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icky_vicky 's review for:
Little Deadly Secrets
by Pamela Crane
“Little Deadly Secrets” had found its way onto my tbr list, and I so desperately wish it hadn’t. This story follows three college friends in their adulthood:
Mackenzie – A stay at home mother in an abusive marriage to a man who committed a murder when he was younger. Scarred by a fire from her young adulthood, Mackenzie has zero self-confidence. When she walks in on her daughter being sexually assaulted everything changes.
Robin – A stay at home mother married to a cheating husband, four children too many, drowning credit card debt. Robin is trying to hold her family together but when her son is accused of sexually assaulting her best friend’s daughter, the “perfect life” mask starts to slip.
Lily – A career driven woman with a pill addiction, separated from her husband and oh yea, sleeping with her best friend’s husband.
The writing in this book was atrocious. When I read the sample of the book off Kindle, I thought “It’s not too bad” but when I got around to spending 9.99 on it? Horrible. This book tries way too hard to speak on the plight of women but never actually delivers a message. There is no possible way to deliver a message when the writing has no clear direction. In this book, we read about: Rape, addiction, infidelity, spousal rape, kidnapping, domestic abuse, and murder. Not one topic is handled with care, honestly.
One thing that bugged me to end was the topic of rape. Mackenzie’s daughter, Aria, and Robin’s son, Ryan, disappear into the basement with a bottle of wine during one dinner party. Ryan is hopelessly in love with Aria after 15 years of friendship. Ryan kisses Aria then the kiss turns into something else entirely. Mackenzie walks in on Ryan having sex with her dazed daughter.
The thing is, the book puts this burden on Mackenzie. But we NEVER heard from Aria about it. Aria has two POV chapters and she never talks about it. We are lead to believe that Aria woke up with no recollection of being raped and is surrounded by people who talk about it, dissect it, fight about it, but never talk to her about it.
Ryan is even confronted by his mother about it and later the police. Aria? Still no mention of it from her. No actual coming to terms what might have happened. In the end, we FINALLY hear from Aria about it. She comes to terms with the night as “teenagers will be teenagers” and goes to prom with the dude that we all thought was a rapist for 14 chapters.
I know situations are never black and white. I know gray areas exist but holy crap.
The theme of rape actually comes up with the three main characters. Robin, who was raped in college thus birthing Ryan 9 months later. Mackenzie deals with spousal rape. Then there is Lily….
I absolutely stopped reading this book seriously after Lily’s ordeal and started skimming. Lily, to get her estranged husband to not divorce her for a new woman, drugs and RAPES her husband.
I bet your thinking, “Oh man, a book that tries to shed light on rape…I bet the author let this character have it” and guess what? You’d be wrong. Lily rapes her husband. When he wakes up he’s distraught, tells her to stay away from him and runs away. Lily?? Oh, she decides to move to Cali and start a new life. She gets a “happy” ending. Seriously?
It wasn’t lost on me that the one woman who was not a mother, who was driven by her career, was written as such a vile character.
The writing in the book was horrendous. I had to triple check the title of this book and the reviews because…are we reading the same book?????
Do yourself a favor – do not read this book. Pass it up. Use your 9.99 to send a pack of post-it notes to the author so they can better map out the story. Dear lord…
Mackenzie – A stay at home mother in an abusive marriage to a man who committed a murder when he was younger. Scarred by a fire from her young adulthood, Mackenzie has zero self-confidence. When she walks in on her daughter being sexually assaulted everything changes.
Robin – A stay at home mother married to a cheating husband, four children too many, drowning credit card debt. Robin is trying to hold her family together but when her son is accused of sexually assaulting her best friend’s daughter, the “perfect life” mask starts to slip.
Lily – A career driven woman with a pill addiction, separated from her husband and oh yea, sleeping with her best friend’s husband.
The writing in this book was atrocious. When I read the sample of the book off Kindle, I thought “It’s not too bad” but when I got around to spending 9.99 on it? Horrible. This book tries way too hard to speak on the plight of women but never actually delivers a message. There is no possible way to deliver a message when the writing has no clear direction. In this book, we read about: Rape, addiction, infidelity, spousal rape, kidnapping, domestic abuse, and murder. Not one topic is handled with care, honestly.
One thing that bugged me to end was the topic of rape. Mackenzie’s daughter, Aria, and Robin’s son, Ryan, disappear into the basement with a bottle of wine during one dinner party. Ryan is hopelessly in love with Aria after 15 years of friendship. Ryan kisses Aria then the kiss turns into something else entirely. Mackenzie walks in on Ryan having sex with her dazed daughter.
The thing is, the book puts this burden on Mackenzie. But we NEVER heard from Aria about it. Aria has two POV chapters and she never talks about it. We are lead to believe that Aria woke up with no recollection of being raped and is surrounded by people who talk about it, dissect it, fight about it, but never talk to her about it.
Ryan is even confronted by his mother about it and later the police. Aria? Still no mention of it from her. No actual coming to terms what might have happened. In the end, we FINALLY hear from Aria about it. She comes to terms with the night as “teenagers will be teenagers” and goes to prom with the dude that we all thought was a rapist for 14 chapters.
I know situations are never black and white. I know gray areas exist but holy crap.
The theme of rape actually comes up with the three main characters. Robin, who was raped in college thus birthing Ryan 9 months later. Mackenzie deals with spousal rape. Then there is Lily….
I absolutely stopped reading this book seriously after Lily’s ordeal and started skimming. Lily, to get her estranged husband to not divorce her for a new woman, drugs and RAPES her husband.
I bet your thinking, “Oh man, a book that tries to shed light on rape…I bet the author let this character have it” and guess what? You’d be wrong. Lily rapes her husband. When he wakes up he’s distraught, tells her to stay away from him and runs away. Lily?? Oh, she decides to move to Cali and start a new life. She gets a “happy” ending. Seriously?
It wasn’t lost on me that the one woman who was not a mother, who was driven by her career, was written as such a vile character.
The writing in the book was horrendous. I had to triple check the title of this book and the reviews because…are we reading the same book?????
Do yourself a favor – do not read this book. Pass it up. Use your 9.99 to send a pack of post-it notes to the author so they can better map out the story. Dear lord…