5 Stars!! Highly addictive! I admit, it started off a tad slow but then it just took off. There was a big plot twist I did not see coming. This story is filled with deception and many twist and turns. I absolutely love thrillers and Hillier did not disappoint!!!

Because I think you should go in as blind as you can on this one I’m keeping it short! All I’ll say is it’s a psychological thriller about a missing child. That’s all you’re getting from me.

Pick it up, read it and enjoy it! It’s so good!! If you love a book you can’t put down because you gotta know what happens, a book that keeps you at the edge of your seat then this is most definitely the book for you!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review!

Marin has what she thinks if her perfect life which is quickly taken away from her. Her son is taken and a year later the police have gone cold so she hires a PI to look into the kidnapping. What the PI discovers is more then she bargained for. Her husband is having an affair and this is something she can handle, but is she going to go to far and cause herself to be lost forever.

Marin blames herself for her young son’s abduction. Over a year later, she’s seeing a therapist and attending a support group, while dreading a call confirming her worst fear. Discovering her husband’s betrayal, gives her the opportunity to release her feelings of powerlessness by extracting revenge on her husband’s young mistress.

Everyone has little secrets, but little secrets can cause big problems. Each of the primary players in this book has secrets and those secrets. once revealed, have significant consequences.

LITTLE SECRETS, like all great thrillers, is a compulsively readable book. The characters are so well drawn, and it’s difficult not to get sucked into each one’s personal dramas. A piece of writing advice I see exemplified in this novel is to have every primary character act as though they are the hero of the story. Marin’s guilt over taking her attention away from her son for mere minutes in a crowded public place is the heartbeat of the story, like the organ in Poe’s Tell-Tale Heart, it’s ever present. Just being able to get out of bed is a heroic act for her, as is living in a world without her son. Derek, her husband, believes himself the hero by doing his best not to trigger Marin’s self-destructive tendencies, by staying in their distant marriage and by keeping things, like his affair, on the down low. Instagram Influencer Kenzie doesn’t see anything wrong with being a “professional girlfriend.” She’s providing an unofficial service and deserves compensation, and her monetary expectations are low compared to what the wealthy men she dates are worth. While Marin sees Kenzie as a home wrecker, Kenzie finds the men to blame for any collateral damage.

For me, LITTLE SECRETS is a four and a half star read, rounded up to five.

Hillier’s novel JAR OF HEARTS won the 2019 International Thriller Writer’s Award for Best Hardcover novel, and her follow up LITTLE SECRETS proves her ability to consistently produce outstanding thrillers. I cannot wait to see what she has next in store for her rapidly growing fan base.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books, an imprint of St. Martin’s Publishing Group, for providing an Advance Reader Copy.

I am not sure what is going on this year but it seems that these authors are doing awesome bombshells when they are writing. This is another book from NetGalley that as I get half way through the book I am hit with something mind blown and I am left going what? How did I miss that? So huge thank you to authors who leave us readers in suspense until close to the end.

Marin and Derek have a normal life minus the fact that they have money. So when on a devastating day when their son goes missing their whole life changes. Of course as you would expect Marin and Derek are just here on this planet. Marin finds herself counting the days on how long their son has gone missing. She hires a P.I. to find him because she knows he is not dead she knows he is out there. Little does she know that what her P.I. uncovers will unravel her world like no other. This book will have you gripped from the beginning and once you start you will not put it down. I really enjoyed how the author captured the way Marin and Derek acted towards each other I felt she did it in a way that we as readers could really see parents becoming distant from each other in the wake of a tragedy. I loved the grief meetings that Marin attended and that we got a bit of story with those characters as well. Just so you know if you are expecting this book to go one way you will be in for a heck of a surprise. Love this author. She is rated up there for me as my top 10.

Jennifer Hillier you have done it again! I absolutely loved and devoured Jar of Hearts and she managed to nail it again with something unique and intricate. This tale is consuming and so well thought out. No bases are left uncovered in this masterful suspenseful tale. I loved Marin and Kenzie’s pov’s equally. The author manages to fully engage us with current matters all while giving us the background we need to understand the characters. Depth of characters is not something we always get with thrillers so I’m impressed. Highly recommend everyone pick this book up when it releases in April.

Ho. Ly. Cow. I LOVED THIS BOOK! Five huge stars. This book sucked me in and then took me for a ride! It tells the story of Marin and Derek whose son had been kidnapped a year ago. Marin learns something information about her husband and the whole thing gets VERY interesting. The characters were great and plot was so fun. Highly recommend! I couldn’t put it down!

Thanks Netgalley for the ARC!

