but it showed up in the last 50 pages and was resolved after 15 pages so I don't think it really matters that much. Not to mention that it never gets spoken about properly. Like, it gets solved but there's no conversation.

I'm sorry. Writing books is hard and I have so much admiration for everyone that manages to do the work and put themselves out like this. I would be thrilled to read more work from this author and I do think this piece has potential, it just needs more work.

<b> What I'm Taking With Me </b>
- Man, if I end up working in the corporate world, I'll cry.
- People with a last name that sounds like a first name are usually annoying.
- This book makes me feel like women can get pregnant very easily.