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yourkindredreader's review against another edition
awwww, I freakin' love it when good guys get their happily ever after.
I enjoyed A Favor for a Favor when I read it last year, and decided to pick this book up while I'm still subscribed to KU. This book has everything I enjoyed from the previous book in the series. Cute and flirty banter, fun moments, and relatable characters. I have always enjoyed Helena Hunting's writing, such a pleasing read!
I love our main characters. King is now part of my list of A+ book boyfriends, who really is an earnest, honest-to-goodness character. I love that he makes an effort in all that he does, be it in his professional or personal life. He's a good egg who deserves everything. I adore Queenie too, who I found relatable and charming. You can't help but root for a person trying her best, but being screwed up for trusting others. Her relationship with her Dad is also adorable.
I'm glad I picked this up!
I enjoyed A Favor for a Favor when I read it last year, and decided to pick this book up while I'm still subscribed to KU. This book has everything I enjoyed from the previous book in the series. Cute and flirty banter, fun moments, and relatable characters. I have always enjoyed Helena Hunting's writing, such a pleasing read!
I love our main characters. King is now part of my list of A+ book boyfriends, who really is an earnest, honest-to-goodness character. I love that he makes an effort in all that he does, be it in his professional or personal life. He's a good egg who deserves everything. I adore Queenie too, who I found relatable and charming. You can't help but root for a person trying her best, but being screwed up for trusting others. Her relationship with her Dad is also adorable.
I'm glad I picked this up!
gretareadsromance's review against another edition
5.0
After reading the first two books I badly wanted to read Ryan Kingston's story! Wow did Helena Hunting give him a good one! King is ever the Boy Scout with his khakis and polo and milk drinking habits. Only the hurricane that is Queenie could bring out what's hiding underneath it all. Together their opposites attract and create some moments that will have you laughing! They each have their own set of problems to work thru and their secrets will surely surprise you. I couldn't put this book down as I had to know what would happen!
speechphi's review against another edition
2.0
DNF
For multiple reasons (like I couldn’t get into it). But my main annoyances:
Hockey players named Rook, Bishop, & King? Really?
Wife’s name is Violet & daughter is Lavender?
MMC is Kingston & FMC Queenie
Who picked the names? A five year old?
FMC is 24 & says her dad had her at 20, making him 44. But he’s too old & dumb to understand how to use a tablet instead of paper? Wtf?
For multiple reasons (like I couldn’t get into it). But my main annoyances:
Hockey players named Rook, Bishop, & King? Really?
Wife’s name is Violet & daughter is Lavender?
MMC is Kingston & FMC Queenie
Who picked the names? A five year old?
FMC is 24 & says her dad had her at 20, making him 44. But he’s too old & dumb to understand how to use a tablet instead of paper? Wtf?
profromance's review against another edition
5.0
Overall Grade: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“I’ll bring my chaos into your calm.”
I am fairly certain that most romance readers love the “opposites attract” trope. More than anything, this trope brings about the greatest insight into the human experience. It highlights our differences but reminds us that those differences are complements to each other. This idea runs thoughtfully through Helena Hunting’s newest book, A Secret for A Secret. If you’re like me, you ran for this book because (1) Ryan Kingston, the “perfect” friend to Shippy in Hunting’s second book of the All in Series, A Favor for a Favor was dreamy, but needed mussing and (2) Hunting was going to do what she does best: bring a heroine to mess Kingston up. And man, did Hunting deliver in this book.
What do we need to know? Ryan Kingston or King for short, is a good guy: ever-present, always thoughtful, straight-laced, a great friend, khaki and white polo shirt wearing, consummate milk drinker. There is nothing he does wrong because his life is controlled down to the food he consumes, his sleep schedule, and the cleanliness of his home. He is the kind of guy you want to take home to your family.
Huntington’s heroine in this story, Queenie, is King’s opposite. She hasn’t figured out her life. The goals she previously set for herself are derailed through her choices. She’s an artistic type who is messy, colorful, and a bit of a loner. Queenie is struggling to find her path in life. As she investigates this, she moves home to live with her father and work as his personal assistant.
