An emotional novel filled with everyday hero stories from Lyz Kelley, the award-winning author of Blinded.McKenzie Carver is not a miracle worker.How is she supposed to deal with the obnoxious, self-important, sexy surgeon that won’t listen to reason? The obstinate doctor is putting her family name at risk with his over-the-top demands and bullish nature. But he’s her responsibility, her family … his over-the-top demands and bullish nature. But he’s her responsibility, her family says, and she must find a way to keep him in line. If she doesn’t, he won’t get the hospital operating room—the robotic suite her family has funded—functional.
Garrett Branston is a workaholic with a sharp wit and irresistible charm—but his charm isn’t working on gorgeous McKenzie Carver. She might be suggesting he chill, but the attraction between them is anything but cold.
When she tells him he needs some serious PR intervention and suggests a fake engagement to redeem his reputation, he agrees, as long as she’s the one to pose as his fiancee.
But Garrett is still hiding something, and McKenzie fears his secrets will ruin everything her family has built.
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Awe-Inspiring Romance..
Heart warming and passionate are the words I would use to describe this very moving love story. Dr. Garrett Branston is an expert surgeon in robotic technology. He dedicates himself to safeguarding innocent children from physical and mental harm. His decision to choose this field stems from the challenges he experienced growing up as a child.
McKenzie Carver grew up with all the luxuries that went part and parcel with an affluent upbringing, but McKenzie has a tormented past that only her family is aware of. This makes McKenzie have low self esteem and confidence in venturing into any kind of romantic relationship. Garrett and McKenzie are polar opposites on paper, but they both discover that they have much more in common than they could ever imagine.
Their story was exquisite to read as the binds that hold both of them from experiencing joy in their lives outside of their dedication to their jobs, slowly unravel. I felt so many emotions following the journey of this couple. You will experience “all the feels” in this book and I highly recommend you give this a read.
A haunting-type of novel where 2 people, Garrett & McKenzie are held back by their abusive history in their past. Moving forward seems to be impossible but both help each other to overcome the roadblock in living for today & try to focus on a free, not trapped, future.
A difficult story to put into words but Ms. Kelly has done a terrific job to tackle difficult topics of life, in pulling at your heartstrings & take you on an emotional roller-coaster ride.
This is my favorite Lyz Kelley novel to-date. It is well-written & the characters may seem fragile but are very strong.
I volunteered to read this ARC & leave an honest review.
Lyz Kelley has penned a beautiful and powerful story of sensitivity, passion and gripping emotions. Garrett is a renowned cardiac surgeon and superhero to all the families of the children he saves, but to the staff, he’s rude and belligerent. Mackenzie, a sibling of the prominent Carter family, which is the benefactor of the cardiac center of the hospital, is a warm and caring person to all around her, but won’t put up with his blustery nonsense. They are both very dimensional characters fighting unthinkable secrets of the past and Lyz Kelley’s poignant, descriptive writing deftly uncovers their true inner souls, layer by delicious layer, as their relationship unfolds. Ms. Kelley has a true talent taking damaged, but successful people, to healing and soaring toward a bright new future! This is truly a beautiful book that really touches my heart!!!
We got some of McKenzie’s story in Billionaire’s Secret, so it is no surprise that she is an emotional wreck and has trust issues. It is, however, a surprise to me that she is dealing so well with everything that has happened to her. Of course, there are so many layers to her that you don’t know everything until you are fully engulfed in the story.
Garrett is the one we don’t know anything about. He is, however, a total a$$ when we first meet him. He is a doctor that knows his stuff and has the personality of a shoe unless it comes to the children he is doing surgery on. Garrett has no time for adults or the politics that come with the hospital. He gives both just enough time so that he can keep his job and get what Garrett needs so that he can do his job. But when McKenzie is put in front of him so that he can get new machines for the hospital, these two will have to work together so that things can run more smoothly.
