Cover Image: Secret Things and Highland Flings

Secret Things and Highland Flings

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Member Reviews

After Lexi’s ex cheats and leaves, she spends all of her time picking up the mess of broken financial pieces he’s left behind. But everything will be fine so long as she keeps her art gallery going. And with her new job of evaluating a private art collection for an estate in Scotland, things are finally looking up. That is until she comes across a mysterious painting in the family’s collection. Soon she’s whisked off on a Highland adventure with Olly, the suddenly new Early of Horsley, whose own family secrets draw them together in the art world.

Author Tracy Corbett kicks things off with a bit of an explosion. A cheating ex suddenly back in the picture. Shady insurance money. Stunning art. And that’s all before the heroine even meets her potential love interest on the page— and that encounter involves a misunderstood break in and a knife. All of this might sound a bit hectic and, in a way, it is. However, Corbett’s work shines best when she’s racing to a clear path through all the chaos.

Part of why this works is her careful attention to the romantic leads. Lexie is at a low point in her life, scrambling to hold her art gallery together while forging a new life for herself. Olly is at a similar low point as he’s just inherited a financially unstable estate from his father. And since there’s such an obvious connection between them, their stories are expertly woven together— if only they could just see how they’re connected.

All of this isn’t to suggest everything is always so charming. At its base, the plot relies on some deception from both Lexie and Olly. However, Corbett manages to approach these elements that could be off-putting in such a compelling and realistic way. These are characters simply acting as they naturally would in complicated situations, and it makes for refreshing reading. As in life, stories can’t always wrap up in a sweet ending with no broken ‘rules’, and this book is proof of that. Toss in an awful ex, a few prickly siblings, and some legal questions, and there’s plenty of tension to go with the romance.

Yet, the star of this book is perhaps Corbett’s Scotland backdrop that provides a swoon-worthy setting, topping off this fun and surprising romance.

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A great book! Something fascinating to curl up with on a rainy evening, holding a cup of tea... The characters are believable and realistic. Kudos to the writer!

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I thought that this book had a lot of potential. I liked the whole art forgery/collection appraisal premise, which could have been very intriguing. However, I didn’t get a lot of chemistry between Olly and Lexi. I thought there was too much exposition and not enough real action. And the whole plot arc with Lexi’s ex-husband Marcus got too convoluted. There may be other readers who love it and find lots to like, but I had a hard time getting through it. Thank you to Avon Books UK (via NetGalley) for the opportunity to read a complimentary digital ARC of this book.

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This was not my type of book and I was very disappointed in it.
I had such high hopes for this book

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The story of Lexi and Olly. When they first meet they don't get off to the best of starts!

Mainly set in the higlands of Scotland, the setting sounds amazing.

A great range of characters including the siblings of both Lexi and Olly.


I received an ARC of this book in exchange for a voluntary and honest review.

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3.5 stars (rounded up to 4 stars)
Lexi's life has been a little bit of a mess lately. Her ex-husband ran off to Spain with his assistant, leaving her homeless, bankrupt, and close to losing her beloved art gallery, handed down to her by her grandmother. When she is commissioned to evaluate & sell some art from a family estate, she gets a big surprise that she isn't expecting.
Olly has recently reconnected with his family, after leaving abruptly 11 years prior. His sisters are back at their family estate in the Scottish Highlands, and they're having to try to figure out what to do with the house, as their finances are tight.
When Lexi and Olly meet, they are attracted to each other, but unsure how to proceed. Neither realizes that the other is hiding something. Will they be able to overcome their secrets?
I thought this was a cute book! It was a sweet story, and I loved the mixture of the art in the story (especially with the references to famous paintings). The setting in Scotland was beautiful, and I loved the descriptions. I would say this was the romance equivalent of a cozy mystery - sweet, fluffy, and enjoyable. It was a sweet romance, but wasn't a steamy one. I enjoyed it!

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Lexie is an art gallery owner who is sent to appraise the valuable works of a nobles Scottish family and gets tied up into their lives. She falls for Ollie, who is the titled noble of the house, while trying to determine the validity of a famous work of art. She is also dodging her ex-husband who financially ruined her.

I had mixed feelings about this book. I felt it had the potential to be similar to Sophie Kinsella or Katie Fforde, who I both love. I think it fell a little flat. I didn’t really feel the passion between Ollie and Lexie and I didn’t feel a connection to the other minor characters. That could just be me—I would still recommend to fans of women’s fiction.

Special thanks to NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

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I tried to get into this book, I really really did, but I couldn’t, no matter how hard I tried. It has never taken me more than a few days to finish a book, but this one took me nine whole days.

The characters and story was just too slow, no ups or downs, push pull that I could hang my hat on. It was just too slow moving that I couldn’t enjoy it.

Received an ARC from Netgalley.

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Maybe it's my weakness for anything involving Scotland but I have to say that this new to-me author wrote one heck of a wonderful book! Tracy Corbett combines sharp humor with a bit of mystery as Lexi Ryan finds herself in the breathtaking Highlands trying to sort her life out while cataloging exceptional art belonging to the very sexy Oliver Wentworth, also known as the Earl of Horsley.

