Best Kept Secret

Savannah's Best #4

by Maya Alden

The truth about secrets? They always unravel.

I'm Beau Bodine, and someone's been keeping one hell of a secret from me.

Mira Sen shows up out of nowhere and drops a she's been raising my daughter—her niece—for the past two and a half years. A daughter I didn't even know existed. I should be furious, and I am, but Mira's sister—who recently passed away—had convinced her I didn't want to have anything to do with my kid.

Mira and my daughter move in with me, and before I know it, we become a family. I fall hard for my little girl. Her aunt has gotten under my skin, too. Our age gap, my history with her sister... none of that seems to matter. I'm in deep and for the first time in my reprobate life, starting to dream of white picket fences.

But when Mira's conservative and influential parents tell me why they've been fighting for custody of their granddaughter, everything falls apart. They show me proof that Mira physically hurt my baby. I don't hesitate. I tell Mira to get the hell out of my house and my life.

Then the truth comes out, and I know I've screwed up. Big time.

By the time I find Mira, she's broken in ways I couldn't foresee or even imagine. I know it's my fault. I've got to fix this. But she's shut down and become someone I barely recognize. Now I don't know if I'll ever be able to put her back together again.

Best Kept Secret is a billionaire secret baby forbidden romance and features all your favorite

🏵️Secret Baby
🏵️Sister's Boyfriend & Baby Daddy
🏵️Single Parent
🏵️Forced Proximity
🏵️Forbidden Love
🏵️Other Woman Drama
🏵️Age Gap (12 years)
🏵️Misunderstood & Uncovered
🏵️Betrayal & Grovel
🏵️Indian Heroine
🏵️No Cheating
🏵️Complete Standalone

Trigger Warning: Reference to past sexual abuse of a minor; on page suicidal ideation and attempt.

Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Second Chance, Contemporary Romance, Abuse, Forced Proximity, Mental Health

332 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 11, 2024

About the author

A top 20 Amazon Bestselling Author, Maya Alden pens angsty contemporary romances.

Reviews

[Margo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ladies, stay far, far away from Savannah, because it appears to be populated with some of the most childish, ruthless, petty, millionaires who like to date women out of their social class and then treat them like dirt for a variety of reasons, none of them justified.

This series keeps escalating in the wrong that the H does to the h, so much so that the logical next sequel will have a situation where he has her killed because of something a parakeet tells him, and then digs her up and tries to get her to forgive him, possibly hiring a local witch to do it, thus setting up the heroine of the next book in the series.

[cajareads]

DNF @ chapter 31

Her: "I noticed you."

Him: "Hard not to when I was having sex with your sister on the kitchen counter," Beau retorted blandly.

Her: "I noticed your ass and thought that's a nice ass. And then when I saw you naked, I saw how right I was."

EWWWWWW who the hell talks like that to a guy who also had sex with your own sister????????? This is so fucking gross. Dnf-ing this right away after that tacky conversation because what the fuck 🤮🤮🤮🤮

[Vintage · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hoo boy. Girding my loins.

12%
He is SO stupid. How do these H's survive in the business world when they are so horrible at reading people, everyone. Good God Almighty, Fallon, the judgmental child psychologist!!! These heroes remind me of Ron and Harry in Harry Potter. Did they EVER judge a person correctly? Thank God for Hermione.

46%
It's official. He's an utter idiot. Why ignore the evidence in front of your face when you can simply believe the report of people you've never met before.

DONE
Well, the hero does come through with a pretty epic grovel, but what a sad story for the heroine. he would have to be an even bigger idiot than he is not to want this girl in his life.

Mira's sad story made me cry. Alden is nothing if not a master at drudging up emotions and showing the sad, but Mira's plight came through very believably and not overly manipulative. Her trauma was very real, and unlike most authors Alden states quite clearly what the triggers are. There's nothing blatant or salacious on page in what the father did to Mira and her sister, but the after effect is real.

Then there is the hero. Heavy, heavy sigh. I don't know why it was so important to not only make him a manwhore but guy that visits sex clubs and has foursomes and I'm not talking golf. Yeah, yeah, yeah I know it's to show how Mira changes him but yuck. His utter idiotic and stupid gullible acceptance of her parents was just too much. Honestly he did not question one thing that was said which makes him inexcusably worthless as a hero in any story. This is the biggest hole in the plot.

Surprising 3 stars. In part because I couldn't put the damn thing down despite wanting to toss my computer, but the heroine is a winner and her relationship with her niece is so sweet.

Evil doers get their comeuppance but I could have seen a little more retribution for her parents and some more shunning for Fallon who seriously needs to reconsider her career choice/

[Doom Sunshine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Please note that the book ends at 88% on your kindle device, so the page number is lower than what is advertised.

While Alden can write a story that tackles problematic behavior in communities, this book fell short of its full potential.

The FMC is manhandled relentlessly and she is weak against the MMC.
FMC refuses to put up any boundaries.
The love between the MMC and the FMC wasn't felt, it just kinda came out of nowhere.
This story takes place over a year and a lot of the time gets brushed away. We don't get to see the important conversations, instead we get quick one line wrap ups.
Alden also doesn't know how to write a grovel plot line. FMC was too quick to accept MMC back into her life.
I also felt that this story was just lacking; lacking in depth, setting, and overall mood.

[Raffaella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surely very angsty and with a lot of triggers that made it a very hard and dark reading.
The triggers are specified by the author, so no surprises.
- sex abuse of children
- incest
- suicide attempt
- sisters sharing penis
- death of a relative
- mention of sharing
The hero had a brief affair with the heroine sister, she met him years ago when she was teenager.
The sister got pregnant but decided not to tell the father, and lied to the sister that he had given up his rights, because he was a womanizer. She died and left her with a lil girl, heroine’s parents blocked her sister’s money so the heroine goes to the father to ask for help and to ask him to have custody of his daughter.
Hero is a rich womanizer but he’s not bad.
I think those people in MA, all coming from rich and old families in the same city must have a high degree of inbreeding that caused them to be very dumb and low IQ because they behave like they mentally impaired.
He is older than her, she’s only 22, while he’s in his 30s.
He’s not bad, and he lets her and the child stay in his house, which is quite generous because he only saw her once or twice while he’s was having sex with her sister ( once it happened, literally…yuck)
He has DNA test and feels attracted to her in a very deep way, she’s sweet and shy, and he feels the urge to protect her and at the same time he would like to have sex with her. Duh.
Sadly he does all the wrong moves, he asks one of his ex flings, a psychologist, to help him with the child and the woman, who’s jealous and would like to reconnect with him, basically shits on the poor heroine, embarrassing her and making her feel unwanted.
Since he’s the result, as I said, of many inbreedings, he’s an idiot and can’t understand the heroine is feeling bad.
The same happens when his family comes to meet the lil girl, instead of being supportive of the young woman who’s taken care of the child, they slay her while the hero, with his couple of useless neurons the nature gave him, can’t see what is happening under his eyes.
Then enter her evil parents, a couple of rich people who looks like they’re good and respectable while they’re worse than all those Hollywood producers and directors that now are being sued for pedophile and child abuse, because the father abused both girls since they were very young.
They manage to produce a false document where the heroine is accused of physically harming the child, so the hero, that in the meantime has had sex with the heroine and is falling in love, throws her out of his house.
It’s a very hard and emotional scene, because the heroine really has nothing beside her lil niece. She always took care of other people, first her sister that was sick, then her niece, and she gave up her dream to become a chef.
She has no money, no house and no job and in the end, deprived of the only human being who always loved her for herself, she attempts suicide.
The hero is basically a very dump and mentally underdeveloped human being, he’s also quite disgusting because he was a manwhore, not simply one who had many ONS, but one who had threesome and foursome, and who attended sex clubs, so not the kind of man I would ever find attractive.
Intelligence, intuition and morals are high in my scale of values, and one who doesn’t have any of them, well, he can go his way, bye, ciao, adios.
Not interested.
Anyhoooo.
The heroine is rescued accidentally by two cops and the hero finds out the truth feeling very guilty and awful because he loved her.
This thing that authors keep doing, trying to persuade readers that a man can be in love with a woman but treat her abominably is wrong and misguided. Love doesn’t even enter here.
So, the second part of the book is the heroine having therapy, which I appreciate, and the hero groveling which he did quite well.
I don’t know if I liked that they ended up together, I always prefer, when a heroine is so unlucky and hurt, that she finds a real hero, which is, her personal white knights that helps her recover and who avenge her with every evil people who hurt her.
That the hero is one of the people who hurt her the most, even if he was deceived and I must admit that the author did a very good job in picturing her parents as two very credible and very respectable people who seemed concerned for their daughter health. They were perfect actors. But anyway, there were a couple of people who never believed those things about her and sadly the hero wasn’t between them.
In the end the heroine was happy and healthy which made me happy too, since there are not many heroines as unlucky as MA heroines, this is becoming a pattern.
No good parents, no good environment, a lot of accidents, illness, and unfortunate events. Their karma must be really tainted to be so prone to misery.
So, it was difficult sometimes because suicide and kid rape is never easy and nice to read. Thank god it was only mentioned but it was bad enough.
The hero is really dumb, I didn’t have much respect for him because despite being older and more privileged he was unable to understand what the poor woman went through.
Their chemistry was also something that I didn’t feel.
She was thin, tired and sleep deprived, what the hero found in her to make him feel the hots, well, I don’t know.
And after her abuses, I don’t know how she was able to have normal and satisfying sex without therapy.
Both had other people after they first met, which I didn’t mind. The heroine was too young and the hero didn’t see her as an adult, and she only saw him twice, so there was no attraction between them. After she went to him with the child, he was celibate, and she was too.

