Burning Little Secrets By Vivian Mae
Recommended for readers 18 years and up!
**A secret steamy standalone romance**
Julia
When my best friend Eve invited me to visit her and my dad back home in North Carolina, I hesitated. My wedding with Robbie was only a week away, and our rocky relationship was already on edge. Even though it was a bad time to go back, I couldn’t resist the chance to visit my best friend—both to sort out my own feelings and escape from Robbie’s increasingly controlling behavior.
Never could I have imagined how this quick trip and an innocent night of freedom could have spiraled out of control. Meeting Nathan wasn’t supposed to happen, and I definitely wasn’t supposed to kiss him. But he was so kind and sexy, and it was so nice to feel wanted for once. But, as soon as I came to my senses and ran from our kiss, I bumped into the one person I never expected. My trip away is now a harbor of secrets, created by those close to me, and my new found taste for freedom.
Nathan
When I saw Julia watching me at the bar, I felt something I hadn’t felt in years. When I kissed her, I knew she was meant to be mine. But this Robbie guy she was with, he seemed to have some pull over her, something I couldn’t understand. I hated how he treated her, and I knew she deserved better.
So, when she offered me the time she had left, I decided to take it, showing her the side of freedom she only dreamed of. Our connection, our chemistry—it was undeniable. I wanted her to leave Robbie; I wanted her to be with me. But, when it came down to it, what I really wanted was for her to be happy. But could I keep her close while keeping my demons at bay? The things I’ve done, the person I once was, and all my little secrets. I’ll fight to keep her home, to make her mine, even if it takes a little naughty convincing. Burning Little Secrets
Vivian Mae ñ 2 Review
Dnf @ 34% might have just not been my mood—might pick it up later...in a couple months 173679650X ⭐️ 4.5/5
This was my first read by the lovely Vivian and I really liked it. I understood Julia’s hesitations and this made her very relatable to me. She’s a woman who needs to find a way to break free but can’t seem to do that, because of her controlling husband. That is until she meets the totally swoon-worthy firefighter Nathan. I loved that Vivian at first made him seem like the perfect guy, but then we discover that Nathan has his own demons. And that made him a realistic character. I love characters like Nathan who have this softness within them. I would have liked this book to be longer so we could’ve had more Nathan. He’s totally worth it with the sweetness and spice he brings to the story. This forbidden love story was worth the read. It was a story with unexpected twists and I fell in love with some of the characters. 173679650X This is my first read from this author, and it won’t be my last. I read this book in one sitting, I couldn’t put it down. I can’t believe this is her debut book as it’s amazing and so heart warming.
Julia is stuck in an emotionally abusive relationship with her fiancé Robbie that she is about to marry. During a trip back home to see her best friend Eve and her Dad, before she gets married, she meets Nathan. He is the sweetest thing ever and has been through so much in his life it breaks my heart. There is secrets in this book you don’t see coming at it will put you through an emotional rollercoaster.
I can’t wait to read more from the author!
173679650X Dnf @30% 173679650X A huge thank you to the author for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!!
This book focused on Julia who’s in an emotionally abusive relationship with Robbie and is due to get married but her best friend, Eve, gets her a ticket to go back home and spend quality time with her and her dad just before the wedding. Upon arriving, they go for a girl’s night out and Julia ends up meeting the very attractive and sexy Nathan and their exciting, steamy love story starts there!
I really enjoyed this book and it’s so fast paced and easy to get sucked into! The plot had so much drama going on for everyone that I was so curious to see how it all worked in the end so I ended up finishing in just a few hours 🙈
I loved the dual POV between Julia and Nathan because they’re such interesting characters with sad backgrounds and you could clearly see from the get go just how perfect they are for each other! Their romance started out so strong and so intense that I was rooting for them all throughout despite having all the odds against them!! I enjoyed all the cutesy scenes they had with the getting to know each other and holding hands 🥺 My absolute fave part of this book has to be the smut! 🥵 I have to say that the sexting and the movie theater scenes were on a whole other level that I was swooning so hard 🤤 Also, I love love Winston! I have such a soft spot for pets in books 🙈
I loved Julia and Eve’s friendship as well despite the rocky relationship they had for a bit there but the end just proved how true their love is for each other!
Towards the end, I thought we were gonna be left with a cliffhanger that would leave my heart yearning for me but Vivian did an amazing job wrapping up the story in such a way that I felt so satisfied and happy with where their stories left off. Though a part of me wishes Robbie got to suffer just a little bit more from all his all the bad he did to not just Julia but to everyone else he fucked over.
Overall, this was such a promising debut novel that I’m excited for what else Vivian Mae has in store for the future!!
173679650X
DNF at 20%.
