How far would you go to protect the ones you love…when they may not be yours to protect? When Josh’s longtime partner, Grace, dies in a tragic accident, he is left with a mess of grief–and full custody of her seven-year-old son, Logan. While not his biological father, Josh has been a dad to Logan in every way that counts, and with Grace gone, Logan needs him more than ever. Wanting to do …
Wanting to do right by Logan, Josh begins the process of becoming his legal guardian–something that seems suddenly urgent, though Grace always brushed it off as an unnecessary formality. But now, as Josh struggles to find the paperwork associated with Logan’s birth, he begins to wonder whether there were more troubling reasons for Grace’s reluctance to make their family official.
As he digs deeper into the past of the woman he loved, Josh soon finds that there are many dark secrets to uncover, and that the truth about where Logan came from is much more sinister than he could have imagined…
Tightly paced and brimming with tension, Her Secret Son is a heartbreakingly honest portrait of a family on the edge of disaster and a father desperate to hold on to the boy who changed his life.
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I devoured Hannah Mary McKinnon’s novel, THE NEIGHBORS, and tore through HER SECRET SON in just a few days. I fell in love with Josh, Logan, Lisa, and Ivan, and the story is heart-breaking, poignant, intriguing, and full of twists I didn’t see coming. McKinnon nails the male POV and the stages of grief Josh endures as he tries to understand the secrets his partner was hiding and protect the boy he has raised. It’s an incredible book, and I’ll think about it for a long time to come.
This book had some heartwrenching moments! I don’t even know what I would do in the situation that the mail character finds himself in. He wrestles with his emotions for most of the book. I loved all the characters! The author really made them come alive on the page. The suspense built until the end and then the night after I finished it I had to go back and reread the last chapters to make sure I read it right! Definitely will read more books by this author!
This is a great book written in 1st person about a man who’s long term partner dies, leaving him without the needed paperwork to adopt the child who he has come to think of as his son. His search for the information he needs to do so unravels everything he thought he knew about the woman and son he loves as he struggles against his own demons of his past.
Hannah Mary McKinnon has done it again! With compelling characters, heart-stopping suspense and an ending that will leave your heart in your throat, HER SECRET SON is an unbearably tense page turner that I devoured in one sitting.
Make room on your bookshelf for this gripping thriller!
Holy crap! McKinnon just might be a new favorite author of mine! I was absolutely blown away by all of the emotions that McKinnon has triggered in me with this utterly amazing novel. From start to finish, McKinnon created a story line that is real, that is gripping, and compelling, and filled it with characters that steal your soul.
I loved the feeling of being wrapped up in the suspense of following Josh and Logan after Grace passes away. The intensity that she writes with as she creates the ups and downs of what really lies behind Grace and her son Logan and Josh wanting to adopt him, is breathtaking. When I reached the end, I was left holding the book, and wanting another amazing novel from her talented hands!
Filled with whos, whats, and whys, this novel is 4 star worthy and I highly recommend it to all suspense lovers. The emotional roller coaster ride that you’ll be on is worth every late night reading session, every intense, heart pounding moment. If you want a stunningly written novel that will give you all the emotions and suspense, then this is absolutely the one for you. I can’t wait to read another novel from this truly talented author!
*I received a complimentary copy of this book from Publisher and was under no obligation to post a review, positive or negative.*Hannah Mary McKinnon
In this novel by Hannah Mary McKinnon we begin with Josh’s partner, Grace, who dies in a sudden tragic accident, and he is now left to pick up the pieces with her 7 year old son, Logan. While he is not his biological father, he has been there every step of the way and Logan needs Josh more than ever now. Josh then starts the legal process of becoming a legal guardian but has some difficulties along the way… cue the secrets, lies and suspense.
I found the premise to be interesting and couldn’t wait to pick it up. When I did I was immediately drawn in and finished the book in a day.