Will these two be able to overcome their pasts to find a future together? I loved the depth that Lyz writes in this book. I couldn’t put it down.
I loved this story. I always wondered about McKenzie after everything in Billionaires Secret.
I loved Garrett and McKenzie together, they might have troubled pasts each. But they found happiness together.
It made me think of don’t let your past define you, always fight for your future.
I highly recommend this book.
Loved! This is only the second book I’ve read by Lyz Kelley, but she is already becoming a top new fave for me! I was so excited to find out that Wes’ sister (the hero from Billionaire’s Secret) was getting a book! Garrett and McKenzie’s story was amazing! Passionate, sweet, and all the feels! I loved every second of this book and I can’t wait to read more from this author!
Finding love after painful pasts and heartache can be tough. Doctor Garrett Branston is a dedicated surgeon who is married to his job. He holds the power to help children in their hardest medical moments. When he encounters McKenzie Carver of the Carver family things get a little tense. He needs her because the Carver family funds a lot of what the hospital needs. Learning to work together can be difficult. You’ll fall in love with both Garrett and McKenzie!
This was my second read by Ms. Kelley and I enjoyed it just as much as the first. I love fake romance turns real stories. Garrett and Mac had to go through so much to make their fake love real but it made the story that much more enjoyable. I love that they both had something to learn form the other and they both grew so much, not just in their relationship but in themselves. I can’t wait to read more from Ms. Kelley.
This is the second book in the secrets series and Mackenzie is the sister of Wes the hero from the billionaires secret. Mackenzie is still suffering from a traumatic event and has sworn off all men, even ones she might like. She comes up against Dr Branston who has his own secrets to keep. As they fake an engagement it’s clear that something else might be happening between them but a bigger secret may upset everything. Can Garret and Mackenzie get over their traumatic pasts and get their HEA they both deserve???? Again Lyz Kelley takes us on an emotional journey with two main characters as they battle their dark demons and try and take the other families feelings on their shoulders as well. A great read from start to finish.
Borne out of pain and the worst kind of suffering that a human being could experience, this book takes the reader on a roller coaster of emotional angst. When a person has been wounded at the deepest level, working through that pain takes courage and perseverance. Garret Branston is by no means the easiest person to deal with, but he has some of the best skills in the country in his field. Having grown up in working-class conditions, he is street smart and is well attuned to the nuances in human interaction. Pushed by her brother into helping Garret improve his image at the hospital, it is suggested that McKenzie and Garret embark on a fake engagement. Seeing each other every day and being forced into one another’s company opens their eyes to each other’s attributes and slowly but surely, the attraction between them grows. As secrets are revealed and the truth about their past emerges, both McKenzie ad Garret have some work to do in dealing with the baggage they carry. Although painful, this novel comes to a healing close and left me with feelings of hope in my heart. I received a copy of this book as a gift and this is my honest and voluntary review.
I absolutely loved this book. Both Garrett and McKenzie are fabulous characters with so many hidden layers. Their relationship is definitely complicated. But as they strip away those layers, each finds the one person they really didn’t know they needed to fill the emptiness and ease their hurt. This journey they take together is awe inspiring and oh so satisfying. This touching and unique storyline is filled with marvelous and relatable characters.
Lyz is an automatic buy for me. I am always held spellbound in the world she creates. It would positively be a shame to miss this one.
I recommend you read Billionaire’s Secret first. I didn’t and so a lot of this book came as a complete surprise to me. I have, however, proven that this book stands perfectly well on its own without the previous story. Both McKenzie and Garrett have ocean liners full of emotional baggage they haven’t dealt with. It’s affecting every interaction they have no matter who it’s with. Because of the amount of baggage this pair is dealing, my heart broke for them on a pretty regular basis throughout their story. They’re constantly pushing each other’s buttons, both on purpose and by accident. They drive each other to want to be better people, but McKenzie and Garrett are also prone to triggering the worst reactions in each other. I loved the way this story ends and there are lots of extended family I want to read stories about now.