Marin’s world is completely shattered when her four-year-old son, Sebastian, goes missing. After a year and a half of uncertainty and disappointment, she is absolutely desperate to know what happened to him. One day, Vanessa, a PI she hired, shares some recently uncovered information, not about her missing son, but about an affair her husband is having with a much younger woman. The story takes off as Marin slowly uncovers dark secrets that unravels the mystery as to what really happened with her son.⁣
⁣
This was one of my favorite reads so far this year! I really loved the main character and felt like I didn’t expect the ending at all. @jenniferhillierbooks did an amazing job building the plot and making you absolutely sucked into this story. The pub date for this book is April 21st and I strongly recommend you pick it up!⁣

A great book full of twists and surprises... a wonderful addition to the domestic thriller genre. Although there's a huge coincidence that took me out of the world of the novel, overall it's a great puzzle with pieces that fit well together.

Another thriller this month that I read and thoroughly enjoyed and this book needs to be turned into a movie ASAP! Can't give to much away and going back to read the synopsis even gives away a little too much in my opinion. One of the twists although predictable to me, I was still happy to go along for the ride and enjoyed the conclusion of it all.

There's no telling what anyone of us would do if faced with a lost child or an affair in your marriage and I think Marin reflects that. I was glad Jennifer Hillier didn't hide her faults and wrote about an honest and human woman for lead in this story,

Thank you to the author, NetGalley and St Martin's Press for providing me with the book in exchange for an honest review.

A continuous flow of suspense. and a terrific blend of characters, setting and story.

SUMMARY
Marin’s life is perfect. She lives in Seattle, owns a chain of hair salons, and is married to her college sweetheart. They're admired in their community and are a loving family—until their world falls apart the day their four-year-old son Sebastian is taken.

A year later, Marin is still struggling to get through the day. The FBI search has gone cold and the publicity has faded. Marin and her husband Derek, rarely speak. She hires a P.I. to pick up where the police left off, but instead of finding Sebastian, she learns that Derek is having an affair with a younger woman. This discovery sparks Marin back to life. She's lost her son; she's not about to lose her husband, too. Kenzie, the other woman, is a problem that Marin can fix.

REVIEW
LITTLE SECRETS is as deliciously written as the chocolate creme truffles at La Parisienne Doux. You will be hooked in Chapter one and will not be able to put it down. The story is riveting. You will just have to find out what happened to Sebastian, in his cute little reindeer sweater.

The plot moves fast and you’ll have no problem consuming it all in one or two sittings. It’s a continuous flow of suspense. and a terrific blend of characters, setting and story. You can feel Marin’s panic when Sebastian disappears from the bustling Pike Place Market just before Christmas, her character comes to life on the pages. One of life’s pleasure is when a book unexpectedly surprises you with how good it is. This one did!

Author JENNIFER HILLIER was born and raised in Toronto, Canada, lived in the Seattle area for years, and has just moved back to Toronto with her husband and son. Jennifer is the author of Wonderland, Creep, and Jar of Hearts.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Publisher St. Martin’s Press
Published April 21, 2020
Review www.bluestockingreviews.com

My Mini Thoughts

I've heard such good things about this author from others that have read Jar of Hearts.  So I bought that book, it's on my never ending TBR pile.  Then I was approved for this one on NetGalley, so I decided to go with this book first.

Here's the thing, I shouldn't be allowed to read books about little kids being kidnapped.  Ug, the mom in me just can't handle such a realistic subject.  I teared up a lot in this book. 

I struggled with this one because I couldn't relate to any characters in the book.  There were times I liked Marin and times I wanted to strangle her!  Yes, she still had a private investigator working for her to find her son, way to go!  She never gave up hope of finding him.  On the other hand I thought she was too focused on Kenzie Li, her husbands mistress.  Don't even get me started on the husband!

I will say I never guessed who the kidnapper is.  That was a good twist, a sad one if your Marin.  

So now it's onto Jar of Hearts!  

This book comes out April 21, 2020.

Thank you Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the ARC.

This was the first time reading this authors work. Can I say I have found my new favorite suspense author. Her writing flows and her storyline weaves seamlessly captivating her audience. After reading this I am going through everyone of her precious novels one by one. With so many current popularly suspense women writers I am shocked she hasn’t been found as one of the top. Imagine Stephen King as a female. The book is set in Seattle and you won’t be able to stop until you finish this book. Highly recommend.

Little Secrets is my first read from Jennifer Hillier, but it certainly will not be my last!

Little Secrets is emotionally charged. Hillier toys with each of the relationships we, as humans, hold dear. What happens when you experience trauma as a parent, a mate, and a friend, all in very short order? Little Secrets quickly become all consuming!