[Van · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m sorry to say this but he is a piece of shit and is ALL his fault, yes I know her parents are the worst but she was out of that world and he crushed it all cruelly.
There’s no grovel, he just imposed himself even kiss her without warning after all she suffered,
He’s ridiculous and honestly she’d be happier far from that city…
Didn’t like the “one week later” so often, there’s no correct development about her treatment and progress, it’s like her healing it’s too quick and fast,
Not for me
He is gross, I hate him

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall Opinion:

This is an ARC copy.

I have never done an ARC before, except for one time when an author reached out to me and asked. It turned into a weird experience. But even before that, I told myself never to do an ARC because sometimes I can be very critical and I don't want to insult the author. But I was so desperate and impatient to read this book, I broke my own rule.

Overall, I gave this book a 4 stars! I looooooved it. I read it twice already. Please give it a try. You won't be disappointed!

I started reading Maya Alden’s books last year. To be honest, I wasn't a fan of her earlier works because I felt the heroes were too much of an asshole to be redeemed and the heroines were too much of a doormat. And also, there were some books (like one or two) where the hero continued to see other people after he had been with the heroine. But gradually, I continued to read her books and it got better and better. My perspectives on those books also changed as I understand the author more. I consider her one of my go-to and favorite authors.

I don't agree with or like everything in her books, but her books are so enjoyable to read, it is especially because of the angst. I love how angsty they are, especially this one. She knows how to build the angst and bring it to a head. You can feel the angst and heartache that the main characters feel. The grovel is also satisfying and believable. She listens to her readers and what they want. Literally, she is active on FB and asks questions.

For my safety gang, a few of this author's books, including this one, has a plot where the hero has been with the heroine’s sister first and even has the heroine heard or seen the hero and sister being intimate once. It is always before the hero was with the heroine. That might be a turn-off for you, but in this book, it's really minor. The sister is not an evil villain.

Also, for those bothered by the pollyanna/doormat type heroines, the author has a few books with that. I was once bothered by it too, but the doormat character is very upfront about that and it is part of making the angst so good. It also doesn't last long. The heroines find their backbones soon.

Author: Maya Alden
Year Pub/Re Pub: 2024
Page Length: 300
Genre: contemporary romance
Standalone/Cliffhanger: No Cliffhanger/ part of a series, but Standalone
Epilogue Included: Yes

Any Trigger Warning: Yes, for suicide attempt and past child sex abuse.
Recommend Reading: YES!!!!
Will I Re-read This Book: Yes.
Would I Read More Books by this Author: Yes and I have already.

Technical/Editing Quality: A handful of grammar errors.
Writing/Content Quality: Well written. One of the main characters is Bengali. The author is knowledgeable regarding the food, language, and culture surrounding it. Most of the author's books are interracial romance where one of the main characters, usually the heroine, is not white. I think because the author is not white herself, the non-white characters feel authentic and I feel immersed in the book. The dialogue felt real and human.

Blurb: Struggling financially with a custody fight hanging over her head, the heroine turns to the hero for help in caring for her 2 and a half year old niece. A daughter she thought he rejected, but he actually never knew about. The story is about two people coming together to care for a child while external and internal forces tear them apart.

Book Cover: I love the covers for the entire series. Each book is mono-colored.

Favorite Line: "See, I always cared about people. I was there for Asha, for Pari…I've always been there for others, but no one has been there for me. I've been trying to hold on to people by doing everything for them because I thought, if I did, if I loved hard enough, I would matter to someone. But that was a mistake.”

Point Of View (POV): Dual POV.

Overall Pace of Story: The book was long, but I wish it was longer. The pacing was right, but sometimes I wished the author spent longer on certain scenes, like it was more telling than showing.

Instalove: Kind of. They are both physically attracted to each other, but keep it to themselves.

H /h Relationship Info: Although there is instant attraction, since they are co-parenting a child together, it takes them a while to acknowledge the attraction. When they finally do sleep together, it's very awkward because they don’t address what their relationship is.

Age: 34 year old Hero and 22 year old Heroine.

Hero: Hero is Beau Bodine. The hero makes appearances in the other books in the series and he was likable. Hero is a manwhore type single guy who is not interested in a relationship. He has been to sex clubs and done threesomes and foursomes (“even foursomes, though crossing swords was not my thing…”). But once he meets the heroine, he doesn’t want anyone else. He is a billionaire from a well-known, old money Savannah, Georgia family whose father was a philanderer. But has his own billion dollar tech company.

Hero Description: He is described as having the charming Bodine family blue eyes. A handsome, tall, tech geek with a southern accent.

Hero Likability Rating: 4 out of 5 stars. I liked him in the previous books, he was a good son to his mother and good brother and friend. He was a manho, but he was honest about not being interested in having children or being in a relationship. I did not like that he was quick to believe the heroine's parents because of some documents. He falls instantly in love with his daughter, the first time he ever fell in love according to him.

Book Boyfriend Material/OTT Alpha: I would say yes!

Heroine:: Heroine is Mira Sen. When I heard Beau's book was coming out, I was so afraid that he was going to get a basic girl heroine, but Mira is perfect! She is a heroine with a tragic and painful past and because of it, she is guarded and insecure. She doesn't think she's good enough and her lack of education makes her feel less than. She is very protective of her niece, Pari, and sees her as her daughter. She is so void of love that she overcompensates. She is a carer who took care of her older sister, Asha, as she was dying while taking care of her niece. Even though she struggles financially, she ensures Pari has nice outfits and healthy food. Her dream and passion is to be a chef and was accepted to a prestigious school, but had to decline to care for her sister and niece. My heart also breaks for her deceased sister, Asha. What the sisters went through in their childhood was tragic and it sucks that Asha died and didn't get to live a full life. Her adulthood was also marred by what happened in their childhood.

Heroine Description: Milk chocolate skin, dark, lush, silky hair. Fragile looking, beautiful woman. Dark circles underneath her eyes.

Heroine Likability Rating: I love Mira! I give her a million stars out of 5. She is a fighter, even as a child. Throughout the book, you can literally feel how emotionally and mentally drained she is, yet she continues to fight. Her heartbreak is one that will break your heart. She is such an endearing character that you can relate to and will root for.

Important Secondary Characters:
Pari: Asha and Beau's daughter
Asha Sen: Mira's deceased older sister
Donna: Beau's mother
Roxy: Beau's long-time House Manager
Trevor and Katya: Beau's younger brother and Sister-in-law
Nova and Anson: Beau's newly discovered half-sister and fiance/husband (they have their own book)
Dr. Fallon: Beau’s former fling and wannabe OW
Nina Davenport: Beau's friend and owner of Savannah Lace. Also Mira's boss.
Ani and Seema Sen: Asha and Mira's evil ass parents
Suchitra Pillai: Asha and Mira's lawyer
Friends from the other books

Brief Summary of the Storyline: This book is part of a series (all can be read as a standalone) centered on Savannah Lace, a woman-owned, all-women design and architecture firm in Savannah, Georgia, where old and new money along with some and no money intermingle. Characters from the other books appear, but it's not overbearing that you struggle to know who is who.

The young Bengali heroine has been taking care of her 2 and half year old niece since prior to the death of her older sister in Atlanta. Her sister was diagnosed with peripartum cardiomyopathy, a rare type of heart failure during her last trimester of pregnancy. Since then, she has been caring for her ill sister. After the baby was born, she cared for both until sister passed away 6 months ago at the start of the book. While her sister left an apartment and money for the heroine and niece, their rich estranged parents ensured she couldn't legally use it and has been trying to get custody of their granddaughter. Struggling financially and needing help with the custody fight, she turns to the billionaire hero in Savannah for help. Her sister lied that the hero knew of the pregnancy and wanted nothing to do with the baby. However, he never knew of the pregnancy or baby. The hero immediately recognizes the child as his from her eyes which are like his.

