What do you think?
Rate this book
The Secret of You and Me
True love never fades—and old secrets never die…
Nora hasn’t looked back. Not since she fled Texas to start a new life. Away from her father’s volatile temper and the ever-watchful gaze of her claustrophobically conservative small town, Nora has freed herself. She can live—and love—however she wants. The only problem is that she also left behind the one woman she can’t forget. Now tragedy calls her back home to confront her past—and reconcile her future.
Sophie seems to have everything—a wonderful daughter, a successful husband and a rewarding career. Yet underneath that perfection lies an explosive secret. She still yearns for Nora—her best friend and first love—despite all the years between them. Keeping her true self hidden hasn’t been easy, but it’s been necessary. So when Sophie finds out that Nora has returned, she hopes Nora’s stay is short. The life she has built depends on it.
But they both find that first love doesn’t fade easily. Memories come to light, passion ignites and old feelings resurface. As the forces of family and intolerance that once tore them apart begin to reemerge, they realize some things may never change—unless they demand it.
Nora hasn’t looked back. Not since she fled Texas to start a new life. Away from her father’s volatile temper and the ever-watchful gaze of her claustrophobically conservative small town, Nora has freed herself. She can live—and love—however she wants. The only problem is that she also left behind the one woman she can’t forget. Now tragedy calls her back home to confront her past—and reconcile her future.
Sophie seems to have everything—a wonderful daughter, a successful husband and a rewarding career. Yet underneath that perfection lies an explosive secret. She still yearns for Nora—her best friend and first love—despite all the years between them. Keeping her true self hidden hasn’t been easy, but it’s been necessary. So when Sophie finds out that Nora has returned, she hopes Nora’s stay is short. The life she has built depends on it.
But they both find that first love doesn’t fade easily. Memories come to light, passion ignites and old feelings resurface. As the forces of family and intolerance that once tore them apart begin to reemerge, they realize some things may never change—unless they demand it.
371 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 4, 2020
148 people are currently reading
12439 people want to read
About the author
Melissa Lenhardt
10 books494 followersMelissa Lenhardt writes women’s fiction, historical fiction, and mysteries. The New York Times called HERESY an “unapologetically badass western” and “an all-out women-driven, queer, transgender, multiracial takeover of the Old West.” Heresy also won the 2022 Audie Award for Best Multi-Voiced Performance. Her debut women’s fiction novel, THE SECRET OF YOU AND ME, was the first LGBTQ+ novel published by Mills and Boon in the UK. A lifelong Texan, Melissa is currently traveling the world as a digital nomad.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 385 reviews
August 14, 2020
WHY CAN'T QUEER WOMEN BE ALLOWED JOY?
If you ask a reader what a “romance” is, you’re likely to get a few different answers. But most likely, the common thread will be something along the official definition from Romance Writers of America: a central love story and an emotionally satisfying ending. This is a broad description and covers a variety of stories. But—not every book with a central love story and a “happy” ending is going to feel like a romance, because I’d add one third element: optimism. In a romance novel, the characters and readers should have a hopeful outlook on the relationship and the final “outcome” of their journey. Often, I’ll describe romance novels as taking place in a shared fantasy between the characters, author, and reader where everything is just a little bit easier and more rose-colored. Just a smidge.
Respectfully, The Secret of You and Me is one of the darkest, most depressing “romances” I’ve ever read. (Note: Melissa Lenhardt describes this as “women’s fiction” but at its core, this book is still a romance novel—albeit a fucking depressing one.) While there is a love story and a Happily Ever After, this book is basically 400 pages of two closeted queer women (one a lesbian, one bisexual) being lambasted by the extreme ignorance and homophobia of small-town evangelical Texas Republicans. Honestly, this book is less a story about two women falling in love and more a story about two women deciding whether or not they can risk coming out in their hyper-conservative community.
This book is exhausting.
Is bigotry a real obstacle many LGBTQ+ couples face? Absolutely. Do I necessarily want to read an entire book where the main characters are verbally and physically abused, manipulated, ostracized, called every slur in the book, and live in daily fear of the repercussions should anyone learn of their sexualities? Nope. This is a marathon of a read that forces readers to walk alongside Sophie and and Nora as they are beat down over and over and over. On every page, there is more pain. Towards the end of the book, when Sophie does the thing she’s most scared of and comes out to her daughter, the daughter’s immediate reaction is to react with disgust and loathing and call her a “dyke”… That was the moment when I said fuck this misery porn. Whatever support the protagonists have is won only after an intense battle against hatred. It’s too much.
I’m not saying these subjects shouldn’t be in fiction. They should. However, I think there are better ways to show the real-world implications of bigotry than drowning your characters in endless misery. There is no joy in The Secret of You and Me—it’s all one long clusterfuck of fear and alienation and reprisal. On the page, you never see Nora and Sophie interacting together without a dark cloud hanging over their heads—at no point does the author show them so much as hold hands without fear of discovery or blowback. A Happy Ending is lovely…but where were the soft, tender moments between the main characters? Why couldn’t Lenhardt give them a chance to be open with each other without immediately chasing after them with the stick of homophobia? Why?
And I have to wonder, is this what makes the book “women’s fiction”? Does inflicting misery after misery upon your protagonists raise the book up from the lowly level of “mere romance” to something more elite? (It’s no secret that romance is generally the punching bag of the fiction world.) I’ll just say that there is nothing inherently more worthy in stories of tragedy than in stories of empowerment and happiness. Especially when we’re dealing with characters who are marginalized in some way.
Alongside that…the author seems to have made purposeful narrative choices that serve only to enhance Nora and Sophie’s difficulties. For instance, this book takes place in 2013, pre-Obergefell, so even when they’re “together forever,” they know they can’t get married. Why do that? Why did the author purposefully set her story in a time before marriage equality? There was no purpose. Just another way for Nora and Sophie to feel that their relationship was doomed to fail; another obstacle to overcome.
There are better ways to handle a story about two closeted women reconnecting after twenty years apart. Instead of focusing on the blowback from bigoted neighbors and relatives, Lenhardt could have centered the love and connection and happiness her protagonists brought to each other’s lives, even after so long apart and so many misunderstandings. Instead, what we got with this book is an endless train of abuses endured and injuries catalogued. (A litany of misfortune that’s meant to telegraph how “worthy” their happiness is, when it’s finally attained?)
If you’re going to write about queer women falling in love and struggling to come out in small town America, perhaps consider that by showing the process as a horribly painful thing where misery is certain to follow, all you do is reinforce the narrative that there is no joy for LGBT+ folk. Just because Nora and Sophie got together in the end doesn’t prove that love conquers all—instead, it felt like a war of attrition and small defeats, won only in some ways and through great sacrifice. The Secret of You and Me is honestly a book that the word “triggered” was made for. While never once condoning homophobia, by giving bigotry such a huge platform for all 400 pages of this book, Lenhardt merely served to give ignorant, hateful people a voice.
This is not a book about queer women finding love; it’s a book about hatred and violence through the eyes of those who are oppressed.
As far as romances go, it’s pretty terrible.
📌 . Blog | Review Database | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads
If you ask a reader what a “romance” is, you’re likely to get a few different answers. But most likely, the common thread will be something along the official definition from Romance Writers of America: a central love story and an emotionally satisfying ending. This is a broad description and covers a variety of stories. But—not every book with a central love story and a “happy” ending is going to feel like a romance, because I’d add one third element: optimism. In a romance novel, the characters and readers should have a hopeful outlook on the relationship and the final “outcome” of their journey. Often, I’ll describe romance novels as taking place in a shared fantasy between the characters, author, and reader where everything is just a little bit easier and more rose-colored. Just a smidge.
Respectfully, The Secret of You and Me is one of the darkest, most depressing “romances” I’ve ever read. (Note: Melissa Lenhardt describes this as “women’s fiction” but at its core, this book is still a romance novel—albeit a fucking depressing one.) While there is a love story and a Happily Ever After, this book is basically 400 pages of two closeted queer women (one a lesbian, one bisexual) being lambasted by the extreme ignorance and homophobia of small-town evangelical Texas Republicans. Honestly, this book is less a story about two women falling in love and more a story about two women deciding whether or not they can risk coming out in their hyper-conservative community.
This book is exhausting.
Is bigotry a real obstacle many LGBTQ+ couples face? Absolutely. Do I necessarily want to read an entire book where the main characters are verbally and physically abused, manipulated, ostracized, called every slur in the book, and live in daily fear of the repercussions should anyone learn of their sexualities? Nope. This is a marathon of a read that forces readers to walk alongside Sophie and and Nora as they are beat down over and over and over. On every page, there is more pain. Towards the end of the book, when Sophie does the thing she’s most scared of and comes out to her daughter, the daughter’s immediate reaction is to react with disgust and loathing and call her a “dyke”… That was the moment when I said fuck this misery porn. Whatever support the protagonists have is won only after an intense battle against hatred. It’s too much.
