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A review by daisybox
My Secret Heart by Steffanie Holmes
1.0
I didn't like this book as much as the first one. To be fair the plot doesn't move a lot, there're pages and pages of fillers.
Things that seemed important in the first installment got closure too easily here: Noah's father is dealt with – for now – in the very beginning and then Noah doesn't think about him or Felix anymore. Brutus being this big bad villain is also dealt with very quickly in a few pages at the end (which makes the reader understand he is not the main villain). Same with Chad. The author has made the choice to tie some loose ends and create new ones and I don't know how I feel about that when there're two other books after this one.
I didn't like Mac/Claudia here. In fact, except for Eli and George (who I adore!), I though the characters were selfish and Claudia had developed this "pick me pick me" personality and sorta sex kitten vibe. So annoying. I do not feel her to be genuine at all. She got close to the guys because it serve her and when they're sad/angry she wants to be close to them because it impact her own happiness. I hated that. And her always thinking about Eli when she's intimate with Gabe or Noah was weird. It's like she considers them as a package deal and she won't be satisfied until she got the three at her feet. It cheapens even more her relationship with Gabe and Noah. She wants the cake, the baker and the bakery. Talk about a toddler's tantrum.
Noah doesn't care about his best friend and chose a girl he barely knows over him, then proceeds to declare his undying love to her when they never had a real conversation before. Her and Noah having sex in the shower when Gabe had a mental breakdown minutes before is also not a good look.
I like Gabe but I don't feel any connection between him and the others. He seems to belong in another story. I'm confused on how the author is going to connect Dylan's passing with what's happening in Emerald Beach (I guess the grey drug will be the answer ?). He is definitely the comic relief character and if he wasn't there, I wouldn't have missed him.
I'm also confused on how the History teacher will be relevant to the plot. I thought for a second she'd have her own book with Anthony but it doesn't look like it.
For a girl who doesn't want the mafia life, Claudia sure does like her "queen" status. Queen is probably written a million times, I'm sick of it ! She goes from "I want to leave this city and have a normal life incognito with my lawyer of a cousin" to "I want to be the one to destroy everything". How can this be possible ? She doesn't want to be recognised, she spent 4 years hidden in a mansion and now she wants everybody to know she's the one who destroy the mafia? Isn't she aware she has lots of enemies who will try to kill her? And why is the mansion so important? Anthony seems to have a lot of money and the mansion is not looked after, who is going to buy an abandoned house when it is not mentioned once that this particular neighborhood is so elite? I'm very confused.
And please, for people in the family they seem completely blind about the giant clues thrown in their faces. I know the author puts these for the reader but in making the characters completely oblivious to their environment, I have a hard time believing they're these badass bloody murderers. When the pizza delivery guy is afraid of her, how can Claudia not think "that's weird it happened before, it's like he had seen me before" LIKE YES BECAUSE YOU LITERALLY HAVE A DOPPELGANGER AND SHE SEEMS TO BE CLOSE TO YOU! Why isn't she worried about the Malloy's disappearance when she knows they were close to the mafia? How can she still trust Anthony when he obviously hiding something?
Very frustrating.
Things that seemed important in the first installment got closure too easily here: Noah's father is dealt with – for now – in the very beginning and then Noah doesn't think about him or Felix anymore. Brutus being this big bad villain is also dealt with very quickly in a few pages at the end (which makes the reader understand he is not the main villain). Same with Chad. The author has made the choice to tie some loose ends and create new ones and I don't know how I feel about that when there're two other books after this one.
I didn't like Mac/Claudia here. In fact, except for Eli and George (who I adore!), I though the characters were selfish and Claudia had developed this "pick me pick me" personality and sorta sex kitten vibe. So annoying. I do not feel her to be genuine at all. She got close to the guys because it serve her and when they're sad/angry she wants to be close to them because it impact her own happiness. I hated that. And her always thinking about Eli when she's intimate with Gabe or Noah was weird. It's like she considers them as a package deal and she won't be satisfied until she got the three at her feet. It cheapens even more her relationship with Gabe and Noah. She wants the cake, the baker and the bakery. Talk about a toddler's tantrum.
Noah doesn't care about his best friend and chose a girl he barely knows over him, then proceeds to declare his undying love to her when they never had a real conversation before. Her and Noah having sex in the shower when Gabe had a mental breakdown minutes before is also not a good look.
I like Gabe but I don't feel any connection between him and the others. He seems to belong in another story. I'm confused on how the author is going to connect Dylan's passing with what's happening in Emerald Beach (I guess the grey drug will be the answer ?). He is definitely the comic relief character and if he wasn't there, I wouldn't have missed him.
I'm also confused on how the History teacher will be relevant to the plot. I thought for a second she'd have her own book with Anthony but it doesn't look like it.
For a girl who doesn't want the mafia life, Claudia sure does like her "queen" status. Queen is probably written a million times, I'm sick of it ! She goes from "I want to leave this city and have a normal life incognito with my lawyer of a cousin" to "I want to be the one to destroy everything". How can this be possible ? She doesn't want to be recognised, she spent 4 years hidden in a mansion and now she wants everybody to know she's the one who destroy the mafia? Isn't she aware she has lots of enemies who will try to kill her? And why is the mansion so important? Anthony seems to have a lot of money and the mansion is not looked after, who is going to buy an abandoned house when it is not mentioned once that this particular neighborhood is so elite? I'm very confused.
And please, for people in the family they seem completely blind about the giant clues thrown in their faces. I know the author puts these for the reader but in making the characters completely oblivious to their environment, I have a hard time believing they're these badass bloody murderers. When the pizza delivery guy is afraid of her, how can Claudia not think "that's weird it happened before, it's like he had seen me before" LIKE YES BECAUSE YOU LITERALLY HAVE A DOPPELGANGER AND SHE SEEMS TO BE CLOSE TO YOU! Why isn't she worried about the Malloy's disappearance when she knows they were close to the mafia? How can she still trust Anthony when he obviously hiding something?
Very frustrating.