The first part of the book is the heroine struggling to fit into her niece's new life as most of the hero's friends and family are hostile towards her, they want her gone. She thinks her time with her niece whom she sees as a daughter is coming to an end. There are really angsty scenes including an OW wannabe/use-to-be that tries to paint her as an unfit mother. Meanwhile, the hero struggles to contain his attraction to her. His family's hostility towards her causes him to doubt her intentions. The heroine is very guarded and does not share the reason why she does not want her parents anywhere near her niece which further causes doubt with the hero. The introduction of her estranged parents turns everything upside down.

The second part of the book is full of spoilers and trigger warnings. By this point, the hero and heroine have been sleeping together. The heroine is interviewing for a job in Savannah Lace. Meanwhile, the hero’s mother invites the heroine's parents to her home. They lie and manipulate the hero and his mother, telling stories of the heroine as a lazy, drop out, party girl who is unfit to be the little girl's guardian. They lied that the sister did not give her custody, that she manipulated her dying sister and painted her as a gold digger. They provided a fake CPS (child protective service) report that said she abused her niece.

Believing her parents, the hero kicks the heroine out, very cruelly too, putting her few belongings in a trash bag. She begs on her knees and promises to never face him again if he never leaves the niece with her parents. She leaves with the little money and things she has in her beat up car.

After spending her last remaining money in a motel and running out of gas, she ends up in a shopping center parking lot. She is at her breaking point. She couldn't keep her promise to her sister to protect their little girl, she is a broken person full of insecurities and pain because of what happened in her past. She finds her sister's Ambien medication and slowly takes the pill one by one, ready to end it all.

Meanwhile, the hero is still angry and looking for answers. His long-time housekeeper and half-sister (a heroine in a book in this series) are the only two who believe the heroine is innocent. The hero gets into contact with the CPS caseworker where he tells the hero what actually happened. The heroine’s parents have been continuously reporting her to CPS, but CPS have concluded she is fit to be the guardian, while her parents are not. He advises the hero to talk to the heroine's sister's lawyer.

The lawyer is the heroine's sister's friend and lawyer. She also represents the heroine. It was under her advisement that the heroine seek out the hero. The lawyer tells the hero that the heroine’s sister made a deathbed confession to the lawyer. She was sexually abused by their father from 8 to 14 years old. The heroine was five years younger. It appears the heroine may have been abused at a younger age and for a longer time.

The sister tried telling their mother, but she blamed her, as an 8 year old, for being a jezebel. so she internalized everything believing nobody will believe them, while the heroine fought hard to tell the truth only for people including the caseworker not to believe her. Their mother knew and would physically beat them if they told. The sister remained quiet in order to slowly escape their parents. After they paid for her college and graduated, that’s when she cut off contact. The heroine eventually ran away and moved in with her sister. But unlike her sister, she didn't keep quiet so she was constantly verbally and physically abused by both parents leading to her insecurities and low self-esteem. Their father is an influential, rich lawyer. Their parents lied about her character to their Indian/Bengali community and family and friends so they did not believe her and ostracized her. The parents called her a drop out, but she had to drop out of a prestigious culinary school at 19 because she had to take care of her dying sister and a baby. The sisters only had each other and vowed their parents would never touch their little girl.

I don't blame the sister for not telling the hero. Because of the abuse, she did not have a healthy view of men. This scene explains how the two handled the effects of their abuse: “I'd learned early on that I could get clingy. My first boyfriend after I left my parents' home…told me when he ended it, ‘It's like you've been starved for attention, and you kind of suck a relationship dry. I just wanted us to have fun. I'm not ready for commitment. You come across as desperate, Mira.’ When I told Asha about it, she'd pointed out that I was starved for attention, and I'd fallen for the first boy who'd given me some. ‘Happened to me, too—wanted to marry and make babies with the first guy I fucked. But, you know what, Mira? It's better to sleep around and get the physical release than to get your emotions entangled. In any case, I don't think a man would stay with someone like us if they knew our truth—and how horrible would it be to be in a relationship where you can't speak your truth? Better to fuck and forget, Mira.’”

Once the truth is out, the hero is full of guilt. Meanwhile, the heroine was found by a cop and survives her suicide attempt. She is placed in the psych ward and has to undergo therapy. The hero is secretly paying for her care. The heroine is now a broken shell of herself and no longer interacts socially. She no longer thinks she is good enough for her niece. The rest of the book is the hero's grovel and trying to get the heroine to come out of her shell and the heroine building back her confidence and learning to live on her own and love herself.

Pros/What I Liked:
1. The angst in this story is sooooo good. Her angst in the other books in this series are great too.
2. Pari’s name: Beau shuts down his mother and OW's microaggression towards Pari's non-western name.
3. I want to work in Savannah Lace and the author makes you want to live in Savannah.
4. There was comeuppance for the heroine's evil parents, but there was something that wasn't clear. The hero said he was going to take away their fortune along with jailing her father, but in the end, all we heard was that the father went to prison, but no additional detail of how long or what the backlash from their community was like. Also, her mother left for India, but it didn't say if she still had her wealth. I wish we had known these details. I love a good, thorough comeuppance, especially for evil people.

Cons/What I Didn't Liked:
1. Telling instead of showing: there were some scenes I wished the author showed instead of telling. The book was already 300 pages so I understand that the author perhaps needed to cut down.
2. I didn't understand how the heroine's parents were able to ensure that the heroine and daughter could not access her sister’s house and money if it was bequeathed to her and daughter.

Angst/Sadness level: Box of tissues not needed. I cried, but it was not a complete tear-jerker.

Push/Pull: Both push in the beginning because they are co-parenting. But then the hero does the pulling while the heroine pushes after the hero breaks her heart.

Heat level: I think there were only two intimate scenes, but I didn’t mind because I was more focused on the plot.

Descriptive sex: Yes between hero and heroine.

OW (Other Woman)/OM (Other Man) drama: Yes, OW drama.

Did OW/OM/Ex Ruin the Book For You: No, it made the angst better.

Sex scene with OW or OM: No.

M/F-M/M-M/M/F-etc: M/F

Birth Control/Condoms: Hero always wore protection, but the first time with the heroine was bare. They talked about having been tested and the heroine has IUD.

Cheating Before/During/Outside H/h relationship: No.

Grovel Rating: 4 out of 5. I am trying to see how much more the hero could grovel, but I couldn't think of anything else he could do to grovel.

Love Triangle: No.

Separation: Yes, after the trigger warning, they are separated for months.

Virgin/Celibate/Manwhore: This involves reading the trigger warning, but the heroine had at least one boyfriend before the hero. So no virgins. Celibate for both during separation.

Contains Children: Yes And she is adorable. Favorite line is “Miramashi” which means Aunt Mira.

Contains Flashback: Slightly.

Possible Pet Peeves/Triggers: No pet peeves, trigger posted in the top.

Plot Holes: Not one I noticed.

HEA/HFN/etc Ending: HEA.

Closure/Epilogue: Yes with extra epilogue with email sign up.

Safety: I mentioned it in the beginning. The hero used to be manho and was with the older sister first hence the daughter. However, he was never in a relationship. He met the sister in a tech conference and was with her a few times for a few weeks. The sister was also not looking for a relationship so there weren't any feelings involved. The heroine did accidentally walk in on them having sex in the sister's kitchen and she saw his ass.

[bookishbellexoxo · Rating 2 out of 5]

*sighs*
why don't I ever learn?

[Maria (semi hiatus)]

Note to self: hero is the father of heroines dead sister’s baby. Double dipping, single dad, stepmom of niece, no thanks.

[Jac K · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars
This was the best for me so far, but I think I’m calling it here. Her books are very formulaic, but these seem to all have similar themes, so they feel redundant. I also prefer her straight OTT soapy stuff over this. It’s like she’s trying really hard to be more serious while hitting a checklist of topics she wants to mention, and it’s not working for me.

We met Beau in the first book. He’s the gangs manwhore and he leans within the first chapter that he fathered a child with Mira’s sister. He’s all in straightaway and brings Mira into the fold because she’s starving and destitute.

The Good-
🟩 For those that love a poor downtrodden h. Mira is for you. She comes with a trigger warning and is very fragile.
🟩 Beau isn’t as asshole-y as his predecessors. (this could be a + or -) His manwhore-ing is mentioned, but there’s none of that going on.
🟩 The “betrayal” was a misunderstanding and not super unforgivable as he’d only known her a few months and ppwk was provided. But the backlash (h’s reaction) was more severe than the previous hs.
🟩 Roxy and Nova are awesome.
🟩 There’s plenty of drama provided by his bitchy friend wannabe OW Fallon and his judgmental family. (I’ve never been impressed with Katya even in Nova’s book)
🟩 I usually don’t like this type of trigger warning material within what I consider soapy reads childhood sexual abuse, but I thought it was handled respectfully and absolutely heartbreaking. (although I felt her wanting in his pants so easily was unrealistic)
You deserve love." "Do I?" "Yes."
"Then why don't I ever get it?" I asked wearily.
🟩 The last chapter fast forwards six years for a nice epilogue.

