REVIEW: Seven Years of Secrets by Susannah Erwin

Seven Years of Secrets by Susannah Erwin is the second book of the Heirs of Lochlainn duet. This book is about Declan Treharne, the biological son of Jamie Lochlainn. Unlike his half-sister, Anna, from the previous book, Declan figured out years earlier that Jamie was his father. When he went to confront his grandfather, Keith, the man turned him away. Now, Keith is secretly pitting Anna and Declan, who don’t know about each other, against each other to decide who would inherit his company.

Declan is a journalist, and his grandfather put him in charge of starting up their new station, LNT. He decides to bring journalist Mara Schuyler aboard. They have a history together; Declan stole her scoop and went on to win awards and have a booming career, while Mara was stuck covering small town stories. She’s interested in being able to bring stories to a boarder audience but is wary of working with Declan again. But as they work together, they realize that the feelings they once had for each other haven’t gone away. Only Declan has another job to return to and doesn’t want to work for the man who turned him away, while Mara is thrilled with her new position. Will they be able to put the past behind them and find a way to make their relationship work a second time?

I found this book to be a little slower paced than the first one, and I had a harder time getting into it. Declan and Mara’s characters were ok, but I didn’t overly love them. Mara seems to hold a lot of resentment towards Declan for something that she herself plays a role in. Declan struggles between returning to the job he had left and sticking around LNT. He’s determined to prove himself to his grandfather, but he really doesn’t have to prove anything to the man who was never there for him.

One thing that didn’t happen on the pages that I really would have liked to have seen was the first meeting between Anna and Declan, who started out not knowing the other existed. After all, both books are about the two competing against each other even though they didn’t even know it. Instead, readers don’t get to see them together until the epilogue in this book, and even then, there’s no direct interaction between the pair. After everything they had been through, I expected there to be at least seen some interaction between them.

I enjoyed the first book in the duet more than this one, but this was still a good read. The epilogue does a good job of tying both books together and wrapping them up. While this could be read as a standalone, I recommend reading them in order to get the full picture of what Keith put his grandchildren through and to witness his small evolution between the books.

Book Info:

Publication: June 27, 2023 | Harlequin Desire | Heirs of Lochlainn #2

Seven years ago, budding journalists Declan Treharne and Mara Schuyler had a sizzling fling…one that was abruptly extinguished when he stole her scoop. Now Mara’s just lost her job and Declan is offering her the opportunity of a lifetime—if she can trust him.

But the attraction they once shared is as fiery as ever, and Mara and Declan give in to it. Only, Mara doesn’t know that Declan is one of the Lochlainn billionaire heirs. And their rekindled passion is about to face the ultimate test of ambition and greed…