Elizabeth and her family move to the suburbs after her husband has an affair to start anew. Elizabeth has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and is trying to hide this from her new community and appear to have the perfect husband and family. But Waterford has some cliquey, fake women with tons of drama and there’s a tell all anonymous blogger digging up and airing all the drama out for all to read. About 1/4 to 1/2 way through I figured out “secrets”, however I still couldn’t stop reading this book and didn’t quite get it all right, which was a pleasant surprise at the end. Overall, I really enjoyed this read and would recommend it.

** Special thanks to NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. ***

Elizabeth has moved to a small suburban town to try and outrun her past - infidelity and mental health struggles included. She seems to be living an idyllic life until a gossip blog that is exposing everyone's secrets threatens to expose her past.
I really enjoyed this book - it seemed to be a real life gossip magazine come to "life" in a story. It also deals with serious issues in mental health care - bipolar disorder and the stigma that comes with it and other mental health issues. Although it took me a bit to invest in the characters, Elizabeth included, I eventually came around and could relate to some of the life struggles she faced.
Thank you to Mia Hayes, FinnStar and NetGalley for the ARC of this book!

Wow! I really enjoyed this book! This book reminded me of a Liane Moriarty type of book. I love that it has twists and different character perspectives. I loved the blog aspect, even if time had passed, it gave you a recap of events and tied together nicely with Elizabeth's narrative.

This was a very fast paced book, once you read the first couple chapters it hooks you! Had a gossip girl feel tied in with a real housewives perspective. Even though I am not a suburban housewife, there were aspects of Elizabeth's life that were relate able. Also, with the recent events regarding death and mental illness, I think this book shows what women may be experiences and how to cope with it. I recommend this book if you enjoy a gossip girl housewives type genre.

This was a great read. It reminded me of a grown up version of Gossip Girl. It was the perfect summer escape with enough twists to keep me wanting to read more.

Jason and Elizabeth have escaped the great city life for suburbia. On the surface it seems it is for a quieter pace of life, or maybe to give their sons a home town feel absent in big cities. Both of them are harbouring secrets though - if it gets out it could put paid to their idyllic lifestyle which they seem to have.

Seem to have is the operative word because this is keeping up with the Joneses big time. Elizabeth wants or rather needs to be in the big league of this small town. Being a Periphery Girl is not enough. She has to be in the thick of things. Having a bi polar disorder and trying to balance being the king pin is not easy and it is beginning to take its toll. The partying, the constant drinking does not seem to help either. Jason starts out as being a supportive husband. He was the initial cause for Elizabeth's collapse, but halfway through you begin to question his actions. I even began to question Elizabeth's therapist, whether she and Jason were in cahoots!

An anonymous blog dislodges an avalanche of secret information - from affairs both past and present, financial situations and family secrets. Who is this blogger and each post brings about more and more disasters in the lives of Waterford residents. Life in the suburbs and being in your thirties is not easy anymore. Its very uncomfortable and even reading about it, put me on edge.

For me personally it all sounded far fetched but then I come from an Asian setting where all this sounds like Dynasty amplified but then the story sounds like this is quite normal for rich families in America!

Very entertaining reading and a good read (though I do have my reservations on the characters!!!)

To say that I absolutely loved The Secrets We Keep would be an understatement. I LOVED (the caps are necessary) this book. It felt like a combination of Gossip Girl and Desperate Housewives.. I sat down to start reading this book and finished it within the same day. The chapters starting off with an anonymous blog post was an interesting narration style. I was completely enthralled with this book and all of the twists and turns it took. I will be recommending this book to all of my family & friends.

10/10 Highly recommend.

Big thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

Highly recommend this book to be read by the beach with a glass of white wine! “The Secrets We Keep” will appeal to fans of Lianne Mariarty’s “Big Little Lies.” The seemingly perfect suburban lives of the main characters are thrown under a microscope when someone in the community begins a blog unveiling secret after secret. The book is a perfect beach read, with characters who are wonderfully self-aware and simultaneously in denial at the state of their lives. My only criticism is that it does get a bit too dark near the end of the book, taking the chaos a bit too far. However, the book deals with where it takes the characters responsibly and does not gloss over any of their fates.

