Originally posted on Forever Young Adult on 2019 January 8

BOOK REPORT for Two Can Keep A Secret by Karen M. McManus

Cover Story: Thematic Big Face
BFF Charm: Yay x2
Swoonworthy Scale: 6
Talky Talk: Thriller Nights
Bonus Factors: Murder Mystery, True Crime
Relationship Status: SSDGM

Cover Story: Thematic Big Face

I’m really torn on this cover. On the one hand, I hate Big Face covers—it hinders my ability to imagine the characters the way I’d like to. But here, the girls’ faces are concealed, so I can’t use that argument. I’m not even sure which two girls these are supposed to be…Plus, scratching out character faces appears to be a theme with McManus’ books. Is it a Big Face? Yes. But is it a Big Face with purpose? Also yes, so I’ll let it slide this time.

The Deal:

The small town of Echo Ridge, Vermont has a dark history. Almost 20 years ago, a senior named Sarah went missing and was never seen again. Then, five years ago, homecoming queen Lacey was found dead at the town’s horror-themed amusement park, Murderland. Now, Ellery Corcoran and her twin brother Ezra have to move to Echo Ridge during their senior year after their mother Sadie (twin sister of the missing girl, Sarah) checks herself into rehab.

Echo Ridge welcomes the Corcoran twins right on brand: as they drive into town from the airport, they find a dead man in the middle of the road. And just days after their arrival, someone starts leaving murderous messages around town, threatening to reprise the old killings and murder this year’s homecoming queen.

Ellery and Ezra befriend Malcolm, the younger brother of Lacey’s suspected killer. Malcolm has been dealing with the fallout of Lacey’s murder for five years, and when Echo Ridge’s dark past rears its ugly head again, Malcolm always seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Is he being framed, or does Malcolm have his own secrets?

BFF Charm: Yay x2

Moving to a new town is hard enough, but moving to a new town where your mother was homecoming queen 20 years ago and her twin sister remains one of the biggest mysteries in the town’s history is MUCH harder. Ellery took it all in stride though. She was pretty chill, even when she was nominated to the homecoming court just two weeks after arriving in Echo Ridge and murderous messages about her started appearing around town. She kept her head in a situation where I’m not sure I could’ve done the same. And bonus points: she’s a Murderino! (More on that in my Bonus Factors.)

Malcolm always grew up in the shadow of his older brother. Declan was popular, captain of the football team, a veritable high school god. But when Declan’s girlfriend, Lacey, was found strangled not long after their nasty breakup, Malcolm found himself in a different sort of shadow. Declan was never arrested for Lacey’s murder, but the town has shunned their entire family ever since. Given the circumstances, I was always pleasantly surprised by Malcolm. He never cowed to the weight of Echo Ridge’s perceived notions of him, and he always tried to do the right thing, even when it made him look very guilty.

Swoonworthy Scale: 6

There was nothing wrong with the swoon between Malcolm and Ellery. They had a nice, slow burn of a romance with all the sweet getting-to-know-you moments that you’d expect. But this was a story in which the swoon took a backseat to the mystery, rather than Malcolm and Ellery having super hot bonding moments over their shared horrors.

Talky Talk: Thriller Nights

Two Can Keep A Secret alternates between Ellery's and Malcolm’s perspectives, and McManus does a great job at capturing each of their voices. I devoured this book in 48 hours because I suspected every single character. Even Ellery and Malcolm! McManus is so masterful at creating exciting twists in her storytelling that despite constantly wondering who the murderer could be, I was still surprised in the end. McManus managed to weave a handful of plots into one big question mark of a story, and none of the answers were what you expect.

Bonus Factor: Murder Mystery

You can always count me in for a good old fashioned whodunnit, and McManus is extremely good at them. Plus, the added spooky atmosphere of the Murderland amusement park really ratchets up the kitsch factor.

Bonus Factor: True Crime

Ellery is obsessed with true crime. She’s a Murderino, just like me, so she’s always name dropping her favorite true crime authors. I loved the way she tried to put the pieces together, even when she sometimes turned out to be wrong. But Ellery, girl! First rule of being a Murderino: STAY. OUT. OF. THE. FOREST.

