Scripted Words

What He Never Knew (Best Kept Secrets #3)
Kandi Steiner
February 21, 2019

I never learn my lesson.

And I always want what I can’t have.

When Sarah Henderson walks into my life, I tell myself she’s off limits. She’s my student, sixteen years younger than me, and my boss’s niece. It doesn’t matter that I see the same pain reflected in her eyes that I have in my own, or that the dead organ better known as my heart kicks to life when she’s around.

I’ve been here before, and I know how this ends.

It’s been two years since I fell for the last woman I knew I couldn’t have, the one with the ring on her finger that I chose to ignore.

Two years of trying to overcome that heartache when Sarah slides into my life.

Another woman I can’t have. Another woman I can’t stop myself from wanting.

I never learn my lesson, but with a constant reminder of how that last forbidden love burned, I think I’ve finally learned this one.

This time, I won’t chase what’s off limits.

This time, I’m staying away.

And I’ll keep telling myself that until I believe it.

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Oh, Reese.

I wanted his happy ending the second What He Always Knew ended. I wanted him to find his love, someone who understands him entirely. And Sarah? She is the perfect person for him, both of them are so badly damaged that they heal each other.

Sarah has a dark past, but both Reese and her went through something similar and now they have…perfection. The story that Kandi creates for the two of them is absolutely amazing.

And that playlist? The way she links all of the songs to the chapter they’re connected to is simply amazing. I’ve read books where authors create a playlist for said book, but I’ve never seen the links to the songs in the books. She gives us all the feels and don’t even get me started on the angst, we all know she’s the queen at writing angsty stories.

One of my favorite genres to read is the teacher/student type and oh boy, I don’t think anything can prepare any of us for this one. My heart ached, I cried and cursed Kandi an awful lot, my favorite thing when I’m reading one of Kandi’s books is to message her with a “Damnit Steiner” and that’s how you know I’ve started crying. Y’all, just buy this and read it. But do not, I repeat do not read this if you haven’t read What He Doesn’t Know and What He Always Knew first, it’ll ruin everything.

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Kandi Steiner is a bestselling author and whiskey connoisseur living in Tampa, FL. Best known for writing “emotional rollercoaster” stories, she loves bringing flawed characters to life and writing about real, raw romance — in all its forms. No two Kandi Steiner books are the same, and if you’re a lover of angsty, emotional, and inspirational reads, she’s your gal.

An alumna of the University of Central Florida, Kandi graduated with a double major in Creative Writing and Advertising/PR with a minor in Women’s Studies. She started writing back in the 4th grade after reading the first Harry Potter installment. In 6th grade, she wrote and edited her own newspaper and distributed to her classmates. Eventually, the principal caught on and the newspaper was quickly halted, though Kandi tried fighting for her “freedom of press.” She took particular interest in writing romance after college, as she has always been a die hard hopeless romantic, and likes to highlight all the challenges of love as well as the triumphs.

When Kandi isn’t writing, you can find her reading books of all kinds, talking with her extremely vocal cat, and spending time with her friends and family. She enjoys live music, traveling, anything heavy in carbs, beach days, movie marathons, craft beer and sweet wine — not necessarily in that order.

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What He Always Knew (Best Kept Secrets #2) 
Contemporary Romance
Kandi Steiner 
March 29, 2018 

Left or right.
 
It’s that simple, and it isn’t simple at all. 

If I turn left, the road will lead me back to the man I promised my life to, the one I’d imagined building a family with, the one who’s done everything in his power to get me back. 

If I turn right, the road will take me to the man I loved first, the man who brought me back to life, the man who would do anything to keep me. 

I knew the fork in the road was inevitable; it was the decision I never wanted to make between choices I didn’t know I had. 

And I love them both. 

My heart is destined to exist in two equal halves — one with each man. But one half beats stronger, the vein running deepest, and holds my choice in silence long before I know it for myself. 

The realization of what I have to do, of the heart I have to break, just might break mine too. 

Left or right. 

All I have to do is take a breath and turn.

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You guys.

Please, please tell me you’ve read part one of this super angsty duet already? Or that you were waiting for part two to come out so you didn’t have to suffer like the rest of us and wait the two weeks. Even though it was only two weeks, it felt like a life time. I didn’t read anything in that time frame, although I did get the book a little earlier due to receiving an arc, to which I think I actually screamed over getting. So, if you waited, maybe skip this review until after, but if you didn’t, I’ll keep this as spoiler free as possible.

What He Always Knew picks up literally right where we left off with in What He Doesn’t Know and thank goodness for Kandi doing it like this, I’m always wondering what happens in between the ending of one book and the start of another or after the ending and before the epilogue. I know, the whole point of an epilogue is to let us know how things are going on, but my mind wonders years after I’ve finished a book.

I’ll be honest with you guys, I was #TeamReese for 95% of this book, at least that’s what I tell myself. I love Reese and I love how fiercely he loves Charlie, but the whole Blake thing threw us all for a loop. The other 5% of the time I was #TeamCharlie, part of me wanted her to all but say “fuck both of you” and end up being alone for a while. But that’s not what the book was supposed to be about. 

You guys, I can’t even put into words how amazingly Kandi wrote this duet, not just What He Always Knew, but both of them. There were so many twists and turns, I didn’t know if something crazy was going to happen, if someone was going to die, which I’m totally not saying didn’t happen, it could have. I didn’t know anything. Essentially, I went in blind, but it was the best damn decision I made. 

My heart, I don’t even know how to tell you what she did to my heart. 

She broke it.

She mended it,

She made it cry. 

She made me cry. 

Damn it, Steiner. 

I hate crying, but she does it more times than not. 

