Secrets, by Freya North

Life must have turned a bit sour for bestselling author Freya North. Her earlier books were joyous and enjoyable relationship comedies, with a touch of magic to them. Later books have become darker, with more complex issues affecting their protagonists’ love lives. The putative lovers of Secrets are hard to like. Both have had difficult childhoods, which affect their adult relationships but don’t excuse their obnoxious behaviour and callous treatment of others. Falling in love miraculously turns them both into nicer people who tell each other the utter truth and they are able to overcome their dark pasts to build a rosy future together. There is some carelessness in the plotting that creates loose timelines – probably deliberately vague to hold the suspense of the ‘secrets’, but nonetheless annoying and never satisfactorily resolved. Lack of decent, basic, consistent editing has become a persistent beef on this blog. Publishers’ cost cutting, cowardice or both are a crime against readers for which there is no excuse.