Reviewed by Vicki
TITLE: Secrets and Charms
SERIES: Secrets #2
AUTHOR: Lou Harper
PUBLISHER: Samhain Publishing
LENGTH: 191 pages
BLURB:
One hot ginger. One cool blond. The result is anything but lukewarm.
Out and proud from a tender age, Olly Blackwood is content with life in LA, working at a Hollywood gourmet grocery. There’s only one thing missing: romance. He’s had his fill of casual hook-ups. He wants a man for keeps, and he wants sparks.
He certainly gets them when he meets Rich Willson, who has the stormy temper to go with his fiery hair. But is he keeper material? He might be if only he’d come out of the closet.
After losing his disapproving father, his job, his girlfriend, and pretty much all his money, Rich packed up his secrets and moved to his actress sister s house to regroup and help her renovate. He doesn’t like the curmudgeon he s become, but something about the perpetually cheerful Olly rubs him in a way that should be wrong, yet feels pretty damned right.
Over paint buckets and sanding tools, Rich finds Olly getting deeper under his skin. But when an altercation with a paparazzo comes back to haunt him, he finds that sordid Hollywood secrets can be murder maybe his own.
Warning: Contains a hot-tempered ginger, a cool-headed blond, redecorating shenanigans, and sordid Hollywood secrets. Happy ending guaranteed or your ticket price refunded.
REVIEW:
We first met Olly in Secrets and Ink, as Jem’s best friend and coworker. He is the son of hippies, he’s never seen the inside of a closet, and he wants a man, and love… He and Jem work at a high end grocery store, so there is a chance he’ll find his man at work, but so far that hasn’t happened. Jem buys him a consultation with his psychic for his birthday, and off the two go to visit her. Olly isn’t overly impressed by her reading, until a parrot craps on his shoulder and she freaks out! Giving him a coyote fang charm of protection to wear, and warning him that something bad was coming his way. After the fact we know that she was fairly accurate in her predictions! Olly has offered to help a friend paint her house, budding movie star Sandy Baker, and he heads over the next morning, only to discover her asshole brother is there.
Rich (Dick, Chard, or Richard) Willson has had a rough year. He’s lost his father, his money, his job, his girlfriend and his home, and now is living with his sister in her unfinished house in LA. He’s pissed off and cranky. He is a true ginger, hot and fiery. He’s offered to help his sister get her house together, hoping to get a little down time and figure out what to do next with his life. He was a banker, had some big shit go down with his nasty father, and lost everything. He’s had some experience in construction, and loves to make furniture, so a little home project is just what he needs. What he DOESN’T need is Olly Blackwood. Or the mystery he and Olly get mixed up in.
Rich and Olly discover Sandy is being blackmailed and decide to stop it. They wind up way more involved in this mess than they should be, nearly costing Olly his life and Rich his freedom. It was an interesting storyline involving Hollywood drama, murder, porn, and blackmail. I will admit to getting a little lost at the end trying to follow who did what and why, but it was a very entertaining story.
What I really liked about this book was the relationship between Rich and Olly. Rich was a pain in the ass, and at times I thought I didn’t like him. He was really nasty to poor Olly, who I loved immediately. But Rich has some serious issues, and just needs some help! He can’t decide if he’s gay or not, treats Olly like crap, and is generally a grumpy bastard. He loves Sandy though, and truely wants to help her, both with her house and with the blackmail situation. This leaves him stuck with Olly whether he wants to be or not. They flirt and play around, only to have Rich freak out and yell at Olly. They get closer and farther over and over. I really liked watching it all! They run hot and cold throughout the whole story, but of course we get a happy ending!
I enjoy Lou’s writing style, her books are quirky and fun, with interesting characters. I liked the first book in this series as well, Jem and Nick were great together, and it had just the tiniest bit of paranormal to it. This one as well, maybe had a little moment of paranormalness with Olly’s coyote tooth necklace. I liked this book quite a bit, Rich and Olly were great, and I loved seeing Jem and Nick from the first book. It was an interesting plot, with good extra characters, Sandy was particularly fun. There’s not a lot of sex between Rich and Olly, but the little there was worked very well. Considering Rich and his comfort in the closet, I’m surprised we got as much as we did!
You could probably read this book on its own without reading the first book, but I’d recommend reading them both in order. Jem and Nick pop up here and there, you might want to know who they are before you read this one. This story is complete on its own, but the characters are common between the two books. Both are fun and light, with entertaining plots and great characters!
RATING: 
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