A Secret to Keep by Railyn Stone was a novel that left me in tears. I felt the passion that Stone wrote with in my bones. This was my first novel from her, and I know that I am going to love future novels from her.
The heroine, Sloane, was a character that was thriving. At first, she was hard to connect with because I just didn’t agree with her decisions. However, as the book went on, I started to respect her more and more as a mother and a person. Sometimes in life you have to do what you feel is best, and at the time it may seem right, when others disagree. She is one of those character that you want to reach in and shake, but isn’t that the beauty of a character? The ones that make you feel like you know the personally, and want to physically hurt to knock some sense into. (Ha-ha!) But seriously, Sloane deep down is a beautiful woman, inside and out, that loves the people in her life to no end.
My favorite character in the book was Gates. In all honesty, at the beginning I didn’t like him. He seemed smug and rude, but when you started to see things in his POV you grow to love him. As a mother, the tears poured from my eyes every time Gates and his son Brayden connected. Your heart aches for him at the loss of almost a year with his son, but seeing and feeling him fall in love with him was a feeling that left your heart full and warm. You could see that Gates wanted to be better, he wanted to be a dad, and he wanted to be the one for Sloane. Everyone struggles with insecurities and I think in this novel, you see it from all sides.
A Secret to Keep is full of love, loss, sexual tension, sadness, and forgiveness. You are happy, you are angry, you are sad, and then you are in love. Give this author and this novel a chance. I feel that the characters, and the plot, are relatable and real. Read it and open your heart and mind to the world of Sloane and Gates.