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It may have taken me a while, but boy does it feel good to finally have read a novel by Adele Parks! Theodora (Dora) thirty-one is a glamorous high end escort and she’s about to retire but she has one last job where she will accompany a regular client Daniel, to a luxury chateau in the South of France for a week, what could possibly go wrong? Dora goes on one last girlfriend experience (without the sex) to a super secluded mansion in the south of France. First of all, I really like Dora she seems very likable and honest though since she’s our principal narrator caution may be advised! And she was the central character in If It Bleeds, a novella in the 2020 collection of the same name.
A female sex worker decides to take one last job before retiring from the profession, but everything goes wrong. At a luxurious but secluded French estate, with a missing cellphone, too much alcohol, and a brain that starts playing tricks on her, Dora suddenly fears for her safety.She didn’t grow up dreaming of becoming an escort but it has become her way of paying the bills and it’s a job she does well and professionally. Dora expects she’ll continue in her line of work indefinitely—until the day a client beats her badly enough to send her to the hospital.
I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing author Adele Parks for the Storytime in Paris podcast on the Paris Underground Radio podcast network, which features interviews with authors who have a French connection. A friend of mine from Uni worked as an ‘escort’ for a while and I visited her workplace and met some of her colleagues. And when they arrive at the château, she meets with Daniel’s eccentric friends who act like they see an exotic creature as soon as they say hi to her. Dora can’t resist taking one last job - escorting a regular to a French château and pretending to be his girlfriend. You respect how this is a choice that allows her the financial freedom to support herself and keep herself and her family cared for.
It is understandable that she grows a thick skin and that when everything is lost, a deep sense of revenge takes over.
Despite her promise she takes one last job, thinking that she'll never have to tell this little secret to anyone. Told from the POV of a savvy escort/sex worker, this powerful, pulverizing, and twisty tale of love, revenge, and despair is dark, chilling, and mesmerizing. A lot of twists were thrown in towards the end, although I did guess most of them, there were two that were able to catch me by surprise which I absolutely loved! But the biggest problem is that this narrative is framed as a mystery without delivering the pleasures of a mystery. Then when I was about to start the last third: I realized the author moved the story backwards with 11 years long flashback and another narrator joined with Dora!I’m glad I slowed down my intake with One Last Secret as I was bulldozed by this one – in a good way! We learn Dora’s back story and I think what is a real shame here is that could’ve been a great book. I never really felt a connection between them and thought it odd that he even proposed to begin with.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing/ MIRA for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts. Adele’s work has been translated into 31 languages and, as if that weren’t enough, Queen Elizabeth granted her the honor of MBE for Services to Literature in the New Year Honours List 2022. I felt such empathy for Teodora, despite her career and her choices, so I was genuinely rooting for her the entire book. I wasn't quite expecting some of this content - there were a *lot* of details about escort services - but it helped with the story overall.One Last Secret is told through the eyes of an escort named Dora, and her testimony was utterly compelling.
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