He may be the town’s Golden Boy, but he’s my worst nightmare.
Hunter Prince tossed me away like discarded trash.His cruelty, among other things, forced me to leave town and never look back.Until now.Now I’m here with only one objective in mind—to better my future.This is my only shot, so I can’t screw it up.
However, that may be out of my hands it seems.
After nearly three years of silence, I … screw it up.
However, that may be out of my hands it seems.
After nearly three years of silence, I come face-to-face with the enemy.
I wasn’t prepared to see him, just like I’m not prepared for the ultimatum that falls from his sinful lips, either.
He’s bigger, meaner, and still stuck on hating me.
If he finds out my little secret, he’ll have a valid reason to.
Because my secret is really our secret, and it has ten fingers, ten toes, and a mouth just like his daddy.
Oh, yeah, freshman year just got a bit more interesting.
Our Secret is a 130,000 word full-length standalone novel, featuring college, bully, secret baby romance within an interconnected storyline that is based in a fictional town called Golden Oaks. Each book will pertain to a different couple, but will all be about the same group of guys known as the ‘Golden Crew’ from high school. As of now, this is book one in a series of four, but there could be a spin-off series in the future. Contains foul language and sexual situations. Any sex featured is consensual.
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Our Secret by Belladona Cunning
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
Book: Our Secret
Author: Belladona Cunning
Type: Book 1 of Golden Crew Series; Standalone
POV: Dual First Person
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Rating: 1 Star
Warning: Major Spoilers Ahead.
Is it possible to give less than one star? If so, this book will surely take the cake. It was so, so predictable that I was rolling my eyes every few seconds. We have Harloe, our main protagonist, who was pregnant at 15 and went to share the news with Hunter, her boyfriend and childhood best friend, but guess what happened? She finds Hunter cheating on her and decides not to tell him and flees the town.
During the separation, she remains celibate but Hunter? He fucked his way through the school to cope with Harloe’s betrayal because he thinks she slept with his brother, Owen. *Cue the eye roll.*
Now Harloe’s back because the town has the only university that has daycare and she was rejected everywhere else. And so starts the drama between Harloe and Hunter. She doesn’t tell him that he has a son and he doesn’t admit why he hates her. They continue fighting each other for more than half the book.
Here are some quotes from Hunter’s perspective:
“I did who I wanted when I wanted and didn’t think of consequences because they were beneath me.”
The idea of her being with another man, let alone someone who’s not me—regardless of whether I’m pissed off at her or not—drives me to want to commit murder.
“For God’s sake, he’s the only guy I’ve ever had sex with! He’s the only man who’s known me intimately, and that includes something as innocent as fucking kissing.
Of course, she can’t be with another man but he can be with whomever he wants. Double standards much?. This manwhore-prude troop is not sexy. And this is Hunter:
Yes, what I did with Cassandra was terrible. I’m not even going to deny that because that’s trying to justify my actions when at the time, I didn’t need justification. Everything I have done has been to try and heal myself. Now, don’t come at me with your pitchforks. I know I could’ve gone about the whole Harloe and Owen situation differently. I could have been more mature about it, rather than trying to make her jealous by having Cassandra there and completely obliterating her heart.
Also the way he views the female population is just plain disgusting.
These are literally his thoughts about one of his teachers;
Plus, that teacher … she’s hot as fuck. Hardly any of us could get any work done because we were too busy staring at her ass or her barely-there cleavage she was sporting by undoing the top three buttons of her shirt. We could even see her lacy black bra, and that gave me a raging boner.
Why does the author think we need to know this? This does not make him appealing. It makes him repulsive and an asshole who only thinks with his dick.
And this is his excuse.
Hey, you can take the man out of the boy, but you can’t take away his petulant thoughts. It’s ingrained in our DNA, and make no mistake, we’re not going to spout out excuses for it.
The problem was never her. The heart of the problem is me. I’m one hundred percent human, and I’m allowed to make mistakes every now and then. Then again, so can everyone else.
These are just plain stupid.
Dicks are actually pretty fucking disgusting unless they’re in their “useful” state. Ladies, you know what I’m talking about. I’ve nicknamed it the “get fucked” state, which seems pretty self-explanatory. Otherwise, they look like shriveled up sea cucumbers, and that’s just not attractive at all.
