How hard could it be to keep a secret??? Well, if you are Nyla…Leo’s friend and ex-sister-in-law…it is pretty dang hard! But when Leo spills the beans on a HUGE secret while under prescription pain meds…holding this secret in might just do her in! Add in another huge secret…and yeah.

I enjoyed this book, but talk about a lot of family drama! This third book in the Smokejumper series will make you laugh and say “UGH”, and be like “ooohhh….this is getting more complicated”….and plus, there is some heat!

The characters were great and the storyline was really good. Author Tawna Fenske is one of my rom-com go-to authors. She definitely knows how to make a reader laugh. This one, not as much, but still funny! I will give this a solid 4 stars!

Favorite Quotes:

You know how he is. Thinks he’s Mr. Fix-It, but he’s really more like Mr. Bean.

“Did I really say ‘hiding the hot dog’ to my parents?” “Yep.” He grinned, no longer able to fight it. “You did. Want us all to pretend you didn’t?”

Are we going to end up on one of those weird talk shows, throwing furniture?

My Review:

I smirked, cringed, and laughed aloud as I perused this missive. I am a devoted Tawna Fenske fan and this series is her best work yet. While reading, I have reveled in and continually admired the agile plotting and well-textured tales of all three highly amusing Smokejumper installments, although this one featured an unusually thorny issue and did so with humanizing and thoughtful sensitivity, perceptive insights, and clever humor. I adored these recognizable, witty, and endearing characters and wanted the best for them. The storylines were enjoyably entertaining and easy to follow with a cast of players all lovably flawed, generally well-meaning, and bumping along as best they can within a complicated family dynamic.

As much as I love a good Tawna Fenske book, this one is not my favorite. If you only think of Leo and Nyla as two characters embarking on a romance, it’s cute, even if it moves super fast. However, the amount of family drama and the cringe factor that Leo was married to Nyla’s sister and everyone is still super close and friends is just too much.

The family tree needs to branch a little more to make this a better book.

Thanks to the publisher for a review copy via NetGalley.

This was a good read about Nyla - a woman who doesn't like secrets - and her family. Her sister, Mandi, nephew, Seth and former brother-in-law Leo. Mandi has had a big secret and unbeknownst to her, Leo was aware of it. I'll be looking for more from this author.

There is no one better than Tawne to bring you laughter as you enjoy the love story. This book has light humor which was woven throughout and thought this did a good job of balancing out some of the heavier or emotional times. All in all a great addition to the series. It can totally be enjoyed as a standalone yet I'd highly recommend reading the rest of this fun and fulfilling books.

“While the truth can set you free, it can also burn completely out of control”
I have to say I really enjoyed reading The Best Kept Secret. It is a funny, sweet story full of family drama. Throw in some steamy romance and you get a great story.
Main character, Nyla, cannot keep a secret…..something happened when she was a young child that just makes it impossible for her to keep a secret from others. Enter Leo her sisters ex husband….who has a big secret that Nyla discovers. Can she keep this secret?
All the characters are just fun to get to know.
I found The Best Kept Secret to be a fast, humorous, easy read which is something I need in my life to keep me sane.
Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

This is the first book I've read by Tawna Fenske. She writes well with a great storyline and easy to like characters. This was definitely an awkward relationship that I wasn’t sure of when I started reading. I still think I've had to suspend some belief, but I read to escape. I loved the main characters. I couldn't help wanting the best for them. Great HEA. I will be looking for more from this author.

Thank you NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for the ARC of this book. This is my voluntary and honest review.

TBKS by T. Fenske is a stand-alone in the Smokejumper Series.
This is Leo and Nyla's story. And it's a complicated one. Both were family. He was married to her sister. But now they're divorced. THey still meet at family meetings or when his son needs help. So the surprise is a big one when Leo drops a secret that will change everything.
I wish the story would be Leo and Nyla's one, but there is a lot of family drama going on. A bit too much for my like. All in all, on ok read, 4 stars.

Four and a half stars


Nyla Franklin and Leo Sayre have been friends for years, and have learned to navigate the transition from in-laws to buddies, what with Leo being Nyla’s sister’s ex-husband and all…. But what happens a when they notice a spark between the two of them…

Tawna Fenske writes an incredible story about two people with huge hearts who find themselves juggling the loving entanglements of families and friendships and secrets and making the right choices for ourselves and those we care about most.

While this is the third in her Smokejumpers series, this stands alone perfectly, and hits just the right balance of sweet and funny and hot. An absolutely terrific read.

All the beans are spilled!

At its heart, this book is a delightful friends-to-lovers romance. Of course it's complicated by the fact that Leo and Nyla are only friends because of his earlier marriage to her sister, Mandi. The fun starts when Nyla, a nurse, checks on Leo after a minor surgery, and in his painkiller fog he blurts out a family secret that Nyla, who is known for not being able to keep any secret, knows will devastate her family if it is ever revealed.

There'd be enough tension and angst if there was only the one secret, but as their friendship grows closer Leo and Nyla unearth more buried secrets while creating a few new ones of their own. I love all the humor sprinkled throughout, and Leo and Nyla have enough chemistry to light the entire West Coast on fire. Even more, though, I appreciated the emotional depth that the author gave to the very serious storyline. These are characters that you'll fall in love with, and I respected the author for not making any of the secondary cast into lesser characters just for the drama.

The delicacy in handling the three-way relationships between Nyla, Leo, and Mandi was brilliantly balanced while still feeling as real as a gut-punch. All the expected emotions are expressed and addressed without being over the top. I also gained a new respect for mimosas, and have to commend the author for Nyla's hilariously realistic drunken inner monologue.