Reasons to pick up HER SECRET SON:
1. Family Drama / Mystery / PLUS Twisty twist domestic Thriller
2. Has a Shocking Twist that I didn’t see coming
3. The same amazing writing as in “The Neighbors”.
4. The characters..I couldn’t get enough of them.
5. Although a little far fetched, still thought this book was pretty great!
The back cover synopsis is very intriguing. Makes you think this is a book you may want to read, right? Well, let me tell you its very misleading, this book is not tightly paced and brimming with tension. Make sure when you pick up this novel you have absolutely nothing else planned to do for the rest of the day, because tightly paced and brimming is a complete understatement. This book sucked me in and had me trapped from the first chapter. I can honestly tell you that when I hit the end of the said first chapter, I actually wrote down in my notes “WOW, what a first chapter, see ya later…” (not kidding).
I can not believe where this book went. The entire middle of the novel tore my heart out. The questions running through my head, the wondering what DID Grace do, what SHOULD Josh do, and if it were me, what the heck WOULD I do? When it comes to children and love, where does morality end and love begin? This man, Josh, somehow has found more strength to get through this disaster than I probably ever could.
It really isn’t until the last 30 or so pages that you really find out the truth. NO SPOILERS, I promise. But what you need to know is that everything up until this point is relevant and just as engrossing as the first chapter, and you still have no idea where this is leading. And then you find out. CUE DRAMATIC MUSIC….. you did not see this coming. You did not see any of this. There were three times in the span of the last 30 pages that I had to put the book down and say “holy crap” and take a breather before I started back in again. (Once again, I kid you not – although I did say “get out” and “shut up” the other two times). Blown away people. Literally, blown away.
I must make note of one particular thing. The very last paragraph of the book. Beautifully written. Probably one of the most beautiful closings I’ve ever read. I actually went to my notes when I finished the book and wrote the only other sentence on the page “ending paragraph, what a closing.”
This was my first book by Hannah Mary McKinnon. I understand she has 2 previous. I need to read them. Her mind, her writing, so fluid, so smooth, so deep and creative. I am anxious to see if it has carried through all her novels or if she has progressed as an author. Regardless of that answer, this novel is brilliant. Highly recommend. It gets a very big 5 star rating from me, and I will rave about it for a very long time. Book club members, plan on reading this in the future. It’s a rare moment when a novel can make me give it a 5 star rating and render me speechless at the same time, but Hannah Mary, I’m still sitting here shaking my head in complete awe of what you’ve written. Emotions galore.
Before I continue I just would like to thank Hannah Mary McKinnon, Suzanne Leopold of Suzy Approved Book Tours and #partner @mira @harlequin books for the copy of this book for my unbiased and honest opinion for review.
This book is a real page-turner! When an accident takes the life of Josh’s partner, Grace, his only concern is taking care of her son, Logan. But when Josh starts the legal process to be become Logan’s guardian, he discovers that Grace has been hiding secrets about where Logan came from. The story was completely captivating as Josh goes on a quest to find the truth—a truth that could cost him to lose Logan forever! Josh was a great character, a bit of a lost soul, and I felt great sympathy for him. I found myself not wanting to do anything but read, wanting desperately to find out how this would all end—and unprepared for what would ultimately happen!
Two quotes from this awesome book that stick with me.
1) We get comfortable, believe nothing else can go wrong because fate has already played with us the most, seen how far we can be stretched and bent, twisted into the shape of a pretzel before becoming brittle and shattering into a million pieces.
2) A boy named Logan came into my life one stormy afternoon…
This book had me going all over the place in so many parts. I thought of so many things that could have happened. When Grace died it was devastating. It tore Josh’s world apart. It tore Logan’s world apart. Neither of them knew what to do and I felt so sorry for them both. I was upset with Josh’s boss for not being more understanding under the circumstances. She should have been way more giving and forgiving. He lost his partner in a horrible way and blamed himself and had a boy to take care of who lost him mother for goodness sakes. It was beyond sad. It was earth shattering horrendously weepy eyed sad. My heart broke for Josh and Logan.
I have no idea what I would have done in Josh’s shoes but what he did do was nothing short of awesome in my book. This was a story of so much love. So much loss. So much happening that you won’t know what is coming next. It’s full of surprises and the ending will totally stun you, or it did me. I did not at all see it coming. I had plenty of guesses but not that one.