The Not-So Good-
⚫ Sister seconds isn’t for everyone. I could’ve done without them discussing her watching them have sex.
⚫ There were some inconsistencies. In the first book Beau was in his “late 30’s”, and similar to Gabe’s 36 and that was years prior because three books and a baby happened, so he should be 38-40. Now he’s 34 which I know was thrown in to make the age gap more tolerable because Mira was 22. It’s still wrong because later he says he’s 11 years older and 22+11 is 33. So, it’s sloppy all around. Later he muses “they have another think coming” which is a British phrase. Noone from Savannah would say that.
⚫ There’s no real relationship development. It just sort of materializes.
⚫The time jumps after the conflict catapulted us over important milestones and conversations.

Bottom Line- I liked it, but much of it feels like every other book in the series with a few tweaks. (depressed h, mean H, OW getting away w/ being a B cuz he doesn’t want to cause a scene, nasty family that is instantly let off the hook, amazing betrayal angst with unbalanced forced proximity groveling)

[Aou · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rated the angst, not H or the romance!

[DiDi · Rating 5 out of 5]

We had seen Beau a little in previous books. The successful rich good looking guy who likes sex and no relationships. He was definitely a manwhore. Usually a detail I dislike as it’s usually hard to believe they will be happy with just the one woman. Another point I usually really dislike is the H Beau had sex with the h Mira’s sister. Not only that but the sister had Beau’s baby a daughter.

There is something icky about sisters sleeping with the same guy. In this book Maya pulled it off so I was able to get over it. Beau had a short lived fling with the sister just a few weeks and only hooked up a few times while he was in town. I was not a fan of Mira catching them fucking in the kitchen. Mira was 17 at that time. Beau had meet her but did not really know her. Fast forward the sister gets sick and is dying she had the baby but refused to contact Beau to tell her. After the sister dies Mira takes the baby to Beau her parents were trying to get custody.

This is where the story starts. Beau is instantly in love with his daughter and he is super attracted to Mira. He moves them in and try’s to figure out what to do and how to be a father. He brings in a former fuck OW a therapist whom I hated. She still wanted Beau and tried to use his daughter and Mira’s relationship to put a wedge between Beau and Mira. It was disgusting that she did not care what was best for the daughter she just wanted Mira gone. Beau thought they were friends and was a bit dense with her. I wish his reaction to her had been harsher and that she had been put in her place more publicly and forcefully. One little detail was Mira goes to surprise Beau out and overheard Beau telling this OW he does not want Mira etc. it was a bit harsh and did not make complete sense as he had already told her in a earlier conversation that he wanted to fuck her and was attracted to her. The one good thing was Beau caught Mira right after and told her he was lying to OW to get off his back. They have sex for the first time that night.

The relationship keeps on developing but Beaus mother and sister in law are not nice to Mira and his mother sets up Beau to meet with her parents who lie to him showing him false report that Mira had hurt his daughter. He believes them and kicks Mira out with nothing and her things in garbage bags to illustrate she is garbage. Mira begs Beau to not let her parents near his daughter and leaves.

Mira is at rock bottom. She loved Beau and she is like a mother to her niece and loves her like one. She is living in her run down car. There is a tragic scene here where she does something that she is lucky did not work. Meanwhile Beau is having doubts about if it’s true about Mira. He ends up finding out she is innocent and he is beside himself for what he did to her. The rest of the book is Beau grovelling and apologizing and Mira working through therapy and past trauma. The parents get theirs but I wish we had a little more detail on it. Beaus mother and sister in law apologize and Beaus sister Nova is still Mira supporter. I actually believed Beau was madly in love and felt remorse. I wished the book was longer with a few more scenes of the happy before the betrayal and a few of after the after effects and of Beau reflecting on his behaviour and why he was like he was before meeting Mira again. I wanted to see Beau digging deep on his reactions. There was a talk he had where it was sort of reflecting that he was scared of his feelings for Mira so when given an opportunity to believe something that would push her away he took it without really thinking it through. That’s fine but I really wanted a bigger conversation around that.

That being said the writing was great the story was heartbreaking and heartwarming and the rep of other cultures was wonderful including food and phrases. I would have loved some of the recipes. Overall this was still a 5 star read and I was happy they ended up together.

[VoraciousReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

1. You can’t have “an absolute and terrifying love” for a child that you only found out about a couple of hours ago.
2. I think that Beau was just looking for a reason to blame Mira for the fact that he didn’t know his child. Right from the start, he said, “… a part of me was enraged that I hadn’t known about Pari’s existence for three years.” He also admitted that he “had the desire to blame” Mira for that since he couldn’t blame her dead sister.
3. Beau was adamant that he couldn’t sleep with Mira because it could “complicate things” but he didn’t think it was complicated to have a child psychologist who was a jealous f*ck buddy evaluate his child and the competency of her aunt? 🙄🙄🙄
4. A man doesn’t call a woman “Babe” and kiss her on the mouth if she is “just a friend”.
5. From the way the scene was written, it was obvious that Fallon disliked Mira on sight. I’m pretty sure it would have been obvious to Beau as well.
6. Since it was obvious that Pari wasn’t feeling well, Beau agreed with Mira when she said it was best if Fallon spent time with Pari on another day. Why did he then suggest that Fallon spend some time with Pari after dinner?
7. Beau claimed that he didn’t mean for Fallon to upset Mira but he allowed it to happen and certainly never defended Mira when Fallon attacked her.
8. Both Roxy and Beau’s friends warned him that Fallon had feelings for him, but he just kept denying it even though he admitted it to himself.
9. Mira overheard Beau saying some terrible things about her to Fallon. He said that he was “not attracted to her”. He said that she was “childlike” and that he had “no interest whatsoever” in her “beyond her role” as his daughter’s aunt. Then, when Mira believed what she heard, he said, “Don't insult me. How the f*ck dare you?” 🤬🤬🤬
10. For crying out loud! Beau has gone to $ex clubs. He’s had threesomes. He’s had foursomes. We get it! 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

[Soma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maya has done it again! I enjoyed this book so much. I cried lots of tears for Mira and the life she endured. It was heartbreaking at times but so worth the read. I highly recommend this book

[Pinky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trigger Warnings:Starving from poverty, death of loved ones, illegitimate child isolation, heart failure, parental abandonment, suicide ideation, attempted suicide, sexual abuse from parent, pedophilia, trauma, PTSD, neglect, parent not believing child about sexual abuse, child abuse, overdose, threatening to take away child from guardian, depression

THIS BOOK IS MY FAV IN THE SERIES GAH. I recommend reading the books in order starting with Best of Me then Best Served Cold, then Best Laid Plans. I didn’t like Beau in the first book, he was always fucking around, didn’t care what age people were. But in Best Laid Plans, Beau was a sweetheart to Nova. There is a huge age gap and Beau is Mira’s sister’s ex. He didn’t know Mira’s sister Asha was pregnant so there is even a baby. Mira caught them having sex in the kitchen and I did not need that image in my head. BUT because Beau was someone who casually fucked around, his relationship with Mira’s sister in the past didn’t bother me since it wasn’t serious, still hate it though. Mira and Beau’s age gap is 12 years, she is 22 and he is 34. They were perfect together so I moved on. This book does have triggers and I appreciated Maya for including it at the beginning. I personally don’t need too many trigger warnings but some people do. What I didn’t like was the trigger warnings happened right before the chapter. It felt like someone was screaming “TRIGGER WARNING,” and since I am immersed in the story, I didn’t need that. Plus it's a spoiler for those who don’t mind triggers that much. So I think the first page is enough, the warnings before each chapter was a bit excessive. I love that the FMC in this book is Indian, I was able to relate to her in some ways since I am Sri Lankan and we have some similarities in culture. I loved Nova more here when I didn’t like her in her own book. Can’t wait for the next book in this series, hope it's Luna.


Mira is desperate to get help since her parents are coming to take her niece Pari away from her. She has no choice but to go to Pari’s father Beau, who has no idea he is a father. Mira is scared Beau will take Pari away from her but Beau can’t take Mira off his mind once he’s met her.

