Very easy read and one I read very quickly. It didn't set the world alight for me but it was just about entertaining enough for me to recommend to anyone who likes domestic thrillers that won't scare you or make you jump at the slightest noise! Not an 'on the edge of your seat' type of read and I think it is an exaggeration to say it is unputdownable. It also does NOT have a shocking twist at the end. More of a damp squib after a mediocre firework display. I also wouldn't attach the word psychological to it. The story is too gentle and mundane.
Lucy, one of the main characters is for the most part extremely irritating purely because it is so obvious what Amber is up to and as the reader you are screaming at her to stop being so naïve and wake up! Yes, there are secrets and yes there is some uncertainty over one voice, do the flashbacks to the past refer to Lucy, Amber or Matt? It could be any of them.
An everyday tale of damaged childhoods which damage adults who then go on to lie, hide personal secrets, pretend to be something they're not and in the relationship pot these all get mixed up to cause mistreatment or bad behaviour.
I won't lose any sleep over the fates of any of these characters but I also won't avoid reading another book by Sue Watson. I will happily try again!

This book took off right from the start. It continued on as a fairly quick read albeit a bit predictable making it feel a tad too long. But I must say that I am glad I stuck with it for the ending left me satisfied. I'm giving it three stars but just barely. Thank you to NetGalley and Sue Watson for this sneak peek!

I was gifted a digital ARC of All Her Secrets by Sue Watson, courtesy of NetGalley and Bookouture. This book will be published by Bookouture, released on 05/23/19.

Lucy has a loving husband (Matt), dream job as a teacher, and house just the way she wants it when Amber, her previous news idol moves in and becomes her new neighbor. Lucy can't believe it, but she and Amber quickly become best friends. Then Amber starts acting strangely, claiming she may be pregnant and telling Lucy she's been receiving threatening messages. Lucy wants to help Amber and keep her safe, but quickly realizes things may not always be what they seem. Everyone has secrets, and everyone will do anything possible to keep them.

The characters in this book are a mess. Lucy is desperately seeking approval from her idol and Amber is a total space cadet. I did wish there had been a little more connection in the book with Amber/Lucy and Matt. He felt like an afterthought when I wanted to know more about his life story. The manipulation between Amber and Lucy was insane. I was glued to the book because I had to know the next twist. The day I finished this, I was up until 1:30 because I couldn't wait until the next morning to read the ending.

I'll be honest-I love a good book cover and often pick books based on how attracted I am to the covers. It's not scientific, but it hasn't let me down yet. This cover immediately drew me. I HAD to know what was going on in that house. Combine that with my love of thrillers and this book was a no-brainer for me. The twists in the book were enjoyable enough. This book gives off a "Single White Female" vibe and I dig it. Overall, this was an entertaining book and is perfect for readers who like the "mystery next door" type of stories.

If you're a fan of Big Little Lies or Desperate Housewives type stories, be sure to pick this up when it releases on 05/23/19! 💜

🌟🌟🌟🌟/5

A quick chilling read, which is captivating, intriguing, riveting, while also bringing many thrills, chills, and twists & turns! A must read for my fellow lovers or psychological thrillers that have some dark themes, but not as dark as some may be. Definitely written in a manner that grips you and sends chills down your spine and makes sure that you hold your breathe and gasp loudly when you suddenly remember you need to breathe!
I will be highly recommending to the members of Chapter Chatter Pub!

Who is stalking Amber? Is someone stalking Amber? That's the question at the root of this twisty thriller about two women- Lucy and Amber. Lucy looks like she has it all but there's some heartache as she and her husband Matt are infertile. She's thrilled when Amber, the local weatherperson, becomes her friend, and when Amber says she feels threatened, asks her to move in. Not a good idea. Told in each woman's voice, as well as with some periodic input from an unnamed narrator, this one has a good turn. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. No spoilers!

*Thank you to the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.
I love books like this. I put them in the "guilty pleasure" category. Quick and fun reads with a voyeuristic sense of eyeballing someone else's dirty secrets.

Omg,I never saw that coming.
Lucy's secrets may have been revealed and she had her life turned upside down. To think it was made out to be her all along...... when it wasn't. Had me fooled as I would never have thought it was that particular person.
You think you know your best friend?
You think you know your husband?
Amazing read.
Lucy ended up with what she couldn't have after all.

A great and disturbing read. Very 'single white female' reminiscent! How far can friendship go! Lucy and Amber are about to find out!

There’s a stalker or is there? Is she a friend or isn’t she? Do they have a happy marriage or don’t they?
I never really cared about any of the characters and it seems like a familiar story. Just wasn’t my favorite book.

