Member Reviews

I absolutely loved this and raced through it , intrigued at first as to what was going on , as things started becoming clearer dying to find out who the killer was . Bryn who is a writer is convalescing after a car crash that killed a colleague in Saratoga Springs where her husband Guy works during the week . After they throw a dinner party their caterer is found murdered shortly after , as both of them are suspected at one time or another Bryn starts to investigate who her husband really is and what happened . With lots of suspects , twists and turns and a few red herrings I seriously enjoyed this and am going to start Kate's next book straight away . Thanks for the opportunity to read this !

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This is a psychological thriller in which the secrets kept are serious enough to end in murder.
Having no recollection of the accident in which her colleague died in a blazing car and in which she was severely injured, Bryn is understandably traumatised and suffers nightmares, severe fatigue and flash backs. More unfortunate still as the successful writer of self-help books, she is unable to shake off feelings of paranoia, lethargy and has complete writers block.
Her brief marriage to Guy following a whirlwind courtship has always been a commuter relationship, so how well does she really know him and what might lurk in his past. The brutal murder of two people connected to him; the ensuing police investigation; spiteful and threatening pranks; an attempted break-in and the mystery surrounding the fatal crash, lead Bryn on a heart – racing journey of discovery, where she doesn’t know who to trust and where even her own life is in danger.
This book is full of twists and turns with an unexpected ending. Another winner from Kate White.

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Bryn Harper is a bestselling author whose husband Guy works with donors for Springs Opera in Saratoga. After a serious motor vehicle accident, Bryn moves in with her husband to end the commuting they had both agreed to since their relationship began.

Bryn is still having nightmares about her accident, but as yet they don’t bring back her loss of memory. She is struggling to recover and start writing again, but in spite of that, she has an ideal husband and a really good life.

It is the first occasion for her to entertain funders as Guys’ wife, that her current reality and memories of her accident start blending in a way that Bryn finds extremely unsettling. It is when the caterer for her dinner party is murdered the following day that Bryn begins to question her ideal marriage and life.

Having just moved to Saratoga and trying to find her previous equilibrium, Bryn is not sure who she can trust as a friend amongst this new community. Kate White builds her characters well and keeps you guessing about those friends who come into Bryn’s life. Not to mention guessing about her husband.

BonnieK

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

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Kate White is a new author for me but I was extremely glad I got the chance to read this book. Excellent plot, well written and real characters can't wait to read another of her books.
After a fatal car crash in which her friend dies, surviving author Bryn Harper, decides to recuperate in the small town her new husband works in, where they had previously been commuting from new york
Bryn's husband Guy, was really supportive after the accident but soon after she moves his temperament changes and things start to unravel. Secrets, lies, murder,accusations who can she trust ?
A great read utterly captivating.

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A clever, complex, different and well written read. My first experience of this author but I will certainly look out for future titles

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I had a fun time reading this book, because it is just what I like to read when I need a book to distract me from my busy life. The title gives away a lot some from the first page, you feel that there must be something awful lurking in Bryn Harpers past. It could be either a person or something that happened, something that has to do with the terrible car crash she was in a few months before. Her husband is a wonderful guy (he even goes with the name Guy) and being a successful author, Bryn believes she can set her life back on track after recovering from her injuries. The only puzzle she still has to solve is WHY did the accident happen?

The plot is not spectacular but it is a well-written book with interesting characters and there is enough suspense to want you to keep reading. I certainly would like to read more of Kate White!

Thank you Canelo and Netgalley.

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A good gripping thriller and worth the read. I am looking forward to reading the next one.

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Kate White has written an extremely addictive read here. Bryn, an author is recovering from an accident in the care of her husband with whom she has only ever had a long distance relationship. Everything she believes starts to unwind when firstly money goes missing after a dinner party and then the chef who catered for the dinner party is murdered. The twists and turns in the story keeps the book flowing and made it hard to put down. Definitely recommended.

