3.75 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an egalley in exchange for an honest review.

The companion sequel to Jane Anonymous, this was the very book I needed. Especially with cats waking me up at 5 am on a Saturday. I couldn't stop turning the pages trying to figure out if the main protagonist Terra's story was true. I feel like the author really did her homework to portray mental illness and the effects of trauma on a person.

I guess my only criticism is that they started to accelerate to a conclusion but I hope the Jane Anonymous universe hasn't ended quite yet. Hopefully, Terra will once again cross paths with other characters in the future.

#erinrossreads2021 #readersofinstagram #goodreads #teachersandbooks #netgalley #unrealiablenarrator. @lauriestolarz #stmartinspress


Goodreads review published 08/05/21
Publication Date 16/03/21

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5. This book was my first by Laurie Faria Stolarz and I did enjoy it. I didn’t realize it was a book two when I requested it, however could easily be read as a standalone. I really felt for Terra. She was struggling and no one believed her. But I also go annoyed with her. I felt she could have been working to improve things, but mostly she felt sorry for herself. I really enjoyed the chat room aspect of the book. The last few chapters really had me enjoying the book. That being said I really didn’t even remember the “who” was behind things or understand why until they explained more. It is a good quick read and I do like the premise. Looking forward to reading more by this author

Late review. I think I put too much expectation on this book which is why it fell flat for me. Maybe it's just because I have read too many books / watched to many things that are along this line that it didn't hit the way it was suppose to. For teens (since that is who it is marketed to) I don't think they'll have this kind of expectation like I did.

I think teens will really enjoy the unreliable narrator and not being able to trust what they read.

I wobbled between a three and a four for this book for a while, but because I do overall think that who they are marketing for will enjoy it, I bumped up my rating to 4.

I received this and as an eARC to read for free in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for giving me access.

While the premise of this was really exciting, I found that the execution was lacking. We jump around in past and present time - enough so to be confusing. I wanted to enjoy this so much because I love suspense and mysteries. This just wasn't for me.

This book wasn't as strong of a read as Jane Anonymous. But it is a solid YA mystery thriller, and I will definitely pick up the next book if the author continues with the series.

I enjoyed the whole book but I was expecting a lot... I dont think this book was for me. The book started really well, chapters were short and it was easy to read but didnt like the story line.

First of all, I apologize for the delay in providing my feedback.

3.5 stars!!

The Last Secret You'll Ever Keep explores our main character named Terra, 18y/o who has suffered from a terrible past. Be it losing both of her parents in an accident or people not believing in her when she confided in them, she's been through it all.

To be honest, I really liked this book, but there were times when I was frustrated with some characters in this book. Sometimes, even Terra was one of them.

Even with the frustrating characters and some infuriating plotlines, I couldn't put this book down. I needed to know how all the strings tie up and what the possibilities of the ending could be. This book has so much action going on in it that It'll be impossible for you to put it down!

Many thanks to the publisher for providing me with a review copy via Netgalley! I appreciate it.

The Last Secret You'll Ever Keep hosts Terra. A unreliable narrator who has survived a House fire and four days in a well. I loved parts of this though the back and forth of Terras mental health made it difficult at times to follow the story. I also read this as a stand alone not realizing that it is part of a series.

Thank you netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read this digital arc. All. opinions are my own.

There were parts of this book that were excellent and parts that just left me super confused. Plot lines that seemed integral to the overall narrative but also felt unresolved and unnecessarily complicated. I did like the twist at the end, and I can see a follow-up but focusing on Charley. I'd definitely read that.

Overall, it passed the time just fine and I'd recommend it to anyone who likes suspense books that aren't too dark or violent.

The Last Secret You’ll Ever Keep
Author: Laurie Faria Stolarz
Genre: YA Thriller
Rating: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ • ✨ / 5
Reviewed: Maya

[Trigger Warning: traumatic abduction, housefire, death of parents, held against will, claustrophobic situtations, PTSD, mental illness, victim blaming, murder, survivor’s guilt]

This book is going to be hard to review, so please bear with me. The reason that I rated this 3.5 stars, not 1 or 2, was because it was such an addictive read and was certainly interesting to have Terra narrating the novel, although there were quite a few problems within the book. The pacing of the book was very fast, which made it a quick read however the storyline was unbelievable and insensitive to people who have mental illnesses. The alternations between the ‘Now’ and ‘Then’ was useful for building up the storyline and character, however I still found the book to be confusing, and even by the ending, I felt as though Stolarz had struggled to plan the conclusion, making it basic and unrealistic. The whole plot of Jane Annoymous (the “first” book, however it does not need to be read in order) felt very obvious to me, which definitely took away from the mystery elements. I would recommend this if you read and enjoyed Jane Annoymous, or you want a quick psychological thriller focused on abduction survivors.

Huge thanks to Netgalley, St Martin’s Press and of course Laurie Faria Stolarz for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for my honest review. The publishing date is set for the 16th of April, 2021.

Interesting enough, but I felt like this entire story went in circles until the last like 10% of the book and it got really tiresome to read. I enjoyed watching our main character get through everything, but it was also a lot of going in circles. I didn't feel like our main character really grew at all, or that she was reacting in ways that were realistic after going through trauma like what she went through.

Overall, I can see where some people could love this book, and some who may not be super used to mystery thriller books could get into it, but this falls into a lot of stereotypes that I feel like those who read a lot of books in this genre will get turned off by and not want to pick this up.

