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graff_fuller 's review for:

Dirty Little Secrets by Liliana Hart
4.0
challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense 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

On this latest reread, I still can say that I enjoy J.J. Graves as the protagonist. She's relateable and quirky. She's smart and an effective ME, but because of things outside her control, life has given her some tough cards to play.

Love the town of Bloody Mary. In this book, she definitely has lived up to the name.

The red herring was well played, but I feel that the ultimate killer should've had a few more clues sprinkled through the story...IMO.

I like Jack. Not sure I want him to end up with J.J. Graves. For the moment, I'd keep him in the "friend zone", though she got a good look at him in this story...so anything is possible, I guess.

The author, Brody Collins was well placed. I liked him, but I also felt that he was TOO good...for a story like this. Ugh.

Lastly, I love that I read this story during the #GraveyardSmash 2023 readathon. This was my third book. This book represents D4 - Start of a new series. The goal...like in Battleship, is to find the bodies buried by my opponent. I found one part of the body, and now I'm trying to narrow it down to the 2/3. Wish me luck.

Thoughts on the first read: I needed a diversionary read, but was pleasantly surprised by this book. I bought the rest of the books in this series.