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A little too complicated for me. The characters were strong but the plot was rather hard to follow

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Another great quality page turner by Kate White. I'm looking forward to reading her other stories!

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Another page turner of a read I’ve picked up in the last week or so. I’m often confounded by female characters who have whirlwind romances and end up married to someone they don’t truly know, but then their stories often make for compelling reading.

The Secrets You Keep was no exception to this rule. The difference being that in this tale Bryn has not just the mystery of her own husband to unravel, but also the mystery of her missing memory. Fighting nightmares, trying to make new friendships in her summer home town, all while discovering the brutally murdered body of her caterer, and trying to get to the bottom of the inconsistencies and concerns she faces in her life.

It’s got a delicious twist on the killer and it was someone I didn’t see coming from a mile away, I had it pegged as a whole different character for most of the book, and if you can get one past me you’re on a major winner. 🙂

Highly recommended.

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What made me want to read this book was the cover. It promised to be something but in the end it couldn't quite measure up to it and fell plat. Reading on to get to the book was not easy at times. I didn't understand the characters and couldn't connect with them. I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thanks to NetGalley and Canelo!

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Bryn Harper is a successful self help author, recovering from a devestating car accident that has left her haunted by recurring nightmares. She can't quite remember what happened, but she knows deep down that there's an underlying warning that she needs to figure out. Murder, mystery, suspense, relationships, betrayal... this book has it all. Kate White traverses the ups and downs of married life with ease, slowly building a relationship that has strange things happening within it, a home that isn't quite safe, and bodies that just keep turning up...without a real reason. The connection? Bryn isn't sure, but she knows she must find out exactly what is happening and the key is within her nightmares. From start to finish I was hooked!

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This is a real page turner with strong characters that will grip you from page one. Bryn, a writer, has been in a car crash leaving her with no memory of the accident and suffering from bad dreams. Bryn and her husband, Guy, hold a dinner party, after which their caterer is found dead and Bryn finds Guy has been lying to her. This is a really intense thriller that will keep you wanting just one more chapter until you devour the whole thing. I had several guesses about the ending, and as I read a lot of this genre, I’m usually pretty good at guessing! but this one I didn’t guess. If you love psychological thrillers, definitely grab a copy of this one!

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I enjoyed this tense thriller with its fast pace and unpredictable twists and turns.
The characters were likeable, if not a bit paranoid but it all added to the story.
I found this novel easy to read with understandable language and a way with words that kept me wondering where it would all end.
Overall a good psychological thriller.

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This is the story of Bryn Harper, a self help author who was involved in a car crash which results in her loosing her memory. She moves from the city into a more rural area so she can spend time with her husband who, up until now, she has had a commuter relationship with and to make an attempt to work on her next book. Whilst there Bryn becomes involved in some strange occurrences and brutal murders. It quickly becomes down to her to discover just how related all of these things are and just how well does she know the people around her. I really enjoyed this story. I thought it was full of twists and turns and kept me guessing right until the very end.


In the synopsis above it mentions that this novel is recommended for fans on Before I Go to Sleep and I can definitely relate to that. There are several themes, including the memory loss and the unreliability of the husband, that are comparable across both stories. So because of this I did think near the beginning of the book that it may be too similar and this would therefore hinder my enjoyment of the story but it soon became clear that this was not the case. Although there were lots of common mystery/thriller themes running through this book they were handled in a very different way and to me this was particularly evident in the way Bryn handled things as the main character.


I found Bryn to be a very rational character. She didn't jump head first into situations and often talked through her actions and the consequences of those. I found this to be quite refreshing as often characters in thriller novels can be quite reckless and I find I can often be left thinking what are you doing! Bryn's memory loss also made her a bit unreliable and I really enjoy unreliable narrators. This coupled with how untrustworthy the other characters were meant I was constantly questioning what was happening.


Overall I really enjoyed this story. It was page turning and kept me hooked throughout. We were fed a lot of red herrings and the ending was completely unexpected, I did not guess who the murderer was. I also really enjoyed the way the characters were portrayed and the unreliability of them kept me guessing and always wanting more. This is one I would recommend to thriller fans.

