Dirty Little Secret

by Jennifer Echols

[nitzan_schwarz]

First of all, thank you Edelweiss for the e-arc!
This is my first Jennifer Echols book, and while I did not fall head-over-heels for it, I can definetely see the charm of it.

Dirty Little Secret tells the story of a girl who lost her way and started acting out once a dream she's worked all her life for is taken away from her. When music is taken away from her. Fast forward a year and she's now preforming in malls, without her parents' knowledge, and she'll hang on to that job with her teeth because it allows her to play - even if it's kind of lousy. Enter the gorgeous Sam; a boy with charm and talent, who refuses to accept no for an answer; and he wants her in his band. And maybe his bed.

This time, the review will be a bit different...

WHAT I LIKED

BAILEY'S JOURNEY
Throughout the story, Bailey learns to stop blaming the entire world for what happened, and to stop acting like she does just because she wasn't chosen. Instead, she learn to do what she loves, with who she loves, and paves her own way back to her dream instead of giving up. I found that quite charming and lovely, and I loved watching her grow and become a better person.

THE MUSIC
The whole music aspect of the story was pretty great as she's a fiddle player and her knowledge of music was interesting to read about. The way she saw music was interesting to read about.

THE ENDING and BAILEY'S SISTER
I also really loved the ending. It was really cute, sweet and hopeful. This may have been the only place where I actually liked the love interest in this story.
Then there was Bailey's sister. I wish we've seen more of her. I also wish we got to see more of what happened after the ending, but I liked it enough as it is.

So far, so good.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE

SAM.
I pretty much hated him and his self centered way, how when he knew Bailey's story he was still mad at her for not using her 'connections' to get the band a record deal (what connections, you twit? The 'connections' that banned her from music???) . I hated how the band came first and how he never cared how others felt when he saw an opportunity for the band. I only warmed up to him (a little) at the very end there, when he finally decided to act like a proper human being instead of a using bastard. (Can you feel my burning hatred?...)
However, do notice this is a very subjective thing. You may find him irresistible ;)

THE ROMANCE
As I didn't like the love interest, I by default wouldn't have liked the romance. Though my dislike of the romance seeps from a few different factors all together.
The first:
A) This is very Insta love. They're particularly kissing the first day they know each other. With me, Insta love almost always takes down a star from a story. The only time it doesn't is when it's so well done, it doesn't feel like Insta love. Here, it was painfully instant. Like, 'just add water' (or in this case, a guitar) and viola!

B) I didn't really like the way they fought, and then Bailey would be like they never fought. It was like they completely ignored all the bad things in their relationship... and there were a lot of those.

PARTS OF BAILEY'S BEHAVIOR
There is really one part I disliked about Bailey, and that was how she always told Sam 'no' when inside she thought 'yes', how she continued to preform even though she "cared so much about what's at stake", and how she said one thing and then did the other. I know this sounds like a lot of things, but they just usually came together at the same place, so it's not really.

All in all, there is something charming about this story and Jennifer's writing for sure. Sadly, as I ended up hating one of the main characters (and this is subjective), that really put a dumper on things. However, don't cross out this book just because of that - you may love the guy.