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

Title: S.E.C.R.E.T. (Secret #1)

Author: L. Marie Adeline

Pages: 288

ISBN: 9780385346436

Genre: Adult Fiction

First Published: February 2013

Buy It: Bookdepository

Cassie Robichaud’s life is filled with regret and loneliness after the sudden death of her husband. She waits tables at the rundown Café Rose in New Orleans, and every night she heads home to her solitary one-bedroom apartment. But when she discovers a notebook left behind by a mysterious woman at the café, Cassie’s world is forever changed. The notebook’s stunningly explicit confessions shock and fascinate Cassie, and eventually lead her to S∙E∙C∙R∙E∙T, an underground society dedicated to helping women realize their wildest, most intimate sexual fantasies. Cassie soon immerses herself in an electrifying journey through a series of ten rapturous fantasies with gorgeous men who awaken and satisfy her like never before. As she is set free from her inhibitions, she discovers a new confidence that transforms her, giving her the courage to live passionately. Equal parts enticing, liberating and emotionally powerful, S∙E∙C∙R∙E∙T is a world where fantasy becomes reality.

I'm just going to go ahead and say it: This book is just about sex. Cassie is trying to find her courage, confidence etc, by having sex with a bunch of different guys. I hate to compare, but I'd hoped that, just like in Fifty Shades, sex would only be part of the book, but not the most important part. I wanted some romance, but there wasn't much of that unfortunately. 

What I also didn't like about this book is that Cassie has no self-confidence at all, but when some guy who was sent to her to please her, tells her how beautiful she is, she believes it without a second thought. That's not how it works. Very unrealistic. Actually, I think most of this book is unrealistic. It's just too much. Things like this just don't happen. Now, I know it's fiction, but still.. Adeline could have made it a little bit more believable.

The worst part for me was the ending. What the heck was that? I haven't read a book with such a crappy ending in a long time. The only reason I'm giving this book 2 stars instead of 1 is that part of why I didn't like this book was because of the vocabulary that was used, and I read the dutch version so I'm blaming the translators for that. I'm just going to assume the english version would have been slightly better.