One night, Queenie and Kingston meet in a bar, and there is an instant attraction. Both of them commiserate over some life challenges. As one drink leads to another and another, these two end up together for the night. When Kingston wakes up the next morning, Queenie is gone, and he believes he won’t see her again. Until he does. On the first day of practice for the season. And she’s the general manager’s daughter. These two have a keen chemistry from the start, and Kingston, the everpresent good guy, wants to do everything right, but Queenie and her little bit of chaos try to derail it. Are Queenie and Kingston a match made in heaven? If you believe in the law of opposites attracting, then you know the answer.
First off, let me say that I adore Helena Hunting. I think I signed up for an ARC of A Favor for A Favor, and this began my Helena Hunting binge-read fest. When I first began reading romance, I read Hunting’s Pucked and fell in love with her storytelling, but I hadn’t read any of the other books in the series. After AFFAF, I jumped in fast. I quickly, using a combination of e-books and audiobooks, gobbled her Pucked and All In series. She does what others such as Penny Reid do: create these grand universes of characters who interact with each other in new books. That’s my crack in the romance world. Seriously. Nothing makes me happier than for older characters to show up in later books. Think Violet and Alex in A Secret for A Secret. It illustrates Hunting’s ability to know her readers and write romance that feeds their spirits. Secondly, it’s obvious she’s able to envision her fiction beyond one book. It shows a long-game plan, not a short-term enjoyment.
Secondly, Hunting makes me laugh. Out loud. There are so many moments (one especially) that tickles your funny bone in this new story. She finds the hilarity in simple life situations. Whether it’s an allergic reaction or a dad’s reaction to his daughter with a player, there is something funny in everything. Hunting’s genius as a storyteller, though, is her ability to balance her comedy with the gravity of life. Both Kingston and Queenie are dealing with various levels of expectation. Kingston’s family expects that he will make certain decisions, while Queenie’s struggle lies in her perceived expectations of her father and the verbal abuse of her mother. This dichotomy creates moments of despair for her, as she simply doesn’t feel “good enough” under the weight of those expectations. The depth of this reality conspires with the hilarity of Kingston and Queenie’s coupling to remind readers that life is full of ups and downs. How we handle those determine what we get out of life.
Add into A Secret for A Secret...well, secrets, and you have a story that is compelling and engaging. This ARC had been sitting on my Kindle waiting for me to finish ARCs that had an earlier release date. It taunted me because I knew Kingston’s story would be a good one, and Hunting did not disappoint. While the story is a seemingly simple one: straight-laced hockey player falls for the boss’s daughter, it really isn’t. There are heavy feelings of inadequacy due to parental verbal abuse and poor decision making. The constant in this story, the one thing that makes you turn the page until the book is finished, is the way that Kingston determinedly loves Queenie. Period. While there is seeming strife between these two, Hunting has crafted a hero in Kingston that propels you into their story because his love for Queenie is vast and beautiful. He loves every part of her, even though she is different from him. I loved Hunting’s articulation of it as their story grows, so much so that I binge-read the entire book in half a day. To read Kingston love Queenie as she needs to be loved is the glory of A Secret for A Secret.
True to form, Helena Hunting has offered up another glorious hockey story. I can imagine as an author this might become boring. As a reader, though, reading Hunting’s hockey players feels right: every. single. time. She brilliantly exposes the truth of the human experience through the heroes who light up the ice and the heroines who warm their beds. At the very least, the fact that Queen and King are the heroes of A Secret for A Secret should make you run to download their story fast.
“I’ll bring my chaos into your calm.”
I am fairly certain that most romance readers love the “opposites attract” trope. More than anything, this trope brings about the greatest insight into the human experience. It highlights our differences but reminds us that those differences are complements to each other. This idea runs thoughtfully through Helena Hunting’s newest book, A Secret for A Secret. If you’re like me, you ran for this book because (1) Ryan Kingston, the “perfect” friend to Shippy in Hunting’s second book of the All in Series, A Favor for a Favor was dreamy, but needed mussing and (2) Hunting was going to do what she does best: bring a heroine to mess Kingston up. And man, did Hunting deliver in this book.
What do we need to know? Ryan Kingston or King for short, is a good guy: ever-present, always thoughtful, straight-laced, a great friend, khaki and white polo shirt wearing, consummate milk drinker. There is nothing he does wrong because his life is controlled down to the food he consumes, his sleep schedule, and the cleanliness of his home. He is the kind of guy you want to take home to your family.