I’m not saying these subjects shouldn’t be in fiction. They should. However, I think there are better ways to show the real-world implications of bigotry than drowning your characters in endless misery. There is no joy in The Secret of You and Me—it’s all one long clusterfuck of fear and alienation and reprisal. On the page, you never see Nora and Sophie interacting together without a dark cloud hanging over their heads—at no point does the author show them so much as hold hands without fear of discovery or blowback. A Happy Ending is lovely…but where were the soft, tender moments between the main characters? Why couldn’t Lenhardt give them a chance to be open with each other without immediately chasing after them with the stick of homophobia? Why?
And I have to wonder, is this what makes the book “women’s fiction”? Does inflicting misery after misery upon your protagonists raise the book up from the lowly level of “mere romance” to something more elite? (It’s no secret that romance is generally the punching bag of the fiction world.) I’ll just say that there is nothing inherently more worthy in stories of tragedy than in stories of empowerment and happiness. Especially when we’re dealing with characters who are marginalized in some way.
Alongside that…the author seems to have made purposeful narrative choices that serve only to enhance Nora and Sophie’s difficulties. For instance, this book takes place in 2013, pre-Obergefell, so even when they’re “together forever,” they know they can’t get married. Why do that? Why did the author purposefully set her story in a time before marriage equality? There was no purpose. Just another way for Nora and Sophie to feel that their relationship was doomed to fail; another obstacle to overcome.
There are better ways to handle a story about two closeted women reconnecting after twenty years apart. Instead of focusing on the blowback from bigoted neighbors and relatives, Lenhardt could have centered the love and connection and happiness her protagonists brought to each other’s lives, even after so long apart and so many misunderstandings. Instead, what we got with this book is an endless train of abuses endured and injuries catalogued. (A litany of misfortune that’s meant to telegraph how “worthy” their happiness is, when it’s finally attained?)
If you’re going to write about queer women falling in love and struggling to come out in small town America, perhaps consider that by showing the process as a horribly painful thing where misery is certain to follow, all you do is reinforce the narrative that there is no joy for LGBT+ folk. Just because Nora and Sophie got together in the end doesn’t prove that love conquers all—instead, it felt like a war of attrition and small defeats, won only in some ways and through great sacrifice. The Secret of You and Me is honestly a book that the word “triggered” was made for. While never once condoning homophobia, by giving bigotry such a huge platform for all 400 pages of this book, Lenhardt merely served to give ignorant, hateful people a voice.
This is not a book about queer women finding love; it’s a book about hatred and violence through the eyes of those who are oppressed.
As far as romances go, it’s pretty terrible.
📌 . Blog | Review Database | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads
February 6, 2020
To My Readers,
The Secret of You and Me is my first Women’s Fiction novel. It’s a love story about two women, Nora Noakes and Sophie Russell, who were torn apart in their youth by prejudice and hate, and now two decades later, after life has taken them in very different directions, are given a second chance to find love when an unexpected tragedy brings them back together.
The Secret of You and Me is all about looking back at the choices you’ve made, or the choices forced upon you by friends, family & society, and how those choices have changed your life and shaped your personality. It’s also about looking to the future, the one you have versus the one you want and the sacrifices you will have to make for happiness.
I’ve loved all of my books, but every author will tell you there comes a point in the writing/editing/publishing process where you don’t ever want to read another word of the manuscript for as long as you live. I’ve never felt that with TSoY&M. I was creating a PDF from the word document so my husband could read TSoY&M on his tablet and I immediately started reading it and was about 30 pages in before I stopped myself and said, “Stop wasting time. You have another book to write, Lenhardt.” I’m looking forward to sharing Nora and Sophie’s story with all of you, and hope you love them and their story as much as I do.
Happy Reading!
-Mel
The Secret of You and Me is my first Women’s Fiction novel. It’s a love story about two women, Nora Noakes and Sophie Russell, who were torn apart in their youth by prejudice and hate, and now two decades later, after life has taken them in very different directions, are given a second chance to find love when an unexpected tragedy brings them back together.
The Secret of You and Me is all about looking back at the choices you’ve made, or the choices forced upon you by friends, family & society, and how those choices have changed your life and shaped your personality. It’s also about looking to the future, the one you have versus the one you want and the sacrifices you will have to make for happiness.
I’ve loved all of my books, but every author will tell you there comes a point in the writing/editing/publishing process where you don’t ever want to read another word of the manuscript for as long as you live. I’ve never felt that with TSoY&M. I was creating a PDF from the word document so my husband could read TSoY&M on his tablet and I immediately started reading it and was about 30 pages in before I stopped myself and said, “Stop wasting time. You have another book to write, Lenhardt.” I’m looking forward to sharing Nora and Sophie’s story with all of you, and hope you love them and their story as much as I do.
Happy Reading!
-Mel
July 26, 2020
I stared at our hands, remembering all the times they’d been joined, gripping each other, the panting breaths, the sweat-slicked bodies, the whispers of love.
On my blog.
Rep: bi mc with PTSD, lesbian mc, Iranian American Muslim lesbian side character
CWs: homophobia, cheating, racism/islamophobia, past alcohol abuse, biphobia, emotional abuse
The Secret of You and Me felt a lot like a book of two separate stories. One is the story of two women working through their fallout from eighteen years previously, and sorting their current lives out (to an extent). The other is of their second chance romance. The first worked more for me than the second.
If you’ve read any of my reviews, you’ll know how much I struggle with finding adult sapphic romances that I enjoy. And I really thought I had something here. I was liking the writing, I was (mostly) liking the way the plot was going. It looked like I was onto a win.
Well more fool me.
It’s not that this book suddenly turned awful. It was still a good book throughout. It’s just that certain things I was not enjoying got too much by the end and, yeah, the characters had some pretty shitty ideas at some points.
I’ll take this somewhat chronologically/in the order of the notes I made. First up, is that one of the main characters is ex-military. I don’t mean in and of itself that was a bad thing (necessarily), but I did feel as though it leant a little on the side of glorification of the military, or at the very least, no judgement on it. Which, okay, this is a US book and a US novelist, so that’s kind of to be expected. Doesn’t mean I had to like it.
But I tried to put that aside, or at least not let it affect how I read the book so much (and really, the whole thank you for your service crap dropped off within the first few chapters so it was easier). And then we came to the next bit. Everyone in this book is cheating. Okay, so not everyone. Emmadean is not. But that’s a single character of the ones who have most page time. I guess it makes it easier for your relationship between a married woman and a single woman to be okay when the married woman’s husband is already cheating. God but it got tiring though. Because the single woman is also in a relationship with another married woman. Genuinely I felt like I was following some kind of soap opera. Real housewives of wherever this book was set.
This took me up until the halfway mark, at which point I was still thinking I might like this book. And then the relationship between Nora and Sophie started.
Both of these characters had a sort of pattern. At the start, they ostensibly forgave each other, or said, let bygones be bygones. But throughout the book, they oscillated between being genuinely friendly again, and snapping at each other, and particularly snapping about past behaviours and so on. Which does not seem very forgiving to me. But okay, fine, I thought. Maybe they just need to work on the forgiveness part. Maybe there’s more hurt there than either of them expected. Except the pattern goes on until all but the end of the book, and it got a little hard to root for them together when, to my mind, they clearly weren’t good for one another.
And then, the kicker. Sophie’s husband figures something out but Nora tells him it’s all on her part and that Sophie rejected her. Charlie (the husband) then confronts Sophie about it, who blows up Nora’s lie and tells him everything. But in the meantime, she is unable to meet with Nora, who was expecting her. So Nora gets pissed (instead of, you know, wondering whether Sophie is okay) and basically claims like she did Sophie this huge favour by not outing her to her homophobic husband. Wow, thanks Nora! In a town you know is massively homophobic (more on that in a sec), you have so magnanimously not outed someone! She claims this lie is not only her being magnanimous, but also putting Sophie before herself. And, while she gets called out for actually being selfish in this situation, no one says to her that even thinking about outing someone like this is shitty, that choosing to out someone in a situation where they would be endangered is enormously so.
And this is when I really stopped rooting for this romance.
I mentioned how the town was homophobic briefly. I don’t have anything against showing homophobia and showing gay folks overcoming homophobia, per se. But the homophobia in this book was so constant it became genuinely exhausting. There was very little respite from it. If it wasn’t the casual and overt homophobia of the side characters, it was the main characters discussing it and having to deal with the aftermath of it. In the end, it just didn’t feel very sensitively handled, to be honest.
And all that meant that this book went from one that I thought I might have liked, to yet another that disappointed me.
August 3, 2020
My review on my website www.bookread2day.wordpress.com
Twitter @bookread2day
I have loved reading every single page of The Secret of You and Me, with lots of surprises set within the story that I didn’t realise was going to happen, and with interesting characters that author Melissa Lenhardt had written about stayed with me long after I finished. A page turning vibrant story not to be missed.
What keep me turning the pages, is a secret love affair with complications, one that I don’t want do any spoilers about.
