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dogoodwithbooks's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I would like to thank NetGalley and Forever, Grand Central Publishing, for providing me with a free e-ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.
At work, Lucy Galindo is a guidance counselor trying her best to make an impact on her students while managing her anxiety and depression. Online, she’s @TheMissGuidedCounselor and always knows the right thing to say. Yet, when the new history teacher, Aldrich Fletcher, discovers that Lucy is behind the account he has been messaging for over a year, Lucy and Fletcher have to learn how to trust in order to let each other in.
Flirty Little Secret is such a delightful rom-com that also handles serious topics regarding mental health and emotional baggage with grace. While at one point you are hysterically laughing at the wit Lepe creates in these characters, the next you may find yourself emotional as you relate to Lucy’s and Fletcher’s struggles throughout the book.
At its heart, Flirty Little Secret is about two people opening themselves up again despite their past. With Lucy living in a world not designed for neurodivergent folk and Fletcher as he deals with his family falling apart, Lepe beautifully captures their story onto the page as they learn to trust each other as they begin to heal.
Now, I want to remind folks that Lepe’s Flirty Little Secret contains topics of a sensitive manner, so I would encourage you to review content warnings before deciding to read this book.
Nevertheless, if you’re looking for a workplace romance with positive neurodivergent rep and a dash of the pen pals trope, you come to the right place with Lepe’s Flirty Little Secret.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Mental illness
Moderate: Ableism and Infidelity
Minor: Sexual assault, Antisemitism, Suicidal thoughts, and Racial slurs
my_bookish_diary's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
“Flirty Little Secret,” by Jessica Lepe was a book I went into really wanting to love and came away from only liking it overall – with a few exceptions. To start with, I did enjoy the characters. Lucy is a character that I strongly relate to regarding my own mental health battles, and I absolutely love seeing characters who can accurately illustrate what it’s like living day-to-day with mental health struggles and neurodivergent thinking patterns. I loved that her character wasn’t distilled down into her mental health struggles, and that we got to see her successfully navigate her career while dealing with her own personal issues, and how that affected her on an emotional level. I loved seeing her confidence grow over the course of the book, but I also liked that, by the end, she wasn’t a supremely confident character whose mental health struggles were somehow cured by being in a relationship. I liked that there was a more realistic approach – yes, she gains confidence, yes, she gets the guy, but she ALSO still has ADHD and battles depression. She can be all these things, and do all these things, and is still a valued member of her family, a beloved friend, a well-liked colleague, the object of another’s desire, a whole, real, beautifully honest person, and I appreciated that aspect of this book.
As for Fletcher – he seemed to be pretty much all green flags, which was nice in the context of this book. He starts off with some issues with confrontation, which he works on over the course of the book and, by the end, is finally able to stand up for himself a bit more. I appreciated that he never wavered in his attraction to Lucy or his desire to pursue a relationship with her, and that when she confided in him about her mental health struggles, he was so supportive and wanted to learn more about how he could help her instead of trying to change her or making her feel like she needed to be anything other than what she was. All in all, the actual romance portion of this book was cute and enjoyable, and I appreciated the neurodivergent representation.
Now, there were some things that I found off-putting about this book as well. Mainly, the inclusion in the story of a school group with triple K initials. The group itself is not a hate group and is actually supposed to be a group that encourages confidence in teens, but I thought the name of the group having triple K initials was unnecessary and, for me, detracted from the story every time it was mentioned – which was honestly way more than it needed to be. Thematically, it seems like the author intended for the name of this group to be a sore point, which it was, especially for Lucy, who has wanted to get it changed to something else for what seems like quite some time. The reason it hasn’t been changed is given as being due to there not being enough in the school budget for a new curriculum for the group, and the group is named after the curriculum. I’m not sure why the name of the club couldn’t have been changed, regardless of the name of the curriculum. Lucy does eventually gain the confidence to bring up the name to the school principal and get it changed, and this is a big moment for her character, as it illustrates some major growth on her part in her ability to confidently stand up for herself and others and feel competent in her job. However, I think it would have been entirely possible for the author to find a different way for Lucy to go through this same growth arc without the club having the same initials as a hate group, and it would have made those parts of the book more bearable to read. If the point was to make the reader as uncomfortable with the name as Lucy and her students must have felt, it worked.
Overall, this was a cute story, and I hope that Lucy’s sisters get their own books as well, because I felt like there was definitely potential for more out of these characters and this author. Thank you to Netgalley for the eArc. My review has been my honest and unbiased opinion.
As for Fletcher – he seemed to be pretty much all green flags, which was nice in the context of this book. He starts off with some issues with confrontation, which he works on over the course of the book and, by the end, is finally able to stand up for himself a bit more. I appreciated that he never wavered in his attraction to Lucy or his desire to pursue a relationship with her, and that when she confided in him about her mental health struggles, he was so supportive and wanted to learn more about how he could help her instead of trying to change her or making her feel like she needed to be anything other than what she was. All in all, the actual romance portion of this book was cute and enjoyable, and I appreciated the neurodivergent representation.
Now, there were some things that I found off-putting about this book as well. Mainly, the inclusion in the story of a school group with triple K initials. The group itself is not a hate group and is actually supposed to be a group that encourages confidence in teens, but I thought the name of the group having triple K initials was unnecessary and, for me, detracted from the story every time it was mentioned – which was honestly way more than it needed to be. Thematically, it seems like the author intended for the name of this group to be a sore point, which it was, especially for Lucy, who has wanted to get it changed to something else for what seems like quite some time. The reason it hasn’t been changed is given as being due to there not being enough in the school budget for a new curriculum for the group, and the group is named after the curriculum. I’m not sure why the name of the club couldn’t have been changed, regardless of the name of the curriculum. Lucy does eventually gain the confidence to bring up the name to the school principal and get it changed, and this is a big moment for her character, as it illustrates some major growth on her part in her ability to confidently stand up for herself and others and feel competent in her job. However, I think it would have been entirely possible for the author to find a different way for Lucy to go through this same growth arc without the club having the same initials as a hate group, and it would have made those parts of the book more bearable to read. If the point was to make the reader as uncomfortable with the name as Lucy and her students must have felt, it worked.
Overall, this was a cute story, and I hope that Lucy’s sisters get their own books as well, because I felt like there was definitely potential for more out of these characters and this author. Thank you to Netgalley for the eArc. My review has been my honest and unbiased opinion.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Infidelity, and Mental illness
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