Relationship Status: SSDGM

Book, you had all my favorite things: mysteries, spooks, twists, turns, and a highly specific horror-themed amusement park. You’re like the Halloween version of my favorite kind of contemporary YA book, which isn’t something I realized I needed until I had you. We’ve got a lot in common, and I hope we both survive long enough to take things to the next level. Stay sexy, Book, and don’t get murdered.

Two Can Keep A Secret will be available January 8, 2019.

Two Can Keep a Secret kept me on the edge of my seat until the very end! It was fast-paced, thrilling, and the full of great suspense elements. I absolutely loved how "real" the characters were, especially Ellery. I highly recommend this book!

This was a very addictive and suspense filled thriller. It has the unexpected plot twists that will keep you guessing until the end.

Ellery is a great character. Her interest in true crime was started by the disappearance of her aunt and then the murder of the homecoming queen five years ago. I loved how she reads into every little thing that happens around her. Her relationship with her twin Ezra was wonderful. It might have been nice to see part of the story from his perspective as well, but it works better with just the two voices. Ellery is pretty savvy, but is not as easy going as her twin. But she does a good job of figuring out pretty quickly who to hang out with.

The other narrator is Malcom, the brother of the boyfriend of the girl who was murdered five years ago. He has grown up in his brothers shadow, who was a football star and then a suspect in a murder. Unlike Ellery he does not have a good relationship with his brother. Malcom was also a character that I liked a lot. He was a bit of a loner, but was willing to befriend the news kids in school. He was also pretty clever and astute, although he missed a lot of things happening in his own home that maybe he shouldn’t have. He and Ellery make a great couple and I enjoyed watching their relationship develop.

I don’t want to talk about the plot too much because I don’t want to give anything away. It was very fast paced and hard to put down. There were many twists to the story and even though I had my eye on the character that ended up being the killer early on, there were enough twists to the story that made me doubt my choice up until the end. That is the kind of mystery that I really like, one that always keeps you guessing even when you think you have it figured out.

A great second novel by this author who has become a must read author for me. I am really looking forward to what she might come up with next.

Wow, this is a solid YA mystery.
By now, I think I have read enough YA mystery to know the good from the bad. So better believe me hon, when I say that “Two Can Keep a Secret” is spot on a good mystery. I like most how it built up the mystery around the missing girls of the town through the lens of a teenage true crime enthusiast, Ellery. Imagine if you read lots of true crime and you moved into a town where a crime happened, meet the people involved in the case, and witness another girl go missing right under your nose, wouldn’t you want to do something? Wouldn’t you do a bit of snooping around? Or wouldn’t you at least make your own opinions about who the suspects are?

Ellery has a lot of questions that eventually become the reader’s questions. And she has speculations that become the reader’s speculations as well. Ellery’s decision to put the pieces of the puzzle together lead her to a disorienting discovery that no amount of reading true crime can prepare her for.

Pure and precious main characters.
The book is alternately narrated by Ellery and Malcolm. Malcolm is the younger brother of Declan, the prime suspect to his girlfriend Lacey’s murder five years ago. Both Ellery and Malcolm are too pure and vanilla-flavored for my taste, tho. This is something not really negative about them, but more like my personal preference with my YA mystery characters. Ellery and Malcolm are likable characters but I like my YA mystery teens with flaws and dubious morals. The quartet of the author’s debut book, “One of Us is Lying” is one perfect ensemble of what I want in my YA mystery: they are cheaters and cowards and one is literally a criminal. Sure, there are shady characters here like Malcolm’s older bro Declan and Lacey’s bestfriend Daisy but they are side characters and they are adult characters. I felt that Ellery and Malcolm are devoid of dark sides is all I’m saying. Again, this is just a matter of personal preference and I am sure a lot of other readers would be willing to build forts to protect these two precious cinnamon rolls.