Sophie and Nora vowed to be friends for life, they had their future all mapped out together. I could relate to that in a certain way, most best friends vow to stay best friends forever.
18 years ago Nora left Lynchfield, without any explanation as to why, and joined the army. There were two reasons why Nora, had left her fathers house.
Once Nora left Lynchfield, Sophie Elizabeth Russell, and Charlie sent Nora letters, with pleas for forgiveness, but Nora never read any of them.
Eighteen years later Nora has returned back to Lynchfield for her Fathers funeral. Once she has sorted out his house she will leave Lynchfield.
Sooner or later Nora will have to face everyone she left behind including Sophie and Charlie.
Before Nora returns to back to where she moved too and set a new life for herself in DC , it will now depend on what need to be done, then she can return back to her new home. Also there’s someone special that Nora needs to see.
An unexpected surprise is waiting for Nora to discover that Sophie, Nora’s best friend has married, Charlie, who was Nora’s boyfriend and Sophie has a daughter Logan, with Charlie. Nora’s can’t help but wonder what her life might have been like if she was the that had married Charlie.
Eighteen years is a long time since you have seen your best friend and your first love and lot changes in eighteen years, but can you pick up from a relationship 18 years on?
What’s to enjoy is so many secrets unfolding, and an relationship that sets the question if it can be reunited after 18 years.
I’ve really enjoyed my time reading The Secret of You and Me by Melissa Lenhardt and hope you all will do too.
My favourite line in the story was: I resent you. I miss you. I hate you. I love you. What could these. Words have meant? And to whom?
Twitter @bookread2day
I have loved reading every single page of The Secret of You and Me, with lots of surprises set within the story that I didn’t realise was going to happen, and with interesting characters that author Melissa Lenhardt had written about stayed with me long after I finished. A page turning vibrant story not to be missed.
What keep me turning the pages, is a secret love affair with complications, one that I don’t want do any spoilers about.
Sophie and Nora vowed to be friends for life, they had their future all mapped out together. I could relate to that in a certain way, most best friends vow to stay best friends forever.
18 years ago Nora left Lynchfield, without any explanation as to why, and joined the army. There were two reasons why Nora, had left her fathers house.
Once Nora left Lynchfield, Sophie Elizabeth Russell, and Charlie sent Nora letters, with pleas for forgiveness, but Nora never read any of them.
Eighteen years later Nora has returned back to Lynchfield for her Fathers funeral. Once she has sorted out his house she will leave Lynchfield.
Sooner or later Nora will have to face everyone she left behind including Sophie and Charlie.
Before Nora returns to back to where she moved too and set a new life for herself in DC , it will now depend on what need to be done, then she can return back to her new home. Also there’s someone special that Nora needs to see.
An unexpected surprise is waiting for Nora to discover that Sophie, Nora’s best friend has married, Charlie, who was Nora’s boyfriend and Sophie has a daughter Logan, with Charlie. Nora’s can’t help but wonder what her life might have been like if she was the that had married Charlie.
Eighteen years is a long time since you have seen your best friend and your first love and lot changes in eighteen years, but can you pick up from a relationship 18 years on?
What’s to enjoy is so many secrets unfolding, and an relationship that sets the question if it can be reunited after 18 years.
I’ve really enjoyed my time reading The Secret of You and Me by Melissa Lenhardt and hope you all will do too.
My favourite line in the story was: I resent you. I miss you. I hate you. I love you. What could these. Words have meant? And to whom?
October 12, 2020
I picked up this book because of the LGBTQ+ representation in the lead characters but you can tell that it’s written by a straight woman. The story starts very slow. Both main characters sounded immature, more like 20 year olds than grown women pushing 40. One minute they were being genuinely friendly, trying to rebuild their relationship, and the next they were snapping at each other about some past event. The dialogues between them didn’t sound believable and affectionate. The intimate moments were very scarcely described and sounded like complete clichés. And although I don’t mind reading about homophobia in this book it was just so constant, without even an ounce of empowerment and happiness at any point, it became genuinely exhausting and it only reinforced the narrative that there is no joy for LGBTQ+ people, only bigotry, abuse and struggle.
October 1, 2020
Mills & Boon’s first ever LGBTQ+ romance is a second chance love story between two mid-thirties women and childhood friends eighteen years after they were torn apart by prejudice in their fiercely conservative small town home of Lynchfield, Texas.
Former military captain and now translator, Nora Noakes, returns home to bury the estranged father who threw her out of the house eighteen earlier when he got wind of her amorous antics with best friend Sophie Russell. The relationship split broke Nora’s heart and after a decade in the military and a legacy of PTSD she lives a bisexual life in Washington D.C. and is in a relationship with her married female lover, Alima. Nora has never really got over Sophie in truth and still feels betrayed that as soon as she left town Sophie promptly got pregnant and married Nora’s ex-boyfriend. Sophie is still married to state senator, Charlie, with their daughter, Logan, now fifteen-year-old and a demanding job promoting tourism and enterprise for the town. But whilst Sophie appears to have the perfect life the reality is far different and she is in a loveless marriage, considers herself a lesbian and yearns for Nora. The effort of wearing a mask and disguising her sexuality is onerous and for this reason Sophie hopes Nora’s visit is fleeting and she can continue living a lie without giving in to the true desires and outing herself to the bigoted townsfolk, of whom her mother, is number one!
Chapters written in the first-person by Nora and Sophie are interspersed and allow the reader to appreciate both of their perspectives and the dilemmas they are faced with. There is plenty of miscommunication, misunderstanding between the pair and this continues even after they are both honest with each other and gives rise to lots of explosive make-up/break-up scenes and does become a little repetitive. The arrival of Nora’s married lover also makes for a difficult dinner party before an abrupt ending that never seemed to tackle any of the questions about how their relationship would work. The relationship between Nora and Sophie feels purely physical and there is no real evidence of any depth of emotion to their union, so whilst I was convinced by their chemistry I wanted evidence of a deeper connection and love in order to invest in their story.
Although Nora is supposedly living an openly bisexual life when she returns to town is is only her aunt who knows of her sexuality and she seems extremely reluctant to disclose and at even greater lengths to clarify that she is not a lesbian! She seemed as closeted as married wife and mother, Sophie, and whilst both characters were flawed and their emotions conflicted I didn’t feel like they were ideal representatives to be normalising and showing healthy queer relationships. At times I did find the writing crass including a joke about waterboarding, asking an Iranian Muslim if she was a terrorist and overall felt the tone of the narrative was very much one of being ashamed to be gay with a stigma to coming out. Personally I found this offensive and along with being exhausted by the two protagonists having the same argument on a loop and seemingly caught in a toxic cycle I found it draining to read, particularly given the women are thirty-six but act like teenagers.
Former military captain and now translator, Nora Noakes, returns home to bury the estranged father who threw her out of the house eighteen earlier when he got wind of her amorous antics with best friend Sophie Russell. The relationship split broke Nora’s heart and after a decade in the military and a legacy of PTSD she lives a bisexual life in Washington D.C. and is in a relationship with her married female lover, Alima. Nora has never really got over Sophie in truth and still feels betrayed that as soon as she left town Sophie promptly got pregnant and married Nora’s ex-boyfriend. Sophie is still married to state senator, Charlie, with their daughter, Logan, now fifteen-year-old and a demanding job promoting tourism and enterprise for the town. But whilst Sophie appears to have the perfect life the reality is far different and she is in a loveless marriage, considers herself a lesbian and yearns for Nora. The effort of wearing a mask and disguising her sexuality is onerous and for this reason Sophie hopes Nora’s visit is fleeting and she can continue living a lie without giving in to the true desires and outing herself to the bigoted townsfolk, of whom her mother, is number one!
Chapters written in the first-person by Nora and Sophie are interspersed and allow the reader to appreciate both of their perspectives and the dilemmas they are faced with. There is plenty of miscommunication, misunderstanding between the pair and this continues even after they are both honest with each other and gives rise to lots of explosive make-up/break-up scenes and does become a little repetitive. The arrival of Nora’s married lover also makes for a difficult dinner party before an abrupt ending that never seemed to tackle any of the questions about how their relationship would work. The relationship between Nora and Sophie feels purely physical and there is no real evidence of any depth of emotion to their union, so whilst I was convinced by their chemistry I wanted evidence of a deeper connection and love in order to invest in their story.
Although Nora is supposedly living an openly bisexual life when she returns to town is is only her aunt who knows of her sexuality and she seems extremely reluctant to disclose and at even greater lengths to clarify that she is not a lesbian! She seemed as closeted as married wife and mother, Sophie, and whilst both characters were flawed and their emotions conflicted I didn’t feel like they were ideal representatives to be normalising and showing healthy queer relationships. At times I did find the writing crass including a joke about waterboarding, asking an Iranian Muslim if she was a terrorist and overall felt the tone of the narrative was very much one of being ashamed to be gay with a stigma to coming out. Personally I found this offensive and along with being exhausted by the two protagonists having the same argument on a loop and seemingly caught in a toxic cycle I found it draining to read, particularly given the women are thirty-six but act like teenagers.
