Secrets on the Sand

A sweet quick little romance. A lesson on being kind and never be cruel to the geek, he may rule one day. It was predictable, reminded me of pretty woman, man saving girl from poverty but there was so much more. Great characters, funny bits and sexy without making me blush when reading in public. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Mandy Mitchell does not have karma on her side. She's gone from homecoming queen, to wealthy wife to her current stage - a maid at a luxury hotel. What could be worse? A fellow classmate who was always jealous of Mandy who is currently her supervisor and may be her boss in the near future - at least long enough to fire Mandy. To make matters worse another former classmate is staying at the hotel, Zeke Nicholas.

The story was good the connection between the hero & heroine was sufficiently hot but at the end I ended up thinking " That's it". It needed to be fleshed out about with more background about the characters.

3.5 stars, rounded up.

High school deb makes a bad decision (surprise!) and now she's cleaning toilets for a living.

High school geek turns into Superman and makes billions of dollars. Bumps into the down on her luck deb and his infatuation with her rekindles, but now he has to prove he's not just another rich bad boy.

Characterizations were sharp, the story was good. Ultimately, I suppose I prefer my characters to be more "everyday" to be relatable, so the beauty queen and the billionaire premise is what made me downgrade my rating, but that's a personal opinion and has nothing to do with the quality of this well-done book.

This book is not only disappointing it is doubly disappointing, as the author is not only a NYT best-selling author but won the Daphne Du Maurier prize, although probably not for this book. The story is predictable, but a reader may want the predictable happy ever after from a work of romantic fiction. The hero is rich, an outcast done well, and transformed via the gym to become a super hunk. The damsel in distress is capable and feisty but she has a problem only our hero can fix. Her nemesis is spiteful and mean, drawing our sympathy towards the heroine and hoping the villain gets all she deserves. Like any good romance there is not too much sex, but plenty of sexual tension. The plot feels formulaic because it is and the characters show more are typical cliched tropes. There is nothing wrong with the writing and the reader should feel sympathy and empathy for the characters and there are enough twists and turns to keep you reading until the end, but it is q throw away. Unlike Daphne Du Maurier no one will this, unlike Rebecca. show less

Secrets on the Sand by Roxanne St.Claire (Audio Edition)
Narrated by Kaleo Griffiths
The Billionaires of Barefoot Bay #1

3.5 Stars - This was a super quick read as it was a novella. The story was a feel good romance and I loved the plot of the hero getting his high school crush in the end. Mandy had a couple flighty moments which didn't make sense to me, and I sorta wished she’d secretly crushed on Zeke back in the day - but that's just me.

Zeke knew what he wanted and had the money to use that to his advantage. He seemed like a caring man and I felt he truly wanted Mandy, I just wish I had felt a bit more chemistry between them.

This is the first time I have heard a Kaleo Griffiths narration and while I like the tone of his voice and show more his clarity, I found he was quite breathy as if every conversation whispered - though perhaps that was the story as well.. it was very “hush hush” in parts. I would listen to another of his narrations.

Original review posted at: http://paragraphsandpetticoats.blogspot.ca/ show less

Mandy Mitchell does not have karma on her side. She's gone from homecoming queen, to wealthy wife to her current stage - a maid at a luxury hotel. What could be worse? A fellow classmate who was always jealous of Mandy who is currently her supervisor and may be her boss in the near future - at least long enough to fire Mandy. To make matters worse another former classmate is staying at the hotel, Zeke Nicholas.

The story was good the connection between the hero & heroine was sufficiently hot but at the end I ended up thinking " That's it". It needed to be fleshed out about with more background about the characters.

This story was just so-so. I didn't care for the heroine and got tired of her hiding her big secret that was basically the plot. I liked the hero's pursuit which is why I finished but I skimmed the last half. Billionaire Zeke considered a geek in high school encounters Mandy the girl he once idolized who is now a maid.