Filthy Little Secret

Filthy Little Secret is a delightful surprise. You read the blurb thinking "oh I know where this book is going" but guess what? You're wrong. And even as you're reading and you thinking "oh crap this is going to end tragically, I know exactly how this is going to end," you're wrong. I was so certain I knew what the major kink (ha ha) in the new relationship would be, the event that would divide the new couple and wreck them, a past that would destroy one main character...yep, I was dead wrong. You don't think "happily ever after" as you're reading, but guess what? You're wrong! Loved this book! Read it!

2,5 actuallyI'm in the minority again, but this time I don't think it's me. I'll try to explain. Bear with me, I'm in a ranting mood.This was my first book by this author. I know he also wrote some books with Riley Hart who I adore. Well I think I had too high expectations from Devon McCormack and I ended extremely disappointed. I don't know what I expected, but all this mess was not it. I really struggled to finish it.I'm rating it with 2,5 because I'm really in the middle of "didn't like it" and "it was OK". I honestly tried to enjoy it, I even got to a point I turned the pages real fast (somewhere in the middle of the book) and I also started to like Tim, BUT then it all felt flat and almost sent me into a coma. I couldn't wait to put it behind me.I've buddy read it with my best friend and as we shared our thoughts and highlights, I realized it's not only me here. We both got so bored!I think the beginning was too centered on the sex and not having their back stories it kind of felt flat and a little forced. They weren't what they seemed, Tim a bad boy and a drug dealer, Mark a spoiled rich student. Tim was supposed to be only a mistake Mark chose to make. I have read before many sex scenes where the MC's weren't invested at first, and still I enjoyed reading them and thought they were hot. Here I didn't feel the chemistry, or any suspense adding up. Nothing. It felt like a debut book. I have read SO many great debut books so this really felt mediocre.I expected at least the ending to be good enough, but no such thing! I got to hate Mark... after he so easily distrusted Tim. I just couldn't with all the poor angst, the backstabbing friends and then the cheesy lines in the end: “I’ll always fight for you, Mark. Because you’re worth fighting for.” "The man who I was so sure I was above falling in love with—the man I underestimated so much when we first met. I thought he was a demon, but he’s an angel. My angel."This book had SO much potential, but the poor writing made me cringe. Besides the writing, I also hated the awful spitting in the face scenes. But these were a few and only in the beginning.Not sure if I'll have the courage to try another book by this author. I was really disappointed here.

Filthy Little Secret is a very quick, fairly light MM romance told from alternating points of view from each of the main characters. It started out strong. Mark, the Governor’s son – always having to worry about appearances and keeping up a squeaky-clean reputation - hooking up with Tim the campus drug dealer for some hot revenge sex after his boyfriend cheats on him. Cheats with his best friend, no less. Mark knows Tim isn’t a relationship kind of guy but after getting duped by his 2 ex.’s (boyfriend and friend) who carried on behind his back for 3 months – he’s fine with a no strings, no expectations booty-call buddy. Tim sees Mark as another spoiled, useless rich kid who’ll have sex him for a thrill but never consider him an equal – which is fine with Tim because the sex is off the charts and he’s got way too much on his plate to be entertaining an actual relationship with anyone. It was a great set up for several of my favorite tropes: enemies to lovers, wrong side of the tracks and forbidden love.Unfortunately, after a strong start, the story meanders and doesn't really deliver. The intrigue with Mark’s ex. Greg and his ex. friend Morgan and Mark’s but mostly Greg’s friend Keith who went psycho stalker on Tim after their hook-up fizzled…it’s the gay collegiate equivalent of watching middle school girls. Mark and Tim, as they get to know each other, realize it isn’t just sex between them – although don’t get me wrong – they have A LOT of sex. (I was put off by the spitting in other reviews, because…..saliva…..ewwww; however it was confined to the beginning scenes and seemed to be part of that whole humiliation kink thing that eludes me – but I didn’t dwell on it and it wasn’t a deal breaker).As Mark and Tim keep hooking up and spending more time with each other, Tim realizes Mark isn’t just another stuck up, pretentious, spoiled rich kid living off his parent’s money; and Mark realizes Tim isn’t really an anti-social, jerk. In fact, Tim wants to be a better person for Mark and starts making some positive life changes. But there’s still a lot of meandering around several contrived mild and quickly resolved angsty drama llamas.All in all a sweet story with a HEA. Mark and Tim were a little too cutesy for my taste but they weren’t over the top, I just have low “cutesy” tolerance.