If you are new to mystery/thrillers, or you are wanting to try a thriller about a girl that was abducted, then I would definitely say to give this a shot. However, if you read a lot of books in this genre, then I would say that this is one you may need to pass on depending on what tropes you do and don't like.

I didn't realize when I requested this that it was part of a series. I don't have ready access to Jane Anonymous, so will wait to read this until I can read the first book.

This book started off so strong and I thought it was going to be something completely different than it was. After the strong beginning it became a little confusing, though I think that was the point. Can Terra be trusted? Is she telling the truth or suffering from trauma? It was an intriguing read. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC.

My main issue with The Last Secret You'll ever Keep is that you really don't get a lot of background on the main character. I wish we would have know what would have originally happened in her past. There were certain things that confused me a bit because some information seemed to be lacking.
Despite that the story is still pretty good. The pacing is pretty fast and I really enjoyed the characters. I guess I just wish there was a bit more added to the story.

Terra is a trauma survivor. She is working part time in the public library where she sees a poster about a survivor chat line available on the computer. She decides to try it. Terrra finds it o be the only comfort in her life.. She lives with her aunt as her parents died in a fire at home. She survived due to her father yelling to her to run. When Terra wakes up on her neighbor’s couch and finds out her parents are dead. Living with an aunt who doesn’t seem like she likes having Terra living with her. It makes Terra feel unloved by her. Is that true? When Terra is kidnapped and held for four days in a well. She finally escapes on her own and goes home. Her aunt comes home and asks why she is home instead of being at school. The aunt doesn’t realize she has been gone for four days. When she does, she tries to make up to Terra but ends up not believing Terra. Why? Terra goes to the survivor chat line and finds out that her close friend has not been on the chat line for a while. She decides to try to find her to help her friend. No information where they live or their real name is given on the chat line. Will she be able to?

The book is a mystery that had me “hooked” from the very beginning. I was glad that the abuse was not sexual though there was a moment I thought it would be. It’s a book with twists and turns with a few surprises. It’s a boook that I couldn’t stop reading! This thrilling mystery can be read by anyone. I adding this author to my authors to read.

This one just didn’t grab me. I had high hopes and it just didn’t do it for me.
I will try again with this author but probably not this series.

I recieved an advanced copy from the publisher via Netgalley for an honest review.

I was excited for this novel because the premise sounded interesting and it was enough to keep me reading, however, I REALLY dislike unreliable narrators and I do feel like she was lying all the time. There were so many gaps in her story and even just every day experience as she was losing time and I don't know if this was meant to make the readers feel like she was going through something or if she was downright losing her mind. Regardless, I had a LOT of eye rolling and annoyance throughout the novel. I went back and forth about liking the aunt and not because I kind of agreed with the aunt for a lot of the novel, however, she did take it too far and got a bit mean at one point.

The ending felt so rushed and too easy with how they are going to wrap this up and even with the ending of more people being understanding and what not, it doesn't explain WHY there seems to be more truth coming from our main character NOW because there still wasn't a lot of proof! And I can I just say, let's talk about how dumb and unreliable internet chat rooms are because serious creeper cat-fishing on a regular basis. Why have people STILL not learned from this?!?!?

I was unenthused by this novel and it wasn't that interesting or that good, it cleaned up way too nicely. Granted, I have never read Jane Anonymous and this can be read as a standalone, but maybe this would have been better if I had read that first? This is was just far too beyond my ability of suspending reality for some of the shenanigans.

I did not realise when I started this book that it was actually a sequel, but it did not matter as this book can be read as stand-alone.
This book kept me guessing right until the very end. It was intriguing and I did not want to put it down without finding out what was going on.
Terra has been stuck, held prisoner, in a well for 4 days before escaping and telling everyone of her ordeal but they eventually start to question the story she is telling.
After Terra starts skipping her medication the lines between reality and fiction start to become a bit muddled and Terra believes she can only really talk to her friends in her support website “Jane Anonymous”
Terra is desperate to prove that this ordeal really happened but is she still in danger, and could the danger be a little closer to home than she anticipated?
This kept me absolutely gripped!

This book put me in a reading slump for over 2 months and I honestly can't even say why. I don't think it is bad. But I put it down for so long that I don't remember any of what I read and I am just not up for restarting it right this moment. I definitely will at some point. I gave Jane Anonymous 4 stars and I grew up on Laurie Faria Stolarz's books and have read quite a lot of them. I have intentions of reading every book she has made and makes in the future.

One of the things I really liked about this book is that there is no sexual trauma in it. I was nervous at first, picking it up, because I like this type of suspense, mystery, trauma recovery story, but I’m just really sensitive to sexual trauma, so I didn’t want to end up in over my head with this book. The good news is, I didn’t.

It’s an interesting story. For a long time, I felt unsure about Terra. It seemed plausible that what happened to her was in her head– not on purpose, but that it was the result of previous trauma. Even Terra herself sometimes doubted what she’d experienced. So I felt like the story kept a really good balance there, keeping me really uncertain where it was headed and what would be around the next bend, as a good suspenseful story should.

I also thought the timeline– some sections from the present and others from the past– added to the scattered feel of Terra’s mind. Her chat logs on the Jane Anonymous site added a lot, too, from giving her a safe space to share her feelings to also creating a strong support network.

I read THE LAST SECRET YOU’LL EVER KEEP pretty quickly, only stopping once (because I got food poisoning, gross). I think readers who enjoyed PAST PERFECT LIFE by Elizabeth Eulberg or THE LOST AND THE FOUND by Cat Clarke will enjoy this one.