I received a ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I loved this book. I started out hating almost EVERY CHARACTER! But I grew to love the book.
I also loved how they coined the A-crowd the Bitch Brigade. Let me tell you, there is a crowd like that in every single small town! Including my own.
Yes it was fairly easy to figure out what happened, but Hayes had such a great way of writing that I didn't care that I figured it out already. I still wanted to finish it!
great read!

Trigger Warning: affairs, mental health, suicide

This was a much different book than I expected. Don't get me wrong; it was good. It was very "trashy gossip magazine," albiet with no actual celebrities. But it was hard for me to read because I related to it on a lot of different levels. So it really hit close to home for me, plus the ending was kind of a letdown. So that's why it gets 4 stars, not 5. It might have only gotten 3, but it was so well-written that I legit read 95% of it in one sitting (I got too tired to finish; I knew I wouldn't remember the end in the morning if I made myself finish anyway).

Elizabeth and Jason moved to Waterford to start over after Jason's fair caused Elizabeth to develop Bipolar Disorder. Elizabeth takes care of her children, hangs with the rich housewives of Waterford and spends the rest of her time trying to maintain her mental health. It was very clear to me that Jason has manipulated Elizabeth. Elizabeth doubts Jason all of the time but he tells her she is suffering memory issues and needs more medication. Jason treats Elizabeth like a child and has it in her head that if they get divorced, she will lose her children. While Elizabeth is trying to manage her home life she also has to maintain her social reputation. Elizabeth is constantly trying to impress Karen, Sarah, Veronica and the rest of the B*tch Brigade. A new blog has begun to attack the B*tch Brigade and their spouses. To say this is a drama filled novel is an understatement. I started this book on a Tuesday afternoon and finished it late Thursday evening. I was HOOKED. There are many twists that you think you can guess but then you find you are wrong. Mia Hayes is a fabulous author and I hope we see a lot more from her.

This is a mix of Mean Girls and Gossip Girls, only its about married women with children.

I graciously received a free, advanced copy of The Secrets We Keep from Netgalley, the publisher and author.

Our narrator, Elizabeth, is new to the suburbs and has secrets that she would like to keep from her plastic, perfect club friends. Unfortunately, someone is writing a blog exposing everyone's secrets. Everything in this community is about appearance and the blog is exposing the dark side of all the "Bitch Brigade" members. The book was a lot of fun but also dealt with some serious issues, ie.infidelity, suicide, mental illness. It is a quick read and highly recommended.

Whoa. I did not expect this book to be as good as it was. When I read the synopsis, I thought it would be more about the anonymous gossip blog and less on the mental illness aspect. Instead I was pleasantly surprised at the combination of both.

Life in Waterford is a stereotypical suburb - the stay-at-home mom's all are bored with too much money and time on their hands. There's the A-crowd everyone wants to hang with, and those that are on the outs looking in. Elizabeth Mavery moved to Waterford and quickly found herself with the A-crowd (aka The Bitch Brigade) upsetting those on the outside. Having to keep up appearances of the perfect life on social media and the perfect marriage at the country club has Elizabeth on edge. She is hiding a major secret and doesn't want anyone to know. A gossip blog has been set up about the women of Waterford (and sometimes the men) and everyone is worried that their secrets will begin to show to everyone.

Halfway through the story, I was able to predict the ending but still found myself riveted. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough! There were so many questions that were wrapped up at the end - who was Pete cheating with? Who is writing the blog? What is Jason hiding? What will Elizabeth remember? Highly recommend!

I liked the diary entry aspect telling everyone's secrets however I did lost interest at times. The plot is interesting as an idea but I don't think it is carried off well enough.

I wouldn't classify it as a thriller but I think this would be a good holiday read but for me I found the pace a little slow and ended up not racing through it.

The Secrets We Keep my Mia Hayes took a while for me to get into. It seems like yet another neighborhood mystery with a bunch of women sitting around drinking for want of something better to do. It is that, up to a point, but there are secrets simmering under the surface. I found Elizabeth's personality somewhat interesting compared to the women in her neighborhood of Waterford, but felt she often just went along. She had no backbone at all, and seemed to succumb to the very societal pressure she was so against. Again, the usual plot of the women being somewhat innocent and the husband all evil and horrid. It's been done so many times. I will say however that the topic of infidelity was handled fairly well, and realistically, it is a trauma. This is often portrayed in a more flippant manner, and here is was much more fleshed out. Otherwise, the main surprise of the plot was figured out well before the end, but a pleasant, albeit familiar read for me.