July 11, 2020
Nora returns to her childhood home after eighteen years, for her father’s funeral. She was sent away from her family when she was caught in bed with her best friend Sophie.
Sophie is now married to Charlie who used to be Nora’s boyfriend and has a daughter Logan. When Sophie sees Nora again all her old feelings for her return.
This is such a beautifully written love story. The turmoil of Sophie living a lie and trying to hide her feelings for Nora, growing up in a religious small town where being gay is frowned upon and considered a sin.
I was so completely hooked with this story and absolutely loved the two main characters. I may have shed a tear at the end!!
Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review.
Sophie is now married to Charlie who used to be Nora’s boyfriend and has a daughter Logan. When Sophie sees Nora again all her old feelings for her return.
This is such a beautifully written love story. The turmoil of Sophie living a lie and trying to hide her feelings for Nora, growing up in a religious small town where being gay is frowned upon and considered a sin.
I was so completely hooked with this story and absolutely loved the two main characters. I may have shed a tear at the end!!
Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review.
July 31, 2019
I could not put this book down! It tells a truly beautiful and authentic love story that is fantastically written. It has just the right amount of heat to be HOT but not graphic. This would be a great access point for someone who hasn't read a queer love story before but is cool with it. As a queer writer of queer fiction myself, I think it respects our community fantastically and with perfect insight that loves stories are just love stories regardless of the characters' plumbing. Stop reading my review and read this.
October 1, 2020
“The Secret of You and Me” by Melissa Lenhardt is my first Mills and Boon book and my first predominantly LGBTQ+ story. I’ve always associated Mills and Boon with older female readers, looking for the perfect fairy tale romance and for that reason they have never took my fancy. However, when the opportunity to read their first LGBTQ+ publication, aimed at a younger and more millennial audience, I was keen to try.
“The Secret of Me and You” is for her, the author’s modern retelling of Jane Austen’s ‘Persuasion’. Having not read that either I didn’t have anything to compare the story with but was happy to go in blind and form my own opinion.
Nora Noakes was forced out of town by her father eighteen years ago, after her secret affair with her best friend Sophie was discovered by Sophie’s mother. Neither girl got over each other in the years that followed, even though they both forged a career and relationships with other people. When ex-military hero Nora returns to town for the funeral of her dad, long buried feelings are awakened and they realise that they can no longer ignore their attraction for each other. Things are very complicated though. Nora has a top secret military job back in D.C. and is having a relationship with a married woman and is also recovering from PTSD. Sophie is married to Charlie who is hoping to become state senator and they have a fifteen year old daughter together. No one knows of Nora and Sophie’s relationship history so when Nora returns, gossip starts to take over the town when the women become close again. Things are not helped by the fact the story is set in a bigoted small Texan town, predominantly Christian Baptist, who the townsfolk believe drink is a demon and same-relationships are abhorrent. There is a lot of homophobia throughout, which I assume the author was trying to convey as part of the theme to the story. I know that these small southern American states do still have strong beliefs and nearly twenty years ago when Nora and Sophie were falling in love, their relationship would have sent them both to conversion camps. I did like Nora and I certainly felt the physical chemistry she and Sophie shared but the story did go round in circles quite a bit, with break up and make up being the recurrent factor between the women.
I did find the book entertaining if a little frustrating, hence the four stars. I’m sure the story will evoke mixed feelings and opinions from the reading audience and would make a good book club discussion. It was a quick, easy read, that kept my interest and I’m pleased I got to read it.
4 stars
“The Secret of Me and You” is for her, the author’s modern retelling of Jane Austen’s ‘Persuasion’. Having not read that either I didn’t have anything to compare the story with but was happy to go in blind and form my own opinion.
Nora Noakes was forced out of town by her father eighteen years ago, after her secret affair with her best friend Sophie was discovered by Sophie’s mother. Neither girl got over each other in the years that followed, even though they both forged a career and relationships with other people. When ex-military hero Nora returns to town for the funeral of her dad, long buried feelings are awakened and they realise that they can no longer ignore their attraction for each other. Things are very complicated though. Nora has a top secret military job back in D.C. and is having a relationship with a married woman and is also recovering from PTSD. Sophie is married to Charlie who is hoping to become state senator and they have a fifteen year old daughter together. No one knows of Nora and Sophie’s relationship history so when Nora returns, gossip starts to take over the town when the women become close again. Things are not helped by the fact the story is set in a bigoted small Texan town, predominantly Christian Baptist, who the townsfolk believe drink is a demon and same-relationships are abhorrent. There is a lot of homophobia throughout, which I assume the author was trying to convey as part of the theme to the story. I know that these small southern American states do still have strong beliefs and nearly twenty years ago when Nora and Sophie were falling in love, their relationship would have sent them both to conversion camps. I did like Nora and I certainly felt the physical chemistry she and Sophie shared but the story did go round in circles quite a bit, with break up and make up being the recurrent factor between the women.
I did find the book entertaining if a little frustrating, hence the four stars. I’m sure the story will evoke mixed feelings and opinions from the reading audience and would make a good book club discussion. It was a quick, easy read, that kept my interest and I’m pleased I got to read it.
4 stars
dnf
June 26, 2020DNF 20%
The Secret of You and Me promised to be a great beach read with a second chance f/f romance (finally!). Sadly, I found the writing to be clumsy and the dialogues were extremely unconvincing. Characters would say things that didn't really rang true to life or they would make these very random comments that didn't really 'fit' with the type of character they are.
One of the main characters, someone who is presented as having been wronged by her family and community, who is ex-military and in her late thirties thinks the following:
"I'd rather be waterboarded than offer an ounce of sympathy".
Even I, with my dark sense of humour and preference for imperfect characters, did not find that amusing (to be honest, when I read it I felt disgusted). This thought doesn't belong to someone who has no idea of what 'waterboarding' entails. And I'm supposed to like this woman?
Then again, just because the writing in this book struck me as somewhat amateurish doesn't mean that it is. I encourage others to check out more positive reviews (but if you do find that 'waterboarding' joke to be incredibly insensitive you might want to approach this book with caution).
The Secret of You and Me promised to be a great beach read with a second chance f/f romance (finally!). Sadly, I found the writing to be clumsy and the dialogues were extremely unconvincing. Characters would say things that didn't really rang true to life or they would make these very random comments that didn't really 'fit' with the type of character they are.
One of the main characters, someone who is presented as having been wronged by her family and community, who is ex-military and in her late thirties thinks the following:
"I'd rather be waterboarded than offer an ounce of sympathy".
Even I, with my dark sense of humour and preference for imperfect characters, did not find that amusing (to be honest, when I read it I felt disgusted). This thought doesn't belong to someone who has no idea of what 'waterboarding' entails. And I'm supposed to like this woman?
Then again, just because the writing in this book struck me as somewhat amateurish doesn't mean that it is. I encourage others to check out more positive reviews (but if you do find that 'waterboarding' joke to be incredibly insensitive you might want to approach this book with caution).
August 27, 2020
2.5*
Our main character who is bi literally spent half the book making sure people knew she liked men and women and then turns around and says "I'm in a lesbian relationship" 💀💀, the term is SAPPHIC!!! plus literally everyone is cheating, the double standards are ridiculous and the 2 women who are supposed to be in love are completely erratic in their feelings towards each other. In conclusion, it was a mess 😂
Our main character who is bi literally spent half the book making sure people knew she liked men and women and then turns around and says "I'm in a lesbian relationship" 💀💀, the term is SAPPHIC!!! plus literally everyone is cheating, the double standards are ridiculous and the 2 women who are supposed to be in love are completely erratic in their feelings towards each other. In conclusion, it was a mess 😂
November 4, 2020
finished this during an all nighter; my feelings r confusing but i overall enjoyed the tone and the story but so help me god next lesbian romance i read must have no men whatsoever
August 21, 2020
“We’d done everything together since we were ten years old. I couldn’t imagine life any other way. I’d never wanted to imagine life any other way.”
The Secret of You and Me is a sapphic adult romance that tackles some very serious topics and issues, all packed into a beautiful second-chance romance.
This story revolves around two women, Nora and Sophie, who fell in love when they were teenagers but couldn't be together due to the prejudices in their small hometown in Texas. When Nora, after 18 years of being away, comes back into town for her father's funeral, the old stories of what happened start to get unravelled and Nora and Sophie have to navigate being in each other's lives again.
I will say that I have read less sapphic adult romances than I would like but the ones that I have read, were mostly more on the rom-com spectrum. And while I absolutely love getting a sapphic rom-com, this novel tackled some more serious topics and I very much appreciated that.
It is hard to really talk about the in-depth aspects of this novel without giving too much away, as I do think that this is the kind of novel that really works best if you go into it knowing as little as possible, especially because a lot of things that happened 18 years ago only get slowly revealed throughout the story.
