Thankyou to #netgalley for the ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. Yet another captivating thriller from J.S Ellis. Days before your best friend dies she loans you her laptop. After her death you find yourself curious as to what is in her laptop. You find she has made these video files and with each one you watch you feel yourself getting closer to who may have murdered her and why. Will the last file reveal her killer's identity? The police think your childhood friend is the killer but you just don't think he is capable of murder. A great plot that makes you wonder just how well do we ever really know anyone even our closest of friends?! #tea_sipping_bookworm #bookstagram #goodreads #amazon#kindle #bookqueen #litsy #jsellis #netgalley

This one reminded me a lot of "Thirteen Reasons Why" but with a murder. Overall, it was an okay book. It is short so you can read it quickly; I finished it within a day of starting. And I did still enjoy the actual story. The concept of someone documenting their days/months before their death is one of my absolute favorites. Thrillers will always be my favorite genre because of plot lines like this one. I would still recommend this book to others. The style of this book is not one that I personally enjoy that much, but I'm sure other people who would love it!

I finished this book in one sitting because I couldn't put it down. It had me hooked from page one and the twist kept me going. I can say I didn't guess the ending like I have with other thrillers . J.S. Ellis kept me guessing which I loved very much. The writing was easy to follow and it flowed very well. I really be picking up Ellis other books now and going out to tell my friends they need to read this book.

This was a really fast read, but fell a little short for me. I feel like it started and then it ended, with no real build-up of the story or the characters. The premise is that Anthony's best friend Lottie is murdered, and had happened to lend him her laptop a couple days before. Rather than mentioning to the police that he has the laptop, he takes matters into his own hands and takes a peek, finding a series of video clips that Lottie recorded over the past few months.

I liked the overall style of the book, where it went back and forth between Lottie's video clips and Anthony's responses to what he was seeing, but the writing itself felt a little stilted. When her big secret comes out, I didn't think it was that big of a deal, and the outcome left me scratching my head a bit. I also just didn't feel that the characters,or really the overall plot-line, were that well-developed- Davian came off like a huge jerk and I couldn't fathom when/where/how he and Anthony became close friends, or why Lottie was so obsessed with him.

All in all, this just wasn't that memorable of a read for me, though it was a quick one. I would not recommend.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve not come across a book like The Secret She Kept before and found the concept of the story and what was on offer of the writing style really rather enjoyable. The main character, Anthony, stumbles across the vital clues of his best-friends murder on the laptop that she lent him; in the form of Lottie (The best friend) having recorded the events that led to her death, but rather than hand the laptop over too the police and letting the professionals do their job, Anthony keeps hold of the evidence and starts his own investigation – this in itself feels a little contrived but the plot has to come from somewhere, right?

The story takes place in dual parts. What Anthony discovers and what Lottie has recorded. The two elements work well and lead into one another nicely. What Lottie reveals in her videos is always met with some opinion or another of Anthonys and usually followed up by him in his investigations. The basic plot device is that Lottie has fallen for a very attractive co-worker; Davian. For some reason or another that I can’t quite fathom. Davian isn’t written as a decent character, he is dull, insulting, arrogant and obnoxious. But Lottie falls for him deep regardless of him being offered to the reader so blandly and then the tale starts to unravel itself.

I found the modern-day setting for the novel to be easily believable and the Artwork and Photographic agency in which Lottie, Davian and Anthony are connected to easy to imagine being a real place of work. With Davian being a star-photographer and held up on a high pedestal by the companies owner for his work contributions. I also found elements of the characters lives to be intriguing and also believable. Lottie's thoughts in the videos she has left behind about various characters are entertaining and I found these parts of The Secret She Kept a lot more enjoyable than the rest which I felt needed a bit more working on to make them shine, but that didn’t make me feel any more sympathetic towards her than other characters. In the end, I couldn’t really care less who was telling the truth and who was lying I just wanted to find out who ‘did it.’

I found a lot of The Secret She Kept to feel clipped. The dialogue felt very forced between Anthony and pretty much everyone else that he encounters and quite unrealistic. More often than not Anthony dives deep into questions about Lottie for his investigation before any scene-setting has been delivered and I felt as though a lot of the book was trying to rush to the conclusion without leaving much of a story to enjoy in its wake. The Secret She Kept feels like there is something deeper lacking between its pages and a lot of the potential in the plot is lost due to the head-long stampede to get to the conclusion. It is due to this lack of depth that all the characters, like Davian, felt incomplete and it was hard to really connect with any of them and at times they didn’t make sense. Anthony clearly had issues with Lottie's choices, so why is he so determined to solve the mystery of her death? Lottie was appalled by Davian so why the attraction? I feel with a little more scratching at the surface and a bit more explanation of the characters and their deeper motives, The Secret She Kept would be a lot more enjoyable.