Hannah Mary McKinnon is a wonderful storyteller. Her books take you by the heart and don’t let go. They pull you into the story and keep you going until the dramatic ending and you won’t just don’t know what hit you. I absolutely loved this book. The happy, the sad, the thriller, the all of it. The whole book was done perfectly in my opinion. The characters were wonderful, well developed, likable and even lovable. This book has a bit of it all. Even laughter.
I highly recommend this book. This is one that will stay with you for a good long time. I could see parts of this book playing out as I read it. Felt like I was there. Felt the pain, the tears, the sadness and the happiness.
It’s a huge 5 stars from me.
Thank you to #NetGalley and #Harlequin-MIRA for this ARC in exchange for my complete and honest review. I truly loved it.
Excellent premise — I swear, the pages just turn themselves. Lots of twists, lots of emotions!
The Secrets Don’t Stop. I’ll be honest. The opening of this book is *sad*. The entire premise is that a man’s partner and mother of his son dies, and we get that in the first 10% of the book with McKinnon doing possibly *too* good a job of conveying the emotions of both guys. So it is difficult to get through (not helped by the apparent fact that my brain needed a bit of a break from reading for a bit, honestly). But once I got through that… I read the remaining 88% of the book within 12 hrs. Yes, after that sequence the rest of the plot shapes up, and as good as McKinnon was at conveying the devastation initially, she is equally adept at keeping the plot moving along with secrets unravelling into more secrets that unravel into more secrets. Everything is eventually revealed… but there are still secrets being kept through the very last page… Excellent work from a new-t0-me author, one I’m very much looking forward to future work from.
Hannah Mary McKinnon, Author of “Her Secret Son” has written a captivating, compelling, intriguing and thought-provoking novel. The Genres for this Novel are Mystery, Suspense and Fiction. The timeline of the story is set in the present and goes to the past when it pertains to the characters or events in the story. Some of the unsettling questions would unnerve any parent. The author describes her characters as complex, complicated and confused.
When Grace, Josh’s significant other has a tragic accident, Josh finds himself in the difficult position of being a single father to his son Logan. As Josh tries to find legal answers that involve Logan, he realizes that Grace had deep dark secrets that can cause terrible consequences. Josh wants to become Logan’s legal guardian so he can adopt him. At every inquiry, there is another problem. There is no birth certificate. Now Josh is starting to doubt his relationship with Grace.
As Josh tries to unravel all the secrets to finding the truth and make the pieces of the puzzle fit, he doesn’t realize the danger he and Logan are in. I would highly recommend this suspenseful and complex novel.
Josh and Grace have been together for 5 years. Grace has 2 year old son Logan and in the 5 years they have been together, Josh has been raising Logan as his own. Now Logan is 7 and Grace has a terrible accident. As Josh is trying to maintain guardianship of Logan, many questions come up about Logan’s birth. Josh with the help of his sister and his friend, try to discover the truth about Logan. This is a fast paced twisty tale of how far a parent will go for their child. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and its characters. I received an advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Harlequin Mira. All opinions are my own.
First, I want to thank Hannah Mary McKinnon, Harlequin-Mira (USA and Canada) and NetGalley for providing me with this book so I may bring you this review.
Psychological Thriller fans Her Secret Son by Hannah Mary McKinnon is a must-read book of 2019! This book pulls on your heart strings big time and wont let go. I suggest you get your tissues handy. This book has so many twists and turns and so many shocking revelations. Trust me this is one book you will not want to put down until the book is done.
Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin-Mira for introducing me to Hannah Mary McKinnon. This is the first time that I have ever read anything by her. She has an incredible gift for storytelling in the psychological thriller genre. She is someone I would love to read and review for again in a heartbeat.
The cover design was incredibly beautiful. To the graphic designer you are very creative and talented.
This book was set in Albany, NY. Hannah mentions Upstate New York, Syracuse, and Nor’easters in the book. I had to smile as I live in Buffalo, NY and rarely see authors writing stories within my state.
Hannah did an incredible job bringing out the emotions, details and descriptions out in the book. She seemed to be very passionate about her characters especially Josh and Logan. You could tell by her writing style that she was close to these two characters. Then again I had a soft spot for these two as well.
