Book Review: Secrets by Robin Jones Gunn

The Glenbrooke Series

Jessica ran from her past…but can she hide from love?

Jessica Morgan wants desperately to forget the past and begin a new life. She chooses a small, peaceful town tucked away in Oregon’s Willamette Valley as the place to start over—Glenbrooke. Once there, Jessica conceals her identity from the intriguing personalities she meets—including the compassionate paramedic who desires to protect her and the jealous woman who wants nothing more than to destroy her. 

Will Jessica’s deceit ruin all hope for the future? Or will she find a deeper peace that allows her to stop hiding the truth from those who love her most of all? 

This heartwarming bestseller, book one in the Glenbrooke series, introduces the fascinating people of Glenbrooke in a compelling tale of romance and spiritual truth.

I’m a bit conflicted about this book. When I ordered it from Waterbrook-Multnomah’s Blogging For Books program, I didn’t realize it was a rerelease of a book first published in the mid-90s. I don’t know that I would have not chosen to review it, but I felt a bit… mislead or something. I’m not really sure.

Everything seemed a bit… off because I didn’t realize that. The car accident at the beginning? Where’s her cell phone? And so on.

Overall, the story was fine. I read it quickly, as I do with most books. It’s only if I’m not enjoying a book that it takes me forever to finish [well, usually anyway]. But, Jessica is presented as having this huge secret that threatens everything. I’m not sure what I was expecting but it turned out to be a huge let-down. If I could overlook that side of things, then I enjoyed the book – the romance, Kyle’s history, etc. – but it did bring down my rating a bit.

Originally, I looked forward to the next in the Glenbrooke Series being released, but now… /shrug/ I’m kind of ambivalent. If the opportunity to read one presents itself when I don’t have another book pressing on me to read, I likely will, but I don’t see me seeking it out. That said, it’s highly unlikely it will be my last book by Gunn – I’ll just stick with more current fare.

The Biblical truths hold up no matter the decade and I can see why Gunn has had a long career in Christian fiction.

Overall rating: 7.5 out of 10 stars

Thanks to Blogging for Books for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.