Sadly, my criticism of the book's writing doesn’t end there – another feeling of being rushed came out in the rather abundant errors in writing; words being in the wrong order or sentences that don’t quite read correctly. I feel like The Secret She Kept needs a little more ‘spit and polish’ before it goes for its final print run. Another run through with a proofreader/editor would easily solve this and might be in the works as the copy I received was an Advance Reader Copy.

A little note on the ending, it is one that I didn’t quite see coming but it did feel a little flat and lacklustre. Like a climax that didn’t really happen. It left me feeling somewhat deflated and disappointed with the book as a whole, but The Secret She Kept is a short read and overs an evening or so of easy escapism. The language is simple to grasp and the pages turn quickly enough to make the story enjoyable even if the characters themselves do not.

Lottie is murdered and her friend Anthony, has borrowed her laptop. He doesn’t understand who could possibly have killed her. Anthony starts exploring the laptop and finds videos recorded in the year before Lottie died. It seems she has treated the videos as an online diary of sorts. She reveals secrets that Anthony now must figure out if they were worth killing for. It sounds like a good thriller but something was just off for me-perhaps the writing style. I wasn’t invested in the characters and just didn’t feel the need to read quickly to find out the truth. Not bad but not great. Thanks to Netgalley and Black Cat Ink Press for the arc.

Anthony’s friend Lottie lends him her laptop to borrow, shockingly she is murdered five days later. Curious, Anthony starts exploring the laptop and stumbles upon videos recording in the year before his friends death. In those videos, Lottie reveals a dark secret about Anthony’s oldest friend. What is that secret and is it worth killing for?

Overall, I enjoyed this book and read it in one sitting. I really liked the author’s writing style and use of different literacy devices to tell the story. I think Anthony’s character could have been developed a bit more in the beginning so that we understood his motivation and relationship with Lottie.

Thank you to Netgalley for gifting me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I read this book very quickly; it was an easy read. That being said, it wasn't read voraciously like I have done with other thrillers. The premise of the book intrigued me and initially made me think of 'Thirteen Reasons', which I was enthralled by. I was excited to dive into it and hoped it would be one of my favourite summer readers. However, I was really disappointed by it and it didn't live up to the teaser.

Overall, I found the writing to be bland or repetitive in structure in places, which made it a little boring to read. Every now and again there would be a random simple descriptive phrase that seemed unnecessary to the story. I often told my students to show, not tell and consider whether it's necessary. Why do I need to know that? They seemed to be have been included to give me more details about the characters, but unimportant ones. I found the characters, and their relationships, to not be fully developed. They didn't feel real to me and I found it hard to gravitate towards one of them and care about their journey.

This book might serve well with those wanting to have an easy light summer read, a bit of a chance to escape for a while. Unfortunately, it did not do that for me.

This was my first book by the author J.S. Ellis and it was a good one! I loved the premise of this book and the twists and turns. We start out by finding Lottie dead from a gunshot wound and no clue to who the killer is. Her friends are devastated and can't figure out who would want to kill their sweet loving friend. But how well do you really know your friends? Do they have secrets that they keep from you? Do you really know their lives? These are all questions that will come up for you during this roller coaster ride plus many more. There will be characters you hate right off the bat and characters you can relate to and feel compassion for. But don't believe everything you think you know. Just when you think you have it figured out, it will turn on you. It was a suspenseful ride that kept my attention to the end. Some jumping around that made things hard to follow sometimes but not bad. Overall, an engaging page turner that kept me guessing until the very end.

Thank you to the author and Netgalley for a digital advanced copy. The opinions expressed here are my own.

This is a very well thought-out, suspenseful psychological mystery that you will not want to stop reading.. The author does a fabulous job of conveying the fears and emotions of the characters to the reader. I highly recommend this book to mystery readers. I would give it a 6 or 7 rating..

The best way to describe this book is that it is essentially a aged up version of Thirteen Reasons Why. None of the characters are exactly likable and I found myself disliking Anthony for the same reason I disliked Clay from thirteen reasons why. The mystery itself was interesting and I liked the format of the storytelling switching from Anthony’s perspective and Lottie’s videos. Overall it was a good read and I liked it well enough.

Thank You to NetGalley and Black Cat Ink Press for this free ebook!!

Days before her murder, Anthony’s friend, Lottie, lent him her laptop. Curiosity getting the best of him, he clicks on a file and finds videos recorded by her in the year leading up to her death. Within those recordings, she exposes dark secrets someone will kill to keep hidden.

When Anthony’s childhood friend, Davian is placed under arrest for the murder and evidence piles up, Anthony wonders if he even knew both his friends.

