Heavy Secrets by Elle Aycart is Now Available & Reviewed

Christy Sheridan has come a long way from the physical and emotional wreck she used to be. She's made Alden her home and is happily engaged to a man who loves and accepts her for who she is, curves, quirks, and geekiness included. Life is good. Until Mommy Dearest blows into town to "help" her clueless daughter seal the deal.

Cole Bowen is experiencing a world of firsts: first time in love, first engagement, first Valentine's, first in-laws. He's found the woman of his dreams, so he figured dealing with Martha Sheridan was a small price to pay. That is before his monster-in-law plants herself in their home and inside Christy's head, stirring up old demons and destroying her newly regained self-esteem. And while his hands are full with trying to neutralize their meddlesome guest, a mysterious phone call turns his world upside down.

With ghosts from the past resurfacing, Cole and Christy will be lucky to make it to the wedding they both so desperately want before heavy secrets tear them apart.

Book 3.5
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“How many years do you think I’d get for offing my mom? Because honest to God, if we’re talking single digits, I’m willing to risk it,” Christy said while leaning back on the lounge chair after getting a full-body massage that had left her totally gooey.

They were at the spa, wearing fluffy bathrobes and sipping tea, except for Christy, who was nursing a diet soda.

“Just name a time and place, and we’ll be there with a shovel. No questions asked,” Annie said, and Holly and Tate assented.

“I could claim temporary insanity.” Heck, emotional self-defense too.

“Don’t worry, we’ll vouch for you. No jury in its right mind would convict you,” Holly stated. “I thought you were exaggerating, but boy, were you understating. What a…character.”

Ha. That was one way of putting it.

Annie nodded in commiseration. She’d met Martha a long time ago, when the girls were in college. Christy had gone for an East Coast institution, hoping it would be out of her mom’s range, but going away had been useless. There was no place far enough.

Crazy had its own methods of reaching her.

“Where’s the Grand Diva now?” Tate, Christy’s future sister-in-law, asked.

“Checking out wedding dresses. She arranged an appointment at a bridal shop. I stood her up.”

Her whole posse turned to her, looking stupefied.

“She’s picking out a wedding dress without the bride?”

Yeah, typical Martha stunt.

“I know I should be there, but why, really? She won’t listen to anything I say. I might as well save my breath.”

And a whole lot of pain and abuse in the process.

The girls pondered for a second and then nodded.

“Oh, and remember,” Christy added, reaching for her diet soda. “I’m not here. I’m in the middle of a massive twelve-car accident. Well and healthy but stuck inside the vehicle and waiting for the firefighters to come and cut the roof open to rescue me.”

That her mom hadn’t rushed to her side when Christy called her—and that Christy had known she wouldn’t—already said it all.

“And when your mom realizes your car is intact? Then what?” Tate asked, to which Christy couldn’t help snorting.

“That would imply she remembered our talk. It won’t happen. A total impossibility.”

Christy would bet anything, her first unborn child included—and her second and third—that her mom wouldn’t even mention it. That was the advantage of being disappointed one too many times; no way in hell to harbor false illusions.

Martha’s number-one priority was…Martha. Followed by whatever man she was screwing with at the moment. How she’d managed to marry a decent guy and keep him for several years was beyond Christy. Then again, Fred was too kind for his own good. That or he had a hell of a lot of bad karma from a previous life.

For a split second, she’d considered going to the bridal shop, but then she’d discarded the idea. Defaulting to her smile-accept-and-walk-away technique, she’d nodded and kept quiet. And had run in the opposite direction at the first chance. Let her mother get her kicks. Just let her do it far away from Christy. Besides, there was no damage Martha could do; Christy had told the shop assistant not to reserve anything without her consent.

Holly poured herself more tea. “Doesn’t she know you don’t want a traditional dress for your summer wedding?”

“She knows. She just doesn’t care.” They were talking about a woman who had gotten married four times, once with a beer-can tab as a ring. Appointments at high-scale bridal shops were a dream come true for her. “I feel like a shitty daughter, but I’m so ready for her to leave.”

Martha had come for Christmas with her husband and stayed a couple of days. It had gone rather well, probably because Cole was scary enough and Martha hadn’t worked herself up to be…well, herself. This time around, she’d been in Alden for three days, without Fred, and Christy was ready to face the gallows for a chance to get rid of her.

Fate had thrown Christy the mother of all curve balls when it chose Martha as her sole parent.

Their relationship had always been complicated, to say the least, with Christy spending all her life putting out fires—Martha’s—and eating to cope. Eventually she’d gotten her food addiction under control, but changing her mom and her nasty ways was something out of her reach.

And having Martha living with her without Fred as a buffer was bringing up all sorts of feelings and automatic coping mechanisms that Christy had thought she’d left behind.

Lora, Christy’s former sponsor, had been right: nothing guaranteed recovery, and they were always one upset away from relapse.

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Angela – ☆☆☆☆☆
I love all of the Bowen brothers and their ladies, but Christy and Cole’s story is my favorite among them. As a plus-sized gal myself, I felt an almost immediate connection to Christy the first time I read Heavy Issues. Needless to say, when I found out that their story was going to continue in Heavy Secrets I was beside myself with glee and that increased exponentially when I was offered the chance to read it early! And it was AWESOME!!!

It’s been a while since I last read Heavy Issues, so I don’t remember if Christy’s mother Martha was introduced before and I merely blocked her horrid character from my mind or not, but I was ready to crawl inside my Kindle and throttle that woman…multiple times. Good grief! With a mother like that, who needs enemies? But her presence helped to highlight the love that Cole had for Christy as evidenced by the fact that he didn’t confront Martha at Christy’s request. And when Christy finally reached her breaking point with her mother, the love that she had for Cole was even more apparent. But there was far more to the story than dealing with Martha and her constant attacks on Christy’s self-esteem as Cole found himself confronted with his past and the havoc his mother’s desertion and death wreaked on him emotionally. But you’ll have to read the book to find out what happens because that’s one spoiler I won’t reveal.

Heavy Secrets provided the same reading experience as every book in the Bowen series has for me – the opportunity to hang out with great friends. I laughed…A LOT. I teared up a few times. I cheered Christy on when she confronted Cole. I cheered her on even more when she dealt with her mother. I felt Cole’s pain. I squirmed while reading the freaking hot sex scenes. And my jaw dropped at the unexpected revelation at the end of the book. Oh! My!! GOD!!! Ms. Aycart I cannot wait to see where you take the series now.

Also Available in the Bowen Series

Book 1
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Book 2
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Book 2.5
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Book 3
Buy Links

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For reviews & more info, check out our To the Max blog post.

After a colorful array of jobs all over Europe ranging from translator to chocolatier to travel agent to sushi chef to  flight dispatcher, Elle Aycart is certain of one thing and one thing only: aside from writing romances, she has abso-frigging-lutely no clue what she wants to do  when she grows up. Not that it stops her from trying all sorts of crazy stuff.

While she is probably now thinking of a new profession, her head never stops churning new plots for her romances. She lives currently in Barcelona, Spain, with her husband and two daughters, although who knows, in no time she could be living at the Arctic Circle in Finland, breeding reindeer.

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Heavy Secrets (Bowen #3.5) by Elle Aycart to read and review for this tour.