Another thing that I will note is that I wish there’s more of Ezra, Ellery’s twin bro and Mia, Malcolm’s BFF. Another book blogger, Athena @ The Night Faerie share this same sentiment with me in her review. It is but a minor gripe from both of us because overall, the book is a satisfying mystery with a satisfyingly chilling ending.

The chilling ending is chilling.
I will keep this very vague. Our protagonists has a life and death confrontation with the baddie, whose villainy is so low key that I bet only a few could guess rightly the identity. The last few chapters are intense and I felt that Ellery and Malcolm are really in extreme danger. And just when I thought that it’s okay to relax, came those last six words of revelation that gripped me with mixed feelings of sadness and spine tingling.

“Two Can Keep a Secret” is a well done YA mystery with a chilling ending, narrated by two likable teens. This comes highly recommended.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

With their mother Sadie away for the next four months, twins Ellery and Ezra are on the way to their grandmother's house in Echo Ridge. Echo Ridge is a place Sadie mostly avoided since turning eighteen and where the twins never have spent any time. If the bad omens since their arrival mean anything, it seems like the past is coming back to haunt Echo Ridge. A huge true-crime fan, Ellery has always been curious about her aunt's disappearance and the unsolved murder of an Echo Ridge homecoming queen five years ago. When mysterious threats start appearing around town, Ellery races against time (and her grandmother's fears), determined to get some answers.

THOUGHTS: This small town is full of secrets, and no one will predict the ending. Readers will not be disappointed in McManus's second novel. This one is a must-have for high school mystery fans, and it will fly off of the shelves!

Two Can Keep a Secret is just a twisty and delicious as One of Us Is Lying. I loved Ellery and the quaint little town she moves to. Well, if quaint includes a theme park formerly known as Murderland.

There's personal issues against the murder mystery backdrop, such as a mom in rehab, first love, and the teenage struggle of figuring out who you want to be. Ellery is obsessed with true crime and wants to solve the mystery of the missing girls in Echo Ridge, especially when the first girl to go missing was her aunt. Just as the synopsis promises, there's plenty of shocking secrets woven through the novel and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. This mystery is extremely twisty and juicy. Everyone is a suspect and you're not sure if you can trust anyone.

The reveal, however, was a little lackluster. I'm not sure what I wanted to be the scenario, but the one I was given I didn't like. It's such a shame because everything up to that point was perfect. I preferred the reveal of One of Us Is Lying, but I still loved all the mystery and buildup of this one.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.*

Such a great book! It really pulls you in with the atmosphere. I also liked the different characters and how the plot kept twisting.

Karen McManus is the Liane Moriarity of the YA set, writing gripping thrillers with characters that draw you in immediately and hold you fast.

California twins Ellery and Ezra Corcoran find themselves in Echo Ridge, Vermont, living with a grandmother they barely know while their single mother Sadie dries out in rehab. Echo Ridge has a haunted past — it was the place Sadie’s twin Sarah disappeared 20 years ago and more recently the place that 17-year old prom queen, Lacey Kilduff, was killed in the aptly named Murderland theme park. And the haunting doesn’t seem to be restricted to the past…

Populated with well fleshed out, multi-generational, townies, the story is told in alternating voices: Ellery is a True Crime fanatic and invents crazy scenarios faster than they can be discounted; Malcolm Kelly is the younger brother of Declan Kelly, Lacey’s boyfriend at the time of her death and thought by many to be responsible for the crime.

It’s a story full of suspicion and trust, new friendships and old understandings, standard teen stuff and very non-standard teen stuff, and lots of tangled and tortuous plot twists. As with her last book — One of Us is Lying — I didn’t figure it out until the very end.

I really liked it, I never managed to accurately guess the killer, which was nice, clues you were given made you change your mind so much. xD I realized I'd be a horrible detective lmao. I did feel at times that things were a bit slow, and maybe just too many pages for a YA mystery standalone, but better too many than too little in my book. Overall really good second book from this author, I really enjoyed her first book "One of Us is Lying" and since this book was also highly rated, I definitely see myself picking up more books from her.