This is my lucky day, isn't it? 173679650X It felt rushed, characters had no development. The writting was not that great. No chemistry between the main characters; it was too intsa-love for my tatse. It was honestly kind of a mess and very dramatic. I basically skimmed the second half. 173679650X A Burning Debut That Needs to be Read!
4 stars!
I knew this could burn me, but maybe a part of me wanted that. To play with fire.
What another amazing debut! Burning Little Secrets is a passion filled story. I read this book in just one sitting and could not put it down. I got quickly sucked into the drama that surrounded this whole story. Now, warning to certain readers, this does have a level of cheating. I don’t mind cheating, and especially with the situation Julia was in with her emotionally abusive relationship, I felt it was warranted. And it added that level of forbiddenness that every reader loves.
Julia and Nathan each have their own level of a painful history, so I loved seeing them connect. Robbie is someone that you want to throw a chair at, Nathan is a precious firefighter that deserves all the love, and Julia is a driven journalist stuck in a bad relationship. I struggled with Julia and liking her. You understand her situation, and how she’s too afraid to move forward when you’re not only comfortable, but also in an abusive relationship. But she would get into these situations and it really grated at me. But I LOVE it when as a reader you don’t always favor the FMC like normal, cause it shows that the author is able to create that diverse character and a really well written one at that.
Lets just say that Julia and Nathan were on fire… pun not intended… maybe… They were so cute together with their secret moments, and even hotter together in them. I loved the immediate protectiveness Nathan felt for Julia, and Julia never really experienced that. With their relationship being a secret, being forbidden, it’s of course not perfect. But I loved see them go through their struggles and coming out in the end.
The only thing I really didn’t like were some of the inner monologue and how certain things were described. It felt weird to me, but it did not put me off at all. Also, I was able to picture pretty early on how the story was going to fold out, especially with Nathan being a firefighter and Robbie being who he was. But it still had me stressing. My heart was racing, and I wasn’t sure if one theory was going to play out or not, so I was WORRIED. Overall though, I really enjoyed BLS and I can’t wait for more from this new author!
173679650X Burning Little Secrets by Vivian Mae is a contemporary, steamy standalone forbidden romance.
Told in dual POV we begin with Julia’s perspective in New York City. Julia lives with her boyfriend Robbie in a Penthouse apartment provided by his inherited wealth. Julia it seems, is unhappy with her current living situation as well her boyfriend. A large part of the novel focuses on the unhealthy relationship between Julia and her boyfriend Robbie who controls her, is jealous and overall a bad boyfriend.
When Julia’s best friend from back home, Eve calls inviting her to fly back for the week, Julia begrudgingly agrees but realizes she does need some time away from Robbie and his controlling behavior. Julia goes back home to spend time with her best friend Eve who is more like a sister to her as they’ve grown up with each other their entire lives and her father whom she loves. She also meets the hero of the novel, Nathan.
Nathan and Julia meet at a bar. From this point on, I was a bit taken aback at first but then also confused at times by the behavior of Julia. Nathan and Julia as you can see are set up to have this steamy, passionate, love at first sight, can’t keep their hands off each other or their minds off each other kinds of romance but that all fell flat to me. I am sorry to say that because I don’t want to pick apart a book or anything, but I actually felt no connection between Nathan and Julia at all. I felt their romance was too rushed. I wasn’t feeling what they were supposedly feeling for each other. Aside from the physical attributes, I didn’t understand why Nathan liked Julia so much and vise vera.
I would have liked to have seen more information of how Robbie was a bad boyfriend before Julia started liking Nathan in order for me to believe that she would feel such an instaspark with a guy she just met when she has a boyfriend. I didn’t feel the emotion in the book and that’s my main concern. I did feel very angry on behalf of Julia by how she was treated by her loved ones in this book.
That said, there were climactic scenes that had me on the edge of my seat. There were big dramatic scenes I loved and twists that kept me turning away.
What I liked was the writing. As a debut author, Vivian Mae’s writing is excellent. Her writing is superior. As far as the plot goes, I just felt it missed key pieces that would have drawn me to the characters more. Still, I’m sure a lot of people will like this. Perhaps it just wasn’t for me. I felt the relationship between Julia and Nathan was fast, but I wouldn’t mind fast if I felt the connection between the characters because I’m sure I’ve loved books in which the characters fell in love quickly.
I received an ARC and am providing my honest review.
173679650X Okay but like... which steamy scene was my favourite???? The sexting??? THE MOVIE THEATRE??? I can't decide.
Vivian Mae's debut romance was filled with passion, secrets, and DRAMA. I was here for it. I was yelling at Julia, begging her to leave her not-so-nice fiancé in favour of Nathan, everyone's hero. But as we all know, it's ever so much fun when characters don't listen to us.
The plot kept me engrossed, flipping pages to see what was going to happen next, and the ending was everything I could have asked for. Thank you so much for my ARC Vivian, you did not disappoint! 173679650X
