Review: S.E.C.R.E.T. Shared by L. Marie Adeline

S.E.C.R.E.T. Shared (SECRET #2) by L. Marie Adeline

Publication Date: October 15th 2013 by Broadway Books

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

About the book:

"I, Cassie Robichaud, solemnly swear to serve S.E.C.R.E.T. to the best of my abilities. I will do what is necessary, what is right and what is within my power to assist in the execution of sexual fantasies for our participant(s)..."

And so begins S.E.C.R.E.T. II, which opens with Cassie's initiation into this mysterious organization, one that helps women experience their most potent sexual fantasies. Cassie spends the next year as a "S.E.C.R.E.T. member-at-large," not quite a guide, she'll assist Committee members (including two new ones, Kit DeMarco and Angela Rejean) in recruiting men and helping to execute a new inductee's fantasies.

After a false start with the first potential inductee, Cassie makes the acquaintance of Dauphine Gray, a 31-year old who works at the Funky Monkey vintage clothing store on Magazine Street in New Orleans. Geeky, gawky and easily distracted, Dauphine has no idea how attractive she really is because her face is forever in a book. Reading is her passion, music is her pleasure, and Dauphine's all but given up on sex, especially after a painful rejection that still haunts her. Then Cassie and the women from S.E.C.R.E.T. show her it's possible to reignite that flame.

Meanwhile, Cassie must work through her resentment over losing Will to Tracina and their future baby. But when paternity questions surface, Tracina threatens to expose Cassie's S.E.C.R.E.T. membership to the one man both women love. Will Tracina expose Cassie to Will, and if she does, what will he make of his secret love's S.E.C.R.E.T. life?

My Thoughts:

*****Spoilers if you haven’t read S.E.C.R.E.T.******

I enjoyed the sensual journey Cassie took in the last book all the while hoping that she and Will would figure things out and find happiness.  While they did for a short time, Tracina shatters that short lived bliss with a major bombshell, and Will picks a future with Tracina instead.  

Cassie is now a committee member of SECRET and pledged to help other women like they helped her. She continues to work at the Café with Will and Tracina which makes the pain of losing her happy future hard to get over, like pouring salt in the wound.  Cassie does become occupied with helping another woman she runs into at a café after noticing her profound sadness.  Dauphine hasn't been able to move past the ultimate betrayal of her best friend and boyfriend after the grand humiliation they heaped on her.  It made my stomach hurt just reading about it!  Soon Dauphine is recruited and begins the fantasies designed to help her get confidence and her zest for life back. 

SECRET Shared is a tough book for me to review.  There are parts that I enjoyed and it was super hot with the fantasies and all the inter-workings of the SECRET organization, but I was disappointed by a few things.  In the last book the ending crushed me after longing for Will and Cassie to finally be together.  It was nice that Cassie grew in confidence and all, but the whole time she’s playing out these fantasies, I just wanted her to work things out with Will!  For much of this book we have to deal with the roadblock Tracina put in front of them and then when things finally seem to work out, everything is up in the air again!  

I don’t blame Cassie for trying to take her mind off of Will and move on.  I did have an issue with how things played out.  From the beginning when we meet Dauphine, she’s pining over a musician, Mark. Then she sees Mark at a café, order, then strike up a conversation with Cassie, and exchange numbers at the end.  I can’t say I cared for that plot-line.  Cassie and Mark was not the couple I wanted hooking up at all.  It’s hard to get invested with a romance when you have them pairing with everyone but each other.  And when I say that, I mean both couples:  Will and Cassie and then Dauphine and Mark.  By the time Dauphine and Mark end up on the same page, I don’t really feel their connection.  I’m happy with the way things worked out for them, but like I said I didn’t really feel it as deeply as I would've liked. 

I will be reading the last book in the series, because I do want to find out how it all ends.  Let's hope it doesn't disappoint. 

3 Suns

About the author:L. Marie Adeline is the pseudonym for the best-selling author Lisa Gabriele, who has written both novels and non-fiction.

S.E.C.R.E.T., the first installment of an erotic trilogy is published in more than thirty countries. It was a bestseller in several countries, including Canada where it was #1 for several weeks.

S.E.C.R.E.T. Shared, the second installment, will be published Oct. 15th, 2013.

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