Review – Keeping Secret by Sierra Dean

Publisher: Samhain
Publish Date: Out Now
How I got this book: eARC from author

It’s a nice day for a white wedding. At least that’s what Secret McQueen is hoping for, with her poofy-princess-dress marriage to a werewolf king looming closer and closer by the day. But as ever, nothing can be that easy for a vampire/werewolf hybrid for whom someone still harbors a death wish.

Summoned to the south by her werewolf uncle, who makes no bones about the fact her mate bond with Lucas doesn’t pass muster, Secret learns her furry heritage looks more like a tangled vine than a family tree. Getting her royal uncle’s blessing hinges on finding one of the missing twigs. Even with vampire sentry Holden Chancery at her side, she manages to land up to her neck in a swamp of trouble.

As an assassin’s scope zeroes in, family dramas boil up and a fast-collapsing love square threatens to bury her alive, making it to the church on time could be the least of Secret’s problems.

Product Warnings
Contains a grumpy bride who shouldn’t be wearing wedding white, a motley crew of bridesmaids, a dangerous scenic drive in the woods and a smoking-hot trio of suitors who might be too scorching to touch.
*Blurb from Goodreads*

Secret is back in the 4th installment of the series, and this is going to be a very difficult review for me to write. I really enjoyed the story, but the last 10-15% of the book absolutely killed me, and in many ways put a bit of a stain on the series.

Secret’s wedding to Alpha Lucas is coming closer and closer, and although Secret isn’t one hundred percent on board with the event, she is willing to do what is necessary for the pack. But someone is desperately trying to kill her – to make sure she doesn’t make it to the big day. When she and Lucas travel down to meet with her uncle, they will have to jump through hoops to get his approval on their nuptials. When they return to New York, the assassin comes closer to Secret than ever before, and she will be forced to engage in a fight to the death – and on her wedding day to boot.

I have to say, the action in this book is the best the series has to offer so far. Between the car chase, the stand off in the bridal shop, the battle in the swamp and the final showdown between Secret and her assassin, this book really was incredible. There was plenty of high octane moments when Secret kicked ass and took names, along with plenty of snark and hilarious one-liners that broke up the intensity of the scenes. I absolutely loved that aspect of the book, and think that Dean is one amazing storyteller.

I also loved getting a glimpse into Secret’s extended family. We haven’t really seen much of her family save her grandmother, and getting to meet her uncle, great-grandmother, and the siblings she never knew about was such a treat. Seeing her try to come to grips with her past and her family and all the preconceived notions she had just added another depth to Secret’s character that I absolutely loved getting to see.

Secret still amazes me with how strong of a character she is. She can fight alongside vampires and wolves, and get the better of most of them. She is funny and sarcastic and a heroine that I adore reading. However, when it comes to Secret’s love life, I have a very VERY hard time watching her act like a twelve year old girl. This continues to be the only (but HUGE) downfall of the series for me. I am a romance girl at heart, and having Secret constantly bounce around in this weird love-trapezoid-thing is starting to discolor my adoration of the series.

I have always been firmly on Team Desmond, and have never bothered to hide my dislike for Lucas. In this book, Lucas takes his asshatery skills to a whole new level, and I ended up losing a lot of respect for Secret because of the way she let him treat her. Add in how she treats Desmond – not seeming to spend a lot of time considering how her actions affect their relationship – and I wanted her to pull her head out of the sand and force her to see exactly what she was doing.

Then the ending…. ZOMG the ending. Talk about a cluster. The assassin, the wedding, the heartbreak, and the cliffhanger in which Secret is about to make the biggest mistake of her life (in my opinion). It was all a little too much for me, and if Secret goes through with what I think she does in the cliffhanger, I might have to break up with her once and for all.

All in all I am still sucked into the world of Secret and have an intense love-hate relationship with these books. They are like crack to me, with incredible storytelling and wonderful plots that are amazingly written. However, like I said, the romance (or lack thereof) aspect is starting to weigh heavily on the series and making for difficult reading. I sincerely hope Secret makes a decision in the next book.
I give Keeping Secret a C+

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