“I didn’t realize until I saw you at Mel’s that you’ve held my heart in the palm of your hand all these years. Right now, I’m offering you my heart, Sophie. My soul. Can you promise me a future? ”
We get to read from both Nora's and Sophie's point of view in this novel, which works incredibly well and I found their voices to be easily distinguishable. While Nora and Sophie grew up in the same town, they end up having very different experiences, due to Nora leaving town, and so it was very interesting and important for this novel to feature both of their perspectives.
Sophie has known for a while that she is a lesbian but only really confronts this feeling when Nora returns to town. She is married to a man and they have a daughter, who she loves very much and is really the main reason that she is with her husband.
This was easily my favourite aspect of this novel and one that I thought was handled with incredible nuance and care. Seeing Sophie's journey with her sexuality is powerful and so important to portray.
We see some flashbacks of her realizing that she is gay and that, while she can recognize her husband is an attractive man, she is not actually attracted to him, but that she still loves him and their daughter.
But only in the course of this novel does Sophie actually confront these feelings for the first time and talks about it and comes out to people too.
This novel manages to shine a light on the experiences that many lesbians go through. Being with men, questioning their feelings and attraction towards them and even going as far as marrying and having kids with them. And I love that this novel showed that there can be reasons why lesbians have sex with men that have nothing do with their attraction to them or enjoying or wanting it. It doesn't make them any less gay if the reasons are something like protecting themselves (from being outed, for example) or compulsory heterosexuality.
Seeing a woman in her mid-30s come to terms with her sexuality and finally realizing that she has a right to truly be who she is and to live happily out as a lesbian, even with having been with a man for a long time, was so good to see.
Sophie is a recovering alcoholic and this is a topic that gets talked about a lot in this novel as well. We get flashbacks of how Sophie and her family realized that she has an alcohol addiction and decided to go to an AA meeting and her sponsor is a very present side-character in this story.
“My body was barraged with tiny explosions of desire and, deep down, I grieved for all the years this had been missing from my life, that Sophie had been missing. I wanted her as I’d never wanted before, and when our lips met, I fell into her.”
On the other hand, Nora has lead quite a different life. When she left her hometown, she joined the military and has PTSD due to it. Nora definitely talks about her life in the military and how it has shaped her.
And living in DC, she has lived a life as an openly bisexual woman. She is in an open relationship with a woman called Alima, who is a closeted Muslim lesbian, married to a man.
There was a paragraph where Nora talked about what identifying as bisexual means to her and I very much enjoyed the discussion on how this is a label that, while it has one general definition, still will mean something different to the people identifying with it.
I will say that in this conversation, Nora said that to her it means "enjoying connections with both genders" and I honestly never thought I would ever have to read the term "both genders" again. Genders outside the binary exist and even if this was a small part, it is very disappointing for a queer novel to not acknowledge that!
“It’s good to see being in the military didn’t turn you butch." "Depends on your definition of butch. One definition, my personal favorite, is being able to kill a man with your bare hands. In that regard yes, the military turned me butch."”
The relationship dynamics in this novel are all complicated and messy and I think that it is very important to know that a lot of this novel has (grey-area) cheating. I know that this is an aspect that is an absolute no-go for a lot of people and so I definitely find it important to mention that this is a topic that is very present in this book.
But again, everything in this novel is handled with a lot of nuance and care and this not an element that is used as some sort of shock-factor. There is a lot of history between all the characters involved in this story.
In some ways I did think the ending was quite easily resolved. The book did a lot of good, unpacking all kinds of different things all throughout it, and the ending almost felt a little too convenient, ignoring a lot of the issues that are still present, especially considering the overall tone of the book.
That said, this didn't hinder my enjoyment, as all sapphics deserve happy endings, especially when it is way too often taken away from us, as this story perfectly portrays. Plus, books that are marketed as Romance, especially if they are queer too, should always have Happily Ever Afters!
“Because I want to be with the woman I love, the only person I’ve ever loved. I want to feel your skin against mine, to be reminded how beautiful making love can be when you’re with someone who you want to absorb into your very being because the thought of ever being without them fills you with sense of despair so complete, so bottomless, that you’re sure you’ll never smile, or laugh, or feel whole again. ”
Now, while I loved this story so very much, I do want to point out that it is not ownvoices. The author does not identify anywhere on the LGBTQIAP+ spectrum and in the acknowledgements the author talks about the love story between these women coming together as she wrote it, with no initial intention to make this a sapphic romance.
I read an interview with the author and it very much seems like the author is in one way acknowledging that the process of falling in love is not different just because of the genders involved, while also being very aware of the individual struggles that same-sex couples will go through. I am also glad to hear that the author will be donating 10% of her royalties to the It Gets Better Project.
While none of these things influenced my personal opinion or enjoyment of this book (and I had no idea prior to reading it), I do find it important to point all of this out, so that every reader going into it is aware of this.
I definitely wish that especially a storyline like Sophie's would've been written by an ownvoices author but from what I have read, both as far as interviews and the book itself, the author took so much care in writing this story and I do think it is well done, to the point where I am truly in awe of how well this was written, considering it is none of the author's own experience at all.
But at the end of the day, I wanna leave the decision to every reader themselves and that is why I thought it important to mention this.
“I pulled her to me and kissed her, pouring into her every bit of admiration I had for her generous heart, gratitude for her courage, and hope for our future. ”
Overall, this was a very intense reading experience for me and I think that the trigger warnings and general tough topics of this novel should not be underestimated. While this book made me very happy because of the representation and themes involved, it was also not an easy read.
But if you can handle the themes and topics, I absolutely recommend this story. It was really beautiful to read about these two women finding their way back to each other and finally getting the happy ending they deserve.
The Secret of You and Me is a novel that I will carry in my heart for a long time.
Trigger and Content Warnings for PTSD (after military service), loss of a loved one, homophobia (including physical violence due to it, mentions of/being threatened with conversion therapy and homosexuality being called a mental illness), biphobia (immediately challenged), alcohol abuse, cheating, racism, chronically ill loved one, sexual harassment.
Instagram | Blog | Booktube Channel | Twitter
I received an ARC through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review!
Want to read
September 14, 2020Wishlist | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Ko-fi
I received The Secret of You and Me by Melissa Lenhardt by Mills & Boon. The paperback publication date has been pushed for 29 October 2020, and I am looking forward to reading it. This is the first LGBTQ+ romance novel published by Mills & Boon.
I received The Secret of You and Me by Melissa Lenhardt by Mills & Boon. The paperback publication date has been pushed for 29 October 2020, and I am looking forward to reading it. This is the first LGBTQ+ romance novel published by Mills & Boon.
August 15, 2020
I enjoyed this book more than I expected and I stayed up late several nights to finish the book.
I'll have a longer review later, but definitely a good book.
I'll have a longer review later, but definitely a good book.
January 11, 2021
WARNING: mentions of hate speech towards the LGBTQ+ community.
So I'm a lesbian. Some would consider me a later in life lesbian due to the circumstances in which I realized I was gay. So when I found out the writer of one of my favorite books (Heresy) was releasing a wlw romance, I was cautious but excited. It's not often we get contemporary wlw romances in adult fiction.
But this book brought me nothing but migraines, severe anxiety and even triggered some of my PTSD cycles.
I don't want to speculate on whether or not the author is in the LGBTQ community because frankly I don't know. However, the way this book was written made it VERY clear this wasn't meant for the community it was written about. It's exploitive in many ways. Hate speech is used against the gay characters. At some points it felt like my own identity (lesbian) was being treated as a nasty slur, when it's not. Most of the conversation centering around being gay or the experience of coming out felt like it was meant for a cishet audience, to help them better understand the plights of being a in the community. While also feeling extremely tedious and droning most times.
There's an awful trope of pitting women against each other because of a mutual affection for another person. A hint of a white savior complex when a side character of color is insulted. And overall, there were almost no redeeming qualities for any of the characters. I was about to rip my hair out in frustration. I almost DNF'd it 15% into the book because of Sophie's first chapter.
I wanted to like this book. I was excited to give critical feedback, but I wasn't expecting to feel like I was hate crimed by the book itself. It's unfortunate, especially considering there are MANY LGBTQ authors whose works have never been given the chance to be published.
While I enjoyed aspects of Lenhardt's writing, seen in the witty quips between characters and some of the descriptions about what they liked about each other, I felt like this wasn't quite it.
TL;DR I don't suggest this book for anyone in the LGBTQ community. I suggest searching out LGBTQ authors and their books. Uplift the community's voices instead of ones that speak for us.
So I'm a lesbian. Some would consider me a later in life lesbian due to the circumstances in which I realized I was gay. So when I found out the writer of one of my favorite books (Heresy) was releasing a wlw romance, I was cautious but excited. It's not often we get contemporary wlw romances in adult fiction.
But this book brought me nothing but migraines, severe anxiety and even triggered some of my PTSD cycles.
