Hooked from the start. I love when you know something is off but you cant tell what it is.

Quick great read. Hillier is great.

Thanks to Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review!

You must know, I am a fan of the author. I have devoured and enjoyed every book she has written. I enjoy her writing style. I love that she writes complicated characters, who don't quite always do the right thing or make the right decision. Jennifer Hillier writes real people, broken people, who have real problems, and may not always deal with them the way others think they should.

This novel is about Marin and Derek. Marin has been in a tailspin since her son Bash was abducted from a busy shopping plaza while Christmas shopping with her. She blames herself for letting go of his hand while texting her husband. Marin and Derek have been trying to get past this event and carry on with their lives as best they can. But honestly how much can you move on when your child is abducted? The main focus in the book is Marin and the fact that 16 months later she still cannot let go what happened. She still needs answers, but will she like what she starts to find on the trail once it has gone stale. She gets a call from her PI Castro and off we go.

I can't even imagine how horrible it must be to have a missing child. I cannot fathom. The choices she makes in this book, while not great choices, come from a place of utter desperation and need. I am not a perfect person and could easily see myself making some of the same choices. I love the writing. I love the character development. I love the plot premise. I love the thriller aspect. 5 big stars from me. Go read it.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for allowing me the opportunity to read and review.

I really wanted to love this one it’s been getting such hype but it wasn’t for me. I guessed what was going on early on and it felt so unbelievable to me. It was addicting and I finished it quickly but it’ll be one I forget about just as quickly.

In Little Secrets, the main character, Marin, is struggling with the aftermath of her son's kidnapping. She went from being a devoted wife and mother to being a shadow of herself with a cheating spouse. When Marin discovers her husband's infidelity, she decides to seek revenge on her husband's mistress.
Overall, I was engaged in the read but toward the end where several unexpected things were revealed, I did find myself wondering, How could she not have known certain details? However, it was refreshing to read a story with an ending I didn't expect.
Thank you #Netgalley

As she did in Jar of Hearts , Jennifer Hillier made me feel as if I found another family that I wouldn't like to meet. When Marin and Derek lose their young son, Sebastian, their world shatters and both retreat in different ways. For Marin, she becomes obsessed in her search and hires a private investigator but also struggles to stay alive. For Derek, he loses himself in his work and is often gone from home. But when the investigator discovers that Derek is having an affair with a young graduate student, Mackenzie, things take a turn no one expected.

This definitely had me riveted from beginning to end and it was dark and twisty. Both qualities I love in my books! I also appreciate that Hillier doesn't refrain from making her characters do some pretty despicable things in their pursuit of the truth. We get both Marin and Kenzie's viewpoint and these ladies are just downright shady! I loved it!


A book that you need to help you get through staying at home. Trust me, the kids can have cereal!


Goodreads review published 13/04/20
Expected publication date. 21/04/20

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an egalley in exchange for an honest review.

Mesmerizing And An Edge Of Your Seat Thriller!

Marin and Derek are an upscale young couple who seemed to have it all until their five year old son Sebastian disappeared a few days before Christmas sixteen month ago. Naturally they are devastated and just trying to get by each day although Marin is completely broken and only exists with the hope that her precious boy will be found alive one day. Marin had hired a private detective and one day discovers that Derek has been having an affair and this brings Marin's breaking point to boiling instead and a new level of emotional strength that she never knew she was capable of having. This downward spiral will uncover so many dark and vicious secrets that will have your mind spinning like a top.

This book was deliciously devious, dark and demented in many ways. I don't want to give too much away so you can enjoy the thrill of being shocked or ridiculously surprised by the twists that keep occurring throughout the story. The writing is sensitive as it deals with the immense feelings of grief that a mother might feel when her child is missing and how one might be willing to sell their soul to the devil for some release from pain when their emotional and mental stability are compromised by the darkness and despair that become one with their mind and heart.

I want to thank the publisher "St. Martins Press" / Minotaur Books and Netgalley for the privilege of reading this marvelous Advanced Reading Copy and opinions expressed are unbiased and mine alone!

I highly recommend to all readers and have given a rating of 5 Darkly, Delicious 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Stars!!