Now for spoilers


Mira goes to Beau with Pari, her niece, who she has been raising for 2 and a half years. Her sister Asha died 6 months ago from heart failure, she had a casual relationship with Beau where she ended up pregnant. Since Beau fucked around, Asha didn’t think that Beau would want any rights to Pari. So she told Mira that Beau wrote his rights away to her. When Mira’s parents threaten to take custody of Pari away from her, she goes to Beau for help. Pari calls for Mira so Mira asks Beau to hold her. Just by looking at Pari’s eyes, Beau knew she was his daughter. Mira is having a hard time talking since she hasn’t eaten properly, she is wearing ratty clothes and barely sleeps. She has taken good care of Pari who looked healthy and had good clothes. Mira asks if it is okay if she gets some food since she can’t speak. Beau asks for his housekeeper Roxy to make Mira a sandwich and gives Mira a smoothie. Mira tells Beau that Asha died from heart failure and she needs help fighting her parents in court. She doesn’t have any money, she doesn’t want her parents to take Pari away but she doesn’t expect Beau to take Pari. Beau says yes but needs to do a paternity test. He has no doubt that Pari is his but he needs proof for the court. He asks why Asha kept this from him and Mira said Asha told her he wrote his rights away when he didn’t. Roxy accepts Mira and Pari, she called Pari’s name beautiful since it means angel. Beau played along with Pari by acting like he was a doorbell when she pressed his nose. Mira says Beau is Pari’s dad so Pari calls him Bodaddy.


Beau tells them they can live with him while he figures things out. Beau is already checking Mira out but thinks that Mira is young and a kid so he tries to snap out of it. I was surprised he was self-aware since in the first book, he didn’t give a shit about age. Mira is afraid Beau was going to take Pari away. Especially since he kept saying Pari is his daughter. Beau was rich and owned a tech company so he would raise Pari well. Beau says he wants to take Pari to therapy to see how everything has affected her. Pari has forgotten Asha since Mira raised her. Mira had to take care of Asha when she was sick while raising Pari. She quit her job, her dream was to go to school for professional cooking but that didn’t happen. She loves Pari and has no regrets. Mira is scared, thinking Beau is questioning her parenting. But Beau knows Mira raised Pari well and meets Fallon. Fallon is a bitch Beau used to fuck, she got married and divorced recently. She is a child therapist but the bitch isn’t good at her job. She is super touchy with Beau but Beau thinks that they are just good friends that are over each other. Beau admits he wants to fuck Mira and Fallon did not like that. Fallon doesn’t like the idea of Mira hanging around at Beau’s place, she recommends he gets a nanny. Beau talks about loving Pari and says Mira raised her well. Mira’s parents kicked Mira out when Asha died. Asha left money for Mira and named her a guardian but Mira’s parents froze the accounts and Mira was left with nothing.


Beau’s mom Donna found out that her husband had an affair baby which was Nova. We see how it affected her here, she has known Nova as a friend but was shocked when she found out she was her step daughter. It took months for her to make peace with it so when she hears about Mira and Pari, she doesn’t trust them. Donna doesn’t like Pari’s name but Beau tells them it is a beautiful name. He made an effort to play with Pari and take care of her. When his family comes for dinner, he is so focused on Pari to notice that Donna, his brother Trevor, and his wife Katya were questioning Mira. They thought she was a gold digger. I was so disappointed in Katya and Trevor since I loved them so much in Nova’s book. But it was a relief that Nova was there. She is half-black and has dealt with racism her whole life. She grew up poor so she understood where Mira was coming from. Donna asked why Mira was still there, saying she could leave, but Mira says she is there for Pari. Mira has been questioned on her parenting her whole life since her parents kept sending Child Protective Services to her door. I loved Nova for yelling at Beau to pay attention. I hope Nova called Trevor and Katya out later. Beau had no idea this happened and felt guilty. He kept saying Mira was fine until he caught her crying. He wanted to have sex with her but knew it was a bad idea. I felt like their relationship was instalust, they barely knew each other and he wanted to fuck her. There wasn’t a good buildup to it but he asks if she is okay. Mira tells him she is but asks him if he would take Pari from her and he says no. He comforts her while holding her head but after he touches her lips, he kisses her. They both kiss and it was just really random but I went with it.


Mira says they shouldn’t do that again but they both liked the kiss. Beau brings Fallon over the next day and she was such a bitch. Fallon kisses Beau on the lips and he is fine with it. I remember he kissed Aurora on the lips in front of Gabe, I find it weird but I guess its a rich people thing. Instead of seeing if Pari was okay, Fallon was busy criticizing how Mira was raising Pari. Pari was sick and wanted a nap so she was a bit fussy. Fallon says Mira didn’t raise Pari right with a proper schedule. She takes Mira privately to insult her parenting. Beau tries to check in but when Mira would stand up for herself, he says that he brought Fallon to help. Mira takes Pari to bed while Fallon tells Beau to get rid of Mira. It is clear as day she isn’t over Beau but he is too oblivious to see it. Roxy is so pissed, so she says that Pari has been eating all her vegetables and is such a good kid. Mira mentions Pari helped prepare dinner, Fallon is about to comment when Mira beats her to it.

“Yes," Mira replied tightly. "Sometimes I let her cook as well. She gets splattered with butter and oil, but it's all in a day's work, you know."
Roxy snickered at that.
Fallon narrowed her eyes.”

I loved that Roxy was done with Fallon’s bullshit. Roxy tells him that it was a bad idea to bring Fallon. When Roxy and Mira help Pari take a bath, Beau comes in annoyed. It was so funny seeing Pari repeat their cussing.

“What the hell was that, Roxy?" he demanded.
"Hell," Pari clipped.
Beau muttered, "Fuck."
"Buck," Pari parroted.
"Damn it."
"Am it." Pari laughed.”

Beau kept his family and Fallon away from Mira and Pari. A month goes by and Beau notices Mira is using an old pager. He buys Mira a new phone, saying this is for Pari’s safety. Beau offers for Mira to come out with him while someone watches over Pari. But Mira says it is her job to do that. Beau sends Nova and Anson to babysit so Mira can join him. Nova is such a good friend, she brought Mira a dress and gives her a makeover.

“You're still you." Nova gave me a playful nudge, and then her tone became serious. "You're not just Mira the mom, or Mira the caretaker. You're Mira, a gorgeous woman. You're allowed to feel beautiful, and to enjoy yourself.”

Beau can’t see his life without Mira and Pari but knows Mira is scared he will take Pari away. Gabe gives Beau solid advice to just go for what he wants. Gabe has another kid with Aurora now. But Fallon comes and gives Beau a big hug. When Mira comes to meet Beau, she sees him with Fallon outside. Fallon says Mira isn’t good at raising Pari. Fallon asks if Beau is still interested in fucking Mira and Beau says he isn’t since she takes care of Pari. Mira is upset that Beau only sees her as a caretaker and leaves but Beau sees her and runs after her. He says he didn’t mean it but he wanted Fallon to back off. They both want each other and go home together. Nova and Anson get the hint once they come home, they put Pari to bed so Beau and Mira fuck. They aren’t telling anyone they are together but continue fucking and dating secretly. Nova offers to get Mira a job at Savannah Lace at their cafeteria. Nina’s interview questions felt so real but Mira got the job. Mira excitedly texts Beau but he tells her to just get home.


Beau got a call from his mom and goes over to find Mira’s parents there. He was going to look into Asha and Mira’s past since he didn’t know much, Asha was just a person he casually fucked. Mira’s parents tell Beau that Mira has been lying to him. They tell him that Mira stayed with Asha while she was sick and was always partying and smoking weed. They say Mira lied about Asha not giving Beau paternity rights. They say that Mira leached off Asha and once Asha died, she used Pari as a way to blackmail them for money. The story was such bullshit, especially since they are fighting for custody of Pari and are rich. They could have easily given Mira the money if this story were true. Beau is still in doubt so they give him CPS reports that show that Mira shook Pari as a baby and abused her. Beau couldn’t see Mira doing something like that but when he sees the reports he wants Mira out. Beau yells at Mira for lying to him and throws the reports at her. Mira is confused, she says these papers aren’t real but Beau doesn’t listen. He gives her a trashbag full of her things and tells her to get out like the trash she is. Mira begs on her knees to not let her parents see Pari. She says she will go away if he does that but Beau just says he will take care of Pari. Mira looks at Pari one last time and drives away. Beau struggles to deal with Pari crying for Mira. Pari can’t sleep without Mira’s lullaby but Beau can’t sing it since it is in Bengali. Mira left the new phone he brought her. Roxy was pissed at Beau for kicking Mira out while the others were happy except Nova. Roxy says Mira didn’t want his money and even left the phone behind. Beau calls Mira’s pager and she answers right away. He tells her that Pari won’t go to sleep so she sings the lullaby on speaker. He hangs up after Pari goes to sleep without answering Mira if Pari is okay. He is worried on what to do on other nights but Mira sent him a recording of the lullaby.