All Her Secrets
by Sue Watson


Kindle Edition, 329 pages
Published May 15th 2019 by Bookouture


Goodreads synopsis:
I suppose everyone has regrets, wonders what if? People all have their reasons for living here. Who knows what lies behind the pretty curtains and the well-groomed lawns of Mulberry Avenue? 

Lucy has a lovely husband, a job she adores as a teacher, and a house on Mulberry Avenue that she’s decorated just the way she wants – from the floaty curtains and the softest bed linen, right down to the perfectly-chosen velvet cushions on their comfortable sofa. Life isn’t perfect, but it’s pretty close. 

She’s also got Amber. Her newest friend and neighbor. They’ve got so much in common. Even if Amber’s life sometimes seems a lot more glamorous and exciting, she shares Lucy’s down-to-earth sense of humor, and Amber seems so interested in Lucy and her life, it’s like they never run out of things to talk about. 

But then Amber starts acting strangely, claiming her life isn’t all it seems, talking about how she thinks she might be pregnant, and confiding in Lucy that she’s started getting threatening messages. 

She’s scared, and the only person she can turn to is Lucy. She wants to stay at Lucy’s house until things calm down. 

Lucy wants to protect her friend. But can she really trust Amber? Because sometimes other people are not all that they seem. Sometimes they have secrets. And they’d do anything to keep them… 

***

5 Stars

This book was unputdownable. Misery meets Single White Female with a twist.

I have read books by Sue Watson before and among the many volumes I have read over the years, her stories still stick in my mind. The previous books were unlike this one. They were chick lit. Soft and airy. Fun. Nothing like this book. This is hard core psychological stuff. Top rate.

Halfway through there was a question if there really was a stalker or Amber had been making it all up. I was rooting for a stalker because Amber was such a nasty woman. I wonder how such people get away with stuff like she did. I was rooting for the bad guy. Not her but the one after her.

When the tables turned and the surprise happened, I was like “what the?” “OMG! What a jerk.” I don’t want to give too much away because the unfolding of the story is where the fun of the story lies.

About three-fourths through the chapters changed from a mostly Lucy POV to an Amber POV. There was also what I assumed was the stalker POV thrown in here and there just to mix it up a bit.

I felt vindicated at the end but I wish Lucy would have done a bit more to make everyone know she wasn’t at fault. You know she isn’t the stalker going in so I am not spoiling anything. We see most of the story through her eyes. She had a somewhat obsession with Amber because she was there for her on the tv screen when she was a kid growing up and offering kind tidbits on the evening news. It’s too bad Amber turned out to be not what Lucy suspected she was.

You need to read this book if you like thrillers. I have already picked up the other thriller Watson has written since I liked this one so much. Wonderful stuff. My highest rating.

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title.

All Her Secrets tells the story of a fairly twisted “friendship” between Lucy, a teacher in her forties, and Amber, the TV weather girl who moves in nearby.

It took a long time for me to get at all into this book, as I found it hard to engage with either the story or the characters. Neither Lucy (I struggled to even remember her name) nor Amber had anything particularly memorable about them aside from Amber’s “celebrity” status. The self-obsessed Amber never seemed to have much to recommend her as a friend, and I couldn’t see why Lucy was so besotted with their friendship.

Things did pick up a bit, plot-wise, in the last third of the book, but the Big Twist at the end wasn’t much of a surprise - I’d had a good idea things may be going in that direction.

Also, while it doesn’t normally bother me too much, the first-person-present-tense writing style really started to grate on me. All that “I open the door and walk into the hallway. I see my friend standing there. I wonder if there’s something she’s not telling me. I feel concerned.” All that sort of thing. Normally it would become less noticeable after a while but that didn’t happen here and it just kept annoying me. Does nobody write in the past tense any more?

All in all a pleasant enough but forgettable read which didn’t really engage me.

.

(Also posted on my Goodreads account!)

You know what, I like Sue Watson's last book Our Little Lies. However, for this one, I can only give it a solid 2 stars. Why? Because the drama override the thriller, the inconsistency of characters, and a bored writing on top of that.

I didn't get the 'thriller' feels up until around 60%. Even then, it wasn't any 'thriller' per se. It wasn't even psychological thriller either, unless by psychological it meant the author was f- with the readers. And not in a good way. It had no climax, prolonged drama, and no satisfying ending. There, I said it.

I get that author would want us to sympathise with the (seemingly) naive yet lovely main character. But, Lucy wasn't all those. She wasn't naive (although she & co. said so repeatedly) nor she was lovely. In fact, Lucy was quite annoying with her wishy washy thinking.

Amber was just the same. Was she manipulative? Was she genuine? Who knows?

