Hello everyone!
At this point, I'm only missing a handful of her works to both read and review on here, and I'm doing pretty well, I'd like to think!
Especially as she keeps on writing these amazing stories.
Tonight's is a little different in that it's an age gap romance, which I don't remember her taking a shot at before (I could be wrong, please correct me if I am!).
And also, there's a lot of modern day problematic included in this as well.
This isn't to discourage you, only to ensure you pay attention as you read and so you don't get fooled into thinking this is one thing, then emerge to find it's something else entirely.
I love the author. I want people to buy her books. And I want her readers to know what they're getting themselves into!
So without further ado, let's dive right into Midnight Secret.
Midnight Secret is Spencer Cavendish's story, he of the 'father who hated his enemy so much his son shouldn't even look at the enemy's daughter' in Midnight Enemy.
But Orson has Scarlet now, so it's time for dad to take center-stage.
And he has a teeny, tiny, little secret. One that could pretty much explode spectacularly and backfire right into his face.
See, his business partner has a daughter, who's thirty years old. She's his son's age, basically, and she happens to be gorgeous, an up-and-coming artist, and ... well, Spencer's wanted her for a bit now, keeping his hands to himself through sheer willpower and the desire to avoid a scandal.
Marama, said daughter, has also liked Spencer forever - for longer than he's liked her, might I add. She's miffed that he won't take a shot at them, regardless of the reasons he lists (getting his legs broken by her father and brother has zero appeal to him, come to think of it). Equally, she's currently miffed with the Midnight Club, because they refuse to move things around so she can showcase her artwork in the grand lobby where they've booked another artist months ago, so she's prime picking for a rival club owner.
Said club owner grates on my last nerve in the book, she really does. She behaves as though men simply existing is a blight on this world and they need to be eradicated, subjugated, conquered, basically ground into the dirt underneath a woman's Louboutin shoe.
And she wants Marama to help her do it.
Marama, and I will say this kindly, is a bit of an pushover who can't stand up for her own beliefs at this point in the book, and is wowed by the promise of having her work showed smack dab right where everyone can see it, so she agrees to the commission, and participating in an auction that's just a thinly veiled body-selling.
Spencer tries telling her this, but she gets insulted instead, and so to save her from some pervy octogenarian, he bids on her in the auction, winning effortlessly - and splashing his name across papers with the gesture, because OF COURSE the other owner wants to destroy him, specifically.
He argues with the other Midnight board members that he did it for Marama and her family, but the truth starts coming to light when he goes to pose for a portrait - the whole thing about her talent being auctioned off to begin with - and the two of them somehow end up stripping out of their clothes.
All bets are off at that point, and we learn about Marama's ex, who pops up later on after hearing about her new work, wanting her to put a good word in, and thankfully Spencer's there to literally drag him to the front door, kicking and screaming.
We also learn about Spencer, the fact that his deceased wife got pregnant on purpose knowing he'd marry her and do the right thing, that she suffered from endometriosis and sex was painful for her, and that she withheld any and all scraps of affection from her husband, to be doled out sparingly in the way only she saw fit.
This all culminates in Spencer being ultimately in control, yet needing and craving being wanted like there's no tomorrow.
And he could have all that with Marama, if both of them were ready to brave the storm together, but while Spencer at least knows what's coming, Marama keeps her head stuck in the sand refusing to even consider it.
She also still doesn't want to fight the other club owner when the witch woman wants her to change her painting to show Spencer cowed and conquered at her feet, even convincing herself up to a point that it's going to be okay.
Girl ...
Things come to a head when Marama discovers she's pregnant, basically a repeat of what happened to Spencer in the past, so naturally he doesn't have the best reaction. But what infuriates me more is afterward, when he gets punched in the face by Marama's brother, how nobody fights in his corner. Especially not Marama.
You best believe that no matter what tiff we were going through, someone on my side went and punched my guy? Oh they'd have explaining to do, alright. But throughout the story, Marama doesn't REALLY stand up for this relationship, only half-heartedly making some attempts rather than putting her feet down firmly, so I'm not sure why I expected something different here.
Spencer eventually spends some time with his adopted family to clear his head some, come to certain conclusions, and on the other side of things, Marama equally starts to FINALLY realize she may need to actually do something other than keep her head buried in the sand, hearing all the things people are saying about him.
I mean, girl really thought, then went Pikachu face when reality crashed down around her ears.
