His Secret Heir, His Deepest Regret review

First-impressions review: based on the free opening chapters (1–3) and the official synopsis. We will update the score once we have read further.

His Secret Heir, His Deepest Regret does exactly what its title promises, and it does it with more warmth and humour than most secret-baby openings we have read.

Two pink lines, then a breakup

Chapter one starts with Julia staring at a positive pregnancy test in the bathroom. Her boyfriend of four years, and best friend since childhood, is Evander Cassiel Astor, heir to Astor Empires. They started dating as high school freshmen and are now first-year college students. Lately he has been cold and distant, ever since a freshman welcoming party he did not attend, where something happened that nobody will explain to her.

When Evan comes home looking wrecked, Julia reaches for the test with a smile. He speaks first: they should break up. He wants space, he wants to focus on the company, and he brings up “what happened at the party” as if she should know. He gives her time to pack and leaves, and the test stays in her pocket. It is a simple scene, but the timing works.

Sarah, Andy and the move back

Then the story wakes Julia up, literally. It was a dream, six years on, and her best friend Sarah is teasing her about it. The banter is the opening’s biggest surprise: Sarah is crude, loud and funny, from claiming she slept with Andy’s doctor to joking that Julia’s son is suspiciously well-behaved. Andy, five, rinses his own bowl and picks out his own clothes, and Sarah insists Julia named him after Evan (most people call Evan “Anders”).

Chapter two fills in the cost. Julia’s parents worked as helpers for the Astor family, and when she told them she was pregnant and that Evan would not accept the child, they turned against her. She moved in with Sarah’s family in the suburbs, worked every job she could, and studied online. Now Sarah has a job in the city, Andy is starting kindergarten, and Julia is going back to finish her final year at her old university, Sarah’s beat-up Toyota Corolla carrying them both.

Heather Elodi Maison

Chapter three brings in the rival. In class, Professor Matthews calls the name Heather Elodi Maison, a model from the wealthy Maison family who once chased Evan and supposedly went to Paris to study art. Matthews, the only teacher who knows what happened in Julia’s freshman year, sets a no-prompt assignment: “create Art” in a week. On her way to collect Andy, Julia sees a fancy car pull up for Heather, and a familiar man kiss her forehead. The chapter ends there.

What could be better

The text on CrushRead is missing its apostrophes and quotation marks (“Hed”, “Im”, dialogue without quotes), which makes some exchanges hard to follow. The mystery of the party is withheld in a way that feels convenient, and the Andy-is-a-genius device is a well-worn one. We left the reader score off because there are only a handful of ratings so far; the novel is also listed as ongoing at 87 chapters.

Who should read it

Readers who like secret-baby second-chance stories with a capable single mother, a funny best friend and a slow return to the hero, rather than an immediate confrontation.