To me, it felt like Watson wanted to make grey characters, complete with PSA against discriminisation on women and national health care, but it all felt flat. I couldn't feel the bond between Lucy and Amber. All I got was that both were irritating as hell.

The writing reinforced several established facts (Lucy talked about how manipulative her friend was, Amber said she was afraid of Lucy, etc.) through narrations. Lots and lots of it, it became redundant. I reckon the book could be trimmed half and we wouldn't know better then.

Thank you to Net Galley for this Advanced Reader's copy! This book was definitely not what I thought it was from the ending! I love a book with a great twist at the end! I thought the characters were well developed and I really got to know each of them. I felt like I knew where the book was going but I was wrong. I would recommend this book!

This book was just average for me; I found it quite slow going and the characters weren’t likeable. I’m not sure if this was the intention, I don’t think we are supposed to like Amanda. However, I didn’t even like Lucy or any of the other periphery women that were in it.
Lucy seemed manic in her obsession with Amanda, and I’m not sure what either of them saw in each other as they weren’t very good friends. Lucy was pushy and clingy, and Amanda standoffish and selfish. Lucy didn’t gain anything from the friendship so why she was so adamant about defending Amanda and pushing all her other friends away just didn’t make sense. There needed to be some redeeming qualities there.
It took me a while to get into this book; however, it does pick up slightly after the middle. We start to get other people’s points of view and not just Lucy’s. I thought I had the identity of the ellipsis chapters figured out, but the reveal surprised me. It was good to have the twists and turns at the end; it made the book worthwhile sticking with.
It wasn’t a terrible book, just too ploddy for my liking and I need to feel like I am invested in more likeable characters or more redeemable characters at least. The book is well-developed and does build up to the unanticipated ending. There is nothing left hanging; we get all the answers to the questions we have asked throughout. I do like a book that ties up all the loose endings. So not a bad book but not the best I have ever read either. It was just a slow and simple read.

All Her Secrets starts well & finishes well but I found it quite boring in between which is a shame as the precis or blurb of the book was very promising

A really twisty, turns tale. Great, dysfunctional characters who will have you shaking your head at some decisions. A story of best friends, family and life in what should be dull suburbia until Ambers shows up. Lots of secrets, deception and some great twists. An excellent ending.

Thank you so much for this ARC.

This is a perfect domestic thriller. Friendship, stalking, fame and jealousy! Just when you think you know, get ready for a plot twist.

This book had a really slow start for me. I had trouble liking any of the characters, but perhaps that was the intent. As if went on, it was suspenseful and really made me wonder what was going on (no spoilers). The middle was also a little bit slow, but you got a better understanding of the characters. I loved the ending and the way everything played out, especially with an interesting revaluation at the end. I only wish the rest of the book matched the pace of the ending. Overall, I enjoyed it and would try this author again. Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

It was an easy book to read. I really enjoyed it. Even though I guessed early on who the stalker was, still couldn't put it down. Lucy and Matt were a happily married couple, trying for a baby for many years, but unfortunately they were unsuccessful. The new neighbour Amber moves in, she is a local celebrity and by Lucy befriending her, Amber turns Matt and Lucy's world upside down. They think they know each , but do they really?

I've not read Sue Watson before, probably because her best known genre is romantic comedies and I'm a mystery thriller girl, but this was something else. ALL HER SECRETS is Watson's second offering in this genre and I have to say she does it well.

ALL HER SECRETS is a darkly woven story that has it all - a stalker, deceit, betrayal, paranoia, friendship, infertility and lots and lots of secrets. With characters you will love to hate as well as mysterious perspective thrown in every few chapters, this book has so many twists and delectable conclusion that will leave you breathless.

Lucy and Matt are happily married living on Mulberry Lane in the Treetops Estate (which kind of had a whole "Desperate Housewives" Wisteria Lane feel to it) when minor celebrity Amber breezes into the neighbourhood, moving in a few doors down in the most beautiful house on the Lane.

Amber Young is a weather girl on the local TV network who'd had a promising career at one stage until life took an unexpected turn with the death of her husband so, grieving her loss, Amber took time out. But showbiz doesn't wait around and upon her return she had become yesterday's news and was no longer looking at the career she had been aiming for. But for the women of Mulberry Lane, she was still a celebrity, one of which they had never met before.

Lucy is immediately taken with the beautiful Amber and wastes no time in baking a cake (which I just knew was going to backfire) to welcome her to Mulberry Lane. I, on the other hand, hated Amber on sight. First, she ignored Lucy's knocking and upon her second attempt was completely rude, saying "I don't eat cake" without even a smile or a thank you. She didn't even have the good grace to be grateful or even nice about it. I felt for poor Lucy as she took her cake back home for the second time. At least her and Matt could enjoy it together, as they had the first one she'd baked.

