Title: Best Kept Secret
Author: Skye Warren
Publisher/Year:  Amber Shah 11/16/21
Length:  250 pages
Series: Rochester Trilogy #3

Overview

The secrets haunting Beau Rochester come alive.

He doesn’t deserve happiness, but he holds it in his hands. A woman he loves. A child. The past threatens to rip them away. He risks losing them forever.

Jane Mendoza is determined to protect the people she loves from every threat–the mysterious arsonist, the corrupt police force. The darkest danger comes from a place she never expects.

She risks more than her newfound family. She risks her life.

My Thoughts

Well, what our amazing author Skye Warren continues to do is leave us on quite the dicey cliff when we end an installment to this story, and if you recall, Jane was sent back to Houston for her own safety, breaking her heart and that of Beau and Paige, but what does she find? Emily Rochester sitting in her bedroom. We know this can’t go well since she’s supposed to be dead. And what makes it worse, she pulls a gun on Jane too.

So you can only imagine the roller coaster that we are about to get on. What’s the story behind her still being alive? what does that mean for Jane? Is there jealousy because Jane and Beau were together? So many questions that we can only hope will be answered throughout this story!

As you can imagine, Emily does a great job telling Jane her ‘story’ and we have to either choose to believe her or not, but Jane is a trusting woman and goes that route of trust. Where that takes her though is on a private jet with Emily BACK to Maine in the hopes of getting Beau to listen to what happened in the past, and figure out how to keep everyone safe so that Emily can come out of hiding.

What do we learn? We learn that Emily watched Rhys get murdered and she knows who the killer is. Shocker – he’s one of the characters that we’ve spent time with in book 2 and one that has a bone to pick with just about everyone in the story. Joe Cuasey. Yup – the detective and the brother to Emily. We don’t easily get the details on what happened and what was the root of the evil here, but we do spend the bulk of the story trying to figure out a way to safety while also bringing him down.

The other story line here is that of the romance that may or may not be destined for greatness. As you’ll remember, Jane promised Paige that she wouldn’t leave her and of course when Jane’s sent away, that breaks the little girls heart. She’s not ready to listen to anything that Beau has to say, and that means that we have a child who is forced to mourn yet another death of sorts in her life. Then there’s the notion that Beau sent Jane away for a reason, because he felt that it wasn’t safe for her to be around since she’s the target of someone’s hate. When Jane comes back though, she’s a new woman. one who’s clear on her value and self worth and she’s not going to let Beau call all the shots and have the power.

The dynamic switch here is really enjoyable to watch and the impact that it has on their chemistry makes things combust even hotter than they did before. Jane shows him that she’s not fragile and breakable and that she’s capable of so much more than anyone gave her credit for.

Which of course comes in handy when their plans to bring Joe down blow up in their face. Things get insane. There’s an attempt at an arrest, guns flying everywhere, and Emily’s cover is blown. What happens next is the bit of the story that you’ll have to read, but when people see face to face that Emily is alive, things go nuts. When people learn what Joe truly is, things go nuts. So, crazy things happening all around.

We get the closure that we need from this story, while also setting up so many questions on relationships that were teased in this story and characters that we want to know more about. Mateo for example, he’s a Hollywood star and he’s also a home town boy. He can have anyone that he wants, but it apparently seemed like he wants Emily. There’s a history there that we don’t quite know about and after book 3 of this trilogy ends, we learn that Ms Warren is writing a story about them as well for us to dive into. I can’t wait. Enjoy!