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The Secret She Kept
Sometimes it takes one good reason to give love another chance…
Single mom Sarah Crosse never expected to see Jace Marshall again, especially at the summer camp where they first fell in love. Jace, who’s returned to make good on a decade-old promise, is just as surprised to see her there, running things…with the daughter he never knew about. Now they’ll have to work together to save the struggling camp. Though it’s obvious he’s a changed man, Sarah knows it’s not only her heart at risk this time. Can she trust him to stay and complete their family?
From Love Uplifting stories of faith, forgiveness and hope.
Single mom Sarah Crosse never expected to see Jace Marshall again, especially at the summer camp where they first fell in love. Jace, who’s returned to make good on a decade-old promise, is just as surprised to see her there, running things…with the daughter he never knew about. Now they’ll have to work together to save the struggling camp. Though it’s obvious he’s a changed man, Sarah knows it’s not only her heart at risk this time. Can she trust him to stay and complete their family?
From Love Uplifting stories of faith, forgiveness and hope.
- GenresLove Inspired
208 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published April 29, 2025
5 people are currently reading
32 people want to read
About the author
Kathryn Springer
59 books493 followersKathryn Springer grew up in a small town in Wisconsin, where her parents published a weekly newspaper. As a child, she spent many hours sitting at her mother’s typewriter, plunking out stories, and credits her parents for instilling in her a love of books – which eventually turned into a desire to tell stories of her own.
After a number of busy years, when she married her college sweetheart and became a stay-at-home mom, Kathryn rediscovered her love for writing. An unexpected snow day from school became the inspiration for a short story, which she submitted to Brio magazine. She went on to publish over a dozen more short stories for Brio, but it wasn’t until her youngest child started school that she decided to pursue her dream to write a book. In August 2004, her Love Inspired® debut novel, Tested by Fire, was published.
Fast forward to today and Kathryn has written over thirty novels. She lives on a lake in northern Wisconsin where she enjoys long walks in the woods and the change of seasons (although sometimes she wishes the "change" between winter and spring didn't last quite so long!) When she isn’t at the computer, you’ll find her spending time with family and friends, paging through cooking magazines or sitting in the sun. A really, really good day includes all three! If you want to know more, follow her blog Table Grace. . .thoughts and musings on living a life with nothing artificial added.
After a number of busy years, when she married her college sweetheart and became a stay-at-home mom, Kathryn rediscovered her love for writing. An unexpected snow day from school became the inspiration for a short story, which she submitted to Brio magazine. She went on to publish over a dozen more short stories for Brio, but it wasn’t until her youngest child started school that she decided to pursue her dream to write a book. In August 2004, her Love Inspired® debut novel, Tested by Fire, was published.
Fast forward to today and Kathryn has written over thirty novels. She lives on a lake in northern Wisconsin where she enjoys long walks in the woods and the change of seasons (although sometimes she wishes the "change" between winter and spring didn't last quite so long!) When she isn’t at the computer, you’ll find her spending time with family and friends, paging through cooking magazines or sitting in the sun. A really, really good day includes all three! If you want to know more, follow her blog Table Grace. . .thoughts and musings on living a life with nothing artificial added.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
June 29, 2025
I do not like books when one parent keeps a child from the other parent.
May 26, 2025
Sarah had a baby and never told the dad as he had left before she knew. He had his reasons for leaving but now is back 10 years later to help with the camp they met at. So many memories came back to them and he finds out he is a dad. Loved this storyline, great inspirational book.
May 11, 2025
Review:
OH. MY GOSH. This was SOOOO sweet!!!!! I’ve been looking and looking for a pure, sweet romance to read, and I finally found it!! I’m not going to lie, I didn’t have high expectations, I just grabbed it because it was clean, Christian and pretty cheap, but WOW!!! I love it so much!!!! Jace is the most wonderful person ever!! And the ending was sooooooooooooooooooo sweet it literally made me teary!! I’m not going to get into spoilers, so I won’t say what, but AWWWWW!!!! Addie was so sweet too! And the horses as a plot is a plus for me!! The camp setting was really neat, and although there was one continuity mess up where they said the vet hadn’t finished, they chatted, and then he left (without having checked on any other horses), it was an awesome feel!! Jace’s military background was really cool as well! I LOVED the Anne of Green Gables and Bambi references! It was a sweet call out! Every time I picked it up, I got this warm feeling, because Jace is just the kindest man! I wish he wasn’t so hard on himself, and Sarah wasn’t so hard on him!! But shoutout to Addie for not being harsh!!! Addie’s dialogue was pretty well done for a ten-year-old! A moment here or there where she felt a bit older or younger, but overall, well done! The horses were handled pretty realistically as well! My biggest complaint is that they had to be wearing halters while out in the pasture, (sorry, horse person here, have to mention my pet-peeves, lol!), but I’ll just pretend they were breakaways, and move on. I was a little worried this would be boring, but it wasn’t at any point! I’m not even sure how, as there’s almost no action (I’ve mostly read action/adventure/dystopian), but it was always something I wanted to pick up! Love this book! The Chrisitan messages throughout were so encouraging, and I actually liked that they were both Christians for once! (It feels like a lot where one has to convince the other, which is cool, but this was a nice change!) This is a great book for someone wanting a sweet, camp-set, clean, Christian romance! Highly recommend! (Disclaimer, I haven’t read many romances. This is my third attempt. The first was poorly written, the second was wonderfully written, but much more drama and tragedy, not just sweet little love story!)