So it came as a complete surprise when Amber turns up a the local book club Lucy had mentioned to her and which she'd shown no interest in at the time. And instead of discussing books, the entire evening revolved around Amber regaling them with extravagant stories of trips to Cannes and millionaire's yachts. The women were awestruck. It was on the way home that evening that Amber befriended Lucy, though I'm sure Lucy had thought it was the other way around, apologising for "the other day" but she didn't sound the least bit sorry to me.

Twelve months later and Lucy and Amber are firm friends, often going out on the town to wine bars or the cinema for a chick flick. The two women are inseparable and Lucy has never known anyone quite like Amber. I found myself feeling sorry for poor Kirsty, Lucy's best friend before Amber, taking a backseat to "the funnier and more glamorous" Amber. However Kirsty wasn't as blind to Amber as Lucy was and could see right through her from the beginning. But Lucy wouldn't hear a word said against her new friend and in the end stopped seeing Kirsty altogether.

In Lucy's defence, all her other friends in Mulberry Lane had children - something which Lucy and Matt had never been blessed with despite numerous IVF attempts. So the unattached, single, motherless Amber was all the more attractive to her as conversations with her didn't revolve around toilet training, breast feeding and all the usual mother and baby stories that pained her to listen to with her other friends. It was a club of which she would never be a member and she felt on the outside, and she had to pretend to share in their joy when for her she ached to be a mother. But with Amber she didn't have to pretend.

Lucy and Amber are so completely different! Lucy is all fluffy and light who thinks baking and eating cakes solves everything - I have to admit, I'm with her on that! Amber has a harder edge and strives for perfection, not worried about who she steps on or over to get there. She knows what she wants in life though I have to wonder that sometimes whilst reading their story, because so much of what Amber did clearly displayed not only a lack of judgement but also one who really doesn't know what she wants.

When Amber starts receiving threatening texts I must admit I wouldn't have been surprised if it was Amber herself. She was that type of person who thrived on attention and if she wasn't getting it, then she would generate it. The fact that Amber wasn't taking it seriously also rang alarm bells. But Lucy DOES take it seriously and calls the police to report them. Unfortunately, Amber deleted the other texts, so much was her concern. However, "the stalker" gained Amber the attention she craved and it was clear she relished it, although not Lucy's mother hen routine which only served to irritate her.

But the text messages are just the beginning which set off a chain of events resulting in Lucy, wanting to be a good friend, inviting Amber to stay with her and Matt so that she feels safe. The threats only escalate and Amber, blowing hot and cold on the matter, agrees. But things only get worse when first Lucy discovers a positive pregnancy test and shock makes way for practicalities. She feels it would be best that Amber stay with them until the baby is born but once little Mia enters the world, Lucy isn't prepared for what's to come. The house may be feeling a little too crowded but Lucy discovers that she can't imagine life without Mia. Only problem is, she's Amber's daughter...not her's.

The tables have turned. Who is playing who?

ALL HER SECRETS is told primarily from Lucy's POV, particularly in the first part of the story, with a few chapters sprinkled in between by an unnamed narrator. It's not until the second half do we hear Amber's voice, which brings a different perspective to the table. As everything up until this point has been told through Lucy's eyes it's only now that we see the story from Amber's and it does shed a whole new different light on things.

As the story progresses it's obvious that trouble is brewing and you can really feel the trepidation the deeper the story goes. It is completely engrossing, intriguing and compelling - like a car crash you pass on the motorway; you don't want to look but you find yourself drawn in. Lucy is too nice and compliant whilst Amber is just basically a self-centred bitch who messes with your head.

Throughout the book I found myself wondering whose voice it was we were hearing from those anonymous chapters. With three main players in the story, I felt it had to be one of them and I went through stages of thinking it was each of them. Of course this anonymous voice also appeared to be the stalker but that didn't deter me from suspecting it was Amber herself. After all, they all seemed to share the same sorry backgrounds. But the person I settled on being the likeliest candidate in the end turned out to be "that voice". And even though I saw the ending before it happened, it was still packed a punch that left me breathless.

ALL HER SECRETS just goes beyond all my expectations. Just when I thought it would be another average read, particularly when Amber made her entrance, as each woman wove her tangled web I was drawn in and could not escape until the very last page!

From romantic comedies to psychological thrillers? I say Sue Watson has made such a mark in this genre she should leave the romcoms behind for this more dark, twisted but delectable style. She totally nails it!

I would like to thank #SueWatson, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #AllHerSecrets in exchange for an honest review.