Mira is tired of living, I was bawling my eyes out when she took Asha’s pills and attempts to commit suicide by overdosing. While unconscious, she dreams of a happy life with Pari and Beau. Days go by and Beau gets a call from CPS, I was relieved that he at least did his own research. It took time for them to contact him again but he did look into the CPS claims. The worker tells Beau that the CPS reports were fake and Mira’s parents can never get custody of Pari. He recommends Beau go to Asha’s lawyer. Asha’s lawyer tells Beau that both Asha and Mira were sexually abused by their father as kids. Asha was able to leave but Mira was stuck there until she ran away and Asha got her out. Mira’s mom didn’t believe either of them and when Mira calls for help, her dad had influence in the area and got rid of them. Beau is speechless and feels so much regret. The lawyer sent Mira to Beau since she had a feeling he might help. Beau wants to find Mira when he gets a call from Katya at the hospital. He finds out Mira attempted suicide by overdosing but they saved her. Beau tells Katya and his mom to stay away from Mira. Mira is put on suicide watch for 72 hours and sees a therapist. When she talked about her feelings, I was crying for her. Mira thought it would have been better if she died but thinks she is stupid for attempting it. She thinks she is going to distance herself, even from Pari, thinking she didn’t do a good job raising her.

Mira is so done with the world and I was heartbroken for her.
“This whole conversation is pointless. I'm fine. I'm not going to attempt suicide again. I've learnt my lesson when it comes to people who can hurt me. My sister was smarter than me. She kept everyone at a distance. I'll take her path this time. You can't lose someone if you don't let them in.”

Once Mira is out, Nova lets her stay at her apartment and Mira refuses to talk to Beau. All his friends tell him to give Mira space to heal. Mira starts working at the kitchen and I had so much respect for Nina, she gave Mira space but checked in on her. Beau starts to walk with Mira home, telling her that Pari misses her and so does he. He says he is sorry but Mira would ignore him. The girls at Savannah Lace were persistent and brought Mira out after weeks. Mira ignores Beau but when she is going to the washroom, she sees Fallon hugging Beau. Beau tells Fallon to back off and follows Mira. He tells Mira he misses her and asks if they can talk, saying he doesn’t care for Fallon. He takes her to a bar and gets everyone to leave. Mira thinks Beau is talking to her since he knows her past but Beau says its more than that. Beau says that Nova was hurt by a man in her past and he got the man killed. Mira doesn’t want her parents dead so Beau says they can put her dad in jail instead. Beau goes to Mira’s kitchen with a surprise of Bengali sweets which makes Mira happy. Slowly, they make baby steps and Mira starts talking to Pari on the phone. Then she starts Facetiming Pari, Pari stopped asking for Mira but still needs the lullaby at night. Mira’s parents show up at her workplace to get Mira fired by Nina. I fucking loved Nina for having Mira’s back.

“You're both despicable people and I'm so glad that I have the opportunity to tell you to your faces to go fuck yourselves.”

Mira screams at them to get out while her dad says she is not mentally well. Beau tells them to leave or they will be sorry. He takes a flight to their place and threatens them to stay away from Mira and Pari. Beau surprises Mira with Pari and Mira is so glad to see her. He and Mira have been going out but Mira still goes home. Mira tells him she still has the garbage bag he gave her in her closet. She is scared he will hurt her again and Beau cries, he feels so guilty for what he did. Beau says he hurt Mira so Pari says they need to fix it. So they go to Mira’s place and all of them throw the bag out. Beau makes a surprise birthday party for her. He got her lessons to a famous chef so Mira can get experience and Mira hugs him. Katya apologized to Mira, she and Trevor felt terrible for what they did. I was so disappointed in them since they were so sweet in the last book. Donna felt ashamed, she felt anger about her husband cheating and used it on Mira. At the party, Donna gives Mira some heirlooms from their family. Mira hugs her and Donna cries, thankful Mira forgave her. Mira eventually moves back in with Beau. Mira’s mom comes back demanding that Mira testify in support of her dad. Her dad got arrested for child porn on his computer, there were other victims. Mira refuses and Beau yells at the mom for showing up again. The mom goes to India and Mira’s relatives contact her to apologize. I loved Beau’s grovelling, he gave her time, felt guilt and remorse, used both actions and words to make it up to Mira. Mira’s suicide attempt had me in tears, it was good to see she has support all around her now. I also loved that Mira called Beau out when he said he loved her from the start. She told him if he loved her, he wouldn’t have believed her parents. But Beau says he regrets it all and he was wrong. Once Mira moves back in, she is in Beau’s bedroom. Pari asks if she can call Mira her Mama instead of Miramisha which means aunt. 6 years later, they have another baby named Manav. I loved how Beau was embracing Mira’s heritage, he learned to sing the lullaby to their baby. They are both so happy and in love, this story was beautiful.


Stay safe folks!

[Juniper · Rating 4 out of 5]

MMC: Beau, 33yrs old, CEO or something fancy and rich

MFC: Mira, 22 yrs old, Cook with aspirations to be a chef and caretaker for her niece

OW drama: The H had been in a brief sexual relationship with the h’s sister which resulted in a pregnancy that the H did not know about. It wasn’t really an issue for either of them that he had been with the sister before. He had a brief thought that he wasn’t really into sleeping with sisters but other than that nothing was mentioned or discussed. I thought it was weird that the h wasn’t more grossed out or hesitant about it. She had even seen him screwing the sister in her kitchen. 🤮

The H has an ex f-buddy that he is now friends with. She obviously wants him still and she causes some doubt and drama for the h and H but the H is never receptive to her. He only sees her as a friend but he does let her cross some boundaries like kissing him on the lips, snuggling to his side and calling him baby before he and h get together. I wish he had shut her down harder and made her suffer for trying to fuck with the h but he basically just ended their friendship and that was it.

OM drama: None

Triggers: mention of child sexual abuse, suicide attempt. No virgins. H is a manwhore but is immediately celibate once h enters his life. He’s never been in a relationship. I don’t remember how long it had been since he’d been with someone. No real mention of the h’s background but she said it had been a year since the last time she had sex. They did discuss STD status, she had an IUD and he had never gone without a condom (although he did get the sister pregnant and he wondered if he had any other kids out there he didn’t know about). They did not use condoms.


Thoughts: FINALLY ! My god finally Maya Alden got it right. Well mostly right. I’m grading on a curve here because most of the time her books leave me wanting to kill something (that something being the H).

I’ve said before that I’m done with her books because she writes the H’s to be so disgustingly vile to the h and then doesn’t do enough to redeem him and make him suffer. The h is always weak and too quick to forgive with almost no grovel or addressing the horrible things he said and did to her.

I’ve largely stuck to my resolution to skip her books but that doesn’t mean I’m not tempted. Oh how I’m tempted because she’s a good author with intriguing story ideas. I decided to give this one a chance because it felt different that the H was in a relationship with the h and treated her well before he eviscerated her. This is a different dynamic than all her other books. Usually we are dumped in the story where the H already has a seething hatred for the h and is treating her like dog shit. It’s hard to connect to the reasons that the h loves the H when all we see is how horrifically he treats her. This time we get to experience their love grow before it all comes crashing down.

Now, this isn’t to say that the H was a perfect angel. He was the typical Maya Alden clueless asshole. But he really was a clueless asshole looking at things from his privileged perspective. He was a douche with some of his thoughts and the way he let others treat her but it wasn’t done maliciously.

Don’t get me wrong, the H was an absolute bastard to the h once he thought she had hurt his daughter. He didn’t even give her one iota of trust or try to hear her side. The way he treated her was heartbreaking. This is on par for a Maya Alden book.

What made the difference for me was how the h completely shut down and didn’t give in to the H for a long time after he got his head out of his ass and started his grovel. I LOVE when an h completely shuts down and becomes a shell of her former self because of the H’s treatment. I think it’s the best way to show him how badly he fucked up. In this case she attempted suicide and almost died. Chefs kiss for the angst!

She was not manipulated or pushed into forgiveness by his friends and family. She didn’t let him railroad her. Granted, that was mostly because she felt like she was trash and he and the kid were better off without her, but I’ll take what I can get.

The h was not a forgiving doormat in my opinion. She let the H know multiple times how much he hurt her and made him face what he had done. She let him know she didn’t trust him and she had some realistic setbacks along the way to her forgiving him.

It wasn’t perfect but if her books continue on this path where the H is made to suffer longer and the h is not a weak dishrag, I can get on board with reading them again.

It’s not a 5 star to me because there were some nitpicky things that annoyed me. The main one being how often characters ended a sentence with “yeah?” For example “let me put her to bed and then we’ll talk, yeah?” I don’t know anyone who talks that way. I feel like it is something that was started in books and many authors adopted it. I also didn’t like that he called her “darlin’”. It just seemed so generic. But that’s just me. I don’t like darlin, honey or sweetheart coming from my H’s as their pet names for the h.

Borrowed from Kindle Unlimited

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an awesome book. It’s filled with so much emotion both happy and sad. It’s a romance but also a book about finding your true self, your courage and strength you did not know you had.

The characters felt real.

A throughly amazing read.