Thank you Netgalley and Delacorte Press for letting me have a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I read this book in one day, in about two separate sittings. It is not a small book but the writing flows effortlessly and the two main people we have the freedom to listen to the thoughts of are pretty interesting. I enjoyed this book even more than I did the last book by the author. The only thing is, even though the children in the book are in their late teens (or maybe because they are) I wonder if the target age of the book should be a little older, that may just be me.

The story is of a town which is to be a sort of refuge for a pair of twins who have never been there before. Their mother has kept them away and in the dark about most of her history. Ellery is a crime buff feeding off of the thoughts that she has built due to her perusal of true crime and the fact they have something unsolved in their own history.Malcolm has been in limbo since his brother was implicated but never officially named culprit in another case. This is an ominous situation made worse with a lot more than just one death. There is an escalation in events and because innocent people seem to be getting dragged in to the fray, Ellery her twin and their new friends (each with their own baggage) start to follow what they see as clues. Some lead them astray while others strengthen their belief that they know what the solution might be. There are some fast paced moments and all is revealed in a very appropriate manner. I liked the effect of the ending. Overall I recommend this book to those who read young adult fiction/thriller and mystery books because it is well worth the time that you would invest in it.

I finished this story in 24 hours because I could not put it down! This is a YA thriller that did not disappoint. The story kicks right off at chapter one and keeps the intrigue going through the duration of the book. 3 dead young girls from the same small town with years in between?? So sketchy! This was a who done it story at its best
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I tend to deter from thrillers because I guess the endings but this one kept me guessing the whole way through. The main characters were very interesting and likeable with an equally engaging plot. Overall the story reminded me a lot of Pretty Little Liars which is a huge plus in my opinion.

4.5/5 stars

Ellery and her twin brother Ezra have been shipping from Hollywood, CA to their grandmother's in Vermont when their mother is forced into court-ordered rehab. They've never visited their grandma because Sadie's (their mom) twin sister Sarah disappeared during their senior year's homecoming festivities. In fact, Sadie had only been back twice: one for her father's funeral and once for her close friend's daughter's funeral five years previously. This town seems to be swimming in murder and intrigue, and Ellery --true crime aficionado-- is lapping it all up. But is she really prepared when a classmate goes missing? To up the ante, Declan, Prime Suspect #1 and Lacy's boyfriend, is mysteriously back in town, as is Lacy's best friend Daisy. Who killed Lacy? And are they tied to this new disappearance?

Two Can Keep a Secret is an excellent follow-up (but unrelated) to McManus's debut, One of Us Is Lying. Two Can Keep a Secret is also a murder mystery, but it much more grisly and dark compared to the lighter-in-tone, Breakfast Club-like One of Us Is Lying. In fact, there are so many threads in Two Can Keep a Secret, that's it's impossible to guess the ending, which makes it an intriguing and un-put-down-able read.

This book was so good! It kept me guessing until the end, when I can usually guess and ending pretty quickly. It was a super-fast read that was pretty heart-pounding and exciting!

I read Karen McManus' first novel, One of Us Is Lying, when it first came out so I was really excited for her second novel. Again, this is a YA mystery much like her first work and while I was really into the story and loved the characters I have to say I didn't like this one as much as her previous work. That doesn't mean I don't like it, the story was pretty original and I was constantly left guessing as to who the killer was -- I didn't see that ending coming at all! I will definitely be recommending this book to anyone who loves a good mystery!

The book follows Ellery, a teenage girl with a twin that moves to her grandmother's house when her mom ends up in rehab, and Malcom, another teenager whose life changed the day a homecoming queen is found dead, 5 years before, and his brother (her boyfriend) was the only suspect.
In Echo Ridge everyone knows everything about everyone, but it seems that some secrets will never be revealed.
Ellery is determined to know more about the mysteries sorrounding the disappearance of her aunt, her mother's twin, at seventeen and of the other girl's murder, especially when the killer seems to be back in town.