Luckily for her Spencer's a forgiving guy, and despite knowing she might humiliate him at this art display, he shows up, ring in tow, to propose to her; and thankfully, Marama's found her backbone by this point to stand up to the other owner, saying nah, I don't see men the way you do so this is what I'm painting, to which the owner's like 'great! I've been waiting for someone to fight me all book', leaving me scratching my head.
But all's well that ends well, because Marama says yes to Spencer's proposal, and one can hope that their happily ever after is as magical as they both want it to be.
I was so very kindly sent a copy of this book early; all opinions are entirely my own.
I couldn't care less about the age gap, so long as it's written well - which, all of Ms Woods' books always are. You can definitely tell she's been in this business for a while, and knows how to engage readers in the story.
And this truly is Spencer's book, as we get to deep-dive into what makes him tick, what his reasoning is behind just about everything, although he and Marama have dual POVs so you follow them both through the story. Never fear, we see into our heroine's head quite a bit! As such, I actually hoped there might have been a bit, well, more as far as Marama goes. There are instances in this book where I believe it could have benefited from her reactions (ain't no way that in a close-knit circle like these Midnight Club peeps and fam, that didn't get out, they gossip about what colour tie someone's wearing, be reasonable LOL) as it otherwise feel as if we're being told that she's a certain personality, but not actually shown it, so for some readers the story might wobble there a little.
Equally, this applies to the very end, as we're told over the course of the book that Midnight Club's biggest competitor is basically the mustache-twirling villainous character sans actual mustache (she's a lady, any mustache is dealt with swiftly and promptly should it dare to exist), who at the end has a moment that I can only describe as 'aha! see I've been trying to achieve something over this whole book but actually, I've only been waiting for someone to push back, it wasn't even that at all, because REALLY it's ...'. It's perhaps another moment that feels a bit more like telling rather than showing, I suppose.
However, regardless, I believe that some of my thoughts and reactions while reading this book are purely my own, because I had such high expectations for it - Spencer was a character I immediately felt connected to when he's introduced in Orson's book, and so maybe I hyped this up too much for myself. It's STILL a GOOD read, and I urge you to pick it up and judge for yourselves. It touches on male versus female experiences in the business world, bringing with it a contemporary grounding in a topic that's such food for thought these days.
Also, Spencer and Marama are H.O.T. Like, nobody can argue THAT bit haha!
Read it and form your own opinions. Because I think this book will absolutely be an important step in this series as a whole, once we read the rest of it.
And this truly is Spencer's book, as we get to deep-dive into what makes him tick, what his reasoning is behind just about everything, although he and Marama have dual POVs so you follow them both through the story. Never fear, we see into our heroine's head quite a bit! As such, I actually hoped there might have been a bit, well, more as far as Marama goes. There are instances in this book where I believe it could have benefited from her reactions (ain't no way that in a close-knit circle like these Midnight Club peeps and fam, that didn't get out, they gossip about what colour tie someone's wearing, be reasonable LOL) as it otherwise feel as if we're being told that she's a certain personality, but not actually shown it, so for some readers the story might wobble there a little.
Equally, this applies to the very end, as we're told over the course of the book that Midnight Club's biggest competitor is basically the mustache-twirling villainous character sans actual mustache (she's a lady, any mustache is dealt with swiftly and promptly should it dare to exist), who at the end has a moment that I can only describe as 'aha! see I've been trying to achieve something over this whole book but actually, I've only been waiting for someone to push back, it wasn't even that at all, because REALLY it's ...'. It's perhaps another moment that feels a bit more like telling rather than showing, I suppose.
However, regardless, I believe that some of my thoughts and reactions while reading this book are purely my own, because I had such high expectations for it - Spencer was a character I immediately felt connected to when he's introduced in Orson's book, and so maybe I hyped this up too much for myself. It's STILL a GOOD read, and I urge you to pick it up and judge for yourselves. It touches on male versus female experiences in the business world, bringing with it a contemporary grounding in a topic that's such food for thought these days.
Also, Spencer and Marama are H.O.T. Like, nobody can argue THAT bit haha!
Read it and form your own opinions. Because I think this book will absolutely be an important step in this series as a whole, once we read the rest of it.
But dang nabit if I didn't hope for something more for Spencer.
xx
*image not mine
*Ms Woods changed her covers for these stories, but I kinda prefer the originals so I'm keeping that one for this review still!
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