[Tessa]

I didn't believe in the HEA mostly because I didn't believe in the romance. There was no relationship build up IMO and the h let the H get away with a lotta shit.

I will say there were quite a few scenes that packed quite the punch but overall I just didn't buy the romance so it didn't work for me.

[Tanya · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an advanced copy (ARC) in exchange for my honest review. And honestly, I loved it. Best Kept Secret is a beautiful love story that involves passion, heartbreak, betrayal (literally makes you feel like something is grabbing and squeezing your heart while stealing your breath), a redemption you can believe in, and all of the feel goods in between. Mind the trigger warnings and grab the box of tissues. I will definitely purchase this when it’s out (probably even the paperback, because I can see this becoming a re-read for me when I’m itching for that “hero breaks her heart and causes her to totally withdraw”).

[Isabella · Rating 5 out of 5]

well, I love Mira and Beau...and the writing... was easy and fascinating... delicate subjects but a great story!

5 stars!

[Serial Romance Librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am absolutely loving this gut-wrenching series! I’m a long-time fan of Alden’s books and I feel so lucky to have snagged an ARC!

One thing I love about Alden, aside from her prolificness as a writer, is that she isn’t afraid to really go there in order to provide her fans with that gut-punch angst! Heed the trigger warnings on this one. There’s some big ones! It was an emotional roller coaster, but also such a beautiful tale of true love, perseverance in overcoming hardships, and deliberate reclamation of self-love.

Though this book is dramatic with many tropes I devour such as overheard, betrayal, uncovered, angst, and grovel; it also delivered great character depth and plot development. The characters were emotionally mature and pragmatic. I flew through this book. READ IT if you love old school romances and imperfect, relatable characters.

I REALLY appreciate how forthcoming Alden is about all the tropes and trigger warnings of all of her books. She’s setting a standard!

Maya Alden is getting better and better!

[Chronic Chihuahua · Rating 1 out of 5]

I Genuinely, As A Child Abuse Victim, Would Not Feel Safe Around Any Woman Who Believed This Man Was Held Accountable, Or Demonstrated Authentic Remorse

"I was letting them hurt Beau."

Ahem, Beau the grooming abuser needs to hurt a lot longer for being a Billionaire like Brian Thompson

Pap. Pap. Pap.

Fuckers.

"My Mira could die and I wouldn't have a chance to make it right." - this is the problem with Neoliberals and Neoconservatives.

When someone attempts suicide, it is TOXIC AS FUCK to centre yourself. Toxic as fuck. This book spends half the book trying to convince you hes changed when hes still centering himself and his future fuck nest, for the rest of the book.

Yes its worse to see rape and abuse, and reframe narcissistic responses to oit

If you are going to appropriate the story of parentified child abuse victims, then at least give some of the text an emotion.

So cold and clinical just, so dead. She never feels anything this book, its juat yelling YOU she feels suicidal. But she does fuck all but want him. Its pathetic.

I wish my suicide ideation was cured so easily.

But thats Neoliberals for you, wanting you to believe you can get better and get back to the office, so they can sip on BookTok and giggle.

The remorse was all for himself.

He responded to HER suicide attempt, in response to HIS choices, by barging about yelling at everyone else, emotionally dominating a situation that was caused by his abuse via emotional domination to begin with.

Such a Neoliberal resolution to a SUICIDE ATTEMPT.

We don't see her wake up, the dread that she survived.

No, its immediate regret like the author Disney Princess'd a suicide attempt. Is that even possible?

I didn't think it was but that's what I'm reading.

Immediately its, "I stupidly took pills, I'm a dumb-dumb! Tch silly me!"

This scene needs a wee mouse to run out and raise its hands like, "Wah! Wah! Wahhhhhh!"

Imagine appropriating trauma like this and doing nothing but center the abuser in the resolution.

And telling child abuse victims they are strong, when its ingenuity that allows us to survive, is also a form of medical gaslighting.

He Was NOT Reacting, Men Are Not Reactive, They Are Active And Aggressive, Yet The Author Utilises Therapy Speak Like Cheatcodes To Level Up

The only grovel an abuser can make, is accepting the label, abuser.

You abused.

Thus, abuser.

Trigger Warnings mean nothing to abuse victims when you constantly gaslight us about his choices.

Glad the safely theatrical have their trauma tome to feed on.

Weaponised her physical needs against her just like all Billionaire genociders.

"a million swords won't harm them so much as one bad winters famine..."

Billionaires know they are abusers.

They are all Social Murderers.

Dehumanisers.

Reading him be heartbroken while shes in her car, is toxic.

But thats Neoliberal Fascists for you, they're about to try and make an example of Luigi Mangione and they'll just make a martyr.

Pap. Pap. Pap. Beau needed taken out in broad daylight.

The first page told absolutely everything I needed to know about this abusive H and how he had alreasy abused the h to the point that he didn't mind her being underage and seeing him have sex with her sister, someone the story convinced me he took advantage of as well.

Woopsie, I guess the Neoliberal weaponisation of trauma against her impulses conveniently worked out for this Patriarchial Parable.

How convenient he gets to continually centre himself in his choices.

But her doctor wasn't interested in helping her heal.

It doesn't matter why he did what he did.

He did what he did.

And any trauma specialist will tell you that forgiveness is for the trauma victim for ever believing he could he a different person than he chose to be.

Can't relate to wanting to relate to someone more than a decade older than you, when you do not have the same experiences to relate over.

Especially in the internet era, people of his malignant survival skills, are even more malignant.

What a narcissist, centering himself in the abuse he chose to let his child witness from him.

But I do love making sure Neoliberals feel perceived as they sanitise abuse.

Remember BookTok, he wasn't reacting, he was choosing. Hurt people, don't typically hurt people, the author is weaponising your inherent ableism to believe they do when hurt people externalise their impulses the least.

But I'm glad we hunted for a wee excuse and glad we sanitised his actual harrassment of her until she spoke to him like that Rancid TL Swan's "Tender" Toxic Trauma Tome, The Stopover.

Like seriously, hes following her instead of parenting, we literally skip him having to do the parenting and then believe that hes grown.

I guess words and emotions are enough for Neoliberal whingebags.

Modern mental health and its focus on abusive Buddhism.

Fun Fact: Religious people commit suicide lower than average, well, exceot MINDFUL Buddhists, they commit suicide more than average.

And Neoliberal doctors will use this to "heal" people, i.e. wait them out to nuance the trauma they were dealt.

Green Pilled Patriarchial Parable for the Unseen, Unloved and utterly Unfucked, and the Unassaulted, Unabused and Unraped to show the victims how its done.

Thanks!

So glad a moment of vengeance was enough to cure lifelong abuse.

Honestly, I'm in my 30s.

My late 20s was already too old for someone aged 22.

But we literally watch him groom her from her trauma response. Pretending she had freedom but insisting he maintain control over her romantic life.

Stephanie Meyers really fucked up a generation, as did EL James, pretending you can be romantic with someone without shared life experiences and without a matured amygdala.

Gross.

The Disney Renaissance really taught Neoliberal white women that it was romantic to do the bare minimum of DESISTING restricting your freedom.

I mean, I guess that feels like egalitarianism...but that would cause someone to have an actual trauma response, not whatever therapy talk this was.

By the end of the book, I hate her for breeding with him, adding more kids to that toxic dynamic and becoming complicit.

Remember, Mira taught Pari, that it will be fine whenever a man like Beau is fucking her elder peer against the counter, that its normal to be aroused.

Its not.

Its gross.

And would actually impact the actual traumatised.

But its ok.

Pari can be one of three women to her mans harem.

Its all ok.

He will be afforded all the emotional fuel to excuse his tape fantasies, sorry, what is it Russell Abusive, Rapist Brand called it, "Sex Addiction".

Abuser.

Hes so toxic.

And does not grovel.

He centres himself and uses visual, kinaesthetic and auditory coercion against her traumatised person, to get a quick, emphasis on QUICK, fix to trauma.

Romance books shouldn't end with me worried the H is going to weaponise his own kids trauma and the h will enable him.

The scenes of regret at pathetic.

I don't wanna know that they regret it.

I want him to fuck off.

I want her to authentically build her own emotional support network.

But this author loves TL Swan, the author that marketed themselves as a Psychologist before forcing EVERY h of her books through a dissociated, coerced rape seen, where he continues when she's not into it, like consent is anything but Enthusiastic.

So glad the written reviews reflect the split in romance readers.

I love seeing Alden's ratings and knowing her fans arent the minority they perform that they are.

I am way too Irish to fall for this bullshit, pretending he wasnt using his domineering presence AGAIN after he forced her to unalive herself.

I never want to know how he feels until he learns to sit in her presence and not control her.

Never happens

Nobody is on her side.

They all help her abuser.

Even the doctor.

Dr Ryan should NOT be telling her that Beau and Nova are asking after her.

