Imagine being diagnosed with delusions, depression, and being told you are defiant and paranoid. You lose most of your friends, you feel alone, and something terrible has happened to you but no one believes you, not really. This is how Terra feels. She turns to a website she finds online called Jane Anonymous, a website where victims of crime can come together and chat about their trauma with others, without judgement, who have gone through similar experiences.

I love how the chapters were alternating between "then" and "now". It adds to the plot and builds up the suspense, as you try to uncover what happened, and if it was all actually in her mind like some people think of if this truly happened to her. What better way to read a story than through the eyes of an unreliable narrator such as Terra.

A wonderful novel that I recommend you add to your TBR.

What if you are abducted off the street, and trapped in a Well, left to die? What if you escape? What if no-one realised that you were missing? What if you are called a liar?.
A tale that is a little confusing at times, and some characters are quite unlikeable. An 'ok' read

I found this one a chilling and thrilling read, and certainly did not regret it whatsoever!

It has the psychological concepts. It had the tension and disbelief. It had murder. It was such a brilliant read, honestly!

I enjoyed how Jane Anonymous made an appearance, and how everything was so interconnected.

It hit my sweet spot, and for that - my rating is 4/5!

The Last Secret You’ll Ever Keep was a bit confusing to me. Maybe it was the back and forth in time. And the abbreviations I couldn’t figure out in the texting dialogue. I really wanted to like Terra but couldn’t. I discovered after I finished the book that is is somehow related to another book, Jane, Anonymous. Perhaps reading that first would have helped me?

The Last Secret You'll Ever Keep by Laurie Faria Stolarz grabbed me from the beginning and kept its hold on me. This book tells the story of 18 year old Terra who spent four days trapped in a well, held against her will; however, no one believes her story and she is still trying to figure out what happened. She finds that sharing her experience on the Jane Anonymous website with others who have experienced similar trauma was helpful for her. I really enjoyed this book! It had a fast pace and was twisty, and I never knew what to think of Terra and her perspective. At times I found the story to be a little confusing, but this was only because I was trying to figure out what was going on right alongside Terra. I second guessed myself over and over again throughout the course of the story and it kept me wondering until the end. I really enjoy books that make me question myself. I thought that this book was well written and the storyline is memorable and will stick with me. Admittedly, I have not yet read the first book in the series, Jane Anonymous, and have definitely added it to my list to read next month! I'm very much looking forward to reading the author's other works.

Thank you to Wednesday Books/St. Martin's Press for an eARC of this book via NetGalley. This did not affect the contents of my voluntary review, and all opinions are honest and my own.

The Last Secret You'll Ever Keep sounded an interesting story but unfortunately it did not grab me as much as I hoped it would. I found it a little slow for much of the book and it struggled to hold my interest.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC.

The author's previous book, Jane Anonymous, was one of my favorite YA reads last year. So I jumped on the chance to read this book which is the second in the series. This one features a different lead character, but there is a bit of a tie in to the previous book. You definitely can read this book as a standalone novel though.

Eighteen year old Terra spent 4 days trapped in a well. She escaped but 6 months later she is still trying to piece together what exactly happened. She believes she was taken from her bed after a party. But yet, no one believes she was kidnapped and instead think she made it all up. She finds comfort on the Jane Anonymous site as she can chat with other survivors of trauma. Just maybe with some help, she will figure out the truth.

I love how the author setup the book with the present storyline and the flashbacks. It is just so much easier to mentally digest everything because it's not a typical linear timeline. This book gives you some peace of mind as it breaks up the tension a bit.

Terra meets the standard of unreliable narrator as you don't know quite what to think. I did have some mixed feelings about the ending. It wasn't extremely satisfying but I wouldn't say it's bad either. It's like a unique combination of being predictable and unpredictable.

In general, this book wasn't as strong of a read as Jane Anonymous. But it does manage to be a solid YA mystery thriller and I will definitely pick up the next book if the author continues with the series.

This is a really good read.

Terra is a young woman who has been abducted (or has she)? She believes she was held underground and there are chapters focused on this experience. Then, following the incident, she joins an online group where she finds support.

It's a gripping read, especially when empathising with Terra, who had a traumatic event in childhood and who is struggling to be believed in young adulthood. The chapters are 'then and now' and include webchats when she's engaging with the group.

It can be a difficult book to stick with, mainly for me this was down to the heavy monologues, but, if you do stick with it all the twists and turns will make sense.

Overall, it's a strong 3* Good Read and I'd recommend.

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the opportunity to preview.

