Honest Secrets

Payback Mountain #2

by Diane Benefiel

ROPED INTO LOVE

Emery Marino is in the small mountain town of Sisters, California, because her new boss demands it. But she'd be here anyway since she received a letter from a woman claiming to be the grandmother she's never met. If that's not enough of a bombshell, Emery learns she has sisters. Sisters!

Then there's the little incident with Shane Keller, aka Hot Cowboy. Nothing like finding yourself on a barroom floor, laying on top of a cowboy-sized hunk of gorgeousness to add some excitement to your life.

But frightening events turn excitement to danger. Emery becomes the target of ruthless criminals, and Shane figures the best way to protect her is to keep her close, even at the risk of his already damaged heart.

Genres: Romantic Suspense

260 pages, Paperback

First published March 23, 2023

About the author

Murder? Stalker? Mayhem? Are bad guys coming to get her? Nope, Diane is just a retired school teacher with a laptop. She’s been married for decades. Decades. She walks Finn every morning (mostly). She FaceTimes with her grandkids. The most excitement she’s had lately is a bumpy ride on a plane, and that’s not the fun kind of excitement. But her heroines? They have all the thrills. Scary things happen to them. Hot, compelling men find them fascinating. And they always find their HEA.

An avid reader for as long as she can remember, Diane has always favored stories with strong female characters who go on adventures and can think themselves out of the most dangerous situations. It’s no surprise that those are the kinds of books she enjoys writing.

Diane’s love of the outdoors is reflected in her books. Born and raised in Southern California, family vacations meant camping in locations ranging from Big Sur to Death Valley to Zion. Two of her series are set in fictional towns in her happy place, California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains. Her love of travel took her to Sweden as an exchange student when she was sixteen and backpacking around Great Britain (after a week in Paris) while in college. She and her husband have enjoyed pulling their little trailer to the National Parks, including Yosemite, Yellowstone, and Pinnacles.

Winner of the National Readers’ Choice Award in Romantic Suspense and a USA Today Bestselling author, Diane has recently retired from a career teaching high school history. She now has all the time in the world for writing, gardening, and travel. That's the theory, anyway. She is a member of the Orange Country Romance Writers.

***Note to readers: Looking for High Sierras, Book 4? Burnover, High Sierras Book 4, is a novella you can find included with Already Gone, Book 3.

Check out her website at dianebenefiel.com.

Reviews

[aishareadsnrambles · Rating 4 out of 5]

BOOK: HONEST SECRETS
AUTHOR: DIANE BENEFIEL @diane_benefiel_author
PUB DATE: 23 MARCH 2024
🤵🏼‍♀️🤠
REVIEW
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my
own.
🤠🤵🏼‍♀️
This book was very nice, amazing characters, storyline, and setting. I loved the small town of Sisters, California, and Emery's discovery of her sister, I also liked the relationship between Emery and Shane, but it happened way too fast, They fell in love in a week, and it was unrealistic. Nevertheless, it was very good.
🤠🤵🏼‍♀️
I liked Emery's job as an envi environmentalist, It's such an important job, and I liked her love for her job, Shane was an amazing MMC. he's what you
expect to see in a typical male protagonist in a romance and more.
🤵🏼‍♀️🤠
I also loved the hint of suspense in the book, All in all, this book was worth it. You should definitely read it.

[Alia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am in love.
With Shane, with Emery, with HER MOM and with Sister.
There are no words to express how GOOD their chemistry is, there are no words to express how good the whole of the storyline is. The friendship, the sisterhood, the brotherhood.
The food mentioned... At a point I had to stop reading, take my bike and go to the bakery two streets over to buy an apple turnover... at 3:30 pm on a random Wednesday. That is how good and enchanting Diane's descriptions and writing is. I was not reading about Emery, I was a little cricket on her shoulder, I was with her through the whole of the book.
Guess I found one of my new fav authors.

[Michele James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Emery Marino is sent to the town of Sisters, Calif by her new boss to sweet talk a rancher into his selling his land, which gives her the opportunity to meet the woman who claims to be her grandmother. But Shane Keller, who Emery instantly tags as Hot Cowboy, has no intention of selling. He does, however, have every intention of protecting Emery, a woman he's instantly attracted to, from whoever it is behind threats and attacks on her life.
Honest Secrets, book two of the Payback Mountain series, delivers with romantic tension and suspense.

[Jan L · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gal walked in to a bar....

Diane Benefiel creates characters that live in your mind with stories I feel I'm a part of. I can see the beautiful mountains as I feel the crunch of the meadow grass while walking beside the creek. This book has everything she's good at...wonderful characters (twins, Hardings, Gage, Bruno, a bull named Bastard included!), plot, suspense, exciting action and, sigh, romance . Looking forward to more in this series!

[Mg Meredith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honest Secrets is a entertaining easy to follow well written action and drama packed storyline with a well rounded interesting cast of characters and a sweet but heated romance between Shane and Emery a good plot with a few twists to keep the reader intrigued the ending did feel a little rushed but otherwise a enjoyable experience.
I received a advance reader's copy of this book and I am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Lori Gillespie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really hate writing reviews. Diane Benefiel is a new author for me. I took advantage of getting Dangerous Secrets for free and purchased the last 2 Payback Mountain books. Honest Secrets was really hard to put down. Shane is so hot and the chemistry with Emery, not to mention suspense, I lost a lot of sleep this week. I highly recommend this book and series. Nice to meet you Diane and can't wait to read Secret Lies.

[Gloria Wenman · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable read

Covers a host of issues, well researched. Characters meld well.. Hulks thinking was as thick as his neck. How he got employed to do the jobs that was required .goodness knows. Thank goodness he was not up to the job. I really enjoyed this read, wanted it to speed up at times although the story flowed well.

[Cat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy this author. The story and characters are great. I took off one star due to the whole climate change and protecting the environment agenda. This is a far more complicated issue than presented in this book. I wish authors would avoid topics that are more complicated than can be discussed in this book.

[Glenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was interesting from beginning to end.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another nice romance from Diane Benefiel. There is some suspense and a beautiful setting. I enjoyed the camaraderie between the characters and the small town community.

[Mg Meredith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honest Secrets is a entertaining easy to follow drama filled storyline with a well rounded interesting cast of characters and a sweet but heated romance between Shane and Emery there's a few twists just to keep the reader on their toes and anticipating another book for this series hint hint.
I received a advance reader's copy of this book and I am voluntarily leaving a review.