Secrets & Surrender: Part One (Secrets & Surrender #1) by L.G. Castillo

Blurb: She should’ve walked away.
She should’ve kept her secrets.
But she didn’t.
And now, they both have to pay the price.

Keeping secrets was Mandi Ruiz’s specialty. Guarding her heart and staying hidden in the shadows was all she’d ever known. But when Nic Marcelli comes crashing into her life, Mandi’s life is turned upside down. He’s everything she can’t resist, but should. Cocky, handsome, and downright irresistible, Nic comes from a lifestyle Mandi can’t even begin to fathom: designer clothes, luxury cars, and wealth at his fingertips. His world is one she could never understand–one that would never accept someone like her.

Lying to herself, Mandi swears that it’s just a fling until graduation–a way to kill time. But with someone like Nic, graduation is only the beginning.

3 stars

I think everything in this book happened too quickly for me.  Their romance was not believable to me because I felt the depth of feeling wasn’t there.  He cared and was in love with her but we never really got to see why or how he came to those feelings.  They just were.  A big no no for me.  I need to see how they connect otherwise the feeling seems shallow.  Which is how it looks to me here.

And I never did understand her denying her feelings just because they come from different socioeconomic classes.  If he was willing to ignore it, why couldn’t she?  Because of some secret she is keeping for her family?  She clearly likes him, but won’t act on her feelings. And I thought that was a bit childish and judgmental.

It looks a bit like he just wants what he can’t have when she consistently refuses his advances, and I find that a bit unattractive for my tastes.  I will say that Nic’s parents were beautifully written as the hoity toity rich folks.   They came of super assholish.  (Its a word!)

I get cliffy’s, I do.  But we need some type of closure and in this volume there was none.  Just more questions.  Which is why I won’t be reading the rest of this series.  Sounds harsh right? It may be, but I dedicate a lot of my time to reading and reviewing and this book didn’t hold my interest enough to find out any of the answers to the questions the author asked.