Serial Saturdays: On the occasional Saturday, I review a serialized series (a series that is released in parts that would normally make up a whole novel) to see if the series is worth keeping up with or worth buying all its parts. Here is this week’s offering:

Synopsis for Secrets (from Goodreads):
Sex is supposed to be sexy, tantalizing, and completely erotic, but Anna never seems to find the right guy. This one seems to be a germ-a-phobe, and the previous boyfriend wasn’t much better. Anna just wants to be wanted. Is that too much to ask?

As Anna tries to wiggle out of one relationship, a new one surfaces, but it’s forbidden. Cole Stevens is twice her age, arrogant, rich, sexy as hell, and her boss. When Anna’s internship plans derail, she ends up interning at Cole’s elite New York City studio. Close proximity leads Anna to discover that the billionaire bachelor is emotionally scarred. Everyone has secrets, but Cole’s run deeper, cutting him to his core. Cole is trouble in a sexy shell. He’s nothing Anna needs and everything she wants.

SERIESous’ Top Picks: Favourite Serial Author
Series: Secrets
Author: Ella Steele (aka H M Ward)
# of Parts: 5
Complete?: Yes
Genre: New Adult, Romance, Contemporary
Heat Rating: really warm to hot (Kink: mild)
Point of View: First Person, Single
Publication Date: August 2012 – December 2012
Source & Format: Own–eBook

Why I Picked it Up / My Expectations:

Despite not finishing them, I’ve really enjoyed H M Wards previous serialized stories, like the Ferro Family ones and Trystan Scott and while I was enjoying them, I picked up her 5 part series Secrets. This was YEARS ago and I only managed to read this series now thanks to my Rock myTBR challenge. This was one of the lucky ones to be pulled for the month of January.

I liked the forbidden teacher-student romance that Damaged had and I knew that Ward would write another strong one with this series. I was excited to delve into it–especially when it was only 5 complete parts and no more than that…

The Concept:

In Part 1, I was really confused as to why Anna felt like she had to botch the interview with Cole when it seemed like she had a sure thing at the other agency that she wanted. I’m sure I just missed that one key line that explained the internship process but it threw me for a loop and prevented me from getting into the story initially.

The Plot:

I felt like the story was very predictable. While I couldn’t predict all the events of the book specifically, I had the general gist very early on in the series so I was never really surprised by anything.

The Characters:

I admit that I wasn’t completely sold on Anna as a character when we first met her. Her whole reason for botching the interview with Cole seemed bizarre to me. Perhaps I missed something in the book, but I didn’t understand why she had to sabotage her interview with him if she was for sure going to get the job at the place she wanted. It just seemed to contradict who she was as a strong intelligent woman. And I don’t think she ever recovered from that for me either though I appreciated that she didn’t become some buffoon who couldn’t live without Cole.

Cole was alright as a hero. I liked that he wasn’t overbearing or too much of an alpha. He seemed like a genuine guy so I appreciate that.

The Romance:

What I initially enjoyed about the Part 1 was that it wasn’t an insta-love connection between Cole and Anna. Oh, there were buckets of sexual tension which was great but I liked that nothing happens too fast. Unfortunately, the nature of a serial means that it can’t last forever at that pace. While I liked the two together, I just wanted to see a little more of why they liked each other besides physical attraction. It becomes a little more apparent later on to a certain extent but I didn’t like the first jump.

Series Rating: 3/5

Part 1 3/5 | Part 2 3.5/5 | Part 3 3/5 | Part 4 3/5 | Part 5 3/5

This book reminded me of a subdued version of Fifty Shades of Grey but much more predictable. I was really let down by this one but if you enjoy soap opera-esque drama, you will probably like this one!

Read if You Like: soap operas, forbidden love
Avoid if You: don’t like predictable plots

• Damaged by H M Ward (Damaged Series #1)
• Business as Usual by Denise Grover Swank (Off the Subject Trilogy #1)
• Fifty Shades of Grey by E L James (Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy #1)
• Wanted by J Kenner (Most Wanted Trilogy #1)

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