Secrets

Scars #3

by Avery Ford

Crew Turner didn’t make his decision to leave the military lightly. He’s always enjoyed being with his brothers in arms, even if it did mean traveling far from his home and family and seeing unspeakable horrors. He’s enjoyed serving his country – but he also recognizes that the military life has taken its toll on him, and he’s ready for a change.

Mark Hartnett doesn’t go out much. Ashamed of the large birthmark that covers his upper body, and too nerdy to have much in common with the general public, he has few friends, preferring to live his life behind a computer monitor. But ever since his best friend, Benedict, has found love with a small town policeman, Mark’s been drawn slowly out of his shell.

When Benedict invites Mark to his elopement, he can’t say no – even if it’s all the way in Vegas. But when Mark loses control of his liquor and wakes up married to the most gorgeous man he’s ever met, he’s afraid of what that means for his future.

Crew makes Mark want all the things he never thought he’d have – but Crew is hiding something underneath his good old boy façade, and those secrets might just tear them apart.

Secrets is a steamy, standalone gay romance novel, with a happily ever after ending and no cliffhangers. It is set in the same world as Scars and Slander.

Genres: M M Romance, Romance, Contemporary, Military Fiction, Gay, LGBT, M M Contemporary

259 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 20, 2017

Reviews

[Pixie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't awful.

[K.K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Instra-lust. Vegas wedding gone right. A really nice read.

4.25 stars

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Emotionally rich story

I enjoyed this third in a series of good friends finding their love. This one has an interesting change in dynamic as it deals with an addiction as well as the other hurdles Mark and Crew face.

Crew's mother, who has appeared in the previous two books comes across as really unlikeable here and it bothered me that Crew didn't stand up to her more for the way she treated Mark. The four friends from the previous two books, Henry, Caleb, Kota and Benedict, are all back again and integral to the story.

There are some story elements that needed more depth and it was disappointing they were kind of dropped. Not sure if that's an indication that there will be future books in this series or not.

I'd recommend this book and this series. Looking forward to reading more of this author's work.

[Leslie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another book completely driven by an absolute inability to communicate. They're attracted to each other, but neither admits it, even to the point of "letting their lust run away with them" but never actually getting consent. They like each other, so they agree to stay married and date to get to know each other, but neither just spells out his actual desire for a relationship. They both have some pretty serious issues, that they don't talk about... they don't even admit it when they fall in love. It's a wonder they have any conversations at all.

Then you have ridiculous little personality plot holes like a Navy Seal that can't change a tire and a professional hacker that never bothers to do so little as a background check on his new husband. I almost didn't get through the book.

[Wendell Hennan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crew returns home after getting out of the marines and attends the elopement of his friend Kota and Benedict in Las Vegas. Also attending are friends Caleb and Henry and Benedict's friend Mark. After mega drinking, Mark and Crew wake in the morning to find that they are married, although neither really remembers any of it.

A nice little happy ending read that includes family disownment, self esteem issues over facial birth marking, addiction and family interference.

[Raymond Mathiesen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It describes two people, each with their different issues and troubles, struggling to make something together. There is no shining hero here, but instead real people who you may quite possibly meet.

I have read the whole Scars Series now and I like how each book deals with hurt people moving towards healing. We can sometimes forget how the world is not quite so perfect.

[Kirbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Real Beautiful

This was one crazy ride but I loved it and to see the real problems that people face is something no one talkes about but this book does so to see that I saw what it can do so for Crew and Mark to fight for there love and to stand up and fight made my heart soar to see and I'm happy they stayed married

[Carey]

It’s unfair for me to rate this book since honestly all I did was skim it and get the high points. I read about 10% and then just flipped through the rest. Oh big scene for that character! Oh big scene for the other character! Oh look they worked it out! The end. So yeah, it’s unfair for me to rate it. (I bought a bundle of these books for next to nothing FWIW)

[Nic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another one

This was another cute book in the series. I liked Crew and liked how he was willing to make the changes necessary. You are also able to catch up on the others from the previous two books

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked the story and the majority of the characters, the tale was lighthearted yet interesting enough to keep things going.

[Tam · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was okay. I liked Mark and that Crew didn't see his birthmarks as a big deal and I felt for Mark when he was dealing with Crew's shit, but I don't know, I kind of skimmed the shit? So it was okay but I didn't really connect to Crew as much.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

The voice actor is comically bad. Epically bad.