I honestly don’t know how to put into words how this book made me feel. Just like What He Didn’t Know, I just want to type “Read it” over and over again and then call it a day. But I know, some of you will be disappointed in the ending, some of you will be over the moon ecstatic and some of you may not know what to do with your life. I promise you, it’s well worth the read, even if to find out who she chooses. But you can not, I repeat, can not, skip ahead to find out. You will never forgive yourself.

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Kandi Steiner is a bestselling author and whiskey connoisseur living in Tampa, FL. Best known for writing “emotional rollercoaster” stories, she loves bringing flawed characters to life and writing about real, raw romance — in all its forms. No two Kandi Steiner books are the same, and if you’re a lover of angsty, emotional, and inspirational reads, she’s your gal.

An alumna of the University of Central Florida, Kandi graduated with a double major in Creative Writing and Advertising/PR with a minor in Women’s Studies. She started writing back in the 4th grade after reading the first Harry Potter installment. In 6th grade, she wrote and edited her own newspaper and distributed to her classmates. Eventually, the principal caught on and the newspaper was quickly halted, though Kandi tried fighting for her “freedom of press.” She took particular interest in writing romance after college, as she has always been a die hard hopeless romantic, and likes to highlight all the challenges of love as well as the triumphs.

When Kandi isn’t writing, you can find her reading books of all kinds, talking with her extremely vocal cat, and spending time with her friends and family. She enjoys live music, traveling, anything heavy in carbs, beach days, movie marathons, craft beer and sweet wine — not necessarily in that order.

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What He Doesn’t Know 
Contemporary Romance 
Kandi Steiner 
March 15, 2018 
Perrywinkle Photography, Lauren Perry 
Cover Designed by Kandi Steiner

On the northeast side of town, there is a house. 

The house was once magical, filled with love and joy and plans for the future. 

Inside its walls are many things that belong to me — my books, the china from my mother on my wedding day, the beautiful cage once home to two birds, now empty, just like me.

And a man.

A man who also belongs to me. 

A man I no longer wish to keep. 

A man who, no doubt, has not slept, though the sun is rising. Because the house where he waits is where I laid my head to rest every night for eight years.

Until last night.

No one who knows me would believe Charlie Pierce, the quiet, bookish girl who never made waves is pulling out of the driveway of a man who isn’t her husband. 

But they don’t know me at all. 

I don’t even know me. 

Not anymore. 

They say there are two sides to every story, and I suppose in most cases, that’s true. But the one I live inside of?

It has three. 

On the northeast side of town, there is a house. 

But there is no longer a home.

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I knew, I knew when I first heard about this book that it would drive me up the wall, that I would go crazy waiting for the second part of the duet and that I would cry, because if you’ve read Kandi Steiner before, you know too. Except that I didn’t really cry, I wanted to and I knew if I were alone more while reading that I probably would have cried. Fat, ugly, snotty tears. I just can’t help it. I feel a little weird that I didn’t cry, but I hate crying in front of people. I am going crazy though, waiting, and the worst part is that I just finished this book less than an hour ago. I wont wait to start the next one if I’m lucky enough to receive an arc. See, because I’ve read all but one of Kandi’s books, I knew I wouldn’t be able to go on to something else right away and I had two other arcs to read first or I would have been mad at myself and tried to force them on me, I don’t like to do that, so I waiting, knowing that my best friend was reading about Cameron, Reese and Charlie, falling in love with them or hating them the way I knew I would, it just depended on the character and point in the book. But I finished, and now I’m here to tell you all that you need to read this book. It’s free on kindle unlimited and you can get a free 30 day trial if you’ve never used it.

You guys, this book. This might be my new favorite. Though if you know me, you know I’ll say that about her next book and every book after that. 

I screamed. 

I thought about throwing my iPad.

I teared up and if I were alone, completely, I would have sobbed.

I yelled at Kandi. It’s a good thing she knows I’ll always love her, because I was kind of mean. I’m sorry Kandi, you’re just such and incredibly talented author and I can’t help it if you make me mad, or rather if your characters make me mad.

I know, just by reading the synopsis that a lot of people will think badly about this book. Cheating is a sensitive subject with a lot of people. But I think you should still give it a shot. Don’t judge a book based on it’s cover, or covers, since What He Always Knew is a completely different guy on the cover. 

I really just want to keep typing “READ IT” over and over again, while posting pictures of sponge bob and his need for water when he goes to visit Sandy for the first time. Please tell me that you know what I’m talking about? That’s how I feel about getting people to read this book right now. 

Please.

Go read it.

And grab tissues.

And maybe some wine, or whiskey, whatever you prefer. You’re going to need it.

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Kandi Steiner is a bestselling author and whiskey connoisseur living in Tampa, FL. Best known for writing “emotional rollercoaster” stories, she loves bringing flawed characters to life and writing about real, raw romance — in all its forms. No two Kandi Steiner books are the same, and if you’re a lover of angsty, emotional, and inspirational reads, she’s your gal.

An alumna of the University of Central Florida, Kandi graduated with a double major in Creative Writing and Advertising/PR with a minor in Women’s Studies. She started writing back in the 4th grade after reading the first Harry Potter installment. In 6th grade, she wrote and edited her own newspaper and distributed to her classmates. Eventually, the principal caught on and the newspaper was quickly halted, though Kandi tried fighting for her “freedom of press.” She took particular interest in writing romance after college, as she has always been a die hard hopeless romantic, and likes to highlight all the challenges of love as well as the triumphs.

When Kandi isn’t writing, you can find her reading books of all kinds, talking with her extremely vocal cat, and spending time with her friends and family. She enjoys live music, traveling, anything heavy in carbs, beach days, movie marathons, craft beer and sweet wine — not necessarily in that order.

Facebook

Kandiland

Instagram

Twitter

Amazon

Goodreads

Sign up for Kandi’s newsletter by visiting her website