Review (ARC Edition): DISCRETION by Karina Halle



Title: Discretion
Series: The Dumonts, #1
Author: Karina Halle
Publication Date: August 06, 2019
Genre: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Add to: Goodreads / Amazon
Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3 stars)
From New York Times bestselling author Karina Halle comes a delicious saga of wealth, luxury, and scandal—and the wicked secrets of success behind an envied family dynasty.

The Riviera means indulgence—if you’ve got money. For Sadie Reynolds, a down-on-her-luck student, the Riviera means dingy hostels and back streets. When a wrong turn puts her in jeopardy, the last thing she expects is to be saved by the most handsome stranger she’s ever locked eyes with. When she later wakes up in a luxury suite with a Mediterranean view, she’s in the tender care of her rescuer: Olivier Dumont, France’s most eligible bachelor, billionaire hotelier, and heir to the Dumont fashion fortune.


Olivier also owns his reputation for scandal. But Sadie is unlike any woman he’s ever met. Her humble persona and wild innocence promise real passion. He’s promising Sadie something too: anything she wants. From Bordeaux to Cannes to Paris, Sadie’s past in America is swept away and replaced with a fantasy too good to be true.


Pulled into Olivier’s orbit of wealth, glamour, and excess, Sadie discovers that the Dumont dynasty comes with a legacy of wicked secrets. And Olivier’s secrets may be the most damning of all…


*Thank you to the publisher/author for kindly providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.


It took me a while to read this and not because I didn't like the story. It's because I set myself up a TBR for both June and July and when I do this kind of thing, I either fail at it or no. So when I did this, I tried to tell myself I wanna be faithful to the TBR because I really need to get some books off my TBR shelf since they've been there for a long while now.



Discretion wasn't what I expected if I have to be honest. The premise gave me a feeling that this book was going to be dark and that's what I also felt when I read the prologue. However, this book was actually just a family feud that's been going on for a long time and there may have been some bad blood between the members thanks to greed and power but yeah, it wasn't dark. Though the book wasn't marketed as such anyway so that's on me.

Another thing I didn't expect was Olivier. He's this guy whom I thought would be a closed off dude with a cold aura like a lot of rich male characters with family drama. He's surprisingly a nice guy and a generous one too. The only thing that wasn't really that appealing for me is that he was too trusting. There's a certain scene where I'm just "LISTEN TO YOUR SISTER" because my gosh, things were bad and he needed to see the other picture.


Sadie was a charming female lead but she didn't stand out to me that much. I do like her bravery and how she could stand her ground. I also admire her for being able to sort out her priorities when she was caught up with Olivier in France when she also had a life in America. 


Overall, the story was okay. There were certain scenes where I feel like I was left hanging thus the rating for this book. Either they're going to be discussed in the next book or not but a part of me wished these events were tackled more in this book because they played a part in the lives of both main characters. 





2 comments:

  1. I'm eh on this author. A few of the books I've read by her have been just okay for me so I haven't picked up more from her. I can see she's still the same so I may stay away for a while. Great review though!
    Genesis @ Whispering Chapters

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    1. This is my second read from this author and I can't get in to her books either :\ I think I rated 1-2 stars the first book I read and I saw this one on netgalley and decided to give it a shot, thinking this was a dark romance book or even a mafia kind. But eh.. not it.

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