[ᓚᘏᗢ · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5*

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

First time author for me...pretty good I thought

[Mainely Stories]

I flipping love this story with its messed up lovers

Navy SEAL Crew, knows that he is smoking hot but he also is well aware of the fact that he's not perfect and perhaps has some character flaws and he is very attracted to Mark. Mark on the other hand, has what he considers a very disfiguring birthmark comma and tends to avoid social settings due to anxiety. When both travel to the Los Vegas wedding of mutual friends and wake up in the morning to find themselves married...there is the potential for disaster.
Here's where the story really gets good. Neither of these very interesting men sees them self the way others see them. Each is very attracted to the other. Add in some not-so-nice relatives, some crazy relatives, homophobic coworkers, lingerie and you have an extremely interesting story.

[Patrice Leonard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, so this one was okay. I remember enjoying the two other books that introduced us to the other two couples that show up in this one as the MC's friends. But, I had two really big issues with this book. And trust me when I say that the issues have nothing to the writing or anything like that. The writing was really great and the story itself had the potential to be great also, if certain things happened differently IMO. But, regardless there were two characters that I absolutely hated in this book and that brought my rating down. First, Mrs. Turner, Crew's mother. I can't remember if she was in Henry and Caleb's book to be honest, but she was in Ben and Kota's book. And in that book she was the heart of the town. Everybody loved her and respected her and she was written as caring and thoughtful and loving and respectful. She is Crew's mother here, one of the MC's. In this book she is written as a raging bitch and I hated her for it. I understand that Crew was her son. I have a son myself so I understand certain things that a mother will/can do or say. BUT.....she was just ridiculous. She berates both Crew and Mark the first time she meets Mark. She says VERY unkind things that were meant to do nothing but hurt him. But the author chose to explain those things away as her being a mother. I call bullshit. She was a total and complete asshole. Period. The other thing, besides her constant rudeness and hurtfulness towards Mark is the fact that she felt like she could just let herself into her 30 year old MARRIED son's house whenever she wanted to and when she did that and found her son's HUSBAND baking, wearing something to please his HUSBAND she was a total shit to Mark. Mark had EVERY right to speak up when he did and to say what he did to her at that moment. But, of course good ol' Mrs. Turner doesn't think so. I fucking hated her. There were more reasons, but I just can't deal with talking about her any more to be honest.
The other issue for me here is that I really didn't like Mark at all. Oh, I did have his back when Mrs. Turner was a bitch, but that's where it ends for me with him. He was a whiny little brat. He is everything and every reason why I don't read books with characters that are young. I just can't deal with their nonsense. But, I chose to read this one anyway. Of course that was because his age wasn't disclosed until way after I was already invested in the story. So, there's that. My main problem with Mark was that he was a dick to Crew. Now, don't get me wrong, Crew had his problems, but he ultimately realized them and wanted to fix them. Mark gets all bent out of shape about something that Crew did that happened WAY BEFORE HE EVEN KNEW MARK. This is something that has been an ongoing problem for him, but again....BEFORE MARK. So, when Mark finds out about it, what does the immature brat do? He runs away of course and we get endless internal dialog about how he may or may not "forgive" Crew for his problem and/or stay married to him. When in all honesty this has nothing to do with Mark and there is nothing for Mark to forgive because Crew didn't actually do anything to him. All Crew did was come clean about something in his past to his HUSBAND and all this HUSBAND does is berate him and run away. Stupid Mark. Then something else happens after Mark decides he wants to try again with Crew that compounds with his bitch mother's unannounced visit that makes Mark run again. He does this when in reality the right way to deal with this is to stand by his HUSBAND'S side and try and help him through this tough time. You know. Like what people do when they are married and love each other? This time we still get inner dialog of Mark trying to decide whether or not to go back to Crew. But, this time he's talking to himself about Crew not being in relationships before Mark, only hooking up, as his reason for doubting Crew and their marriage. This is again, bullshit, because the problem has NOTHING to do with infidelity. AT ALL. Crew admitted what happened to Mark immediately and didn't hide from it AND Crew has been nothing but faithful since they met. So, really. Fuck you, Mark.
Okay, I'm done ranting. This author is usually hit or miss for me. Some of the books I really like and others I get so fed up, I can't even.....
Anyway, I gave this 3 stars instead of only the 2 I wanted to give because of Crew. He was awesome. And the fact that we got to see Kota and Ben, and Caleb and Henry again.

[Isha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crew and Mark

Enjoyable book. Crew has a problem. Mark doesn't have the strength to deal with that problem. Their marriage is now on shaky ground, and one will fight while the other hides behind the wall they built.

[Cbernard3 · Rating 5 out of 5]

To-read list

I haven't been picking novels from my Goodreads to-read list lately but this book was exactly that. I am so glad that I did too.

[Jeff Daniels · Rating 5 out of 5]

cute. typical tale of woe but do they reconcile?

I would mark a good read. it has good plot and substance but little more on the major characters background would have been nice to. overall B+