Customer Reviews

The Secret (G. K. Hall Romance)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Unhappy with her fast-paced Southern California lifestyle, Kate Rollins nervously walks to the garage where her car is parked late at night. She knows she already disappointed her pre-teen son David by working late on the advertising campaign rather than coming home to take him to the movies as she promised. Kate never reaches her car as a drive-by shooting leaves her in the hospital with a near death experience and just fortunate to be alive.

Kate recognizes that one of the people she seen in her near death experience is her recently deceased grandmother Nell Hart, who she never met when the woman was alive due to a family squabble. Nell left Kate some property in Lost Peak, Montana. Still frightened from her trauma and worried about David's recent behavior and whom he hangs with, Kate takes her son and relocates to Montana. Kate becomes involved with the local environmental movement and to her chagrin is attracted to Chance McLain. There is also the mystery of her grandma's death to solve.

To romance readers it is not a SECRET that Kat Martin consistently writes some of the best novels in the genre. Her latest tale is an exciting romantic suspense novel that works because of Kate, who already has a full plate, but more emotionally wrenching items pile onto her angst-laden soul. By limiting the paranormal elements, Ms. Martin capably enhances her story line while staying true to the theme. Sub-genre fans will take pleasure from this convincing story.

Harriet Klausner

I am a Kat Martin fan, and read whatever she comes out with. I was not disappointed!! This book was really good, a page turner from early on, for more than just the romance too. I really liked the depth of the romance, both the pain and joy. I loved the characters, both Kate and Chance, and David as well; they all had a realness and depth to them. The murder and suspense lines of the story were also well done. It kept me turning pages until well into the night because I just had to find out how it would all be resolved. My one complaint is the number of typos in the book. One here or there is no big deal, but there were so many that at times it interrupted the flow of my reading. Where were the editors?! Anyway, get this book, you will think of it well after you are done reading it.

I have been a long time Kat Martin fan and find The Secret to be a real page turner. The Secret does not have the mystery of The Silent Rose, but the love story is well written. I particularly liked Kate and David's relationship. It had a nice level of tension and yet, real affection. Chance is a fantastic hero, though I wish Ms. Martin would have developed a more detailed relationship between Chance and David. The sex is steamy and Kate is a well written. I like the fact that Kate was a "real woman"--a real figure, real problems and this is a really good book!

I can't remember if I've read other books by Kat Martin, but I certainly hope they are better than this one. Two complaints: (1) This plot is sooooooo old. It has been done in books AND movies. (2) The main squeeze is engaged. Engaged! Does he tell Kate? Heck no! It was hard for me to like this guy. Not a keeper.

There is a drive by shooting and Kate is shot. While being operated on, she dies on the table and begins her journey to heaven. Her mother, her fourth grade teacher, even somebody she worked with, who all died unexpectedly the year before. She also sees a woman who looks familiar who seems to be trying to tell her something. Then her crossing stops there and Kate is comes back to life. The occurrence haunts Kate and she decides to change her life. She quits her job, quits her marriage, and takes her son off to Montana to live in a house left to her by her grandmother. It turns out the woman in heaven that was trying to tell her something was her grandmother. Kate had never met her. Kate reopens her grandmother's café and settles into her new life. Into her life comes Chance. Who is a picture of a cowboy. Tall, good-looking, and owns the biggest ranch around. A romance sparks. In the mean time, a mining corporation is illegally dumping chemicals that are killing all the wildlife. Pressure begins and Kate finds her life in danger and her romance in danger too. This was a great book and I never have read any works by this author. She did a great job; you really flip through those pages toward the end. A great read!!!

I have read several of kat Martin's books and many are enjoyable reads. This is not one of them. Kate Rollins, a successful LA executive, gets shot one night coming home late from the office. She has a son and a dead-beat husband who thinks he will be a rock star someday. So...Kate dies (really) and feels herself going into a white light and seeing relatives who have already passed over. One even has a message for her. She thinks. Than, she is shocked back into life again. For some reason Kat Martin feels that her coming back from the dead expereince equals some big secret. Geeze, we read about it all the time. Kate leaves her husband and head to Lost Peak, Montana to a home and coffee shop her grandmother who she does not know leaves to her when she dies. Kate falls for the vastly sexy Chance McLean. One of the very few funny lines in the book is Kate's realization that most men in Montana seemed to be named Chance, Cody, etc. However, the story is boring and too long. Her "secret" is not a big deal. Skip this Kat Martin book. I think she does better with historical reads not modern.

The begining of this book was great, how the herione was searching to find out who she really is. But after the first 100 pages or so things started going down hill. I ususally LOVE Kat Martins books but this one instead of capturing my interest it lost it. The cahrecters became very weak especially the heroins son. He was such a rebellious boy and then overnight he became this good little boy who excepted what any one else said. If you want a good Kat Martin book I would suggest THE DREAM, I couldent put it down.

Ms Martin knows how to grab a reader and hold on tight to the very end. Kate is trying to start her life over again. She moves from LA after almost being killed by a gang related shooting. She leaves her deadbeat husband and takes off to Montana with her young son. She finds herself loving the country life until someone wants her gone. Her Grandmother left her a small cafe and house in Montana after she died and now it seems her Grandmother's death might not have been an accident at all. With the help of sexy Chance McLain she is in a quest for the truth. Hard book to put down. Enjoy

Imagine a book that starts out with a drive-by shooting that NONE of the characters ever thinks might be tied into later murder attempts and deaths. (In fact, the author seems to forget about this event entirely.)

Where a hot-shot ad exec (VP at one of L.A.'s biggest and most prestigious ad agencies) hangs up her business suits for a pink nylon waitress outfit -- her new business in the Montana mountains. Once she leaves the big city, she seems to have left her brain behind.

And how many times must we hear that Kate is a D-cup with "magnificent breasts"? Or that she's so busty, she pops the buttons on her tops? Or that she's "short" or "small"? The author has an astonishingly limited vocabulary. How about "petite," for heaven's sake.

The characters are poorly drawn, and you can see plot developments coming a mile away. Chance, the lead male character just can't bring himself to tell Kate that he's engaged? Kate discovers only after reading her grandmother's letters that, oh my gosh, her mother might have borne some guilt in their estrangement? And Chance's fiancee hardly appears in the book; she's that unimportant.

The typos, dropped words, and grammatical and syntactical offenses are legion. The only "secret" is how this banal story got published.

I never would have finished this book, but it was my only reading material on a long flight.

These are strong words, I know, but in light of the 5-star reviews, I wanted to offer prospective readers another opinion before they plunked down their money. This is very amateurish writing.

Kat Martin has rapidly become one of my favorites. I enjoy historical romances, but I eventually become tired of all the dukes and earls and whatnot. So it always pleases me when I can find a decent contemporary romance. Add a little suspense and maybe some mystery and man I am one happy camper. This did all those things for me. Grab this one if you can, and read it. You'll definitely enjoy it. I know I did.