[Book Review] My Secret Valentine

Title: My Secret Valentine
Series: Standalone
Author: Julie Cannon, Erin Dutton, Anne Shade
Publication date: February 15th 2022
Page Count: 249 pages
Age Rating: Adult ( one explicit sexual scene, language)
How I got my hot little hands on it: Received a copy to review
Publisher’s page: My Secret Valentine

Winning the heart of your secret Valentine? These award-winning authors agree, there is no better way to fall in love.

In I Met Someone by Julie Cannon: Hayes Martin shares everything with her BFF Claire Wheeler. Well, almost everything. Hayes has kept a secret from Claire for years, and she can’t take it anymore. Tonight is the night she comes clean and risks it all to gain everything she’s ever wanted.

In Taking a Risk by Erin Dutton: Police officer Jo Forsythe thinks she could find the love and family she’s been longing for with Kayla McCall. Kayla’s focused on running her business, and if she was looking for love, it wouldn’t be with Jo. Can Jo win the hearts of both Kayla and the small town that’s so protective of her?

In Bouquet of Love by Anne Shade: It’s been twenty-five years since English teacher Alyssa Harris was on the dating scene, but romance is too old-fashioned for love in the digital age. Tennis coach Collette Roberts doesn’t think so and sets out to sweep Alyssa off her feet.

My Review

All 3 novellas in My Secret Valentine are well-written, with likable characters, and perfectly doused in just the right amount of romance – and yet.

I couldn’t get into them.

There’s nothing wrong with any of the stories, technically or otherwise, but that click wasn’t happening for me. I put this book down so many times and had to push myself to finish and I don’t know why.

I Met Someone by Julie Cannon is the story of Hayes and Claire, both business-minded women who meet while taking a statistics in economics course and instantly hit it off. It’s a will they/won’t they, slow burn friends-to-lovers story that has you rooting for them both to just give in to the obvious spark smoldering between them.

Erin Dutton’s Taking a Risk has newly transplanted police officer Jo getting used to small town life while also trying to keep a respectful distance from pretty widow Kayla who runs the town’s hardware store. (spoiler alert, she fails, but only because Kayla makes the first move.)

Bouquet of Love by Anne Shade might just have been my favorite novella in the collection. Alyssa, a widowed English teacher, is finally maybe ready to dip her toe into possibly dating. Fellow teacher Collette, who’s been in love with Alyssa for years, jumps at the opportunity and pulls out all the stops to shower her skittish crush with romantic gestures under the guise of a secret admirer.

Would I read more by these authors? Absolutely.

I think maybe I was in an instant gratification mood when I picked up this book and so the slow burn was just not hitting for me, like the reading equivalent of “it’s not you, it’s me”. I would still rate this collection very high and recommend it to anyone looking for some good slow burn romance.

Pi In The Sky Coffee Secret Admirer Blend is the perfect coffee for this book. Not only does it have the perfect sweet holiday taste of turtle pretzels (a chocolatey, caramel, nutty flavor), but with “Someone Has A Crush On You” boldly printed on the top of the package, cupid armed and ready with his bow and arrow underneath, the coffee itself doubles as a cute gift for the secret valentine in your life.