Series: Love Distilled #3
Published by Kaledo Group Ltd on 25 May 2021
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 274
Format: Kindle
Source: Kindle Purchase
What happens when two childhood friends meet up again as adults? As adults who are both single, and who have been through a lot together in the past. Who have been separated for almost ten years due to one of them living in New York City while the other still lives in Morrison, Colorado.
Sparks definitely happen. But so does a little heart-ache, because both of them still love their jobs more than anything else. Or do they?
Love In Secrets is a perfect friends-to-lovers story, with a ton of chemistry, a whole lot of heat, and a little heart-ache.
Love In Secrets is one of those stories where I loved everything! I loved the characters and their back stories. I loved the setting. I loved the romantic elements between Cassie and Jake. And most of all, I loved that Cassie was so true to herself. From start to finish.
Cassie had to come back home urgently after her dad was in an accident, and her old friend Jake came to pick her up at the airport. He comforted her and let her stay at his place. What neither of them expected were the sparks. And the chemistry between them. And while they wanted to explore this heat between them, they also didn’t want to rock the boat.
Love In Secrets is the third book in SCole’s Love Distilled series, and I think it’s my favorite. Because friends to lovers is definitely one of my favorite romance tropes, and it was done so very well here. I also loved that we got more than a few glimpses of Jake’s sisters – who were the main characters in the first two books – plus their significant others as well.
Cassie is a very strong female character, and she kind of has to be. Working in a male-oriented career, she has to be tougher, smarter, and more organized than her colleagues to make it. And she’s been working her way to the top without pause for the past ten years. Only to see her boss promoting his nephew instead of her. And still, she fights and does what’s best for her team.
Jake has hardly had a life since his father passed away, keeping the distillery together for his sisters, for himself, for family. But life has to be more than work, right? And Cassie definitely makes him see his life in full colors once more. The only thing is that she’s planning on leaving again as soon as her father is doing better.
Love In Secrets is also very sweet because Cassie’s best friend is none other than one of Jake’s sisters. Which is one reason why she wants to keep this new relationship with Jake a secret. Of course, keeping strong feelings and off-the-charts chemistry a secret from friends and family is almost impossible, though.
SCole did an excellent job portraying a woman in a man’s world. All the sacrifices, all the very hard work, and all the times Cassie rather bit her tongue just to show that she was reasonable. And it just wasn’t ever enough for her boss anyway. And on the other hand Cassie had her dad who wanted her to take over his company – but it all seemed too small to Cassie who had her sights on skyscrapers in the big city.
Love In Secrets touches on many important subjects when it comes to both love and relationships, and when it comes to women and their careers. SCole did wonderfully with all of it, though, and I loved every second of my reading time!
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
I’m so glad you loved this book. It sounds like a great one, Linda!
Twitter: Northwomn
I’ve been seeing this one and I’ve enjoyed this author. Terrific review!
Anne – Books of My Heart