Both characters are sheer delight as they try not to fall for the other all the while desperate to keep their secrets hidden. Lexi is intelligent yet picks the wrong men. And Ollie never really figures himself as one to settle down. However, their attraction is quite electric and leads to all kinds of adventures as they try to fix what has been wronged by Lexi's horrid ex-husband. In the meantime, there are great scenes involving Ollie's two sisters and Lexi's own tough as nails sister. Those encounters had me laughing and shaking my head as they all fall into a plan to retrieve a priceless work of art. It is extremely clever and the substory involving Ollie's family and their own desperation to keep their castle weaves throughout the book beautifully.

The descriptions of one of my most favorite places on earth is truly the extra bit of happy that I thoroughly enjoyed.

I hope to find more from this author because her writing style and attention to detail is something I most definitely crave in many books I pick up.

5 solid stars!

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I just could not get into this book. I did not have any kind of connection with the characters.






I received this book from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

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While I liked most of the characters and found the setting to be lovely, I did find the drama elements of this plot a little too over the top. Even for a romance chick lit style book I thought this was too much sometimes. But it was well written and I was overall glad I read it.

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Secret Things and Highland Flings was a cute story. I really liked the way the relationships are portrayed and the characters developed. I have a lot of readers at my library that will love this book. I've put it on my purchase list. Thank you

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Secret Things and Highland Flings is a fun, light read with a castle as the backdrop. The plot is interesting and the characters are all well written. In terms of romance, this one is low on the steam but high on the sweetness.

It was fun to be swept away into a castle in Scotland. The family dynamic between all the characters is entertaining. Their affection for each other came through in the writing. Tasha is definitely my favorite character. I would love to read a book with her as the lead.

It was a predictable story. I found myself skimming towards the end. But, in terms of bright, breezy reads, this one hits the mark.

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Having read Starlight on the Palace Pier (and loved it), I was happy to see another story of Tracy Corbett. I wish I could be as enthusiastic about Secret Things and Highland Flings as the previous book. But unfortunately I can't. It is not a terrible book, but it just didn't knock me off my socks. Maybe Tracy tried too hard. The story just dragged on a bit too long. And the credibility of the story was off course zero to non. Of course there are louse men who screw around and take all the money from your joint account. Forging papers isn't very likely. And even less likely is that the pay-out of the insurance is done in cash and is lying around and found by you. But in this book it happened. Lexi found the money of her lying and cheating ex-husband and decided to keep it.
Same goes for Oliver (or Ollie) who was taught to replicate art by his mother, only to find out she had sold his replica as the original painting for two million dollars. Totally believable... NOT.
So, in all, it was a nice story with some twists and turns. But because the story was a bit over the top, it was hard to connect to the characters. Making the story okay-ish but just not great. Therefore three out of five stars and a special thank you to Netgalley for providing the arc.

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Enjoyable character in counties ice never been to. Makes me want to visit there. The characters were enjoyable and the storyline as well.

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I think the author is trying too hard in this book. I think she wants you to know that she knows all the things. I don’t get it and I can’t get behind it.

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Unfortunately this book was DNF one. I read half of it and I couldn't get in to it. Both main characters, Oliver Wentworth and Lexi Ryan, were just meh. I could not connect to them. I considered them both annoying and from what I read I didn't see how they could end up together. There was just too many secrets and both seemed untrustworthy. Even they had a difficult time keeping track of their lies.

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I couldn’t get into this at all, didn’t relate to the characters, real lack of chemistry for me and I found under it long and bit uninteresting, sorry, not for me
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

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A believable romance set in the highlands of Scotland. The description of the Scotland scenes were magical and sounded amazing. Interesting and likeable characters. A sweet and engaging read.

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DNF at 16%.
I’m an avid romance reader, and I love all kinds of subgenres, but I didn’t know what to do with this book. In my personal opinion, I think the author was trying a little bit too hard. As a consequence, to me, it all fell flat and despite the abundance of drama-elements, I just wanted out. I guess the other reviewers saw something I didn’t, and I hope more readers will love this book and agree with the more-positive reviewers.

The hero, heir to a Scottish title, left home at eightteen and lived on the European mainland for about ten years... living on what? His sisters are mad that he left. The estate is in financial trouble, but selling it would hurt his sister’s feelings so that’s not an option. Uhm... why?
The heroine owns an art gallery and has fimancial problems, an ex-husband who’s after her for money she suposedly stole, a twinsister who has just been dumped by her girlfriend and can see that a painting is 16th century because she has an art degree... Uhm why?

Since this is marketed as a romance, I would have liked to see the author spend more time on the emotional state of mind of hero and heroine, and what they wished for in the love department. As it is, the information about the hero and heroine, felt like random information because no meaning was added to it. Characters, to me, only become interesting when their situation makes me feel something.

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