I don't want to speculate on whether or not the author is in the LGBTQ community because frankly I don't know. However, the way this book was written made it VERY clear this wasn't meant for the community it was written about. It's exploitive in many ways. Hate speech is used against the gay characters. At some points it felt like my own identity (lesbian) was being treated as a nasty slur, when it's not. Most of the conversation centering around being gay or the experience of coming out felt like it was meant for a cishet audience, to help them better understand the plights of being a in the community. While also feeling extremely tedious and droning most times.
There's an awful trope of pitting women against each other because of a mutual affection for another person. A hint of a white savior complex when a side character of color is insulted. And overall, there were almost no redeeming qualities for any of the characters. I was about to rip my hair out in frustration. I almost DNF'd it 15% into the book because of Sophie's first chapter.
I wanted to like this book. I was excited to give critical feedback, but I wasn't expecting to feel like I was hate crimed by the book itself. It's unfortunate, especially considering there are MANY LGBTQ authors whose works have never been given the chance to be published.
While I enjoyed aspects of Lenhardt's writing, seen in the witty quips between characters and some of the descriptions about what they liked about each other, I felt like this wasn't quite it.
TL;DR I don't suggest this book for anyone in the LGBTQ community. I suggest searching out LGBTQ authors and their books. Uplift the community's voices instead of ones that speak for us.
September 2, 2023
I really enjoyed this heartfelt second chance forbidden romance between two former best friends and secret lovers who reunite years later when one returns to her small Texas home town after her father dies.
Openly bisexual, ex-military officer, Nora hasn't been back home in years and is not looking forward to seeing Sophie, her closeted high school ex-best friend and former lover who ended up marrying Nora's ex boyfriend and having a daughter with him.
For her part, Sophie has always regretted how things happened with Nora but has never had the courage to be out in her conservative Texas town with a highly homophobic mother to boot. Seeing Nora reignites all her past feelings though and causes Sophie to reconsider what's most important and whether she can find the courage to finally live her life as her authentic self.
Great on audio and recommended for fans of authors like Meryl Wilsner or Rachel Lacey. I've had this one on my radar for ages and I'm soo glad I finally picked it up. Definitely one I HIGHLY recommend!
CW: alcoholism, teen pregnancy, PTSD, homophobia
Openly bisexual, ex-military officer, Nora hasn't been back home in years and is not looking forward to seeing Sophie, her closeted high school ex-best friend and former lover who ended up marrying Nora's ex boyfriend and having a daughter with him.
For her part, Sophie has always regretted how things happened with Nora but has never had the courage to be out in her conservative Texas town with a highly homophobic mother to boot. Seeing Nora reignites all her past feelings though and causes Sophie to reconsider what's most important and whether she can find the courage to finally live her life as her authentic self.
Great on audio and recommended for fans of authors like Meryl Wilsner or Rachel Lacey. I've had this one on my radar for ages and I'm soo glad I finally picked it up. Definitely one I HIGHLY recommend!
CW: alcoholism, teen pregnancy, PTSD, homophobia
July 19, 2023
Estranged “gal pals” meet again after 18 years apart in their small town.
I am sooo glad I picked this book. It hit all the right spots for my bottomless pit book cravings. Small town stories are the best, I’ve decided. Melissa Lenhardt balanced out most aspects in this book. I don’t know how she made out that “the other girlfriend” came out smelling of roses and I don’t hate her, she spun the husband’s narrative and he turned out safe without compromising the more important relationships in the story. The author did a really good job thinking about all the scenarios and nothing was decided on half-arsed. Just like gold prospecting, you sift through sand but once in a while you get lucky and find nuggets of gold. And this is one of those lucky times for me I found my gold amongst the sand.
I am sooo glad I picked this book. It hit all the right spots for my bottomless pit book cravings. Small town stories are the best, I’ve decided. Melissa Lenhardt balanced out most aspects in this book. I don’t know how she made out that “the other girlfriend” came out smelling of roses and I don’t hate her, she spun the husband’s narrative and he turned out safe without compromising the more important relationships in the story. The author did a really good job thinking about all the scenarios and nothing was decided on half-arsed. Just like gold prospecting, you sift through sand but once in a while you get lucky and find nuggets of gold. And this is one of those lucky times for me I found my gold amongst the sand.
August 25, 2023
The Secret of You and Me popped up this week in my library's digital catalogue. I didn't recognize the author or the title, but I was intrigued by the synopsis, so I did what I never do and decided to read it based on the synopsis alone, i.e. I read zero reviews of the novel or even peeked at its average rating here on GR and hoped it was a book I liked. I actually thought it was a completely new release until today, but this came out 3 years ago. Anyway, a best-friends-to-lovers, second-chance sapphic romance set within a conservative community is basically my favourite combination of things. Especially one which uses Jane Austen's Persuasion in the epigraph!
I'm not sure how this is marketed, but if you're here for a romance novel, this isn't it. Yes, I know what I wrote in paragraph above this. There's a romance that is central to the plot, but it's not a romance to me. This is angsty and maddening and sometimes painful. And that isn't necessarily a knock on it, though it seems to have triggered a lot of reviewers, but while this story ends in a way that was mostly satisfying (to me), it's not going to be for everyone. Me? I was okay to be in the angst for a bit. And it didn't feel unrealistic or over the top considering the fact that this takes place in a small, conservative Texas town and featuring women who were essentially coming out in their mid thirties. That's not to say it's not rightfully triggering, either. The homophobia is intense and quite vile (not to mention the xenophobia, Islamophobia, overt misogyny), so tread lightly if this is likely to trigger you.
My issues with this book don't stem from a lack of "queer joy." Rather, my issues have to do with the fact that every adult is cheating on their spouse/partner in this book. Including the main characters. And, for me, that's a strike against the romance overall. The book starts strong--I was into it immediately--but it starts to come off the rails a bit, and I think the cheating is a big part of that.
I also don't understand what's to like about Alima. Are we supposed to like her? She's pretty awful, albeit hilarious. I mean, I understand her motivation, I guess, but I can't see her appeal. And I really don't understand how/why Nora would put Sophie in a situation where Alima and Sophie are around each other at all, not to mention the times they're left together alone.
I also didn't like that politics are never challenged in this book. Charlie, Sophie's husband, is running for State Senate as a Republican. That makes complete sense for where this novel is set, but not a single character challenges him on any issue. In a book featuring multiple queer characters, I found this to be one of the major disappointments to me. Not even Nora or Alima said anything to challenge the Republican platform.
I'm giving this three stars for the inconsistency in the narrative and for all the cheating. The homophobic angst doesn't impact my rating. YMMV.
I'm not sure how this is marketed, but if you're here for a romance novel, this isn't it. Yes, I know what I wrote in paragraph above this. There's a romance that is central to the plot, but it's not a romance to me. This is angsty and maddening and sometimes painful. And that isn't necessarily a knock on it, though it seems to have triggered a lot of reviewers, but while this story ends in a way that was mostly satisfying (to me), it's not going to be for everyone. Me? I was okay to be in the angst for a bit. And it didn't feel unrealistic or over the top considering the fact that this takes place in a small, conservative Texas town and featuring women who were essentially coming out in their mid thirties. That's not to say it's not rightfully triggering, either. The homophobia is intense and quite vile (not to mention the xenophobia, Islamophobia, overt misogyny), so tread lightly if this is likely to trigger you.
My issues with this book don't stem from a lack of "queer joy." Rather, my issues have to do with the fact that every adult is cheating on their spouse/partner in this book. Including the main characters. And, for me, that's a strike against the romance overall. The book starts strong--I was into it immediately--but it starts to come off the rails a bit, and I think the cheating is a big part of that.
I also don't understand what's to like about Alima. Are we supposed to like her? She's pretty awful, albeit hilarious. I mean, I understand her motivation, I guess, but I can't see her appeal. And I really don't understand how/why Nora would put Sophie in a situation where Alima and Sophie are around each other at all, not to mention the times they're left together alone.
I also didn't like that politics are never challenged in this book. Charlie, Sophie's husband, is running for State Senate as a Republican. That makes complete sense for where this novel is set, but not a single character challenges him on any issue. In a book featuring multiple queer characters, I found this to be one of the major disappointments to me. Not even Nora or Alima said anything to challenge the Republican platform.
I'm giving this three stars for the inconsistency in the narrative and for all the cheating. The homophobic angst doesn't impact my rating. YMMV.
July 28, 2020
Sophie and Nora were best friends all throughout town. They live in a small conservative town in Texas so when they start to develop feelings for each other things start to get complicated. Nora is forced to leave town, the girls fall out and don't end up speaking for 18 years. However, Nora's father passes away which sees her come back to town. Sophie and Nora both have never lost feelings for each other but Sophie is now married and has a child. Can they rekindle their romance or are they really destined not to be?
I really enjoyed this. The relationship between Sophie and Nora felt really genuine and the small town element made the whole scenario more believable. The side stories for each of the characters were also added to story. This felt like a classic romcom. I feel like the LGBT romance was represented really well.
