Kristen Heitzmann’s Secrets is a book that sounded much more interesting than it turned out to be. The premise seemed to offer mystery and romance in a beautiful setting. The scenery is nice enough, but the story moves so gradually that it never really takes off.

Lance Michelli came to the Sonoma Valley at the request of his ailing grandmother. Although Antonia grew up there, she left the family home under mysterious circumstances decades earlier. Now Lance returns to the old villa to find the truth about what happened there so many years ago. The house is now owned by Rese Barrett, a carpenter who plans to turn it into a bed-and-breakfast. When Rese advertises for a maid/cook, Lance shows up and offers his services. He isn’t what she was looking for, but she hires him on a trial basis.

For Rese, opening the bed-and-breakfast is an opportunity for a new life. She used to work on her father’s construction crew, where she struggled to be taken seriously by the men. After her father’s death, she sold off his business and bought the villa. Standoffish and fiercely independent, she doesn’t want to have to rely on anyone, especially a man. But Lance slowly (very slowly) chips away at her gruff exterior and they grow closer. When some old secrets about her family are revealed, Lance is there for her. She just doesn’t know that he, too, is keeping secrets from her about his true motives for being in her life.

That synopsis likely makes this story sound more dramatic and mysterious than it really is. This is very much a low-key, character-driven story, heavy on character-interaction and low on actual incident. It’s often beautifully written, with nice descriptions of the setting and some very effective character moments. It’s a pleasant, easy read, but never an engrossing one. There are several different storylines, all of which unfold so slowly that it’s hard to get caught up in any of them. The characters are doing things, but it often feels like the story isn’t going anywhere. Details about the mystery are dribbled out at such a gradual rate that it was easy to forget about it for long stretches of the book. The most successful storyline isn’t the romance or the mystery surrounding Lance’s grandmother – it’s the story of Rese’s past and her family history. This subplot had an urgency and emotional impact that the rest of the book was lacking for too much of the time. It was the only part of the book I was all that interested in, and it was often lost among the other parts of the book: Lance and Rese working on the inn, Lance snooping around behind Rese’s back, etc.

I have a fondness for prickly loner characters, and I liked Rese. She’s hard-edged and aloof, but also very sympathetic, especially as her family secrets are revealed. The book has a number of likable and interesting secondary characters who add nicely to the story. But I never really warmed up to Lance, who often came across as a pushy hothead. Rese is so damaged she needs someone to get her to open up, but often Lance’s methods just rubbed me the wrong way and I didn’t like his attitude. I was also never entirely comfortable with the way he deceives her, which wouldn’t have been as much of a problem if this weren’t an inspirational story. The religious elements are handled gracefully, but I would have liked it more if they weren’t coming from Lance, or if he had come clean before trying to convert her. Instead, having her find out that the person leading her to God was misleading her about his true purposes in her life the whole time didn’t seem like it would do much to help her relationship with Him. Rese’s growing faith is quite nice and Lance does grapple with the issue of trying to help her while lying to her. But the uneasy feeling I got waiting to see how she would react when she found out about Lance’s deception made it harder to enjoy this subplot than I might have otherwise.

For most of the book, I would have rated it as slightly above average, if only for the quality of the writing and some of the stronger scenes. Then it ultimately arrives at an ending that isn’t particularly satisfying on any front. The story just kind of peters out, offering a conclusion of sorts without really resolving the story threads. The last page announces that the stories of Rese, Lance and Nonna Antonia will continue in a forthcoming sequel. This book basically leaves everything open to be continued in that book. Readers who go into this book not expecting too many answers to the mystery or a truly conclusive HEA may be less disappointed than I was. After slogging through 410 pages, I couldn’t believe I was being left without a complete story.

I suspect Secrets will work better for readers who prize quiet stories that focus on small moments, gradually unfolding relationships and character interaction, and are less concerned with plot and story momentum. It’s the kind of book where I stopped midway through and tried to remember what had happened on the previous 200 pages. The answer – not much. As a result, it went on too long without seeming to go anywhere for my tastes, and the characters were only compelling enough to keep me moderately interested. I’m a very fast reader, and it took me months to read this book. That pretty much says everything you need to know about my response to it.