Joined in 2023 
82 
63 About this deal
I always love writing about food. A perfect town is hiding secrets. Until it all falls apart. The four children are suddenly dropped by their mother with a single sentence. Welcome back to Bayview High . I was also inspired to write about a garden designer, partly by the talented and forgiving woman who looks after my garden and partly by another garden designer who’s in my choir. What a hero! Larkin's body know more than they're telling, especially her ex-best friend Tripp Talbot. But there’s always more than one inspiration for a book and A Secret Garden has at least three.
Reviews
Melanie’s reads
She is an escort and a refreshingly honest one at that. The opening lines sucked me straight into this absolutely gripping domestic noir thriller.
Stu Cummins
I felt all of the paranoia, anxiety and fear that she did, such was the redolent nature of Parks’ writing. I have stated in previous reviews that Adele writes characters that are ordinary folk put in extraordinary situations…… Well I take it all back as there’s is nothing ordinary about Dora.
kristina
Then the twists hit and maybe she wasn’t so dumb after all. Let me rewind a bit, you see Dora has a past, which becomes apparent later on with the clever use of a very important flashback. It’s not easy to bring a character to life so vividly, so it really demonstrates Parks’ power as a writer. She is secretive and not even entirely honest with her best friend Evan or her booking agent Elspeth.
BookBloggerJanine
But then I am one of those that can easily separate the physical act of sex from the romantic notions of hearts and flowers. Adele is an extremely talented author and the plot was well written and intense.
zoebeesbooks19
This adds a element of authenticity to the narrative and suffuses a sense of humanity into the protagonist. I couldn’t put this book down. I thought the world of escorting was written about brilliantly with real emotion on how the main characters managed to compartmentalise her feelings to get through her life. I had a sneaky feeling about one thing but I was completely blindsided by other reveals which made this such an amazing page turner of a book.
There are so many twists and secrets that pop up throughout this book. I saw Parks interviewed at Capital Crime and she discussed her research process for this novel, which involved lots of conversations with women who work in the sex trade. So I was a little disappointed if I’m honest when she started going all lovey dovey on me, when I had so admired her ball breaking attitude and independence. Does she get her happy ever after?
I was immediately drawn into Dora’s life and felt a connection to her from the very beginning. Then she takes one last job….
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