Nova was complicit.

Its doesnt matter how she felt, it matters they all let this happen. Beau is this way because they all LET him be.

I wonder what risks his repeated sexual encounters with abused women, brought to the woman he chose to sex every night. Wonder what risks that were passed on to both his kids as a result of the microbial cocktail that his pores would be at this point.

This book was cheat codes, to rush him to hero status and pretend she healed.

But she nuances like a Neoliberal scumbag.

"I need to be mindful, even though mindfulness is what the suiciding Buddhists do."

Auroras a real cunt isn't she? I fucking hate neoliberals and the way they just are in your face to perform not being traumatised.

Hide your pain in a therapists office for their convenience.

What a bitch.

What a narcissistic abuser.

But Mira isn't real.

Shes there for abuse victims to learn a lesson about daring to have boundaries.

Conditioned one imposing presence at a time.

You dont need to reflect when someone makes you feel loved.

Nah she needs to list and convince herself this grooming abuser wants her.

Also, shes like not even a person.

Abuse victims that I know, aren't comfortable around food.

They are hypersensitive and the first thing that impacts is their digestive system.

But again, shes not real.

Shes there for the neoliberal safely theatrical women, to live through and pretend they understand the trauma of an actual abuse victim.

I can't believe I keep rereading this.

"My girl had a heart."

Fuck you and fuck your narcissistically abusive mother.

But then, abusers are used to lovebombing abuse victims with gifts when their lives had been inconvenienced by their own behaviour.

His mothers an ass.

His sisters an ass.

His half sister is an even more of an imposing ass.

Its a good thing the author skips over Nova imposing on Mira because shes the bitch they send in TO BE rejected so they can pretend they tried.

Fuck her.

Fuck her for not expecting more for Mira.

Fuck all these people for watching this and not shunning him for a bit.

Watching them all feel bad for HIM?

GIRL.

FUCKING GIRL.

FUCKING GIRL BOSSES AND THEIR PISSING ANTICS.

Who CARES how he feels?

Ge KNOWINGLY and WILLINGLY deprived that child he claimed to love, of her emotional support network.

Cannot relate to wanting to nuance an abusive father like this.

Fucking girl.

Cannot imagine the privilege one has in life, that all he has to do is feel bad, gift shit to her and pout.

Fuck him.

And fuck her for not being a real abuse victim.

They wouldn't let the gaslighting and love bombing happen, once that point has been crossed.

Your brain either breaks going through neurogenesis or your values completely change.

But shes not real.

Shes there for the safe and affluent to feel theatrical because if they turn on their videos apps, they will see the genocide their lifestyle stimulates.

And I love perceiving it.

EDIT: Dr Ryan is the villain in these books.

Holy shit she tries to make her this Mary Poppins healer but shes soooo wild.

Just....nothing.

No words for symptoms.

Nothing.

Fuck, Neoliberals don't need therapy, you just need someone you are allowed to be authentic around, don't you?

Wow, thats what friends are for.

Hoping Dr Ryan gets popped.

[Joanne Farley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished reading Best Kept Secret a few days ago. I had been unable to write a review as I was still trying to come to grips with it. It is a book that has it all. It will break your heart, it will destroy your soul then it will piece your heart & soul back together. Rest assured while this book will have you crying you will finish it with a smile on your face and a song in your heart.
Please make sure you read the trigger warnings that Maya Alden has included. She has gone out of her way to assist you in protecting your mental health.

[Kathleen Lemke (Kathy Page) · Rating 4 out of 5]

My rating: 4 stars

What I loved: This book took me awhile to read due to what Mira(h) went through. Unfortunately, I too had a horrible father and reading this brought back bad memories I would just like to forget (so please check trigger warnings). I liked how Mira got the help she needed and took her time in getting back with Beau(H). I absolutely loved that the father got what he deserved.

What I didn’t like: I wished the mother would have gotten jail time too. Also, I wanted more at the end…I guess I wanted more happy time especially after everything Mira went through.

***Major Spoilers/ Details/Triggers: Attempt Suicide, SA (h and h’s sister by their father), mention of the h’s sister passing, a little of ow drama. h goes to the H to ask him for help with his daughter. H didn’t know he had a daughter. H and the h’s sister had a two week fling and she gotten pregnant. The sister didn’t want the H to know, thinking he wouldn’t want to be a dad. The sister dies leaving the h to take care of her. The h’s parents want the child and try to get her by lying to CPS. h running out of money when the parents stop money going to her, goes to the H for help. H takes them both in and goes about making sure his daughter is secure and he is put on the birth certificate. The H’s family, except for the half sister, don’t care for the h because she kept the H’s daughter from him. They talk down to the h. H asks a friend (H had a sexual relationship with this friend) to observe the daughter. The friend also doesn’t like the h but it’s out of jealousy. H and h start a sexual relationship but don’t announce it. H promises the h that he will take care of her and the daughter. The H’s mom has the h’s parents come over and they tell the H that the h abused the daughter and she is not fit to be anywhere near the child. They show the H CPS paperwork. H goes home and kicks the h out. h tries to talk to the H but he refuses to listen. h leaves but before she goes begs the H to not let the daughter near her parents. h feeling lost and alone, takes sleeping pills to end her life. Someone finds her in her vehicle and gets her to the hospital. H during this time decides to look into things and realizes that the h’s parents lied. He is told that the father molested the h and her sister. H upset goes to find the h but is told she is in the hospital. h refuses to see anyone and starts talking to a therapist. H feels horrible and lets his family know what he thinks of them not being nice to the h. Everyone upset tells the H that they will help get the h back. h starts working and the half sister lets her stay at her old place. H shows up and walks the h home, telling her things about the daughter and how sorry he is. Finally they talk after h shows up for drinks and the H happens to be there too. H tells the h that he will make sure her parents pay for what they did. Slowly the h starts to give the H a chance. When her parents show up again but this time at her job, her boss and the H tell them to get out and that they aren’t welcome there. h realizes that people believe her and that they are on her side. H goes to the h’s parents and tells them to never contact the h again. h finally starts seeing the daughter again and a little later she moves back in with the H. HEA with the h’s father going to jail, the h and H married and the h having a baby boy.

Final thoughts: This was a tough read because of what the heroine went through. Please check trigger warnings.

[Izzie d · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trigger warnings.

Child abuse, no details.
Suicide attempt. Suicidal thoughts.

Very angsty.

Hero messes up big time but grovels.
No quick fix. Therapy to heal.

[Gennaskindletbr 🩶 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars for the writing

My Lord was this angsty. But I HATED the hero. The way he turned on Mira so fast was abhorrent and just disgusting. There was no coming back from that. I will say that scene was so well written and gut wrenching. I was bawling for Mira. The way that Mira’s despair was depicted was incredibly well done. I felt it in my chest. It was utterly heartbreaking.

So with that, I NEVER wanted Mira to go back to Beau. There was nothing he could do to make up for what he did and the way he hurt her and drove her into the depths of despair. I know some readers think he groveled, but there was no grovel good enough.

[Meggi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book and I adored Mira! She went through so much. I won’t lie, I guessed what happened to Mira growing up. I was surprised that Beau did not guess sooner, as intelligent as he seemed.

I loved revisiting old characters, especially Nova and Anson. I loved the way they were there for Mira and the way they accepted her. The rest of Beau’s family pissed me off.

On to Beau, I went back and forth on him. I loved him and Pari and he was so sweet to Mira to start. How on Earth could he ever believe she could hit Pari, though???? He should have realized that she could never do something like that, especially when she said not to let Paris near her parents. Their first time together even paused and thought he suspected something traumatic had happened to her sexually. He should have known better. That being said, he did much better by the end and kept his word and followed through on what he said he would do for Mira.

Now on to a very delicate issue, her suicide attempt. It broke my heart. Maya handled it exceptionally well. It broke my heart to see her in so much pain. I cried a lot and I won’t lie, it happens to be a trigger for me. The way it was handled was very sensitive, though. I loved that she came through and was able to address all the parts that brought her there through therapy.

Savannah’s Best is one of my favorite series and I loved revisiting them yet again! Loved this book!

I received an ARC copy of this book. I’ll be buying it once it comes out, though, as I do with all of Mira’s books!

[Melissa M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

There isn't a book by Maya Alden I haven't read. I was privileged to receive the ARC for Best Kept Secret and my heart broke while reading this book. Maya took a subject that is very difficult to comprehend how a person could do such a thing to another and handled it with care. There were times I had to put the book down to dry my tears. This story was truly mind blowing and stayed in my thoughts long after. Maya is a truly lifted writer. You will not be disappointed with this story.

[NJ · Rating 1 out of 5]

No! Absolutely not. Just burn it and be done with it. I hate everyone in this book except Pari. I was looking forward to Beau's book but this was disappointing.