Thursday 7 July 2022

Blog tour - Review - One Last Secret by Adele Parks

One Last Secret by Adele Parks
Publisher: HQ
Release date: 7 July 2022
Back cover blurb: One last client. A week at a beautiful chateau in the south of France – it should be a straightforward final job for Dora. She’s a smart, stunning and discreet escort and Daniel has paid for her services before. This time, all she has to do is convince the assembled guests that she is his girlfriend. Dora is used to playing roles and being whatever men want her to be. It’s all about putting on a front. One last chance. It will be a last, luxurious look at how the other half lives, before Dora turns her back on the escort world and all its dangers. She has found someone she loves and trusts. With him, she can escape the life she’s trapped in. But when Dora arrives at the chateau, it quickly becomes obvious that nothing is what it seems… One last secret. Dora finds herself face to face with a man she has never forgotten, the one man who really knows her. And as old secrets surface, it becomes terrifyingly apparent that one last secret could cost Dora her life…


I know I probably say this every time I read an Adele Parks novel, but this one IS definitely her best yet.

Dora is a high class escort, used to giving clients want they want. She is straight talking, brutally honest, and acknowledges that although not the career path she originally had in mind of herself, she is good at her job. 

As a consequence, she is a woman very much in demand, she has a few regular wealthy clients and makes good money. Money so good, that she can’t see herself giving it up. What on earth would she do instead? She understands her job is not acceptable to some, but she doesn’t hide behind embarrassment.

But then something happens that turns her world upside down, and leaves her questioning all of her life choices. Could she give it? Should she give up?

Deep down she knows the answer is yes. When she gets a call from offering her one last job, she says no, but then she hears of the obscene amount of money being offered, and she says yes. 

Surely it won’t hurt? One last job. A holiday if you will, to the South of France, with no sex guaranteed. The Client ( a regular) just wants to make believe that she is his girlfriend. It will be easy money, and then it will all be over.

The transaction is smooth, and then they are on their way. When they arrive she finds that the heat is oppressive, and so is the atmosphere. His friends are not at all what they seem, and her first instinct is to get a cab straight back to the airport. But they are in a remote area, so fleeing unplanned is not an option.

Dora decides to stick it out. What’s the worst that could happen?

It’s a question she wishes she hadn’t asked herself, as the days become more and more surreal. Her fellow chateau guests more and more hostile towards her. She begins to fear for her life. Surely she’s being over dramatic? Her mother always said she was too dramatic…

From here on, Dora’s story gets split and we go back in time a little, interspersed with a few other characters. This could get confusing, but it is so well written that there is no danger of that. There are some very clever twists in this novel, the plot meticulously planned to keep readers on their toes and wanting more.

And I do want more … I really want to know what happens next. Though the novel did have a great ending, I can’t but feel this may not be the last we’ve heard of Dora.

One Last Secret is available now via Amazon online and all good book shops. 

Thank You to the publishers who approved my request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review, and spot on the blog tour!

The blog tour runs from 4 - 7 July, don't forget to check out the other hosts!

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