What a hidden gem of a book this was. Some serious topics covered but mixed in with some wonderful characters and a lot of humour it balanced it all out perfectly. My first book by this author and I'm hoping there is a big back catalogue for me to explore.

Houston certainly knows how to create a tale that pulls you in and takes you on a journey and this story was no different. The characters were pure charm and brought the book to life and I loved each and every minute.

The Sutherland sisters all back together in one village and their will certainly be fun! A lovely story told with humour and great characters and scenarios all in a great village setting. Perfect light summer reading

Sing Me A Secret by Julie Houston.
The four Sutherland sisters had followed different paths. They were now together again in Westonbury.. Are they going to be able to settle their differences and live near each other again? Many secrets. This book even holds some humor in it.
I enjoyed reading it and recommend it.

Thank you Net Galley for sending me an advanced copy for review.

Ms. Houston is a very good storyteller and I was really engaged by all four of the high achieving Sutherland sisters. One of the things that I really like about this book is how wonderfully human the characters are which makes them very easy to relate too.

Written with humour and an understanding of what makes people tick, Julie Houston has created a fun and entertaining read but without shying aware from more serious elements alongside. She writes with marvellous observation of the world around her and the people in it.

I will not be leaving it so long before I read another of her books and I highly recommend this one.

Currently, the book is only available in kindle format but the publishers will be publishing paperback and audio book versions next spring.

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review which I am happy to give.

Sing me a secret is full of drama, emotion and is highly enjoyable and a must read for any Julie Houston fan.

The story follows four loyal sisters who are all very different in personality but share one thing in common and that is that they can all sing. Throw into the mix a singing competition, a young handsome Locum, a Father who is dating a much younger women and a mother with a mental health issues and you have yourself one very good, enjoyable story full of twists and turns.

Sing Me A Secret is the story of four sisters Ariadne, Pandora, Juno and Lexia and their families. The women are so different and have a varied age range but the one thing that they have in common is that they are all excellent singers.

Lexia was less academic than her sisters and left home to become a huge singing sensation. She went on to marry a top professional footballer and has a four-year-old son. After marrying she lost contact with her family but now her husband’s career brings her back to her home town.

Doctor Juno is juggling life as a village GP and mother to two children with an absent husband who is working abroad .She knows that her marriage has become stagnant which becomes more evident when a handsome young locum arrives on the scene.

Pandora announces that the village choir will be taking part in a singing competition and she insists that her sisters join in. Will they be able to bury the past and unite to put on a production to be proud of?

I loved reading about the family dynamics of this unique but still relatable family. There is literally a secret around every corner and plenty of highly amusing moments and dry wit. Even the children were individual and amusing especially ten year old Tilda with her extensive vocabulary and opinionated personality.

Julie Houston is a new author for me and I loved how she defly changed from past to present and different character’s perspectives so seamlessly. The masterful dialogue really gives you an insight into the characters and swept the story along. Although the sisters are very different there are subtle similarities which emerge as the characters develop.

This is an entertaining, character driven read with some serious issues but plenty of laugh out loud moments too.

I had forgotten just how much I love Julie Houston’s books until I started this one.

There’s an almost magical quality to her writing, it just pulls you in, and you really feel as though you’re there, in Westenbury, with all its wonderful characters.

I particularly liked the sisters in this one. Although they are quite varied in both age and personality, there’s a bond between them.

The plot is just perfect, with family reunions and family secrets, all peppered through with wit and humour. There’s a number of intertwining subplots that all come together beautifully. The musical theme is what binds it all together.

I really savoured this book, as I didn’t want it to end, but as the secrets begin to be revealed, I really couldn’t put it down.

It’s a perfect book to read as a standalone, but if you’ve read any of the other Westenbury books, you’ll come across some familiar characters again. I’d highly recommend this book, and all the others, who love a book that is completely absorbing and entertaining.

A great read for lockdown - light hearted, little bit far fetched and perfect escapism. Full review to follow for the blog your later in the month.

I didn't realise that this story is set once again in Westenbury and it felt like returning home as there are some familiar characters and you can picture the village in your head.