Who exactly is Kenzie? That's what Marin wants to know. She does know that her son Sebastian disappeared a year ago, her marriage to Derek has fallen into nothingness, and there doesn't seem to be any hope on the horizon. She knows Derek blames her but enough to have an affair with Kenzie- a young social media user/barista/artist who has no scruples. But what secret does Kenzie have? I liked that this was told alternately by Kenzie and Marin. Admittedly, I was more sympathetic to Marin (of course) but switching pov's kept me guessing about what was happening. Not a fan of Derek, brtw. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. This one is a page turner- well crafted with good characters and a storytelling style that's just right at amping up the tension.

Absolutely LOVED this book. A refreshing domestic thriller told through impeccable writing. I started it this morning and finished it before 10pm because I literally couldn’t stop.

Love love love

Wow this book was great! Having previously read Jennifer Hillier's book Jar of Hearts, I anticipated a great thrill ride of a book - and boy did this book deliver! Little Secrets follows the story of a couple whose son gets kidnapped and the fallout that brings. The book had lots of twists and turns I didn't see coming. I loved every minute of it. I couldn't put the book down! Can't wait for her next book!

This is my first book by Jennifer Hillier and won't be my last. This book had me at the edge of my seat. A page turner. Its every mother's fear of losing her child. Marin tries to live her life as best she can after her son disappears without a trace (every mother's fear), but finding out her husband is having an affair with a younger woman has caused her to lose that balance and determined not to lose him as well. A must read for sure.

I've been a big fan of Hillier's writing for some time now and so I was really looking forward to reading her latest novel. And it's been well worth the wait! I really enjoyed it - really, I couldn't put it down! It opens with a parent's worst nightmare - three days before Christmas, Marin's son is taken when she is briefly distracted at a crowded Seattle public market. The book moves forward sixteen months and Sebastian is still missing. When Marin learns from her private investigator that her husband is having an affair, Marin's anger cuts through her oppressive grief and sadness.

The title is certainly apt as it quickly becomes apparent that all of the characters here are keeping secrets from one another - though some are certainly not so little. It's a gripping read that guarantees grabbing the reader's attention as soon as Sebastian is snatched away. And while some of the plot are a bit more predictable than others, there are still some really surprises to these secrets. I thoroughly enjoyed this from start to finish - I gasped, I cried and I even laughed. It's definitely a dark novel, but well-written. It's a satisfying read and one that leaves me excited as ever to see what Hillier will write next!

A mother of a missing son learns, that her husband and best friend have secrets that can destroy her whole world. Buckle up and pay attention, because this is defiantly a bumpy ride.

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Jennifer Hillier for the ARC.

I loved Jennifer Hillier’s last novel, Jar of Hearts, so I have had high expectations for this one. Marin and Derek seem like the perfect couple, rich, good-looking, and parents to an adorable 4-year-old, Sebastian. Then one day Marin lets go of Sebastian’s hand for just a moment and he’s gone. A year has passed with no news of Sebastian, but Marin learns that Derek is having an affair with a much younger woman. Marin lost Sebastian, but she won’t lose Derek.

As the mother of a 5-year-old boy, story was hard for me to read. It brought out a lot of emotions and made me think about some of my worst nightmares when it comes to my children. But I think other fans of Jar of Hearts will also love this smart and engrossing thriller.

While I found the writing lacking in parts, and some of the characters too stereotypical and without depth, this book still had me furiously turning pages trying to figure out what happened.

The subject of this book is very scary to me, because it is something that could actually happen to anyone. I found that made the book very terrifying and while it was very good and suspenseful, it freaked me out!

Little Secrets by Jennifer Hillier a tension-packed, addictive and easily consumable story that immediately sucks you into the narrative. It’s a tale of loss and grief, your worst fears coming true, because they sometimes do, and how one copes and manages day-to-day in the aftermath. It’s a story about persistent hope, relentless endurance, even when only hanging on by a thin thread, yet never giving up. It explores the depths we will go to for those we love, which may surprise or even alarm us when push comes to shove, and it’s about the wide-ranging ways we cope with and handle our heartbreaks.

Little Secrets is, at its core, a story about the abduction of a child; the one fragile, fleeting moment when a parent’s world is changed forever. It describes in vivid detail, the aftermath of Marin and Derick’s ordeal, which was further complicated by layers upon layers of lies and secrets, deceit and betrayal.

This novel was as much a story about grief as it was a thriller, though it had its fair share of shocking twists and turns. But because of its very nature, it was all the more impactful and a truly moving and powerful story that will long stay with me.