I could see this being made into a NetFlix Original Movie.
At the end of the book there is a reader guide that would be good for book clubs.
Her Secret Son was an interesting story of Grace, Josh and their son Logan. When Grace dies unexpectedly, Josh is thrown into a mess when he tries to begin proceedings to legally adopt Logan.
Suddenly things Grace has said about Logan and his birth are being checked into and nothing is making sense, nothing’s checking out as it should. So Josh starts trying to figure out what has happened.
I enjoyed most of the characters and the descriptions of the small town in Maine where Josh went for a short while. I had difficulty with Josh’s character because it was almost like he expected the world to stop expecting him to meet his commitments once Grace died.
The story was interesting and kept me turning pages, wanting to find out just what had happened, but the ending disappointed me. It’s almost as if the author decided everything needed to be tied up in a big, red bow no matter how implausible that might be. Other than that, I would definitely recommend this book to people who enjoy this genre and to anyone that wants a good read.
Thanks to Netgalley, the author and publisher for an ARC at my request. My thoughts in this review are my own and freely given.
I found this to be a page turner and would have finished it sooner if I didn’t have a day job. This book starts out with a seemingly innocent fall on some icy steps, but that fall led to Grace’s death, leaving behind her partner, Josh, and her son, Logan. Josh met Logan when he was two years old and, by rights, became his dad. After Grace’s death, Josh began uncovering some secrets Grace had been harboring all throughout their relationship. All he needed was Logan’s birth certificate and he couldn’t find it, which was a surprise to him because Grace was a meticulous recordkeeper. This trail led Josh down a path in search of answers, but would he find what he was looking for? His quest led him to a small town of Faycrest where a couple of unsolved crimes had been committed. While he was welcome by most of the small-town folk, some strange events happened to make him believe he was being watched … leading him down yet another path to find answers, but again … would he find the answers he needed?
Ms. McKinnon nailed this one! This book will take you on some unexpected twists and turns until the truth is revealed. I think you’ll find yourself rooting for Josh, as a newly single dad doing all he can to find the truth and do what’s right by Logan. Lisa (Josh’s sister) and Ivan (Josh’s long-time friend) are also integral characters in this tale.
Josh’s partner, Grace, does suddenly, leaving Josh feeling guilty. However, he must take care of her son, 7-year Logan, just as he promised he would. However, as he tries to look into getting guardianship of Logan in anticipation of adoption, he finds that Grace was hiding something about her past. As he digs deeper, he puts himself in danger.
This is a story of what a family is, and what you will do to save your family.
I enjoyed this book right up until the end, I just didn’t care for how the story was resolved.
HER SECRET SON by Hannah Mary McKinnon
“They say the lucky ones experience an incredible, life-defining moment . . .” would it would always be so, but some others “have life-shattering moments instead” and have to make decisions when there are no clear, good answers. I was reminded of college discussions of relative ethics, trying to decide on the better choice when none were all good. What would you do or not do to protect the one you love? How do you know what’s for the best? We know which road is paved with good intentions, but when is there no other choice? This was complex and puzzling, with characters I cared about and so many surprises.
Enjoyed the book had twists and turns and an ending I didn’t see coming, but some things were a little bit too coincidental.
Josh’s longtime partner Grace dies in a tragic accident that he blames himself for happening. While going through all the stages of grief, Josh cares for Grace’s 7 year old so Logan. Even though Logan is not his biological son, Jack has cared for him as his own. Josh is afraid that Logan will be taken away from him and checks with his lawyer about adopting Logan. When he cannot find Logan’s birth certificate, Josh begins to question the reasons Grace never wanted to marry and her other actions of the past. He begins to question if he every really knew Grace and if Logan was really her son. Only by searching and doing detective work will Josh find out.
Her Secret Son is written in Josh’s point of view. We find out he has demons in his past. This book is fast paced with clues and twists slowly being revealed to the very end. The characters were interesting and well developed. I was invested in Josh’s character and the story kept my interest. The ending was a total surprise. Never saw it coming. Thank you to Hannah Mary McKinnon for a copy of this book and this is my honest review.