Huntington’s heroine in this story, Queenie, is King’s opposite. She hasn’t figured out her life. The goals she previously set for herself are derailed through her choices. She’s an artistic type who is messy, colorful, and a bit of a loner. Queenie is struggling to find her path in life. As she investigates this, she moves home to live with her father and work as his personal assistant.
One night, Queenie and Kingston meet in a bar, and there is an instant attraction. Both of them commiserate over some life challenges. As one drink leads to another and another, these two end up together for the night. When Kingston wakes up the next morning, Queenie is gone, and he believes he won’t see her again. Until he does. On the first day of practice for the season. And she’s the general manager’s daughter. These two have a keen chemistry from the start, and Kingston, the everpresent good guy, wants to do everything right, but Queenie and her little bit of chaos try to derail it. Are Queenie and Kingston a match made in heaven? If you believe in the law of opposites attracting, then you know the answer.
First off, let me say that I adore Helena Hunting. I think I signed up for an ARC of A Favor for A Favor, and this began my Helena Hunting binge-read fest. When I first began reading romance, I read Hunting’s Pucked and fell in love with her storytelling, but I hadn’t read any of the other books in the series. After AFFAF, I jumped in fast. I quickly, using a combination of e-books and audiobooks, gobbled her Pucked and All In series. She does what others such as Penny Reid do: create these grand universes of characters who interact with each other in new books. That’s my crack in the romance world. Seriously. Nothing makes me happier than for older characters to show up in later books. Think Violet and Alex in A Secret for A Secret. It illustrates Hunting’s ability to know her readers and write romance that feeds their spirits. Secondly, it’s obvious she’s able to envision her fiction beyond one book. It shows a long-game plan, not a short-term enjoyment.
Secondly, Hunting makes me laugh. Out loud. There are so many moments (one especially) that tickles your funny bone in this new story. She finds the hilarity in simple life situations. Whether it’s an allergic reaction or a dad’s reaction to his daughter with a player, there is something funny in everything. Hunting’s genius as a storyteller, though, is her ability to balance her comedy with the gravity of life. Both Kingston and Queenie are dealing with various levels of expectation. Kingston’s family expects that he will make certain decisions, while Queenie’s struggle lies in her perceived expectations of her father and the verbal abuse of her mother. This dichotomy creates moments of despair for her, as she simply doesn’t feel “good enough” under the weight of those expectations. The depth of this reality conspires with the hilarity of Kingston and Queenie’s coupling to remind readers that life is full of ups and downs. How we handle those determine what we get out of life.
Add into A Secret for A Secret...well, secrets, and you have a story that is compelling and engaging. This ARC had been sitting on my Kindle waiting for me to finish ARCs that had an earlier release date. It taunted me because I knew Kingston’s story would be a good one, and Hunting did not disappoint. While the story is a seemingly simple one: straight-laced hockey player falls for the boss’s daughter, it really isn’t. There are heavy feelings of inadequacy due to parental verbal abuse and poor decision making. The constant in this story, the one thing that makes you turn the page until the book is finished, is the way that Kingston determinedly loves Queenie. Period. While there is seeming strife between these two, Hunting has crafted a hero in Kingston that propels you into their story because his love for Queenie is vast and beautiful. He loves every part of her, even though she is different from him. I loved Hunting’s articulation of it as their story grows, so much so that I binge-read the entire book in half a day. To read Kingston love Queenie as she needs to be loved is the glory of A Secret for A Secret.
True to form, Helena Hunting has offered up another glorious hockey story. I can imagine as an author this might become boring. As a reader, though, reading Hunting’s hockey players feels right: every. single. time. She brilliantly exposes the truth of the human experience through the heroes who light up the ice and the heroines who warm their beds. At the very least, the fact that Queen and King are the heroes of A Secret for A Secret should make you run to download their story fast.
lt_tara's review against another edition
4.0
I don't know if this is the last book in the series but from what I've read I think it might be and it makes me kind of sad because I grew to love these characters so much and they are just so familiar to me. I really loved this book a lot. It's my second favorite in the series but what I like the most is that every book in the series was so different from the others. I loved all the couples and their stories.
