Shh… It's Our Secret by Lizzie Chantree

Downtrodden waitress Violet runs her boyfriend's failing cafe and loves her regulars like family. When Kai wanders into the cafe, searching for some peace and quiet, he discovers that Violet has a secret that could change her life - and he's the perfect person to help her. As Kai begins to fall for Violet, he finds that his help could make Violet's dreams come true - or ruin her life.

Violet is an absolute sweetheart who deserves far more than her no-good boyfriend and recently-dumped sister give her credit. I liked how Kai gave her confidence to stand up to her boyfriend and can totally sympathise with her desire for the quiet life. I also like that she managed to befriend (or at least see a more sympathetic side) most of the women who she initially sees as rivals or enemies, though this is partially undone by her insistence on describing her ex-brother-in-law's new partner as 'horse-face' and blaming her for the breakdown of her sister's marriage.

I'm less keen on Kai, who seems like a generally good guy who can't keen his hands off Violet but won't actually talk to her or define their relationship because he recognises that she's recently out of a bad relationship, leaving her with mixed signals. There's a whole thing about his 'friends' constantly turning up at his house, which leads me to think that he's very bad at boundaries. He's lucky his poor communication didn't backfire worse than it did.

While there is no sex on the page - it fades to black - the language used makes it clear what is going on so it sometimes feels like scenes end abruptly on the way to intimacy. The plot also got overly complicated, with at least one love triangle, profit sharing with a confidentiality clause and growing sisterly tension. Overall I didn't mind this book but I think a good edit could've done it a world of good.

Shh... It's Our Secret is available now

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley; all opinions are my own