I will definitely be reading more from this author.
Thank you to Netgalley and Mills & Boon for providing me a copy to read.
I really enjoyed this. The relationship between Sophie and Nora felt really genuine and the small town element made the whole scenario more believable. The side stories for each of the characters were also added to story. This felt like a classic romcom. I feel like the LGBT romance was represented really well.
I will definitely be reading more from this author.
Thank you to Netgalley and Mills & Boon for providing me a copy to read.
August 6, 2020
OK first of all, can I just saw HOW much I LOVED reading an LGBTQIA romance novel. Yay!! We need to see more of this!!
The beginning started a tad bit slow to me but I was already invested between the history and passion behind the story of Nora and Sophie. I've always loved stories about second chance romances. The author weaves a beautiful heartfelt story between these two women and how they find their way back to one another.
I also liked how the author incorporated some heavy topics of racism, homophobia, emotional abuse, and PTSD.
I definitely will be checking more out from Melissa Lenhardt!
3.5 stars.
Thank you so much to Netgalley and Harlequin for the arc in exchange for an honest review.
Pub date: 8/4/20
Published to GR: 8/5/20
The beginning started a tad bit slow to me but I was already invested between the history and passion behind the story of Nora and Sophie. I've always loved stories about second chance romances. The author weaves a beautiful heartfelt story between these two women and how they find their way back to one another.
I also liked how the author incorporated some heavy topics of racism, homophobia, emotional abuse, and PTSD.
I definitely will be checking more out from Melissa Lenhardt!
3.5 stars.
Thank you so much to Netgalley and Harlequin for the arc in exchange for an honest review.
Pub date: 8/4/20
Published to GR: 8/5/20
August 10, 2021
Loved the first quarter but then the serious angst, the, to me, seemingly forced, story line came in, and reality was lost, or certainly foundering. (Baddies get worse, goodies get better.) Didn't quite work.
October 8, 2021
An LGBT pick from the library app. One of those types that's interesting and easy enough to keep you reading but ultimately just boring, constant homophobia, characters meh.
August 4, 2020
"She read 'The Handmaid's Tale' in freshman sociology and turned into a lesbian."4.5 stars
"From reading a book? I don't think it works like that."
"How would you know?"
Came for the sapphic love story, stayed for the compelling narrative, characters that are just so messily human, powerful sapphic yearning (bisexual rep!) and strong themes of love, family and honesty.
This was a peak portrayal of the friends-to-lovers-to-enemies-to-possible lovers again narrative arc. My heart lifted and fell with Sophie and Nora. The eighteen years yawning between Nora and Sophie then and now made the intensity of their forbidden love truly searing.
I waited for a beat, barely resisting the temptation to tell her how I felt; that I thought about her incessantly, that each of our conversations were seared in my brain, that there were a million more things I wanted to tell her, to ask her, that I didn't even care that she beat me at tennis because it was so much like our life when we were happy, and our future together was laid out in front of us like a long West Texas road that disappeared into infinity, that I didn't realize how I missed her South Texas twang until I heard it again, that my need for her hummed through my body at all hours of the day, that I was still in love with her, that all of the men and women I'd been with had been a pale attempt to forget her, that I regretted them all.
The near-decades long development reminded me a little of Rosie and Alex from 'Love, Rosie' by Cecelia Ahern, one of my favourite contemporary romances.
I also loved how through Nora the book respects the fluidity of sexuality 'labels' and their unique meaning to each individual - plus I really appreciated having a bisexual lead whose attraction to men and women isn't erased, regardless of how her love story ends.
"And I want only you. The fact that I'm attracted to men, too, has nothing to do with it."
"How can I be sure?"
"The same way anyone is sure of their partner's loyalty: trust."
Several explicitly and implicitly homophobic stereotypes were also addressed, as well as misogynistic double standards.
"[T]hat's easy for a man to say. F*** that! It ain't nobody's business... Men leave all the time. No one cares. Women who leave their families? Christ, they're never forgiven. Ever."
Plot-wise, there were so many dramatic twists and backstory exposition was done excellently, with little crumbs to keep me hooked. It was almost like a murder mystery in how it unfolded layer by layer, new pieces slowly slotting together and reframing the narrative we thought we had. The ending was a little neat but I really liked it, and given how many times those two fought (A LOT) and all the obstacles they faced, for most of the book I wasn't even sure if Sophie and Nora were endgame!
All the characters are flawed, complicated and entangled with each other in this small Texas town. The theme of mother-daughter relationships was particularly significant here, from Sophie and her deeply homophobic and conservative mother Brenda, Sophie and her teen daughter Logan - when does 'protectiveness' cross over into hurt? - and Nora and her surrogate mother Aunt Emmadean. Even the relationship between a secondary character, Kim (an old schoolmate of Nora and Sophie) and her daughter Erin factored importantly into the plot (I actually welled up slightly!). I loved that you could see similarities and differences in each and the ways they try to be better. Well...some of them, anyway.
This story is told in dual POV, starting with Nora, and because I read fast when I'm intrigued, I often missed the title indicating whose POV it was and sometimes got confused. However, as they both have pretty strong character voices, it wasn't hard to figure it out quickly. I think my favourite is Sophie - she's so resilient and her arc made me so proud.
This isn't a disaster waiting to happen; it's a challenge. I'm Sophie F***ing Wyatt. Bring it on.I enjoyed Nora's gradual character development too, working on her stubbornness, selfishness and trust issues - though she never loses her savage streak! Do not get on the bad side of this woman.
"Don't let your stubbornness get in the way of your happiness."
I really enjoyed this book, and it makes me want to read more complicated contemporaries - bonus if it's queer! This is also inspiring me to hurry up and read Austen's 'Persuasion', which this is loosely inspired by (initially, anyway). I'll definitely be looking into Lenhardt's other work!
Thank you to NetGalley and Mills & Boon for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.
August 21, 2020
I adore LGBTQ stories, but I’m ashamed to admit that all of my reads have been predominantly m/m. The Secret of You and Me is my first f/f read, but do you know what?! The Secret of You and Me was one of the best second chance romance stories I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading!
Nora and Sophie’s story had me on a rollercoaster of emotions. My poor heartstrings were being pulled left, right and centre. In fact, scratch that rollercoaster analogy – it was like being on the waltzers. And I hate the flipping waltzers but call me a masochist (shut it!), I loved every heart stopping word of their journey *sighs*.
Has ever a love story been so hard fought?! But if anything is worth fighting for it’s love. Sorry, my sap level is currently set to high *palms face* Fair warning, I may start gushing soon. (Hormones have a lot to answer for, don’t they?!)
Secrets and lies abound in TSoYaM. I may say I don’t, but you all know I love a bit of angst and, boy, did I get it! I wanted to do some head knocking (quelle surprise). I may have also threatened certain pieces of a character’s anatomy *shrugs*. I apologise for nothing. It was very much deserved...
Yet doesn’t the truth always find a way to be revealed? At the end of the day, don’t we at least have to be true to ourselves? I’m all about the questions today, aren’t I? Oops! *snorts*
I cried (a few times!). In fact, the end of Chapter Twenty One had me sobbing my heart out. I’m such an ugly crier *rolls eyes*.
As you can imagine, TSoYaM tackles some sensitive issues and the tricky subject of prejudice. *sighs* I hate that is still a very real issue in our world today. I keep my fingers crossed for one day, one day, when who we love no longer matters.
Yes, *nods* I agree. This is definitely one of my most cryptic reviews to date. I just want you to go in blind and let Nora and Sophie tell you their story their way. Are they without flaws, heck no, but doesn’t that make them all the more relatable? Oops, I did it again *giggles*.
I was amazed at how quick I read this book. I just got lost and didn’t want it to end.
My first Melissa Lenhardt read, and I hope, by no means by last.
Nora and Sophie’s story had me on a rollercoaster of emotions. My poor heartstrings were being pulled left, right and centre. In fact, scratch that rollercoaster analogy – it was like being on the waltzers. And I hate the flipping waltzers but call me a masochist (shut it!), I loved every heart stopping word of their journey *sighs*.
Has ever a love story been so hard fought?! But if anything is worth fighting for it’s love. Sorry, my sap level is currently set to high *palms face* Fair warning, I may start gushing soon. (Hormones have a lot to answer for, don’t they?!)
Secrets and lies abound in TSoYaM. I may say I don’t, but you all know I love a bit of angst and, boy, did I get it! I wanted to do some head knocking (quelle surprise). I may have also threatened certain pieces of a character’s anatomy *shrugs*. I apologise for nothing. It was very much deserved...
Yet doesn’t the truth always find a way to be revealed? At the end of the day, don’t we at least have to be true to ourselves? I’m all about the questions today, aren’t I? Oops! *snorts*
I cried (a few times!). In fact, the end of Chapter Twenty One had me sobbing my heart out. I’m such an ugly crier *rolls eyes*.