This is an intriguing, hard to put down book. It's an entertaining Young Adult Thriller, very different from her previous novel, One of us is lying. In this book we follow only two characters point of views and there are more mysteries that need to be solved. I have to admit that for the most part it was quite predictable, but the author made it none the less exciting and captivating.
When I read YA books like this there is always one thing that bother me: the police uselessness. Anyway in this novel the police actually does its work and I really appreciate that, it makes the book more realistic other that intricate.

I liked all the characters, it's kind of weird in a story like this, where you can't trust anyone, but they all grew on me, especiay Ellery, her twin brother Ezra, Malmon and his best friend Mia. They were an amazing group of people, unable to solve murders, but still a good representation of high-school students.

I predicted almost every twist in the story, but I think that was the author's intent, she gave us clues here and there expecting us to be surprise when the entire truth was revealed. But was the ending really surprising? For me, YES! While I was reading I had my suspects and theories, I actually thought about the person that ended up to be responsible for the main crime and his/her motives more than ones, but I always dismissed him/her. The author was able to make me understand everything but then she confused me enough to bring me to false leads and make me think I was smart to solve this or that mystery before the characters. Well played Karen, well played.

If you are looking for a quick, enjoyable and page turner read I highly recommend to pick this one up!

Thank you to the editor Penguin Random House International for the free ebook. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Caty

A solid ya mystery with plenty of twists and turns. Everything is mostly tied together at the end and you definitely find yourself rooting for the main characters.

ONE OF US IS LYING was one of my favorite thrillers that I've ever read. It's what kicked my reading habit back into gear. TWO CAN KEEP A SECRET is no different! In fact, I'd say it's even better. When Ellery has to move to Echo Ridge, home of mysterious disappearances, she's less than thrilled. As secrets begin to come out, With Homecoming looming, and the threat of another murder, Ellery has to decide who she can trust, if anyone. I couldn't put this book down. I read page after page until my eyes were hurting and my neck was stiff. I can't wait to give this book to my students!

I absolutely loved One of Us is Lying, the first book by Karen McManus. I remember reading the entire novel on a flight when the book first came out. If you haven’t read it, do so right now! It’s a great book and I was guessing until the end and I liked how it all played out. Sometimes you read a mystery or suspense and the ending falls flat, don’t you hate that?

I don’t read a ton of YA fiction but I will read something that’s a thriller, a page-turner that keeps me up late at night. Recently I read Sadie by Courtney Summers and in the past, I enjoyed Thirteen Reasons Why and The Fault in Our Stars.

When we wrote The Blondes of Bel Air, my co-author and I immediately knew the story had to be a YA with two spoiled teenagers at the center of a murder. If you have read a suspenseful YA that I must read, let me know!

About Two Can Keep A Secret:

Echo Ridge is small-town America. Ellery’s never been there, but she’s heard all about it. Her aunt went missing there at age seventeen. And only five years ago, a homecoming queen put the town on the map when she was killed. Now Ellery has to move there to live with a grandmother she barely knows.

The town is picture-perfect, but it’s hiding secrets. And before school even begins for Ellery, someone’s declared open season on homecoming, promising to make it as dangerous as it was five years ago. Then, almost as if to prove it, another girl goes missing.

Ellery knows all about secrets. Her mother has them; her grandmother does too. And the longer she’s in Echo Ridge, the clearer it becomes that everyone there is hiding something. The thing is, secrets are dangerous–and most people aren’t good at keeping them. Which is why in Echo Ridge, it’s safest to keep your secrets to yourself.

I am very excited to start this book. I expect some plot twists and a story that will probably keep me reading straight into the wee hours of the morning.

This was a ride from start to finish. Mot quite as good as her first novel but still a thrill. 4 stars!

I absolutely loved this book. As a fan of One Of Us Is Lying, I was dying to get my hands on McManus' next novel and this one did not disappoint. The pages flew when I was able to sit down and read this one. I was dying to know the history of Echo Ridge and who the murderer was. It kept me guessing until the end and I did not figure it out, just like in One of Us Is Lying. I highly recommend this book if you like mystery and suspense with some teen angst thrown in for fun.