The Secrets We Keep was a rather intense book. At times I thought badly about every character- even the psychologist. I enjoyed the gossipy drama that seems to happen in every town and was captivated by the descriptions of Elizabeth’s mood swings. I feel the author, MIA Hayes, was very fair in her portrayal of mental illness, how it is treated with multiple medicines and how people react to the knowledge that someone has mental issues.

Desperate Housewives meets Pretty Little Liars. This book about modern day suburbian secrets will keep you on the edge of your seat!

I received a copy of Secrets from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.


Once in awhile I stumble across something that starts out mediocre, and then begins good. Not great mind you, but good. The Secrets We Keep is one of those novels you read when you don't want something light to read. I found the journal to be the most fascinating aspect here, and it shows us just how shallow all of these women are. No one here is likeable, and that's the point. At it's core, it's a book with a dark theme running throughout, but the problem is, it begins to run out of steam halfway through. The only saving grace here is the death of Sarah, and who exactly is the woman writing this journal. To me, this is the best character of the novel, but just like everyone else, she has her own secrets and I spent the entire book trying to figure out who this person was.


While I wanted to give this novel a couple of stars I began to really enjoy this book. There were quite a few curve balls thrown to keep it interesting, and by the end, I was impressed by Hayes' writing style. What she's crafted may seem predictable, and sure, maybe it is, but it's interesting and keeps you reading even when you begin to lose interest. Elizabeth is the draw here and not because of her illness. We're meant to believe that she's crazy, that because she has bipolar disorder we're supposed to believe she's an unfit mother, or that she should be treated differently. We know her marriage isn't perfect, and the cause of her illness is in fact her husband who Hayes clearly wants us to hate, and even question his motives.


It's not a literary masterpiece, but it works as a decent thriller that keeps you guessing even when you get tired of how shallow these women are. As a guy, I probably wasn't the ideal audience for this book, but what can I say? I read the blurb and thought it looked interesting. It was, even when it became tedious and preachy. The writing and plot really saved this from being a dull, lack luster read. If you like Desperate Housewives, you'll probably dig this one a lot.

I wasn’t sure on this book as I had many different opinions on which way it could go.
The mean girls of DC sure know how to make a women’s life living hell.. on the outside Elizabeth has it all., or does she, The book addresses infidelity and mental illness.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC,

Elizabeth & Jason moved from Portland to a suburb in Washington, DC for a fresh start to their (and their three sons) lives. A year ago Jason had an affair and Elizabeth was subsequently diagnosed with bipolar disorder. The affair is what follows Elizabeth constantly - pushing her to the brink. A college suitor, Pete, (20 years ago) lives in suburbia as her neighbor and reminds Elizabeth of what maybe she should not have let go. Eventually Elizabeth half-way tries suicide and ends up in the hospital.. Her "best friend", Sarah does commit suicide and Elizabeth almost has an affair with Pete so feel "normal", again. The elite of the gossip group of suburbia start to crumble under pressure and Jason has another affair. Elizabeth gets smart and secretly plans to leave Jason after she has rebuilt her confidence. Could be material for Book 2???

I love this book for the gritty dialogue of the current thirty somethings and how life is when raising children in the suburbs. At first I felt these women were a bunch of empty hollow bubble heads judging one another and being mean to each other. Until I got more into the book..it's so much more than empty shell women.

As the book gets into the real issues I am pleasantly surprised to see the main character Elizabeth befriend Sarah who isn't part of the "in" crowd. There's some surprising things that happen and I felt the book depicted the emotions and thoughts that run through one's mind when things get rough. I felt the book is well written and the book is in 1st person context. I am not that good at writing reviews so bear with me as I try to organize my thoughts without giving away the books meaning.

The main thing I think about when reading this- what's a good friend? Where do we step back and not intrude in another's life or do we push our way in? This book will make you think. What is a good friend? How can we be better? Our children are watching our misbehavior with other people. How do we learn to trust people? Can we trust people? Many times people let us down so we don't want to open ourselves to that kind of hurt. How do we love others and not get hurt? Is it possible? Read the book for more...I felt this was a great thought provoking read. 5 stars baby!