Loved the family dynamics of the four sisters - all so different from one another and each having their own back story to bring to the overall book. It was an amusing roller coaster of a read - made you feel happy, made you feel sad, some of it a little over the top - but at the same time they are all believable.

It was a great read for the current lockdown scenario we find ourselves in - we all need to escape for a few hours to a place far happier and less troublesome.

I can see that I have four other books to catch up with - happy days - with a further book being released later in the year.

Having had the pleasure of reading Julie’s books before, I knew I was going to be settling down to a read that would not only be fun but that would also include troubles and traumas with life and relationships generally that many might find familiar – and I certainly wasn’t disappointed.

The story centres around four sisters – all very different in personality but they all have one thing in common – they can sing, very well.

Set around a Yorkshire village called Westenbury, Juno, the GP having to hold the family fort whilst her husband decides to work in America. Pandora, an ex-solicitor but now leading the local musical theatre group with aspirations of bigger and better things and wanting to control everything and everyone. Ariadne, a classics teacher, is the singleton with no children and a no-nonsense attitude; and lastly, the youngest of the four, Lexia, who has had to deal with so much parental upheaval whilst her sisters were away studying at University and whose earlier lifestyle has taken its toll.

My goodness, what a lot of drama and emotional trauma this family has had to endure. Having been estranged from her family for some considerable time, Lexia’s return really does open Pandora’s box! and the consequences are far reaching for the whole family. The story flits back in time to tell Lexia’s part – of the four girls she was considered to be the one most ‘educationally challenged’ but her talents lay elsewhere – with a phenomenal singing voice she found fame with a career as a pop star.

As well as a romance element, there are several heavier topics covered here which include one or two rather unsavoury characters. The main characters of the sisters are well drawn, and engaging with their flaws and insecurities adding realism. Even some of the minor players had their place in the story. Juno’s young daughter Tilda, with her caustic comments found her way into my heart. It did take me longer to warm to some than others – Ariadne with her dry humour and was a favourite, as was Lexia. Although I could quite understand Juno’s almost obsession with the hunky new locum at the practice, it took a while for me to warm to her, she could be a bit of a scatterbrain which grated on me at times.

Although this is one of a series with some recurring minor characters, (Harriet Westmoreland from previous books makes a fleeting appearance) each story is a standalone and this can very easily be read on its own.

A story of secrets, marital issues and family relationships – and a storyline that was both witty and full of drama. Sing Me A Secret was a hugely enjoyable and entertaining read.

My thanks to Vicky of Aria for the tour invitation and for providing the Netgalley copy for review.

Don't expect one secret from this story - there are several. Most of the characters are hiding something, even if it is only an ability to hold a tune. And most of them are pretty big and of the jaw-dropping variety.

I loved the tone of this book, and Juno's character especially. All the sisters were well drawn and nicely fleshed out, and extremely individual - yet you could tell they were sisters, if you know what |I mean! Not an easy thing to do, as a writer, so hats off to Ms Houston for that.

I enjoyed every page of this, every tongue-in-cheek observation, every inner thought and witty remark. And Tilda, Juno's daughter, was a hoot.

But, there are some serious issues dealt with - mental health, self-esteem, mental and physical abuse, blackmail, plus others which I won't go into for fear of spoilers - and they all add depth and layers to the story.

Definitely one of the star reads for me this year.

Most of the characters in this story, it seems, have a secret. Certainly the four sisters do and it is great fun to unravel just what those secrets are. The dynamic between the four siblings seems to grow as the book progresses and their different personalities become clearer. I enjoyed the village feel with everyone knowing everyone elses's business and there are lots of humorous moments, often the result of the younger generation's observations on what their parents are getting up to.

At the beginning, the focus of this story seems to be the state of Juno's marriage but it opens out to include some secrets which involve the other sisters. It is an ingenious plot which certainly hooks you in. It was good to glimpse the Little Acorns Village School again with its link to A Village Affair. I can see a lot of potential in this village setting. I am sure there are plenty more stories to unearth.

Thanks to the publisher for a copy of the book.