A Secret For A Secret was such a sweet romance, I had so much fun reading it. The plot was entertaining, I really loved the characters and it went by so fast.
Queenie was so different from Lainey and Stevie which was so refreshing and great. I liked how open she was and I loved her outgoing personality. She was also funny and I really appreciated her visible change and growth during the book. Queenie was an artist which was also a really great thing.
Now... I am completely in love with Kingston, like absolutely in love. I read so many books where the guys are alpha males and bad boys that I forget how great it is to read a book with the sweetest, most loving and caring guy ever. And Kingston was just that, he was so amazing and respectful and I was swooning over him the whole time. I adored his personality, his clothing and driving choices and his love for milk. He was truly the light of this book and I loved him with all my heart.
Queenie and Kingston were so perfect for each other. The chaos and the calm. The Queen and the King. I really felt like they were made for each other. They brought out the best in each other and they worked so well together. I also really loved their banter and chemistry but most of all their pure love for one another.
There was quite a bit of drama in this book especially in the last third of the book. It was a little over the top at times and I felt like it dragged on for too long but it wasn't anything overly angsty, it was more entertaining than anything else. I liked how it all got sorted out and the ending was pretty cute and sweet.
But what I need and really really want right now is a story about Queenie's dad Jake and King's momster Hannah. There was a tiiiiiiny little glimpse at their first meeting and in the epilogue there was a mention of Jake finding love but it was "for a whole another story"... Sooo that means I need that story. Right now.
I don't think I've read any books by Helena Hunting before this series but I am looking forward to reading more from her in the future. Her writing is flowy and easy to follow, I like her characters and her stories.
This series was so much fun and I had a blast with it.
A Secret For A Secret was such a sweet romance, I had so much fun reading it. The plot was entertaining, I really loved the characters and it went by so fast.
Queenie was so different from Lainey and Stevie which was so refreshing and great. I liked how open she was and I loved her outgoing personality. She was also funny and I really appreciated her visible change and growth during the book. Queenie was an artist which was also a really great thing.
Now... I am completely in love with Kingston, like absolutely in love. I read so many books where the guys are alpha males and bad boys that I forget how great it is to read a book with the sweetest, most loving and caring guy ever. And Kingston was just that, he was so amazing and respectful and I was swooning over him the whole time. I adored his personality, his clothing and driving choices and his love for milk. He was truly the light of this book and I loved him with all my heart.
Queenie and Kingston were so perfect for each other. The chaos and the calm. The Queen and the King. I really felt like they were made for each other. They brought out the best in each other and they worked so well together. I also really loved their banter and chemistry but most of all their pure love for one another.
There was quite a bit of drama in this book especially in the last third of the book. It was a little over the top at times and I felt like it dragged on for too long but it wasn't anything overly angsty, it was more entertaining than anything else. I liked how it all got sorted out and the ending was pretty cute and sweet.
But what I need and really really want right now is a story about Queenie's dad Jake and King's momster Hannah. There was a tiiiiiiny little glimpse at their first meeting and in the epilogue there was a mention of Jake finding love but it was "for a whole another story"... Sooo that means I need that story. Right now.
I don't think I've read any books by Helena Hunting before this series but I am looking forward to reading more from her in the future. Her writing is flowy and easy to follow, I like her characters and her stories.
This series was so much fun and I had a blast with it.
sandmoe's review against another edition
4.0
3.5
how are all the main characters in the first two books soooo unlikable in books that are not their own
how are all the main characters in the first two books soooo unlikable in books that are not their own
lost_in_a_world_of_romance's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
jessicasilfenroy's review against another edition
5.0
4.5 ⭐️This series really reminds of a mix between CL's Beautiful Bastard and Elle Kennedy's Off Campus series. I binged the first three back to back (and plan to start the 4th after writing this review). So far, this is easily my favorite of the bunch. I love Helena Hunting's writing and found A Favor for a Favor to have an extra layer of emotional depth that I didn't feel in the others. It follows Ryan Kingston, the new goalie for the Seattle hockey team, and the GM's daughter, Queenie. Despite each grappling with their own personal issues, they balanced one another out perfectly and were so darn cute. Literally I LOVE Kingston.