This is only my second book by this author writing on his own, but with this release, he's become a one-click Autobuy. Keeping quiet about the release, keeping it kind of secret, rather than bragging to the world on social media, was the best possible present, the best kind of surprise on this miserable winter's day in gloomy London.Tale-wise, it's pretty much perfect, although it has a few editing issues and in one scene a character suffers a name-change, which made me have a 'uwot??' moment (hate this, especially when there's a paid editor who gets given credit). I'd normally knock a 0.5* off a review for that, but, it was so good, I can forgive and forget. This time!So, this is not a nice, sweet, twee book and I've come to realise that I don't need, expect or want any of that from this author. Don't get me wrong - I love sweet romantic tales that end in a HEA that's hearts and roses, but DM's style of writing hits some different spots. It's a tale clearly written from a guy's perspective, with some harsh language, harsh realities, a lead, Tim, who is just what the blurb says he is, without dolling it up - he's a drug dealer. OK, normally that'd be unpalatable to me, and I'd be thinking that there must be some get-out clause to make him acceptable, but refreshingly, there wasn't. Not a hint of anything cliché or fabricated, simply a guy who'd made some choices and who did what he did because that was his job and he reaped the benefits. There's a little more to him, still not sanitised, but enough to make him human and not some kind of predator.Mark was refreshing, too, as he wasn't your typical rich boy as portrayed too many times in too many rich boy/bad boy tales. He had guts, he wasn't trying to score points against mummy and daddy and his privileged background - he'd been hurt and he wanted to feel something other than hurt/anger/betrayal and the loss of a friend and a lover, which he found via some hot, dirty, supposedly one-off sex with Tim. But, beyond the hot, dirty, filthy, naughty sex, they actually began to like each other, which neither suppressed and yet at the same time, which neither was all roses about.I won't go more into the tale itself, as 1) I don't have DM's talent and 2) I don't want to Spoiler it, but it ticked every box I wanted in a romance. Bad boy, good boy. Sweet cuddles. Dirty sex. Taped Sex. Risk. The possibility of a scandal. The right amount of 'felt real' angst, the right kind of 'it's suddenly not all roses', a realistic/believable dirty deed aspect to it that made it so contemp. Oh, and it ended with proof of what each guy meant to the other. And with me smiling as I read the end.Said end came a year after the leads got together, in a couple of scenes that had the tiniest, perfectly acceptable hint of Bollywood-ness style of endings (no, I refuse to elaborate, as believe me, being forced to watch B-wood for years is kind of traumatic, but let's just say that their motto is 'all good things come to those who deserve, and baddies get their just desserts'). It ended with the leads happy and living their lives in ways meaningful to them both, in love, with one aged about 21/22 and the other about 25/26. Did I hope and think that they were in the early stages of their HEA? YES, but I didn't need proof beyond this, as that would have spoiled the 'keeping it real' feel of this tale. OK, maybe I'm being a bit of a hypocrite here, as I am willingly putting on my B-wood, i.e. rose-tinted, specs, but for once, I don't feel bad about it.I loved this tale, and the only thing left now to say is, 'So, what's up next, Mr McCormack, 'cos this reader is about to turn stalker?' Obvs the nice kind, not the weird and creepy kind, LOL!).

Oh dirty boy...How I love my Devon books...I've not read one of Devon's for awhile apart from his collab's with Riley...I think i've loved all the ones i've read though and this one is no different.....Tim the drug dealing bad boy and Mark the Governers son....But Tim wasn't that bad a boy...But he was down right dirty though...Mark too.....They were perfect together....Hot and dirty......A sexy hot read with a small bit of angst to get you going near the end.....I love this author and I don't think there's anything he can write that I won't love x

Filthy little secret was such a amazing story it had laughter fun some tears and a lot of seriousness to it it was a perfect story and also was hot and sexy toI fell so in love Tim and mark there connection was o intense from the start I could feel it from page to pageThank you devon mccormack for another beautifully written story I loved Tim and mark so much

I absolutely loved this book! There wasn't a point where I became bored or wanted to put the book down like I sometimes do when a storyline drags on. The romance between Mark and Tim definitely is in my top 5 favourites of all time!

Another brilliant book from Devon McCormack, the characters are really great guys the plot engaging and the sex is smoking hot. Loved reading this story.