Content Concerns:
I wasn’t really bothered by anything personally. There was zero language. There was no violence (a horse got hurt and was described as scraped. No-biggie). The plot does involve the fact that in the past (ten years ago), there was a relationship with the main characters that got Sarah pregnant with Addie, while they were dating. This is viewed as a mistake. There is literally zero discussion as to what happened that day. It’s just obvious because she has a child. The main characters kiss, I think three times. They were far from graphic. Basically, he kissed her. She kissed back’. They describe how they felt about it, but nothing weird at all. I wouldn’t mind if they waited until they got married, but I’m not offended by it. There was a little bit of talk about a parent having been an alcoholic, again, that was the extent of it, and it was viewed as detrimental. That’s about it.
OH. MY GOSH. This was SOOOO sweet!!!!! I’ve been looking and looking for a pure, sweet romance to read, and I finally found it!! I’m not going to lie, I didn’t have high expectations, I just grabbed it because it was clean, Christian and pretty cheap, but WOW!!! I love it so much!!!! Jace is the most wonderful person ever!! And the ending was sooooooooooooooooooo sweet it literally made me teary!! I’m not going to get into spoilers, so I won’t say what, but AWWWWW!!!! Addie was so sweet too! And the horses as a plot is a plus for me!! The camp setting was really neat, and although there was one continuity mess up where they said the vet hadn’t finished, they chatted, and then he left (without having checked on any other horses), it was an awesome feel!! Jace’s military background was really cool as well! I LOVED the Anne of Green Gables and Bambi references! It was a sweet call out! Every time I picked it up, I got this warm feeling, because Jace is just the kindest man! I wish he wasn’t so hard on himself, and Sarah wasn’t so hard on him!! But shoutout to Addie for not being harsh!!! Addie’s dialogue was pretty well done for a ten-year-old! A moment here or there where she felt a bit older or younger, but overall, well done! The horses were handled pretty realistically as well! My biggest complaint is that they had to be wearing halters while out in the pasture, (sorry, horse person here, have to mention my pet-peeves, lol!), but I’ll just pretend they were breakaways, and move on. I was a little worried this would be boring, but it wasn’t at any point! I’m not even sure how, as there’s almost no action (I’ve mostly read action/adventure/dystopian), but it was always something I wanted to pick up! Love this book! The Chrisitan messages throughout were so encouraging, and I actually liked that they were both Christians for once! (It feels like a lot where one has to convince the other, which is cool, but this was a nice change!) This is a great book for someone wanting a sweet, camp-set, clean, Christian romance! Highly recommend! (Disclaimer, I haven’t read many romances. This is my third attempt. The first was poorly written, the second was wonderfully written, but much more drama and tragedy, not just sweet little love story!)
Content Concerns:
I wasn’t really bothered by anything personally. There was zero language. There was no violence (a horse got hurt and was described as scraped. No-biggie). The plot does involve the fact that in the past (ten years ago), there was a relationship with the main characters that got Sarah pregnant with Addie, while they were dating. This is viewed as a mistake. There is literally zero discussion as to what happened that day. It’s just obvious because she has a child. The main characters kiss, I think three times. They were far from graphic. Basically, he kissed her. She kissed back’. They describe how they felt about it, but nothing weird at all. I wouldn’t mind if they waited until they got married, but I’m not offended by it. There was a little bit of talk about a parent having been an alcoholic, again, that was the extent of it, and it was viewed as detrimental. That’s about it.
July 15, 2025
Kathryn Springer writes a sweet, heartfelt story. This is a second chance romance where forgiveness, trust, and sharing the load comes into play. The story ia well written with good characters, good storyline, and a good ending.
Sarah Crosse is a single mom helping to keep her mentor’s dream, Four Arrows camp, alive. She is trying to take care of the camp by herself and she is struggling, and the camp shows it.
Jace Marshall receives a postcard from Four Arrows requesting help. It is from a promise he made 10 years ago. Not sure which one is the most suprised to see the other there, but Jace has an even bigger surprise, he has a daughter!
I think this may be the first book in a series and I’m looking forward to the next one!
Sarah Crosse is a single mom helping to keep her mentor’s dream, Four Arrows camp, alive. She is trying to take care of the camp by herself and she is struggling, and the camp shows it.
Jace Marshall receives a postcard from Four Arrows requesting help. It is from a promise he made 10 years ago. Not sure which one is the most suprised to see the other there, but Jace has an even bigger surprise, he has a daughter!
I think this may be the first book in a series and I’m looking forward to the next one!
September 22, 2025
I liked the descriptions and the camp that the author created. I was intrigued from the beginning especially when Jace got his note card in the mail from the camp he was at 10 years ago that said he would grant a wish. I loved how the story unfolded with present day and flashbacks as a way to bring everything together. I really enjoyed this story with this new to me author.
January 27, 2026
Finally!
So happy to read another book by Kathryn Springer. It's been awhile. I always love her characters, and her writing style. I can never just read a couple chapters. Thanks for another great book, Kathryn! ❤️
So happy to read another book by Kathryn Springer. It's been awhile. I always love her characters, and her writing style. I can never just read a couple chapters. Thanks for another great book, Kathryn! ❤️
May 25, 2025
Very good beginning story!! Will hold on for the rest of series!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews