Righting herself as the train began to move, she looked up… Into the verdant eyes of the most attractive woman, she had ever seen. “Oh my God!”
To the outside world, Lauren’s marriage is picture perfect, but she is hiding a secret. Beneath the smile lies an unquenchable yearning: Lauren craves intimacy with a woman. Until now, these desires have been mere fantasy, harmless daydreams.
What Lauren could never have known was that a chance encounter on a train would change her life forever. She also had no reason to suspect that money missing from her family business would cause her to question her sexuality, or unravel her father’s deepest, darkest secret…
Likewise, Gillian a former model, turned forensic accountant, had no way of knowing that her life was going to be turned upside down when she agreed to help Lauren’s mother unearth the mystery behind the missing money.
While Lauren begins a journey of self-discovery that will have far-reaching consequences. Gillian must learn to lay the ghosts of her troubled and traumatic past to rest.
Will Lauren and Gillian get the happily-ever-after that they both desperately crave, or will their personal histories prove too difficult to overcome?
A secret can be exciting ... it can also be a prison.
While Jade Winters has been putting words together since she was a child, it wasn’t until 2010 that she became a serious writer. Today, as a full-time author, she has published four novels in the lesbian fiction genre as well as several short stories. Jade was born and educated in London where she studied journalism for three years at a London University. She is the youngest of 6 children born to a Nigerian father and English mother and blames her love of spicy food on her African heritage. Jade now makes her home in Dorset in the South of England with her partner and furry companions Zorro, Buttons and Zeus.
Another inta love with lots of angst and not enough development. Too many things happen to Lauren in a short period. It was almost comical. Instead of Lauren's parents issues the romance should've been given more focus and not just in Lauren's fantasies.
If you manage not to be too bothered by the cheesy dialogues, the annoying thoughts of denial of a supposedly straight woman ("Why am I feeling this way towards a woman?" "Surely I am not a lesbian" "I'm just confused"), the ridiculous amount of improbable things happening, and the overall melo/over-dramatic aspect of the book, this story is not half bad.
I actually hesitated between 3 and 4 stars.. shocker. But 3 it is, because of all of the above. Jade Winters is not the best writer for sure, but she can satisfy romance lovers with easy reads. The two stories I've read by her are similar in many ways: too many things happening, borderline absurd and corny, but also quite sweet and optimistic. And above all, jade Winters knows how to make you feel things. And surprisingly enough, the unrealistic aspects of Secrets didn't prevent that.
Secrets is a very sexy story (I regretted reading it on the subway), with lovely characters. I recommend it for those who want a quick feel good read that doesn't beat around the bush (great choice of words).
I keep finding these lovely little nuggets on my TBR shelves! Lauren is married to a man, but she keeps fantazing being with a woman. Then she meets Gillian and her fantasies have a face. When one morning her husband walks out. Lauren goes to a bar and there is Gillian. This is a story full of secrets, except little miniature dachshund Scruff. The twists and turns keep you turning the pages! I really enjoyed this book! 5 stars!
This book will definitely be added to my read again list.🤓 I truly believe in love at first site, things happen for a reason, destiny and all that lovey dovey mess.😍 This story was very enjoyable to read because it encompassed all that. I love, love and it fills my heart to see others in love. Often times we feel pressured to make decisions about our lives because we want to feel accepted by others for one reason or another and always at the risk of our own true happiness. Lauren did just that until that faithful day she literally, ran into Gillian on the train. Everything thereafter just proved why being true to yourself means so much more than being accepted or not. #LiveYourBestLifeAlways
How long will it take to finally listen to your heart?
What started out as a year-end audit reveals secrets galore or a way to end certain relationships. Lauren and her parents own a antique store and a recent audit reveals a lot of money has gone missing. 312,000 pounds worth of money. Gillian is a investigator and very good at her job. The moment the two women meet each other starts a chain of finding out that not every thing smells like roses. Follow along to discover the many secrets that are uncovered. Enjoy!