Favorite Quotes:

‘I’m claustrophobic,’ she lied. ‘Put me in that coffin of a storeroom and I’ll end up hyperventilating just as I’m ordering some innocent man out of his undercrackers. I’ll be breathing heavily like some dirty old man in a raincoat and then the whole surgery will be on the front page of the News of the World…’

The bloody gerbil was always going AWOL, reappearing when she least expected it. She’d been lying half-asleep in the bath the other day when the damned thing had run along its edge, stopped and eyeballed her and she’d had to grab the flannel to cover herself, feeling strangely embarrassed and at a disadvantage under Lady Gaga’s haughty, critical stare.

Patrick, the flamboyant, adored, but often absent father of their childhood was – here, Juno frowned at the memory – too busy shagging his students and being made to leave his lecturing positions – lechering positions, Ariadne had renamed them – to be remotely interested in his daughters’ musical ambitions.

‘What’s Rosemary Braithwaite got that I haven’t? Well, I’ll tell you: haemorrhoids, that’s what.’ ‘Isn’t that breaking the Hippocratic oath, Izzy?’ Ariadne ventured. ‘Yes, sorry, you didn’t hear that from me. As far as I’m aware, Mary Magdalene doesn’t have, and never has had, bum grapes.’ She paused. ‘Honest.’

My Review:

This was my first Julie Houston experience and I was an instant convert and quickly became a rabid fan. I adored her wry wit and clever levity and wore a near-constant smirk throughout my perusal of this deftly crafted and amusing tale of high achieving members of a dysfunctional family, one that would give new meaning to the term. The writing was engaging, observant, and easy to fall into and inhabited by oddly enticing characters who entertained even when they were annoying, and that takes mad skills. I relished each page and added every book on her listing to my TBR.

In addition to a cleverly amusing read Ms. Houston provided me with 3 new additions to my Brit Words and Phrases List with swinging a leg - being idle or avoiding work; locum - a person who temporarily takes the place for someone else of the same profession; and fit as a butcher’s dog – extremely healthy.

After her husband jets off on business, Juno’s left balancing life as the village doctor with parenting two precocious children and a menagerie of rowdy animals. She’s also left with questions about the state of her marriage—further complicated by the arrival of a handsome new coworker … who steals her office. With her world already spinning, the last thing she anticipates is her popstar sister, Lexia, digging up long-buried secrets when she arrives in Westenbury after years of estrangement. Still, family is family, and an off-kilter production of Jesus Christ Superstar just might be able to heal old wounds and solidify a sisterhood once again.

Here’s a riddle: what do you get when you put the funniest writer working today in an echoey room? Answer: Julie Houston. Julie Houston. Julie Houston.

Yes, that means even among all the familial drama and tension, Houston’s practically trademarked humor is back on display. From a mistaken medical house call to some politically minded chickens to chaotic musical rehearsals, she keeps every moment lively and the laughs rolling. And it’s not as though she’s doling out jokes on every page. Instead, she writes with such heart, tapping into the real essence of her characters, that when she does send up a snort-inducing scenario, it lands uproariously.

In turn, most of Sing Me a Secret’s success rests on Houston’s masterfully crafted characters. Four sisters, four sets of secrets, and a family in desperate need of a restart. Juno manages the bulk of the action, tying much of the story together while occasionally ceding some of the action to Lexia. Houston swaps between their viewpoints and dips into the past to tell their stories, and the result is a richly complex history for these women that has an effortlessly saga-like quality.

Even with such a powerful story at the forefront, Houston doesn’t skimp on the action at the periphery. For being fictional, Westenbury is brimming with life, and it’s populated by a cast that’s never known a boring or mundane day. An abundance of marriage confusion. An exploration of mental health. A singing competition and subsequent fame. An Andrew Lloyd Webber musical that can’t keep a cast. Houston manages it all before settling on an ending that ties everything together in a totally satisfying way.

Is Sing Me a Secret Julie Houston’s best book? Possibly. But then, all of her books could argue for that title.

Relatable characters in an authentic village setting make this story captivating, humorous, poignant and romantic.