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I had no idea that Kate White had written so many books before and had such a huge fan base! This is the first book of hers I have read and was a little worried at first as I saw reviews saying it wasn’t up to her previous work. But all I can say to that is that if her previous books were better than this one then I need to read and download those books straight away! The Secrets You Keep was an intriguing domestic suspense full of unlikable characters that you shouldn’t really care about but have a perverse desire to keep on reading about hoping that some (or all!!) of them will get their comeuppance.

The opening chapters set the tone here for the uncertainty surrounding the accident that Bryn was struggling to recover from. She has nightmares involving fire and a hotel room whilst being haunted by a man’s voice that she can’t quite place. Her husband is supportive but very involved in his day to day working life and Bryn is lonely. She has no friends locally as she has moved to a new town for the Summer to be with Guy while she recuperates from her car crash and now she is also suffering from writers block. When the chef they have employed to cater a small dinner party for them is found violently murdered the next day, Bryn and Guy find themselves involved in the police investigation.

Kate White sets up her scene perfectly here. A husband with secrets, a wife with memory loss and a murder all entangle to give the reader plenty of suspects so that we were never quite sure which way the plot was heading or why. Whilst not a fast paced thriller, I was still sucked in very quickly by the drama that unfolded. Bryn probably wasn’t the most likeable character, she struck me as rather naive and needy for a nearly 40 year old woman who lived in the city but Guy wasn’t much better either as I found him to have a rather self absorbed and narcissistic personality that didn’t endear him to me at all. But I found their relationship fascinating, if not very frustrating, to watch throughout.

There weren’t too many surprises here for me as I do read A LOT of books in this genre so it’s pretty hard to shock me with plot twists. But it kept me gripped enough to read it in one sitting and introduced me to a new author who has the potential to become a favourite! She has an enticing writing style and so I’m very excited to have discovered her and look forward to reading more from Kate White!

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Amazing book that grips you from start to finish. I will definitely look out for Kate White's next book! This book is packed with murder, mystery, betrayal and red herrings. Another classic psychological thriller.

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This is my first time I’ve read any books by the author Kate White, what’s better than to kick it off with her newest release The Secrets You Keep a standalone psychological thriller centred around Bryn Harper.

Bryn is haunted in her dreams by a missing time frame in her life where she was involved in a car accident and a good friend died. Do the nightmares mean anything, what can they possibly be trying to steer Bryn towards, all she can do is hope the pieces will fit together and reveal what happened that night. What is her husband Guy hiding is he the reason Bryn can’t remember.

Bryn and Guy host a dinner party for a small group of friends, during that evening a sum of money is stolen and Bryn confronts the caterers, before she knows what’s happened the catering chef is brutally murdered in a frenzied attack, the police are looking to Bryn for answers are they suspecting her as the killer. Before long another murder is committed, this one a lot closer to home, how is Guy involved, Bryn starts to dig into their life, how much does she really know about her husband.

I enjoyed what Kate was trying to achieve with the storyline, I thinks some pieces could have been condensed as not to have been too repetitive but overall Kate did keep me focused on the story. There was plenty of tangled webs and everyone was lying so it seemed, the plot was thick with deceit but some I felt had no bearing on the actual scenario but this didn’t stop me finishing the book.

I believe that The Secrets You Keep will be painted as a love it or loathe it book, a pot of marmite, I am neither I will sit on the fence. I will try other Kate White book as I can’t give up on an author without trying other pieces of work written, this just might not have been the one for me, but I’ll be damned if I will slate an author over it.

Thank you to Canelo, Kate White and Ellie for the opportunity to read and review an advanced readers copy of The Secrets You Keep in return for an honest review. I would like to wish Kate good luck and I hope to read more of your work in the near future.

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Excellent book - Great characters and plot. I would highly recommend this book.

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