The only thing I wish had been different is that we don't really get to interact with any of the other smokejumpers that Leo works with. Aside from one brief scene, the story takes place entirely within Nyla and Leo's families, making this standalone romance feel almost like it's not even connected to the series.

This book was thoroughly captivating, one that I read slowly and reread passages as I went along, eager to savor the experience and not willing to rush to the finish. I have already marked the books in this series for a binge reread once they're all out. I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.

Sweet and charming:
I enjoyed this cute and fun rom-com that had all the feels.
Leo had remained friends with Nyla, his ex-sister-in-law, but they bonded further over family secrets. It was fun watching them try to resist the growing attraction between them and navigate the obstacles that were in their way.
I enjoyed the light humour which was woven throughout and thought this did a good job of balancing out some of the heavier or emotional times. All in all a great addition to the series. It can totally be enjoyed as a standalone yet I'd highly recommend reading the rest of these fun and fulfilling books.
I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

An enjoyable and slightly different to the norm romance dealing with a difficult situation - how do you tell your family that you are falling for your sister’s ex husband? In Nyla’s case you blurt it out, along with several other secrets. I must admit I found it difficult to believe that a women who couldn’t keep a secret in her personal life would be able to do so in her professional one, but hey ho this is fiction. The characters were interesting and relatable and it was nice to have an epilogue.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Isn't it lovely when the author writes a blurb that captures your imagination from the start BUT you don't get the book you're expecting AND you love it anyway?

Thats exactly how I feel about The Best Kept Secret by Tawna Fenske.

It's certainly about Nyla and her inability to keep even the tiniest of secrets. It does feature her good friend Leo. They do become romantically involved. However, it is so much more than these component parts.

I feel it's important that you experience the laugh out loud moments, the frustrating moments, the oops moments as well as other noteworthy moments for yourself.

The Best Kept Secret will brighten a dreary winter's day and will put a smile on your face especially when Nyla inadvertently blurts secrets in the most humorous of circumstances.

Any fans of romcoms will thoroughly enjoy this latest serving from Tawna Fenske.

I loved the first two novels in this series and typically enjoy all of Tawna Fenske’s books, but sadly, this one just did not work for me.
From the relationship between Leo and Nyla—which is sold as best friend’s but didn’t come across that way—to the drama surrounding Leo’s son and his ex-wife, it was not at all what I expected and not something I would typically pick up.
I skimmed through a lot of this book to get the basics, because I was invested enough to want to know how it ended, but ultimately, I was glad to leave it in my rear view mirror. An unfortunate miss from Fenske, though I still recommend reading books one and two.

I’m gonna be honest, I thought the secret was that he was in love with her. However the story is very well written. I was never bored while reading this book. I didn’t really think I’d like the sister ex-husband thing but it was done really well. The scene where she spilled all the secrets was hilarious! Love the dynamic between the sisters. Really good book!

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

I think I’m in the minority on this one but I couldn’t get behind the sisters ex husband friends to lovers situation. I’m not sure if it felt unrealistic or just… weird? There seemed to be a lot of family drama in this and the inability to keep a secret was a bit over the top for me. Which, I know was the point but it was too much for me personally!

Thanks to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for the arc of #TheBestKeptSecret.

Sweet, friends to lovers story where the heroine, Nyla Franklin realizes she loves her sister’s ex-husband, Leo Sayre a little more than platonic friends love. Nyla’s inability to not get caught in a lie lends itself to some awkward moments as she and Leo learn to navigate their new relationship around his failed marriage to her sister.
This is book 3 in the Smokejumper series but can be read as a standalone book.

“To families.” Mandi thrust her glass in the air. “The good, the bad, the messy, the complicated, and the totally ***-up.”

This book sure has plenty of family drama, leaning very much towards the messy / complicated end of the scale. And let's not forget the awkward, with a capital A. And yet, my favorite scene was (the build-up towards) THE BIG REVEAL - that had me biting my nails and snort-laughing in turn. (And yes, Seth is hands down my favorite character in this book.)

What didn't work quite as well for me was the Nyla-can't-keep-a-secret-to-save-her-life part of the plot, especially when everyone (including Nyla!) decided that getting her tipsy might help her keeping THE BIG SECRET? I honestly have no idea in which universe this kind of "logic" would make sense.

TL;DR: Not my favorite in the series, but still full of Tawna Fenske's trademark humor, heat, and heart.

It took me a while to finally finish this book & I’m glad I did. It started out very wordy & I felt like I was drowning in the story. As I finally got through half way it started to get better. The characters were fun, even when I couldn’t figure out how I felt about the story. There were a few laugh out loud moments & there were a few sad ones as well but in all it was a sweet, funny story. I have to say that my favourite moment in the story was the pond scene with Nyla feeding the ducks & then swimming out to save what she thought was an injured duck from the other ducks. I enjoyed the chemistry between Leo & Nyla as they slowly realized the feelings between them. Thank you to the publisher & Net Galley for allowing me to read this book for an honest review.

Nyla Franklin, is a nurse and she can not keep a secret to save her life. It both endearing and troubling at the same time. So when her best friend, Leo Sayre is doped up on medicine from his surgery and spills a secret that will change everything they know - she panics. And rightfully so.

Reading about Nyla and Leo was such a pleasure. You feel every bit of their chemistry, even when they are put in some of the most awkward and uncomfortable situations. I loved watching their relationship unfold on page and might have pulled a couple all-nighters for it. I also loved how each character had their own wants and dreams outside of their relationship. They felt real and I cried and laughed alongside them.

This is was my first book by Tawna Fenske, but it definitely will not be my last. I look forward to her next release.