The Sutherland sisters grew up in the village and have gradually returned. All except for Lexia the youngest. Their family ripped apart by their parent's infidelity and mental health issues, has a chance to heal with Lexia's return. This story explores the sisters'dark secrets, mental health issues, and relationships sensitively.

The balance of laugh out loud and tear-jerking moments are perfect in this realistic story. Character-driven it's absorbing, you believe in the characters and care what happens to them.

I loved the risque romance, the lovely Tilda and her quirky pets. Lexia's story is sad and resonates. Thankfully the ending is positive for all the sisters.

I received a copy of this book from Head of Zeus - Aria via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I've loved every book by Julie Houston, and relish having her name on my reading list; I have so looked forward to this one and it's a total delight to visit Westenbury once more.

Juno Sutherland has more than enough on her plate; a part-time job as a local doctor keeps her very busy, and then there's home, two children, her husband and a pony with a mind of it's own to take care of - not to mention her broken family which has left her mother needy and her sisters estranged. So she could do without a new locum joining the practice and booting her out of her room . . .

Well, it didn't take long for me to burst into laughter! The author's golden touch shone through the pages mixing joy, fun, laughter and angst - seamlessly. In what seemed like no time at all I was totally invested in all these fabulous characters as they became almost real. I felt that Juno was a close friend who I got to know better and better as the story expanded to include all of her family and I was thrilled when a few of the locals popped up - especially those who has been the focus of previous novels. I love that, while each book is a stand-alone read, those who came before are never entirely forgotten. With her trademark warmth, compassion - and terrific humour - this author has created another winner. Superbly written and wonderfully entertaining, this is absolutely a five star novel!

My thanks to the publisher for my copy via NetGalley and to Vicky Joss for my spot on this tour; this is - as always - my honest, original and unbiased review.

I've read all of Julie Houston's books and I have to say she just seems to get better and better! This story is based in Westenbury, Yorkshire, and it is a perfect example of village life and community spirit. Throughout the book there is a strong feel of love and loyalty between the four main characters; the Sutherland sisters. This book had everything I could have wanted. One minute it had me laughing out loud, the next I was sat on the edge if my seat not knowing what to expect. I absolutely loved everything about this story and would highly recommend it.

Fun, feel-good and immensely enjoyable, Julie Houston deftly juggles laughter, pathos, emotion and heart in her irresistible new novel, Sing Me a Secret.

The four Sutherland sisters are like chalk and cheese. They all had different aspirations, different dreams and they all took different paths in life. Some have been more successful than others in their quest to make their dreams a reality, but none of them ever imagined that secrets and a chaotic production of Jesus Christ Superstar was going to end up bringing them all together again. Pop superstar Lexia Sutherland certainly never imagined that she would find herself returning back to Westenbury and she is not exactly greeted with open arms by many members of the community either. Lexia is more used to big city life than to the gentler pace of Westenbury, so she is not exactly overjoyed to be back home. Westenbury is a place that reverberates with unpleasant memories and secrets which she has tried very hard to put behind her, but maybe the time has come to lay old ghosts to rest and to not continue to let the past control her future.

Juno Sutherland has certainly got more than her fair share on her plate. The village doctor is constantly lurching from one crisis to another and juggling far too much. With a busy job, demanding children, a husband and a stubborn pony – not to mention a part in the village musical – all Juno wants is some much needed peace and quiet. What she does not want or need is to have a sexy new locum rocking up and causing her to think all manner of things she has no business thinking about. Will temptation prove far too impossible to resist? Or will Juno realize that she has everything she possibly needs?

With new challenges, past secrets and a musical to pull off, the Sutherland sisters will need a miracle to get through the coming weeks. But can they triumph over all the obstacles standing in their way? Or will stress, frustration, disappointment and fear end up pulling them all under and ruining everything?

A hilarious and heart-warming tale of secrets, sisters and show tunes, Sing Me a Secret is a brilliant page-turner that had me chuckling out loud on many an occasion. A wonderfully told tale about facing up to the past, looking to the future and finding the courage to throw caution to the wind and take chances, Sing Me a Secret is a book that will make readers smile, touch their hearts and keep them turning the pages way into the early hours of the morning.