Because girls our age seem to be stuck in the hair twirling and biting their lip stage. Sorry, ladies, but that’s not attractive. It just makes you look empty-headed, boring, and immature.
Hunter is trying to run Harloe off the university. He makes threats and bullies her. And then when she starts looking for other options, this is his view;
“You’re going to leave. Again. Tuck your goddamn tail between your legs and take off like a chickenshit.”
“Leaving,” he states in that sexily lazy way of his. “That’s a coward’s way out. The Harloe I know wouldn’t give in so easy.” “I’m not a chicken,”
Sure, you’re not a chicken. You’re just weak with no backbone. And to top it off, Harloe had the worst case of body betrayal, the “my-mind-wants-this-but-my-body-wants-that”. So, so frustrating.
It’s hard to think when my entire body aches for the only thing Hunter has ever provided. But I have to.
“I feel nothing for that asshole anymore.”
I have my eyes set on my prize, and nothing is going to stop me. Not even a butthurt prick like Hunter Prince.
Yeah, we all believe you. Not.
But fuck, you can’t dangle a steak in front of a starving woman and expect her not to reach out for a bite.
Even when he’s being an asshole, my body turns into a wanton slut.
This will be the only time I seek out Hunter.
Can you see me rolling my eyes? Can you? Because I am.
Lastly, no two-year-old behaves like this. This is the first time he is meeting Hunter.
Then, he says something that rocks my goddamn world on its axis. It causes Harloe to nearly faint, and Jenna to burst out laughing. “‘Bout time, Daddy.”
Maverick looks at her, cocking that eyebrow—the same way I do. It’s like a tic for us or something.
“Friend?” He snorts. He actually snorts, like he’s an average adult and he calls bullshit.
A two-year-old cocking his brow and snorting? Even I can’t control my brow properly.
This book was just a waste of my time. Don’t even know why I stuck with it.
See this on Goodreads – Our Secret
Follow me on Goodreads – Catherine Russell
“Our Secret” was the prime example of lovers to enemies to lovers (bully) romance with a secret baby twist thrown into the mix. I expected this to blow all other bully books out of the water because of that alone but it was a huge letdown.
It was more so to do with the main characters than anything else because I enjoyed the writing style, pace, side characters, and the general baby twist which is not typically found in bully romances. The heroine, Harloe, was weak and gave in too easily when it came to Hunter despite all the hurt he had caused in the past that eventually led her to leave their hometown the day she discovered she was expecting. Then came Hunter, please cue the eye roll because all the misunderstandings and what led to their breakup could have easily been resolved if there was communication on both ends. I won’t spoil it but ugh, it was so predictable and I just wanted to wring his neck for easily believing the lies.
Nonetheless I will probably will be staying away from bully romances for the time being. The repetitive and predictability of the stories just wore me out.
This author had caught my attention back with one of her first books and now I’ve read all of them and will continue to read them. She just keeps getting better and better. This book had from the beginning and I couldn’t put it down until I was finished. The twists and turns will have you flipping pages to find out what’s happening next and in the end it was so worth it. And Maverick will squeeze your heart tight I loved him and he was such a great part of this story. I’m so glad this didnt end on a cliffhanger but also can’t wait to see what else this author has in store for us with the next book.
I knew going in reading Our Secret that it was going to be good, and I was not disappointed. Well done Belladona. I was intrigued about the story line, I mean it is not often that you read stories where the bully has a baby, and oh man did things change when he found out, but you know he still managed to be a butt hole about it.
The story itself is eye-catching, Harloe left because her boyfriend at the time Hunter broke her heart when he said he did not love her anymore. And did it in a most horrible way, having another girl, one that she hated there in her place. Little did Hunter know that she was going to tell him that she was pregnant. Skip three years down the road and Harloe is back, trying to make a life for her and her son. But guess who is there? That’s right Hunter, who has set out to make Harloe’s life hell. But he still does not know the little secret she still has.
So the plot was good, and kept me reading non stop. I had to find out what his reaction would be about his son, I had to keep reading to find out what it was that he thought she did. I am not going to give away any spoilers, but I will say that this was a great read and one I highly recommend.