At first I didn't enjoy this book and stopped reading within the first 30% of the book. But recently I came back to it and I'm glad I did! I'll seek out more from this author.

Found the book gripping. Wrote a print review in a magazine at the time it came out and at the time didn't understand I had to also post it on here. I don't think writing a review now will be helpful to the publisher or author. Apologies!

When Lucy at the age of 21 gets pregnant she gives up her desired career in law and brings up Kelly and Dylan up with the help of her family, as boyfriend Tom is nowhere in sight. Fortunately she has a very supportive and loving family.

Lucy wants her children to have the best and wants them to learn from her mistakes. Yes she is hard on them but she has their best interests at heart. What she doesn’t realise is maybe what she wants from them and what they want are not always the same and she is driving them further away from her.

This is a beautifully written emotional book that gripped me from the beginning to the end. It has strong characters that you cannot help but like and deals with real life issues such as peer group pressure and bullying.

Definitely be reading more of Sinead Moriarty’s books.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review.

Where to start with this one? The storyline is good it deals with the issue of online bullying and how quickly it can escalate and get out of hand

However the book isn’t very well written which is an absolute shocker for Sinead Moriarty she’s usually top notch

Lucy is the main character she’s unlikeable and really pathetic how she goes on and on and on some more about how her life was ruined yet in the next breath the twins are everything to her and she wouldn’t change a thing

The twins’ dad left years ago but then miracle of miracles he comes bounding back in 17 years later and if forgiven within 5 minutes - the only way this could have got any more cliched is if they had got back together!!

It’s an ok read for a rainy afternoon but it’s not up to the author’s usual brilliant standards

I absolutely loved this story. The tale of Lucy who gets accidentally pregnant whilst studying for her law degree. She loves boyfriend Tom, but his dad, who is used to paying for whatver he wants in life, tells Tom she has had an abortion and packs him off to America. Lucy goes on to raise twins Kelly and Dylan alone, with the help of her parents, sister and best friend. I thoroughly enjoyed this story of family, love and friendship and would highly recommend.

A emotive family drama book centred around Lucy, who falls pregnant and goes onto bring up twins young and alone. Slightly slow but a good read. Thank you for the book, I would recommend it and enjoyed it

Law student Lucy found herself pregnant with twins and abandoned by their father as a young woman and is now a single mother who is determined that her children will have the best start to life that she can give them. She is determined to prove all the doubters (including the father of her ex-boyfriend) wrong and be the best mother she can to her twins but this evolves into an overbearing and unhealthy control over her now 17 year old twin daughter and son.
Lucy is thrilled when the twins win scholarships to a prestigious school and becomes fixated on pushing her own dreams and agenda onto her children - despite the fact that her behaviour is pushing her children further away from her.
I found this an interesting and 'real' book focusing on real life issues such as peer pressure and bullying but not in an over the top type way.
Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin for the advance review copy. I would recommend this book.

I’ve read all Sinead’s books over the years and was really looking forward to reading ‘Secrets and Lies’. Her books are always thought-provoking, and so much more than just ‘chick lit’.

Lucy’s career plans came to a halt when she fell pregnant with twins, so she now lives her lives vicariously through theirs. She is thrilled when the twins win scholarships to a smart school and has all sorts of plans for their futures. Despite loving them totally, she doesn’t always see what’s really happening because her plans mask reality.

Sinead always deals with real-life issues, and in a well-researched and sympathetic way. I absolutely loved this book and would highly recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin for an advance reader copy in return for an honest review.

I love this author's books.
This book was very thought provoking and scarily accurate. I laughed and cried in equal measure.

Lucy Murphy is 21 years old when the life she has fantasized about for years is snatched away from her when she finds out she is pregnant. The promising career of being a lawyer and her relationship with her boyfriend Tom quickly disintegrate and she is quite literally left holding the baby(s).

Traumatised by past events Lucy is determined to prove everyone wrong and show that she is not the 'scum' that Tom's father claimed her to be and vows to show everyone that she will be a great mother who can help her twins, Dylan and Kelly, to achieve anything. This is a dream realized when Dylan wins a scholarship for himself and Kelly to the prestigious St Jude's school. Kelly feels that given as Tom's father is a governor at the school that she will finally show him just how far she's come. However, this desire to prove everyone wrong means that cries for help from her family are not recognized and her children only end up suffering.

I loved this book as it took on the view points of several characters which made it all the more endearing. The characters were so likeable and I found Ollie absolutely hilarious.