Hillier artfully weaves a web of misconceptions and outright deceit. You will second guess who and what you thought you knew. Full of all those delicious twists and turns we crave, rest assured Little Secrets follows through to a satisfying end.

If thrillers are your forte, I recommend giving Little Secrets a try!

🖤 MINI REVIEW 🖤
.
This book started with a BANG and really is an utterly, addictive thriller!
.
As a mother we can all sympathize with the main character, Marin. Every mother’s worst fear is your child being abducted with no known leads. I truly could feel Marin’s pain as she coped and mourned her son Sebastian’s disappearance. The first chapter will grab your heart in a vice grip and not let it go!
.
Sixteen months after Sebastian’s disappearance, this book continues and it delves deep into the emotional trauma experienced by the parents and the decisions they make to cope.
.
Although this book starts off with a bang, this is a slow burn thriller! Part 2 will seem a little slow but I promise all the information provided in those pages is necessary for the development of the story. Once I got to the final 100 pages, I flew threw them and you will too! I literally could not stop reading and the end did not disappoint! This is a must read!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

I was really excited to read this book since I was obsessed with her other book Jar of Hearts. I think it started just a bit slow for me and I was starting to feel a little disappointed it about 50% in it really picked up.

Two hundred and forty seconds. That’s what it takes to lose a child (plus a lollipop and Santa) Marin is part of a wealthy NW power couple who had it all. In the blink of a moment she has what matters most taken for her. Cut to a year later and she’s surviving on pills, wine, her job as an owner of a high end salon, a support group, avoiding her husband and her best friend since college. One day her PI comes to her with the news that her husband is having an affair with a much younger woman. This is the news that gives her a purpose as she’ll do anything to get back what’s hers whatever the cost. I read this book in a day. It was well written, intriguing, sad and tense. While I didn’t love the ending (thought it was too rushed and everything came together rather conveniently I would recommend to a friend and read more from this author. Thank you net galley for the chance to read this book!

Ms. Hillier does a fine job of writing this novel.
A woman, well to do, married to the man of her dreams and a son she adores. Then the son is taken by a stranger and never is there a ransom demand or contact from the child stealer.
She predictably falls apart in her grief. Her husband becomes distant and eventually has an affair.
And then the twists begin. What would you do in her situation? Divorce? Couples therapy? You will be shocked at what she decides to do.
And what occurs after....things are not all that they seem.....
A very well written novel. I enjoyed every minute of it.

Over a year ago, Marin and Derek’s 4-year old son went missing in a shopping center and their lives haven’t been the same since. Marin and Derek have remained together, but their marriage is nothing like it was before. Unbeknownst you’re Derek, Marin hired a PI after their son’s disappearance to hopefully find out what happened to him. But instead of finding their son, the PI discovered that Derek’s been having a secret affair with a young art student named Kenzie.

This prompts Marin to act in uncharacteristic ways, doing things she never thought she would do. What would any woman do upon discovering her husband is having an affair with a much younger woman?

We go on a wild ride full of twists and turns to find out just what’ll happen to Marin, Derek and Kenzie. A story of heartbreak, betrayal and revenge. And just how far will one woman go to find her missing son?

Little Secrets by Jennifer Hillier is a compulsive, addicting thriller that I couldn’t put down. I’m a sucker for “missing children” thrillers and revenge stories and this book perfectly executed both aspects. I loved Hillier’s last release, Jar of Hearts, so my expectations were high for this one. Little Secrets didn’t let me down one bit! It’s exactly what I was looking for with Robyn Harding’s The Arrangement but didn’t get. This delivered in so many ways and I couldn’t recommend it more. 5/5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Minotaur and Jennifer Hillier for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

After enjoying Hillier's previous book, Jar of Hearts, I was looking forward to her latest thriller; it did not disappoint. Once again taking place in my back yard of Seattle, Marin's four year old son disappears at Pike Place Market, an iconic Seattle location. One year later, we see the fallout of this tragic event, and we also see the clues start to unwind as we are introduced to Marin's husband, his lover, Marin's best friend, as well as a private investigator looking into her son's disappearance. I turned pages quickly, having to wait until the very end to see whodunnit - well done! My one and only complaint is...why does everyone have to be rich? It just got a little annoying to hear about the fancy house, expensive car, successful business, etc. It might have added more depth to story if somewhere there was a little struggle? But overall, very solid mystery.

This book kept me on the edge of my seat and I loved every minute of it. It is definitely a book you want to set aside a decent amount of time to read. All the twists and turns are just what I look for in my thrillers!