I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I’m a huge fan of this genre and I have read many of books regarding the lgbtq+ community.

This one was a nice one, it didn’t convince me 100% but it was a good reading.

I recommend it to all the fans of the genre.

I’ve read a few books by this author and so far this is definitely my favourite, I read the whole book in a day. The storyline kept me hooked throughout and I really liked the characters Sean and Austin, so I was rooting for them for sure.
If you’re a fan of LGBTQIA novels then I would recommend that you read this.
My thanks to NetGalley, NineStar Press and Rick R. Reed for allowing me to read this book in return for an honest review.

Entertaining and with likeable characters, along with both a realistic development and ending. I would have liked more background on Rob and why he became the man we meet in the novel, but you can hardly put this book down once you get started.

It is the first LGBT book that I read and I really liked it.
The pace is very good, you can't stop reading and you are anxious to know more about the story.
It has several teachings, it makes you think a lot about life, what it really matters.
The characters are very real I would say, it's like you've been with a friend.
The story is about Jasper who suffered a lot in life and ends up losing his best friend Lucy, and so he meets Rob, her uncle. The attraction is instantly and they hang together to celebrate Lucy's life and that leads to friendship and something more. But both Rob and Jasper have a secret, and when revealed it can end their romance

I have to admit that I got a little bit aggravated with both of Jasper and Rob at times throughout The Secrets We Keep. Jasper because he was clueless when it came to Lacy and her feelings, but hind sight is 20/20, so I couldn't be too hard on him. And Rob...well, let's just say he could have handled things a lot better than he did. Unfortunately, I can't explain what bothered me so much about Rob without giving away a huge spoiler... *sigh*

I liked the story and I liked the way that these two lost souls found each other at a time where they really needed each other most. The circumstances that brought them together was tragic. They both deserved to find happiness and I was glad they found it. As for Jasper's secrets? I wouldn't really categorize them as secrets, at least not compared to Rob's, but they were just as hard to reveal for Jasper.

What an intense and emotional story. The prologue kicks off with the intensity, and I was left reeling and wondering what the heck I was in for. (In a good way.)

There's a lot of death in The Secrets We Keep, and more than half are beyond tragic, so be forewarned. That was something else I wasn't expecting.

One tragedy brings Jasper and Rob together, and the other inadvertently. I wanted to know more about Lacy and her past, her upbringing. I also wanted to know more about Rob and his past.

Overall, I enjoyed Jasper and Rob's journey from strangers to lovers. The emotions they go through feel real and raw, and I don't fault them for how they react.

It was well written. A tad disjointed and hard to get into. The characters never quite connected to me.

"The Secrets We Keep' is a mystery wrapped in the love of mystery. The story follows Jasper, a fan of the genre, and Rob, a writer in the genre, who meet at the funeral of someone they both have a connection to. Their relationship is a constant push and pull as they uncover why they can't seem to get each other off their minds. The two leads were fairly well-sketched out, yet I wish there was a larger external element driving the plot. A lot of the story is focused on their internal journies that run in parallel, which made for some slower sections in the middle.

Jasper and Lacy are the best of friends living in a vintage courtyard one bedroom apartment in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago. They both work retail jobs, and they adore one another, but Jasper is openly gay, and Lacy is his subtlely enamored wingwoman. Jasper and Lacy make up each other’s “chosen family” since Jasper’s emotionally-closed father hardly calls to talk; his pregnant mother and younger sister were murdered when Jasper was a young child and his father never crawled past his grief. Lacy says her family are a bunch of liars and she wants nothing to do with them, so they support one another and have done so for the past few years as roomies and friends. Jasper knows Lacy wants a sexual relationship with him, but its beyond his ability, and he’s comfortable being her best friend anyway.

They are out for drinks one night and Jasper hangs out later than usual, hoping to find a sexy man for the night, but he gives up and goes home alone, where Lacy convinces him to cuddle with her following a bad dream. Jasper awakes in his own bed the next morning, unsure how he got there and unsettled by the stillness of the apartment. Lacy should have been up long ago, and his morbid curiosity leads him to find Lacy in her bed, cold and past saving.

Jasper is wrecked. Lacy was his lifeline, and he’s unable to do more than visit the funeral home where her detested parents have the wake arranged. “Lacy” was her chosen name, and he doesn’t recognize the goth girl he knew in the brown-haired pink-dressed Heather who fills Lacy’s coffin. Jasper is intercepted by Lacy/Heather’s uncle, Rob, a 40ish silver fox who seems desperate to know something of Heather’s life over the past five years, since she’d broken off all contact with her family. Lacy’d urged Jasper to move on, and not wonder about the darkness of her family, and how they broke her spirit, but he’s willing to console Rob for a bit.

The secrets of Lacy/Heather’s family begin to unravel in ways that Jasper couldn’t have expected. Turns out Rob is a famous mystery/suspense author that Jasper has been a fan of for years–and Lacy never shared that secret. Rob convinces Jasper to correspond with him via text and email, to keep Lacy alive between the two of them, and Jasper is reticent, but determined to share the truth of his dearest friend. This tentative communication begins to build more of a bond between the two men, and Jasper is kind of shell shocked. He’s never sought out older men, or fancied himself a gold digger, yet he’s difinitely attracted to Rob who is nearly 20 years older, and wealthier than God. This inequality is unsettling and a big barrier for the growing intimacy that Jasper and Rob are developing. It’s not until Jasper finally accepts Rob’s request to come visit his Palm Springs mansion that Jasper learns the true nature of Rob’s place in Lacy’s life–the huge secret that cut Lacy’s ties to her family.

This story had a lot of spooky-ish moments that seemed like sinister foreshadowing, but turned out to be more introspective than at first glance. I didn’t really know what to expect about the tragedies Jasper has faced, and I was sad for his losses. He’s a decent guy, but not nearly as happy-go-lucky as the blurb indicates. Losing Lacy really exposes Jasper’s depression, and he’s not sure he’s worthy of love, in many ways. It obstructs his ability to build strong relationships, but he works through his grief, and his confusion about Rob–who has his own secrets to share and grief to survive.

The end is truly a happy one, however, with Rob and Jasper living honestly, and supporting one another emotionally. I liked how Jasper repaired his relationship with his father, and made the effort to connect with Rob, who really needs a loving partner. The harrowing moments didn’t result in further tragedy, but there were certainly enough breadcrumbs out there to keep me on edge for the next shoe to drop.

I liked the story and enjoyed watching the love that grew through patience, honesty and communication between Jasper and Rob. They each deserved a caring lover, and they helped each other grieve and move on from the pain that first united them.