I received a complimentary advanced copy of this book from the author.
Doctor’s Secret by Lyz Kelley is the story of Garrett Branston and McKenzie Carver.
McKenzie is Weston’s sister that was in the previous book “Billionaire’s Secret”. We learn that she has a very traumatic time in her life that has kept her from moving forward in a relationship with men. Garrett is a Dr. who now works at McKenzie’s family supported hospital. Garrett is a really good Dr and tries to help kids and people due to a issue from his past too. But Garrett and McKenzie don’t seem to rub each other the right way. Then Liam and Weston think that a fake engagement between Garrett and McKenzie is the key to getting things off to a better start with Garrett. This of course leads to them working together which leads them to start opening up about their past and their present feelings.
Enjoyed their story.
Another outstanding read by Lyz Kelley.
This is only my second book by her, but she has become a fast favorite for me. Her books are different but yet they hold a lot of the things I love most about romances.
Doctor’s Secret is about McKenzie who is Wes’s sister (Wes was the hero in Billionaire’s Secret)… Well, this story is his sisters and it’s about her journey of recovery from a tragic time in her life. After going through something traumatic in her life, McKenzie is against anything to do with relationships and getting involved with any man really. She grew up with everything she’s ever wanted, luxuries that most people only dream of having, but what seems like the perfect life to most people, hasn’t been for her. She has been through torment and pain that no one should ever go through, and the only people that really know the truth are her family members.
Dr. Garrett Branston is an expert surgeon in robotic technology that works at a hospital her family supports. His passion is to help children who have or could go through physical and/or mental harm, it’s also something he has had to go through as a young child himself and though he may be a doctor, he lacks a certain manner with people/patients.
Wes and Liam come up with a bright idea that she should become engaged Garrett, in a way to make his transition into the hospital a little easier… What starts out at a fake engagement and McKenzie naturally disliking Garrett from the first impression turns into so much more and as the story got deeper, the connection between the two did as well and passion and lust became to blossom and what was once just a fake agreement, may quite possibly turn be the real deal. But will McKenize allow herself to feel these things for Garrett? Will she be able to? But it’s not just her that battles demons in her life, he has them too and he needs to learn a way to move forward from them so he can be the man he truly wants to be for McKenzie.
These two were opposites, yet that played in their favorite and made it an interesting connection between the two. The chemistry build up and passion was intense, yet slow and steady… It was a mixture of both and I was completely smitten with these two.
I loved this book. The emotions I got both Garrett and Mckenzie’s pasts hit me like a ton of bricks, it pulled at my heartstrings, it made twisted up inside, but in a good way. I’ve said this before about the author, and I will say it again. The way she tackles some of these more sensitive subjects in her books is amazing. She knows her stuff and she explains it well. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and will be re-reading it in the near future.
5 Stars
This book is about Weston’s (from Billionaire’s Secret) sister, McKenzie and her recovery from a tragic episode in her past that has kept her from becoming seriously involved with any man and her fake engagement to the knew wonder surgeon at the hospital her family supports.
Garrett may be a whiz with robotic surgery and doing everything he can to help his patients, but his bedside manner with the families and hospital staff leave something to be desired. Weston and Liam decide that it would help Garrett’s transition to the hospital for Garrett and their sister, McKenzie to become engaged. Mac has to get past her own dislike of Garrett first and then as they begin to spend more time together they discover their passion building and perhaps the engagement won’t be a sham after all.
I loved this book and it pulled at my heartstrings with Mac coming to terms with her past and trying to forge a new future for herself and future that could very well involve a permanent relationship with Garrett. Garrett has demons of his own that he must get past before he will consider being worthy of Mac. I rooted for them to let go of all their hurt and finally find some happiness.
I am hoping that a few more characters from these two books find their own stories and that we learn more about Weston and Mac’s HEAs.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.