Sparkling, enjoyable and uplifting, Julie Houston’s Sing Me a Secret is just the tonic to lift the spirits during these difficult times.

The four Sutherland sisters, Juno, Ariadne, Pandora and Lexia, live their own lives. They're together yet they are also estranged - just like it feels in real life, right? Juno is a doctor at the village practice, working part - time but now she finds herself moved to another room as the surgery needs another, full - time doctor, who turns out to be the handsome Aussie Scott Butler. Juno can't forget that she's very married, even though her husband is working one year abroad but Scott seems to be everywhere Juno is, not only at the practice but saving her from her own bathroom or appearing at her sister's party.
What the sisters have in common is they can sing. Really well. So well that Lexia has won a competition once, a competitions that catapulted her to the first places in all music charts but also estranged her from her family. Now she's about to come back to Westenbury but not without a fight.
Nevertheless, there is going to be a production of "Jesus Christ Superstar" and all of them will take part in it! But will the sisters be able to forget about the past and move forward? To start again?

The author brilliantly captured the dynamics between the characters and their relationships. I did wish a bit more depth to the characters, to be honest, because, with them being rather a few, they felt not finished and I had a feeling that I don't now them all as well as I'd like. It took some of them some time to grow on me, to be honest and I think it's because for a long time I wasn't sure what and who is important in this story. Nevertheless, the sisters came truly alive in this book, with all their ups and downs, mistakes that they made, troubles and problems but also with their funny moments. They were full of emotions and they shared a strong bond. I liked getting to know them, learning that all of them had their own reasons for feeling unhappy. And, let's be honest, like in every family, there are always secrets and misunderstandings, and it's the same with the Sutherlands, all four sisters had something to hide and it was intriguing to be able to unravel all those secrets. The dynamics between them seemed real and genuine, sometimes too far - fetched and overdone but still they felt vaguely familiar.

It is a second book in a series and at the beginning I was a bit worried that perhaps I should have read the first book before I start this one, but it turned out that no, no worries, you can read it as a stand - alone.

As much as this was a lovely book, I think it could be a bit shorter, because let's be honest, at 40% I still wasn't sure what it's about and on whom it's actually focusing. I was thinking it is a story about Juno but there was also so much about other characters, and Lexia's subplot could fill a book by itself. There were many, many descriptions, and as much as I appreciated their beauty and vividness, I wanted to beg the book, just come to the point, pretty please. Before the characters came to a conclusion, it took them three of four pages of inner monologue, and I am more of an action reader - just keep the plot going!

Altogether, "Sing Me a Secret" was a story full of secrets and real relationships, written in a descriptive and evocative way, filled with humour and also touching upon heavier issues. It was about overcoming the past, about unconditional sisterly love that is able to survive even the most darkest moments. It covered so many topics, starting with family relationships and dramas, infidelity, blackmail, a bit of romance and we can't forget, a musical production, this all set among community where everyone knows everyone else's business, but not in a negative way. Light and with feel - good factor, a great read for a sunny afternoon.

Thank you to Vicky Joss at Head of Zeus for my invitation to the tour and for my copy of the book via Net Galley in return for a fair and honest review.

The story begins in 2004 with Lexia winning a TV talent show, the story then moves forward to 2019. One of Lexia’s sister Juno who is a GP is working in the surgery at Westenbury. Juno’s children have never met their aunt as she left Westenbury many years before and never returned and severed all contact with her sisters and her parents.

The three sisters Pandora, Adrienne and Juno all live in Westenbury and all have different views when they hear that Lexia maybe returning with her footballer husband.

Lexia’s life is not the dream that her sisters think and she is at rock bottom, her marriage is falling apart and does not want to return to Westenbury but she knows that her husband would not let her have her son Cillian so she goes.

I am one of three girls so I enjoyed the dynamics of the sisters relationships and I am always fascinated by family stories and this one is great, with lots of twists and turns. I liked Juno she made me laugh with her no nonsense approach to life and her visits with the new locum Scott are very funny.

This is my second of Julie’s books and I really enjoyed it she writes with humour and realism and warmth another great helping of escapism which was a delight to read.