I thought the first book in this serious was pretty predictable, but well written enough that it was still enjoyable. This follow up was also pretty predictable for the most part, but between the unlikeable supporting characters, the constant chat interludes that didn't feel like how teens talk, the age-inappropriate relationship with Garrett, and the fairytale "epilogue", this book really just didn't work for me.

The Last Secret You'll Ever Keep opens with Terra surrounded by dirt at the bottom of a well. She's been kidnapped, but when she gets home, no one seems to believe her. According to the police, there is no well in the park where she was kept, and the book that she remembers being in the well with her doesn't exist in any library. With just her shaky memories to go on, Terra tries to piece together what happened to her while everyone around her thinks she's just mentally unstable because she doesn't have parents.
While this was pretty fast-paced and an okay concept, the writing in this book was quite average. The ending and Terra's obsession with trolls veered into silly territory, but I still enjoyed it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

1 star
I didn't really enjoy reading this at all. I liked the first book and thought it was good, but this one just felt incredibly unnecessary. The ending was all over the place. The bad guy of the story just randomly comes in and didn't connect to anything. It was really abrupt and not enjoyable. Another thing was that this book was so slow up until the 70% mark. Even then, it was a struggle to keep reading. I just wasn't attached to the characters and didn't really care what happened. There was nothing unique or special about this story that stuck out to me or made me feel like there was a purpose for this book. I honestly wish that Jane Anonymous would have been left as it was. I didn't need her story to be implemented in this one with the chat rooms. I think if they had been two separate things it wouldn't have irked me as much. I didn't like how the writing of the main characters thoughts were as well. It just felt so jumbled and disconnected me from the story completely. I could keep going about more of the small things I didn't like, but I'll just give a blanket statement that I didn't enjoy this book and was super disappointed about it.

When I visit a wishing well, I always throw my coin in and wish for at least two things I would love to see in a novel:

1. An unreliable narrator, and

2. A story so twisted I just have no idea what to think.

So, when I wished for those two things before reading this novel, I was pleasantly surprised to see that my wish was GRANTED!

This narrator is sooooo unreliable. I found myself doubting whether she was awake or dreaming about 50% of the time. I didn’t believe a thing she said or did for most of the book.

And when I tell you this story is twisted, I really mean that. What a messed up story! I seriously had no idea what was going on, who to suspect, or if she was locked up in a mental hospital the whole time.

It was TRIPPY!

And I loved that about it!

But... because of that, quite a bit of the story was a little too far fetched for me. And our unreliable narrator? She just does the dumbest possible things, despite the fact that she is supposedly so “schooled” on self-defense and how to prevent the things that happened to her. She really does not think at all.

Despite that flaw, this is definitely a page-turner, and I’m sure I will be hearing a bunch about this one when it is published!!

Overall I enjoyed the plot and storyline of this book. The first maybe 60% was pretty slow going, we get alot of our main character trying to retrace her steps from the night she escaped, and her trying to dig into her own memory for any clues to what happened to her. She was trying to find any kind of proof that she was abducted and held for 4 days, because every one in her life from the cops to her aunt believed she was making up a crazy story.. However after that point things really pick up.. One of the girls from her chat group goes missing and she begins the journey of trying to find and help her, and this really starts to move the story along. I really liked the chats being a part of the story and seeing how the people in her group are supporting each other through their own tragedies.

Terra is a unreliable narrator and while I believed her story, there were definite things that made me question her sanity.. There were some major twists and turns toward the end that were really surprising to me I had no Idea what was going to happen.. and after finishing the book I felt satisfied with how it ended..

Thank you to NetGalley, Laurie Faria Stolarz and St Martin's Press for the free e-book in exchange for an honest review.

This one is very unique novel and I found it very frustrating that no one believed the main character throughout the entire novel. I did see a few of the twists coming, but overall they were still enjoyable finding out why someone would do that. I enjoyed the relationships that were formed on the online support group and with unlikely friend who helps her solve the mystery. The novel was generally interesting, but it was a bit slow paced in the beginning for me. Definitely an interesting idea though!

This author has written a lot of books judging by the list at the beginning of this one, but I’d never heard of her. I requested this one as the blurb sounded interesting.

Terra went was abducted and kept prisoner for four days down an old well (the author insists on calling it a water well but is there any other kind?) yet no one believes her. She joins an anonymous chat site for trauma survivors but keeps worrying her abductor will be back…

Now, I’m no longer a young adult (depending on who you ask) but I do enjoy YA books because (in case there’s anyone who still doesn’t know) modern YA fiction is good! It appeals to older adults too because it covers relevant topics and has great stories.