When four year old Sebastian disappears from his mother’s side just before Christmas, his parents, Marin and Derek go in to a downward spiral. They grow apart with Marin contemplating suicide and Derek gets involved with another woman.
I went in to Little Secrets without reading the synopsis or knowing anything about it and was immediately sucked in with the shocking start. I enjoyed this book despite a group of unlikeable characters, but I think it was great writing which made them flawed and difficult to like. Marin’s downward spiral after her son disappears was uncomfortable to read. As a mother, losing a child was always my worst fear. It happened once when my oldest was four. He disappeared in a major airport for about fifteen minutes and it was terrifying, so I related to the initial panic, but the grief over an extended period of time would make most of us crazy. It was well written.
Of course, being me, I didn’t expect the outcome and I thought it was a good one.

5 amazing stars!!

I wish I would have highlighted more so you could see how great this book is. But I was so entranced that I didn’t stop for highlights. I couldn’t stop other then having to work and sleep.

Can you imagine loosing your baby, after seeing him moments before?!?! How do you live with the guilt?!?!

I don’t have enough good words for this book!! It hooked me from the very first chapter. The secrets. The lies. It was soooo good.

You think you know but you have no idea who the good guys are and who the bad guys are. I mean really. This book was just what I needed to take my mind off what’s happening in the world.

Sorry my review doesn’t even touch how fabulous this book is. Trust and believe this is a book you want to read!!

**I received this book as an ARC and in return I gave my honest review**

5 stars for Little Secrets the brilliant new novel by Jennifer Hillier. This author became one of my favorites last year when I read Jar of Hearts, so I was super excited to receive an ARC of JH’s new novel.

Little Secrets opens with a nightmare. A mother, Marin, and her 4-year-old son, Sebastian, are Christmas shopping in the crowded Seattle Pike Place Mall. She is distracted for an instant, Sebastian wriggles free of her hand and almost immediately disappears into the throng of shoppers. He is seen on security footage walking out of the shopping center with a “Santa”, and then gone, without a trace. M is a strong and hugely successful woman who owns a small but prestigious hair salon empire. With her nearly unlimited resources, she never stops looking for Sebastian. When the police case basically grows cold as all possible leads dry up, she hires the best private investigator for the job.

A year and half after the kidnapping, M is a shell of the woman she was before, holding herself together, but just barely – self-medicating with booze and drugs. She unenthusiastically attends sessions with a psychiatrist and with a support group of people who are suffering the loss of their children under differing circumstances. Her marriage to Derek appears to be solid but has grown indifferent.

PI does not find son but inadvertently makes a dramatic discovery that will jolt M into anger (“humiliations galore”). At this point the pages are flipping by themselves! Rage is a far more driving force than despair and the anticipation of a delectable revenge had me tearing through the novel to see what, where, how and who will feel the full force of M’s wrath.

Enter best bud Sal – once boyfriend but after they separated in college, he and M remained best friends until the present, Twenty years later. M knows everything about this man (how is that possible?) and he is the person she trusts more than anyone – even more than her husband – and apparently for good reason. Sal still loves M and will do anything for her. He is her go-to guy. M’s visit to Sal after meeting with PI sets in motion the nail-biting events to follow, until the shocking discovery close to the end of the novel.

JH - Setting the nude selfie on the iphone wallpaper was priceless (and ingenious)!

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martins Press Minotaur Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I've been reading so much lately. So many of us have. Not a lot to do right now. So I've soured on a lot of books I've read recently. But this one was a nice surprise. It begins with a mother and son doing some Christmas shopping. Four year olds are a handful, and can be gone in a flash. And that's what happens. So, we watch Marin trying to deal with her guilt of letting go of her child's hand for a few seconds. She never gives herself a break. She falls apart.

Then I'm thinking this is the mystery of her child's disappearance. Soon, it becomes the story of dealing with grief. Next, it becomes the story of vengeful people. Soon, we get to see another perspective. We are reminded that the way we see others and ourselves often have nothing to do with reality or the perspective of others.

I found myself riding this story. I wanted to go along with it, experience it. The grief. The tragedy. The betrayal. The lust. The sorrow. Sure, there are moments when you make connections and then wait for the characters to make the same connections. You know and you hope.

Thank you to Jennifer Hllier, Netgalley, and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review. I plan to search out previous titles by this author.