Now, Anthony faces an impossible choice; turn the laptop over to the police and risk being accused of hindering the investigation, or try to solve the case himself.

What attracted me to this book was it's premise but unfortunately it wasn't as good as I had hoped it would be.

What's good about this book is that the secrets, lies and truth are gradually revealed and so the readers can try guessing who is telling lies and who isn't.

But since the book is written in very simple language its a quick read.

Thanks netgalley. Couldn't put it down. Lottie loaned her computer to Michael, then she was killed. Michael is now looking on Lotties computer for clues to her killer.

Lottie has left a "diary" on the computer. Is what is written there fantasy or factual. How did Lotties life end up such a mess.

Anthony can't believe that his friend Lottie has been murdered, she just loaned him her computer a few days before. He decides to figure out what happened to her by searching for clues on her computer, while looking he finds a video diary and wonders does he really know her at all. When his best friend is arrested for the murder he tries to figure out who's lying.
An intense read and although I figured the ending out it didn't bother me because I had to the whys and hows. A good entertaining read that kept me reading until I finished.

I feel like I have read a completely different book to some of these reviews on here because I didn't like this at all, which is sad to say because when I requested this book it seemed right up my alley.

Okay, so problem number one is the writing style is very poor. My first thought when reading this was the writing was so blocky. Anthony said this. Anthony did this. The readers were being told what was happening rather than described. We might as well have been reading an interview transcript.

I have also never read anything more predictable in my life. 22% in I called it and Ellis might as well have underlined and made it bold because it was painstakingly obvious what happened to her. Which leads on to my next point - I didn't care for any of the characters. Anthony was as dry as the Sahara Desert. Like he was genuinely so boring I rolled my eyes constantly. I'm surprised my eyeballs are still intact.

Oh, and what is with Anthony's profanity and name-calling 24/7?

Overall, this was not a good read or even a memorable one. I would not recommend this at all.
1.75 stars.
I received this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Not a 'bad' book, but didn't grab me by the throat way that Thirteen Reasons Why did, so aside from the recording preceding a death, this is in no way a justified teaser. My main problem with this book is that the writing feels over simplified and more bland than not. The characters fully developed and it was difficult to care about them, not even Lottie or Anthony and Davian is so over-the-top sinister to the point of comical.

A great thriller and whodunit. I could not figure out who was telling the truth and I had to race through it. Brilliant book. I'd love to. Read more from this author x

This was such a quick and easy read for me. I read it all in one day! The first thing I loved about this book was that there was no useless fluff. Recently, I’ve been reading a lot of books with useless side plots and long winded descriptions, seemingly to add content. This book however got right into the meat of the story! I cannot praise that enough! Yes, an author who gets it.

There were twists and turns, that left me guessing. Who was telling the truth? Davian? Lottie? I love a good “who done it” that doesn’t expose the truth until the end. I also enjoyed the fact that there wasn’t an overwhelming amount of red herrings or suspects for you to try and remember as the story goes on.

Well written and thrilling. Also, for me, a sort of emotional read. Great book, I will read more by this author and recommend this book!

A different type of suspense story with a different kind of twist!

Lottie is murdered. Her best friend (Anthony) is distraught.
However, Anthony is in the best position to discover Lottie's killer. Lottie had lent him her computer a few days prior to her demise. Was this a sign? Anthony was not sure. Yet, he keeps the computer a secret from all - even the police.

It is clear to Anthony that there are 15 snippets of Lottie's life on Lottie's computer. Many things he did not know about her. Anthony uses these "clues" to hopefully track down the killer, alone...

An excellent story with great characterization! I read this story very fast! Lots of suspense and tension!

Recommend!

Many Thanks to Black Cat Ink Press and NetGalley for an excellent read!

A few days before Lottie was murdered she lent Anthony her laptop.
Anthony, desperate to find out what happened to his friend, decides to fire it up and look for clues. What he finds is a series of videos Lottie had made in the year leading up to her death. It soon turns out that his friend had a lot of secrets.

The story alternates between Anthony's personal investigation and the content of Lottie's videos.
This was my first book from this author, but since I have her first novel lined up for imminent reading, I was excited to be approved for this ARC.
However, I'm sorry to say that it wasn't entirely to my liking. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy it, because it was a fairly entertaining read, but I found some aspects got in the way of better enjoyment.
The premise was good, but some of the dialogues seemed a bit fake and I felt that the story behind Lottie's secret wasn't very convincing.
I considered it an average read, but I hoped that the twist at the end would push the rating up. However, the ending fell flat for me, so I couldn't justify the higher rating.
It was an easy, and very fast read, I finished it in only a little over 2 hours.
I realise that my opinion is in the minority, so you should check it out yourself.