As you can imagine, TSoYaM tackles some sensitive issues and the tricky subject of prejudice. *sighs* I hate that is still a very real issue in our world today. I keep my fingers crossed for one day, one day, when who we love no longer matters.
Yes, *nods* I agree. This is definitely one of my most cryptic reviews to date. I just want you to go in blind and let Nora and Sophie tell you their story their way. Are they without flaws, heck no, but doesn’t that make them all the more relatable? Oops, I did it again *giggles*.
I was amazed at how quick I read this book. I just got lost and didn’t want it to end.
My first Melissa Lenhardt read, and I hope, by no means by last.
July 22, 2020
4.5 stars
This is a wonderful story of Nora and Sophie who secretly fell in love as teenagers, were caught together and separated for 18 years.
It is a story of love against all odds, of friendship and of defeating the haters.
It is wonderful to read a lesbian love story where the characters are in their 30s. It gave the story real depth and so much meaning to their love story.
Nora and Sophie are both incredible characters. Nora is fierce and unapologetic about who she is. She was an absolute gem of a joint lead character. I loved her background being in the army and her journey to the present day. She held so much emotion and it was so great to see her character change.
Sophie is kind and yet very broken. She has lied about who she is for 18 years and married the father of her child. Sophie's story was my favourite. From her relationship with her daughter to her alcoholism as a way to cope. I wanted the best for her, she deserved every happiness despite her mistakes.
The writing is beautiful and the storyline simple and very character driven. I adored it and highly recommend this beautiful love story.
Please note that I was gifted this book in exchange for an honest review.
This is a wonderful story of Nora and Sophie who secretly fell in love as teenagers, were caught together and separated for 18 years.
It is a story of love against all odds, of friendship and of defeating the haters.
It is wonderful to read a lesbian love story where the characters are in their 30s. It gave the story real depth and so much meaning to their love story.
Nora and Sophie are both incredible characters. Nora is fierce and unapologetic about who she is. She was an absolute gem of a joint lead character. I loved her background being in the army and her journey to the present day. She held so much emotion and it was so great to see her character change.
Sophie is kind and yet very broken. She has lied about who she is for 18 years and married the father of her child. Sophie's story was my favourite. From her relationship with her daughter to her alcoholism as a way to cope. I wanted the best for her, she deserved every happiness despite her mistakes.
The writing is beautiful and the storyline simple and very character driven. I adored it and highly recommend this beautiful love story.
Please note that I was gifted this book in exchange for an honest review.
September 6, 2020
This was...not good. For a start, it's a romance with zero romance; everyone is miserable ALL the time, the heroines are constantly arguing, and despite each of them endlessly talking about how sexy the other one is (by repeating a few key phrases about their appearance), they had zero chemistry. How does that even happen in a book?? There was far, faaaaar too much pandering to hateful homophobes; too much excusing vile behaviour because the person being vile was religious, or just Texan. The two main characters were kind of awful, as people and to each other; this was not a relationship I could in any way support, and honestly, I just didn't buy that they would make this much effort for each other. Furthermore (spoilers) - everyone is cheating on everyone, there's some unnecessarily graphic stuff about the teenage daughter's sex life, and Sophie just sort of ghosts her AA sponsor? After a lot of talk about not getting into this huge, weighty relationship when you're less than a year sober, she just...ditches the steps? The ending was a freaking mess tbh. And why, why was there no romance, it's a romance?? Ugh.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 24, 2023
I appreciated that the prose was of higher quality than is usually found in this genre but that was about the only positive thing I found when reading this.
I'm sick of reading stories about homophobic and abusive parents. I realise that that situation is a reality for some people and it has been successfully used as a plot point in many novels but good god it has been done to death. For a straight woman to be writing a novel, aimed at queer women, utilising that narrative just leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. I think it's bile.
Also who proofread this book? There were a couple of typos and some grammatical issues, but my biggest gripe in that area was the author using the word mike as short form of microphone and then two paragraphs later using mic. I mean, mike is just wrong but how did no one pick up on that? Am I being petty? Possibly.
I'm sick of reading stories about homophobic and abusive parents. I realise that that situation is a reality for some people and it has been successfully used as a plot point in many novels but good god it has been done to death. For a straight woman to be writing a novel, aimed at queer women, utilising that narrative just leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. I think it's bile.
Also who proofread this book? There were a couple of typos and some grammatical issues, but my biggest gripe in that area was the author using the word mike as short form of microphone and then two paragraphs later using mic. I mean, mike is just wrong but how did no one pick up on that? Am I being petty? Possibly.
August 19, 2020
Whenever I hear a book is a remake or retelling of Persuasion, my right eyebrow automatically raises in skepticism. Is it even possible that any book could compare to my favorite Austen novel, let alone one of my favorite books of all time? (And Captain Wentworth forever has my heart!) I spent the first 25% comparing every minute detail, from characters, to the settings, emotions, physical interactions, and more, in The Secret of You and Me to Persuasion. But once I stopped the comparisons, I enjoyed reading The Secret of You and Me a lot more. So, my advice to you, dear reader, is to take this book as it is, and appreciate the emotional relationship between Sophie and Nora for what it is, not for what it isn’t.
Ms. Lenhardt’s writing is descriptive, conversational, and emotional. There are many instances of emotional connection between characters where I could not put down the book. Setting a LGBTQ romance in a conservative, small Texas town is a risk that pays off for the novel. The reader can clearly sense Sophie’s inner conflict. While Nora is living the life she wants in Washington, D.C., Sophie is closeted, hiding her true self from everyone in her life.
The characters in this novel are complex and damaged, but easily recognized. Of the two main characters, I felt more of an emotional connection with Sophie. Her scenes of coming out to her AA sponsor as well as her daughter left me emotionally depleted. But her scenes at the end of the novel left me exhilarated for her. Sophie’s self-discovery, and more so self-acceptance, show tremendous character growth. As for Nora, we don’t get to see much of her life over the past 18 years. We do learn about her PTSD, her past and current relationships, and that her job is top secret. But I never felt that emotional connection with Nora that I felt with Sophie. The secondary characters fill out the novel well. From Nora’s sister’s complaints, to Sophie’s daughter’s honesty, we understand the main character even more through their interactions with the other characters.
The romance in The Secret of You and Me is certainly more explicit than Austen, but the longing between Sophie and Nora is palpable from the beginning. The two have a tendency towards fighting then reconciling on more than one occasion. The romance between these two characters is not light and fluffy. Infidelity is present in many of the relationships in the novel, including that of Nora and Sophie.
I finished reading this book days ago and I’m still mulling over my feelings. The emotions and topics are a lot weightier than what I normally look for in a romance. (The novel is similar to the emotions in some of Colleen Hoover’s novels as a comparison.) But sometimes, reading outside of your comfort zone is good for you. If you are looking to challenge yourself with some complicated characters and emotional writing, I recommend trying The Secret of You and Me.
July 27, 2020
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an early copy for review
I requested this book as the cover is absolutely stunning and because I want to support LGBT stories in adult fiction, as our stories seem few and far between in adult fiction.
I enjoyed this book, but it was a lot heavier than I was expecting. Lenhardt deals with many topics such as grief, alcoholism, homophobia, PTSD and many more. This gave the novel more depth than I was expecting from it, and I thought that was a pleasant surprise. Neither of the main characters were particularly likeable, but the older I get, the more I realise that's okay. I'd rather read about real characters, damaged and broken characters, than cookie cutter perfect characters. Both Nora and Sophie are incredibly damaged and have a lot on their plate, both from the past and the present, but I thought the exploration of all their flaws was pretty well done.
I will say it felt as if for a while we were going in circles in Nora and Sophie's relationship. They would often end up fighting about the same thing they had been fighting about before, but that does show how problems aren't instantly solved, and how you often can be quite unaware of how deeply these flaws or values are ingrained in you.
I would absolutely recommend this if you love complicated romance stories, and more hard hitting romance stories.
I requested this book as the cover is absolutely stunning and because I want to support LGBT stories in adult fiction, as our stories seem few and far between in adult fiction.
I enjoyed this book, but it was a lot heavier than I was expecting. Lenhardt deals with many topics such as grief, alcoholism, homophobia, PTSD and many more. This gave the novel more depth than I was expecting from it, and I thought that was a pleasant surprise. Neither of the main characters were particularly likeable, but the older I get, the more I realise that's okay. I'd rather read about real characters, damaged and broken characters, than cookie cutter perfect characters. Both Nora and Sophie are incredibly damaged and have a lot on their plate, both from the past and the present, but I thought the exploration of all their flaws was pretty well done.
I will say it felt as if for a while we were going in circles in Nora and Sophie's relationship. They would often end up fighting about the same thing they had been fighting about before, but that does show how problems aren't instantly solved, and how you often can be quite unaware of how deeply these flaws or values are ingrained in you.
I would absolutely recommend this if you love complicated romance stories, and more hard hitting romance stories.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 385 reviews