What He Doesn't Know (What He Doesn't Know Duet #1) by Kandi Steiner

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Synopsis:

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. 

*Received this ARC in exchange for an honest review*

When I first heard about this book, I knew that I had to read it! Kandi Steiner has not let me down yet with her books and What He Doesn't Know sounded like it had more angst than the others that I had read. I don't normally gravitate towards stories that involve cheating unless they are done right otherwise I end up hating the characters and the story  but I thought that Kandi could do it justice. The synopsis hooked me in immediately and so did the story when I began reading it. 

This book was so powerful in its emotions and message that it portrayed. My heart broke for Charlie and all that she had been through. I have not personally experienced what she did in the story but the author did such a wonderful job of tapping into that particular type of pain that I felt as if I had. She was by far my favorite character in this story. Charlie tries to do the right thing and to put on a smile for everyone around her but inside she is numb. I hated to see how broken she was and I wanted her to have the love and support that she needed. She was such a sweet person and I enjoyed the interactions that she had with the students in her class. 

Now...for the men in the story. I enjoyed having both of their points of view. It was interesting to be able to be in both of their heads as well as Charlie's. I'm assuming that this part of the story was focusing on Reese and Charlie's side of things and the next installment will focus more on Cameron. I'm not going to lie. I strongly disliked Cameron for a large portion of the book. I had a hard time understanding how he could treat Charlie the way that it did and think that it was okay. Not to mention, the choices he made after the loss the Charlie went through were inexcusable. I know that he is trying to cope with things too but he won't even have a conversation with Charlie. ARGH! I'm still not sure that I like him even after the end of this book but I guess I'll see what he does in the next book and then make my final decision. 

I'm not sure how I feel about Reese either to be honest. I liked him as a character and for Charlie but he didn't make the best decisions either. She is clearly in a vulnerable state and I feel like he may have taken advantage of that to a certain extent. Plus, she is married regardless if it is a happy marriage or not. I felt for Reese because of the loss that he had been through as well. I do feel that I am leaning more on his side than Cameron's just because he seems to genuinely want to help and be helped by Charlie. He seems to understand her and her needs better than Cameron. Although, with the shocking twist at the end of this book, I'm not loving him as much as I did. He has some explaining to do. 

I'm really looking forward to the conclusion of the story because I want to know who Charlie will choose and how the story will progress now that a lot of the cards are on the table. 

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About the Author:

Kandi Steiner is a Creative Writing and Advertising/Public Relations graduate from the University of Central Florida living in Tampa. Kandi works full time as a social media specialist, but also works part time as a Zumba fitness instructor and blackjack dealer.

Kandi 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 (like most girls brought up on Disney movies).

When Kandi isn’t working or 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 beach days, movie marathons, live music, craft beer and sweet wine – not necessarily in that order.

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