Secret Santo by Carla Caruso
Publication Date: December 2, 2014
What’s the Story?
Holly Plume is a bookseller by day and a romance blogger by night, dishing out scathing reviews under her pseudonym, Sultry Scarlet. When she scores an invite to the publishing event of the year, Holly couldn’t be more excited. Finally a chance to meet her favourite author, the mysterious thriller writer known only as AJ Ruffo.
When Holly literally falls into the arms of the mysterious and charming Santo Randolfi, she’s sure it must be AJ. After all, Santo has tousled good looks, dark curls, luscious lips . . . He’s exactly what she’d imagined. But when Santo reveals he’s actually the author of a romance novel Holly recently slammed on her blog, keeping her online identity a secret becomes vital.
As Holly struggles to keep Santo from learning the truth, she realizes just how much she likes him. But when he discovers who she is, will their relationship be over before it’s even begun?
My Review
Carla Caruso is my favorite novella author, so I was excited to read a holiday Christmas story written by her. I do admit that I read this one a few weeks ago but I think that it’s never too late (or too early!) for a fun and festive holiday story. Caruso always delivers on laughs and a little romance and this one does not disappoint.
Secret Santo is short and sweet, literally! Clocking in at 54 pages, it’s a classic Caruso work that you can read in about an hour. Carla’s writing has recently made me love novellas and this is a shinning example of why I love them. I loved that the main character Holly is a book review blogging; I can obviously relate to that! I don’t have an air of mystery in my writing because I don’t use a secret pen-name, but I love that this character does. Throughout the story, one of the main things I connected with was Holly’s notion of not wanting to write bad reviews on a book that wasn’t enjoyable because of the time and effort the author went through to write the book. It’s difficult to show tough-love but you want to be honest with your book loving community and feel it’s your duty to let them know what you did and didn’t love about a book. (In case you weren’t sure, I loved this one!)
If you love novellas, then you probably don’t need to be told how fabulous they are, but if you aren’t familiar, let this be the one that you fall in love with! There’s nothing like a quick read to make you laugh and put a smile on your face. Another great one. Cheers to you Carla! <3
My Rating: 5/5 Stars
An ARC was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Receiving novels free of charge in no way reflects on my honest opinion and no monetary compensation was provided for my review. Writing a review is the best way to say thank you to an author. I encourage you to write reviews and share them on sites like Goodreads and Amazon so that your fellow readers can see what you think!
About the Author
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Carla Caruso
About the author from her website:
Carla Caruso was born in Adelaide, grew up amid a boisterous extended Italian family – yet somehow managed to become a bookworm…
Carla always wanted to be a novelist, annoying the kindergarten teachers by dictating long, detailed stories to them. It just took her a while to realise her childhood dream – journalism seemed a more practical course. Her media career has included stints as a newspaper and magazine journalist, government PR and fashion stylist. These days, she works as a freelance journalist and copywriter. She began seriously writing fiction three years ago when she went freelance full-time.
The romance genre appeals as she is a sucker for rom-coms (especially if Channing Tatum is in the mix) and likes to think her Italian ancestry means she lives with passion. Hobbies include watching trashy TV shows, fashion (her mum named her after Carla Zampatti!), astrology and running. She lives in Adelaide.
Thanks Arielle!!! And hope you’ve had a fantabulous start to 2015!
The book sounds quite interesting, but I can’t get past the cover. The cover of a book is the first thing I look at to determine if I will read it or not. I won’t even read what it’s about if I don’t like the cover, but that’s just me.
I’m the same way! But I’ve read a few books by her already and know her writing so I was able to get past the cover lol. I usually don’t like covers with real people on them. Illustrations only for me!