However, this is not one of those great YA books. The characters are underdeveloped, the plot is predictable and there just wasn’t enough to keep me interested. The story took a long time to get going, in fact, the blurb covers about 75%, which makes reading a bit boring.

Although I’m not the target reader of this book I don’t think it will appeal to most YA readers either because it lacks a lot of what I think makes YA great: a good awareness of what it’s like to be a teenager or a reflection on current events and society.

It just didn’t feel real enough for me. Also, chat rooms are so not 2021… and do people really chat with hashtags like that? It was really annoying. If you include the hashtags, why not make the chats more chat-like? Everyone typed so correctly.

I’m sure this book will have fans among a different demographic, who are looking for an easy read with a bit of mystery but ultimately it wasn’t for me.

A note for any reading the ARC: I was so confused by all the random F04As throughout… I thought it was a kind of text code I didn’t understand. However, in case you were also wondering there’s a GR thread where the author says it’s a formatting mistake.

Apparently I wished for this at some point and my wish was granted, but I don't remember wishing for it and unfortunately have no interest in this book. I apologise for this and I will be more careful about what I wish for in future.

I have mixed feelings about this book, parts of it i really liked and there was some beautiful writing as the main character struggles with survivor's guilt and an abduction where she wasnt believe and the possibility of being in danger again. The reveal of the "bad guy" and the use of fairy tales didnt work for me and bogged it down 3.5

Thanks to Netgalley for this ARC.

This book goes back and forth between "now" and "then." Terra was kidnapped and makes it home, only to find out no one believes her. Is she making this up or was she really kidnapped? This physiological thriller leaves you wondering which is the truth. There are many other twists thrown in and a little romance as well.

This was not the book for me. So many things about it drove me crazy, even though they may appeal to other readers. YA thrillers are pretty hit or miss for me, and this was definitely a miss.

My least favorite thing about this would have to be our main character, Terra. Her perspective was so hard to read. I don't want to sound rude, but I could not deal with her thought processes. I understand that she had trauma and PTSD, but it got to be too much for me. It was difficult to discern reality from what was happening from Terra's head, and I hated that. This was the exact same problem I had with We Were Liars. I guess unreliable narrators are not my thing, which is a signal I probably shouldn't have picked this up.

Also, I should mention that most thrillers have me wanting to throw the book at a wall. I absolutely cannot stand it when a character goes into a situation knowing it will be dangerous, but without calling for backup. Terra did this multiple times. This made me ridiculously angry, as she had several rules she was constantly spouting about, but she had no care for her own safety once it came down to it. She was helpless, and her "escapes" were so implausible.

I also really struggled with the ending. For a mystery to be ccompelling, I want to be surprised. I want to reach the ending, and go "how did I miss that??" Not, "who was this character again, and why do I care?" This book suffered from introducing an entirely new character to be the kindapper, which took away any shock value this could've had.

Finally, I want to mention Garret. He ended up being a rather large part of this book, yet I feel absolutely nothing towards him. If he had been erased, I wouldn't have noticed. I think part of my problem with his was that he could put up with Terra (whoops) and I have no idea what he saw in her.

This definitely wasn't the right book for me, but I definitely see it making a splash with the same audience that enjoyed We Were Liars. I hadn't read Jane Anonymous, which is the first book in this series, but I didn't feel like I missed anything because of it. While I wouldn't recommend this, it wasn't a bad book by any means.

Thanks to Netgalley and Laurie Faria Stolarz for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review

4.25 stars

This review will be posted at BookwormishMe.com on 2 March 2021 .


Terra lost her parents in a tragic house fire when she was younger. She went to live with her mom’s sister, but has never really felt like she did when she had her mom. Not surprising, because no one can really replace your mom. She ends up in a mental care facility for a bit, trying to get her bearings. When she emerges, she attends a special school for kids with emotional issues. There she thinks she’s found friends and kindred spirits.

One night she goes to a college party with a friend from school. She’s having fun, but feels uncomfortable when her friend gets really drunk and says she’s going to stay the night there. Terra takes off to walk home, calling a friend to come pick her up, but the friend never shows. Terra finally makes it home. Hours later she is awakened by a man in her room looming over her. Next thing she knows she’s in the bottom of a well.

This book takes so many psychological twists and turns. Because of Terra’s history, you start to question whether or not she imagined what happened with the well. You doubt everything that’s happening to her. The author is able to truly make you wonder what’s real and what isn’t.

I enjoyed this read. It went really quickly for me. While it is hard to imagine that this kind of stuff can happen to someone, in today’s world, it’s not such a stretch. Terra is lost and confused, her own mental state in question. Good psychological thriller. I would absolutely recommend it.