Singapore Secrets

By: Irene Onorato

Narrated by: Kathleen Li

Length: 3 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's Summary

Angry because her father, Louisiana Senator Jacob Windsor, has announced his engagement to Hollywood starlet Kara Bordeaux, Julia Windsor decides she’d rather leave home than be subjected to heightened security and a deluge of paparazzi. 

She travels to Singapore, severs all communication with those she’s left behind, and chooses to live a life of anonymity.

When Julia meets handsome Gabriel Davenport, she keeps her true purpose for being in Singapore a secret. The friendship that develops quickly evolves into something much deeper.

Julia marvels that she’s traveled halfway around the world to find love with an American man. But will that love endure when she discovers that Gabriel is a former Special Forces sergeant hired by her father to protect her?

©2016, 2021 Irene Onorato (P)2021 Irene Onorato

KNOW I ENJOYED THIS ONE AND COULDN'T STOP LISTENIN

LITERALLY COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN AND I REALLY ENJOYED THIS STORYLINE BEING WELL WRITTEN AND EASY TO FOLLOW
ACCEPTABLE FOR ALL AGES AND CLEAN
NARRATOR IS GOOD AND EASY TO FOLLOW

Sweet Romance!

I like Irene Onorato's writing! Gabriel (Gabe) and Julia's story is sweet and heartwarming, filled with secrets, and a little suspense. Gabe is handsome, patient, and protective. Julia is lovely, but spoiled, immature, and impetuous. They share an instant attraction. Jacob, Julia's father, and his girlfriend Kara, are great supporting characters, caring and protective. Kathleen Li did a great job narrating this story.

Romance and Secrets

The chemistry between Julia and Gabe is undeniable as they set about exploring Singapore after Julia runs away from her father's news of his upcoming nuptials. Julia has no idea what has been set into motion concerning her safety. Will Gabe get to her in time? I will not give away any spoilers but this book is a must listen/read because it is well written and intriguing. The characters development grows perfectly as the plot goes on. Kathleen Li does a wonderful job as narrator giving the characters and story life through her voices that are edged with emotion. I highly recommend this book because it has everything romance, humor, intrigue, lies, and tested loyalty.

3.5

Performance 4 stars. Story 3 stars.

Summary:
When her father proposes to his sweet, much younger, beautiful actress girlfriend, a spoiled little rich girl pitches a fit and runs away to Singapore. The father sends an ex-soldier, who happens to be tall, handsome, physically fit, etc after her, just to make sure she’s okay. The usual ensues. Toss in a few Christian references and the kid sort of sees the error of her ways and you pretty much have this story.

Additional Comments:
• Highly predictable. There wasn’t much investigating going on. Julia wasn’t exactly hiding. One check of her cell phone would have had her pinned down. She didn’t strike me as the type to be carefully covering her tracks. Heck, I think she even used her credit card to pay for the hotel and such. Pretty sure daddy could get a hold of that record if he wanted to. If he was that worried, I see no reason he wouldn’t have hopped on a plane to drag her behind back from the other end of the world. But then, Julia wouldn’t have had the chance to fall in love with the devastatingly handsome ex-soldier boy.
• Has a few mammoth plot holes, especially where the danger factor is concerned.
• Performance is fine. The senator, Gabe, Julia, and the famous actress fiancée are all distinguishable. I’ve said it before and stand by the assessment that the narrator has nice reading instincts. Her pauses are natural. Her accents are decent and believable. She doesn’t have a huge range of characters (10+), but you don’t need that for this story anyway.
• The title has very little to do with the story, except that it mentions where most of the scenes take place.
• The cover has zip to do with the story, except that it might get the genre right.
• Story’s okay.
• Characters: Gabe’s a decent love interest, but I have a very hard time liking Julia because she goes from a stupid, super selfish little rich brat to contrite semi-selfish, slightly less dumb little rich girl to damsel in distress to semi-tolerable little rich girl who’s got a hot boyfriend. There is a smidgen of hope for her at the end when she fights back. She’s probably the most realistic character but still annoying.
• Romance angle is fine.
• The Christian angle didn’t bother me, but it wasn’t subtle in any sense. It was also a tad unrealistic. The story wouldn’t have changed one iota if it hadn’t been there at all, just a few lines of dialogue would change. That tells me it wasn’t integrated well.
• Suspense angle fell flat, but it made the last quarter of the book better than the first three quarters.
• Book is clean as far as curse words go and adult scenes. There’s one scene that might trigger some people, but I thought it was fine and I’m picky about such things.

Conclusion:
It’s not a bad story, just highly predictable with little that makes it stand out.

*I received a free copy of the audiobook. I’ve freely chosen to review the story. All thoughts are my own.

Cute but religious...

A fun read that displays new friends, adventure, exploring other cultures, and has a likable cast!
It was completely predictable but still a super cute, enjoyable read that kept me company while I worked, and had a bit of action mixed in.

One thing I would change is, I felt like the author’s religious beliefs were being pushed on me a bit much. I’d rather be able to just read and escape, since real life does plenty of that. Also minor things were made out to be extremely dramatic at times, causing me to question plausibility a little.

Overall though, a cute read.


3 stars.
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️


Note:
I listened to the audiobook. Perfect production and excellent narrator! Very well done.

spoiled rotten child

I didn't like Julia, but I felt a tiny bit of empathy for her at the end of the story. Julia was hard headed, immature, spoiled , and dangerously impulsive. She caused much unnecessary worry about danger. I admired how concerned and caring both Jacob and Kara were from the very beginning and the lengths they went to to ensure a thoughtless child's safety!!!!! I also admired Gabe's bravery and integrity and would wish him tons of luck with such a spoiled package as Julia. I voluntarily listened to a free copy of this and am giving an honest review. The narrator did a good job.