2 out of 4 stars
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Secret Deception is told from a third person perspective and centers around multiple characters, Maria, Felipe, Selena, Stephen and Jennifer (aka Spice). The reader is introduced to these characters individually, and it seems as though their stories are unrelated, however their lives begin to tangle in this story about love, lies, deceit and greed.
First of all, this story is eighty pages long, so I knew it would be fast-paced with short introductions to each character. The story's prologue is told from the first person perspective of the "Goddess Of Love", who I found to be very insightful. In the prologue, interesting metaphors and analogies are used, and it really engages the reader and leaves you wanting more and excited to begin reading. It also, in my opinion, makes the reader expect first person perspective for the remainder of the story. Imagine my surprise, and, if I'm being honest, disappointment when the perspective switches to third person.
The character development, albeit brief, is well thought out and well explained. You get a feel for each of them as a person and understand their personalities quickly. I love Maria's outlook on life, and I would have loved to spend more time with her, as she was the one I related to the most. I hated Stephen from the beginning, which I know was the author's intention, so she did a great job creating that persona. Jennifer was...interesting. I found it intriguing how she chose to live a life so different than the way she was raised, yet she was still a strong woman and allowed her past to shine through in unique ways. Selena had a different side to her that I didn't see coming at all, because she is such a sweet and thoughtful person, yet when her true self was revealed, it fit so well for her and it made me sad that she was hiding that part of herself. Out of all of the twists, I have to say I was most surprised by Felipe, because I was actually rooting for him for most of the book.
As a person who is enthusiastic for correct grammar, I knew I would find grammatical errors, however I underestimated the amount of errors I would find. Incorrect homonyms are used gratuitously, the wrong "your" is used, unnecessary articles are included in sentences and misspelling is frequent. In one scenario, a word is misspelled and becomes a word that doesn't belong in the sentence. To emphasize my point, here is that particular sentence: "The intoxication of those memories just seemed to severe through her flesh like a sharp knife through a not yet cooled from the oven apple pie." See what I mean? I know the word is supposed to be "sever" rather than "severe", however it was still frustrating to read. On a positive note, great metaphor in that sentence. I feel like sometimes I nitpick a little too much when it comes to mistakes, because we're all human, but these errors take away from the experience, in my opinion.
The story jumps from person to person while the action keeps mounting and the storylines become more intertwined. You find yourself eager to find out the outcome of each scenario that arises and the twists keep you guessing. It's an entertaining, quick read that has some steamy moments, some action and some suspense. I really believe that if the grammatical and spelling errors were to be corrected, I would really have enjoyed this story.
At first I felt as though the ending was a little abrupt, but the more I think about the story, it really was a good way to end it. I wish there was a little more closure for the reader in regards to how a few characters dealt with the aftermath of the happenings within the story, but leaving it open-ended allows the reader to engage and imagine how they would have moved on with their lives.
All in all, I feel the author did a good job creating all of these unique characters, and the story wasn't you're run-of-the-mill suspense story with predictable twists and a base storyline that felt familiar and/or played out. There were some continuity and geographical errors that took away from the story, but if those and the spelling and grammatical errors were fixed, I would keep this on hand as a nice story to reread if I was in the mood for a quick escape from reality. However, as it stands now, this isn't something I would be in any rush to read again. I would definitely be interested to see what this author comes up with next, because I really feel like she has the potential to be a great author.
That being said, I would rate Secret Deception 2 out of 4 stars.
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Secret Deception
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