I would 100% recommend.

This is my first by this author and I rather enjoyed it.

Lucy is 21 and pregnant with twins... the father has done a runner... she's a year left at College to finish... her dreams of becoming a lawyer are in the wind.

17yrs later and her children are attending St Jude's due to Dylan winning a football scholarship.
Dylan settles in well initially but Kelly is less than happy and the move for her is disastrous.

Lucy pushes the twins to be the best, she doesn’t see the cracks that begin to appear in their lives until it is too late and by that time the damage is done.

A real page turner! It made me both laugh and cry!

Thank-You Netgalley for my ARC.

I loved this book. I laughed and cried my way through it. Sinead Moriarty tackles difficult subjects head on and with sympathy and understanding. I did not want this book to end. I hope there are many more to come.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

Our Secrets and Lies is the story of Lucy Murphy and her twin son and daughter. Having been abandoned by her own father at a young age, Lucy is determined to give her children a better life than she had. We sense some regret in her choice to walk away from a prosperous future years ago, but Lucy is still determined to look to the future and not revisit the past. Her thwarted ambitions are questioned when her children are accepted into a prestigious school, and Lucy must examine whether her wishes for her children are what is best of them or for her.

This is the story of a mother's fierce love for her children, difficult choices and truth. It is written with a sensitivity that is unique to Moriarty, and a warmth that does draw you in. A nice read for fans of Jodi Picoult.

This book was the perfect summer read. A great mixture of characters that entwined the story with the normal “heroes and villains” both tugging and your heart and making your stomach churn with dread at their next move.
The addition of social media makes the book relevant and more believable

Fab book and one for reading on holiday. You both admired and wanted to shake Lucy as you understood why she was so driven but felt for her children at the same time.

Great characters and will look out for more by the author.

Unexpectedly pregnant and abandoned by her boyfriend, law student Lucy has to abandon her dreams of a glittering career to raise her twins, Kelly and Dylan, with the support of her family and friends. Seventeen years later, the twins have won scholarships to the private school previously attended by both Lucy’s former boyfriend and his horrible father Gabriel, who brutally rejected and verbally attacked Lucy when she was pregnant and vulnerable. Determined both to give her children what she perceives to be the best possible life and to prove Gabriel wrong, could Lucy be missing what’s really important?

I wasn’t sure about this book to begin with. It opens with Lucy finding out she’s pregnant, and seemed to be written in a very prosaic style (“She did this, then she thought that, then she felt this.”). The story initially seemed not that original and didn’t grab me. However as the plot moved on to seventeen years later I found myself enjoying it a lot more and caring about the characters, particularly Kelly whose experiences at her supposedly wonderful school are both horrific and terrifying. I liked football star Dylan too but didn’t find his story quite as engaging, and aside from the obvious it was difficult to see why he was quite so keen on his girlfriend.

It’s an emotional story but there’s also humour, mainly in the dialogue (some of Kelly and her friend Shannon’s conversations are brilliant). Ollie is also a real character.

The ending is satisfying although it would have been nice to actually witness a bit more comeuppance for certain characters.

An enjoyable holiday read which was quite emotional at times.

I really recommend putting this book on your to be read pile. It will take you on a rollercoaster of emotions. There are some amazing characters in the book, some pretty horrid ones also. The story is so well written, you feel part of it. This story is quite thought provoking, it touches on some very real modern day parent/child issues. Some books leave behind a "footprint" this book certainly did that with me.

Lucy is abandoned, pregnant with twins with a year to go in college and her whole life changes. 17 years later and she’s striving to be the best mother she can be and have her children succeed in all avenues of life. This is an easy read that absorbs you into the lives of Lucy and her children Dylan and Kelly and those around her, a very real and insightful look into life with teenagers.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Books (UK) for this ARC

We start with a young Lucy Murphy, pursuing her dreams in College. Events occur that change the course of her life forever.
Fast forward some years and Lucy’s twins receive scholarships to attend the most prestigious school in the country. As Lucy is determined her children live her dreams, she fails to see what is happening in front of her which has heartbreaking consequences.

I loved this, it was heartbreaking but heartwarming in equal measure. While Lucy is the central character, the entire family were portrayed as much more than fringe characters. It is a beautifully written novel that depicts a wonderful tight-knit family that sticks together.

An emotional read. Some excellent characters with a very real feeling to the family and friends banter. I found Lucy to be irritating and a victim but that is definitely part of the story line. A real insight into being a teenager these days and the dark side of social media. A good family saga.