Review: Secret Love
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 27, 2014
I was gifted this book and in return I write an honest review.  Just Between Us by Hayley Oakes is a story about I guess you would say Forbidden Love.  So let’s start off in the beginning, Sophie is for the most part your average teenage girl, she isn’t part of the most popular crowd, but not a loner either, Sophie is a well-rounded young woman that pretty much has her head on straight.  She doesn't  realize however how beautiful she is, she seems pretty nave to how attracted most guys are to her, so we could say she has low self-esteem.  In comes Kyle who seems very confident and has every one just following him around, including girls.  Kyle doesn't  have to make an effort, they just come to him.  Both Sophie and Kyle have parents that are divorced and once they start dating each other, Sophie does her best to just steer clear of Kyle, as they both hate each other, or at least that is what Sophie thinks.  She doesn’t like Kyle due to his arrogance and cocky attitude.  Eventually Sophie and Kyle’s parents are married and end up living in a home where Kyle and Sophie have to share a Bathroom.  Sophie does her best to avoid all contact with Kyle and Kyle just seems to resent everything about his Dad.Until there is a family vacation and things happen between these two and they share a kiss.  Sophie is not able to resist Kyle after that, even though she still thinks she hates him, her body wants him.  Kyle never thought he would feel this way about her and can’t seem to stay from Sophie either.  They embark on a secret attraction and meet each other as often as possible, usually in their shared bathroom which only makes this book more fun to read to me.  It made me wonder what would I think if I was in the same situation.  I mean they are step brother and sister, but it’s not like they grew up together in the same household, so I don’t think this is so terrible.  Sophie however is very concerned about how this looks to people and struggles with her feelings of shame about Kyle, and doesn’t want anyone to know, so they agree to be secret boyfriend and girlfriend.  I don’t want to give away anymore spoilers then I already have, but I will say that I enjoyed this book, I like how the story went back and forth between the past and the present, I liked how the story was told from both POV’s.  What I didn’t like however is how frustrating Sophie was at times, she just couldn't make up her mind and I was annoyed with how much she hurt Kyle, going back and forth.  I was happy with the ending, but I wish we could have had more time to enjoy their happiness in this story.  I don't want to elaborate too much on my reasons because I hate spoilers, but that is basically the reason why I am only giving this book 4 stars out of 5.  I loved reading this book and I think it was well written and will recommend this book to my friends who want to read a different book.  I look forward to reading more of Hayley Oakes books.