"Secrets" is a short, well plotted love story. Sweet, sexy and funny. As usual in a Winter's book, the two main characters are likeable women you find yourself rooting for at once. The supporting characters are dealing with their own secrets, and those storylines perfectly fit into the main storyline. In the end you're grateful for the surprises and for the solutions, even though you actually might want to keep reading a bit longer.
It's a lovely read and definitely worth the price.
Lots of plot twists and interesting side plots. A really sweet romance and coming out story. Sometime you have to follow your own path not what others want. You have to finally realise what you want and who you want to love.
Interesting story and despite being a bit simplistic in its culmination, it’s not an uncommon story for a woman to do what she feels is expected of her by family and society and later come to the realization about what she really wants in life and finally speak her truth. Good book.
I loved this story and its many twists, turns, and surprises! The fantasy love story is delicious and enticing! And oh my gosh - the phrase “Did I just say that out loud?” has never had this much repercussion! The story is amusing in its chaos - a very enjoyable read.
We lie to ourselves enough times that we end up forgetting who we are and veer of the path we’re meant to be. To be courageous is the only way we can live the best life belonging to us.
A very good read. Good characters in a good place. It was hard to put down. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and I recommend it for anyone who likes this kind of affection.
I love the real life characters and situations...believable! Life is definitely a journey, and we often meet people who change our minds, our lives, or our hearts. Sometimes all three at one time!
I dig Jade Winters for a quick read. I like most of her work. This one, not so much. It felt a little shallow and cumbersome. Disjointed and incomplete are two other words I would use.
Even though all the bad situations that happened to the protagonist is designs to make things depressing (I think). Those situations is so ludicrous that it's just comical, I can't help but laughed.
I didn't like the main protagonist at first. She was in so much denial. It is stated that she fantasizes about women long ago before her marriage, she can't turn on if she doesn't imagine a woman while having sex with her husband. Yet after all that, in the beginning she said that she is not a lesbian? OTL She also jumped into conclusion too quick. There are so many times that she misunderstood things and it scared the heck outta me (well...some of her misunderstood/accusation turned out to be true, but it really made me on edge the entire book.)
This is like a little summary of those ridiculous scenarios. HUGE spoiler, don't read this before you read the book.
For the love of...When will the main character learns not to assume? As for the moral, let copy and paste:
Lauren: “When did we become such good liars?”
Calum: “When we started living our lives the way other people wanted instead of trusting our own judgment.”
The title of this book can't rang any truer than this. So many secrets, once revealed, it turns into a mess. But people won't have secret in the beginning if society wasn't so judgmental.
The book is a fun read, I am totally recommend it. I would have love for an epilogue though, the ending is kinda too fast for me.
As much as I know I enjoyed reading this story I also know that there are certain shortcomings, in my eyes, outside of spelling and those types of things. I genuinely like the characters and the plot, including the twists and turns BUT my objection is the abrupt changes in events, the characters, their opinions, attitudes, actions etc. Many things simply happened too quickly and without any foundation. The rushed nature prevents me from giving it a higher rating. I feel as though if the book was longer and things were developed a little more fully and maybe more realistically that this would be a five star book. Things just transitioned to quickly in certain parts and then oddly enough scenes that were drawn out like the many great fantasy sequences ended up making their official coming together a little less than what I expected. Regardless, this is a good book, but it could have been a great book, in my opinion.
This was cute; a nice short story about love at first sight, good characters, good ending. Just a good story; Not overly memorable but, something to pass the time that I did enjoy.
I liked this, but I’m a little torn what score to give it. If you’re familiar with Jade Winters books, this is true to form. But you might find the plot a little bit familiar. Married girl meets successful businesswoman, and so on it goes. I would still read it again in future though. The story is little predictable, but there were some big surprises towards the end (I had no idea how it was going to turn out with her dad).