I received a copy of this book from the publisher, Wednesday Books through Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fantastic book filled with questions. I was trying to decide if Terra was insane or if she truly was kidnapped. If she was kidnapped I can't imagine how horrible it would be not to be believed. To have everyone you know including your guardian and the cops decide you were just crazy. How isolating that would be, how terrifying not to be able to trust your own mind.

I love how Stolarz wove in technology through a chat room for victims of crime into the narrative which is so relevant as more people turn to technology for support, this give you a glimpse into the minds of people who search to be understood and supported and can't find it in the real world.

I did not read the first book in this series and I don't think you need to. In fact it wasn't until I was half way done that I realized there was a first book! Stolarz has written an edge of your seat thriller aimed at a YA crowd but as an adult I was just as enamored. I was completely immersed in this book right until the last page which may have answered some questions posed earlier in the book.

Imagine being kidnapped and thrown in a well. You are alone, hungry, terrified and not sure what the next moment will bring. Who took you? Where are you? Are you going to die?

Then imagine you escape, only to have no one believe you, with some people even thinking you may, in fact, be crazy. After all, you have a history of disappearing for days at a time and you've been known to lie in the past. This is the life that Terra has. As a means of coping, she begins logging in to a survivor's anonymous chat site where fellow members just might be the only people who believe her story. Can she move on from such tragedy-if it really did happen? Maybe.....

Then strange things start happening, or Terra at least thinks strange things start happening that remind her of her abduction. Is her kidnapper still out there? Still watching? Planning to get her again? Or is she really crazy?

This book will leave you guessing the whole way through. I will say I definitely did not see the ending coming. In fact, it kind of made me feel like maybe I was the one going crazy.....

This was a great mystery - I hadn't read the first book but I don't think that took away from enjoying this story at all. In this, the MC has been through some rough life experiences. It was hard to read all the people that didn't believe her - something that is a harsh reality for many who have been through trauma. I liked how the story played out, that you were left questioning a lot as things unfolded.

I received a copy of the book from Netgalley to review. Thank you for the opportunity.a twisty and creepy story that will keep you reading late into the night.
A good read.

Six months ago, Terra was abducted from her aunt's home after a party. For four days, she was left in a well with no food or water. She escaped. but is always looking over her shoulder in fear of her captor's return. To complicate things, people have started to believe that Terra was never really missing in the first place. Her story has holes in it: There is no well in the park that she says she was taken to. The children's book that she swears was left with her does not exist. There is no physical evidence left on her body that indicates a lack of food or water, nor injuries from her struggle. She's also been known to disappear a day or two at a time without telling her aunt. So either Terra's crazy or she's seeking attention.

Terra finds solace in an online community of fellow survivors of abductions, through the chatroom Jane Anonymous. She is especially close to Peyton, whose story is eerily similar to hers. As Terra struggles to figure out what's real and what's all in her head, she and Peyton both begin to believe that their captors have once again put them in their crosshairs.

This book was super engaging, with a fast paced plot, lots of twists and turns, and my favorite trope: Unreliable narrator!! You really start to suspect the ending as you get closer to finishing, but there are still some nice curveballs thrown at you. Terra is so believable, but at the same time she doesn't even trust herself, so when she questions her memories, you question right along with her. I give this book a solid 4.

I received this ARC courtesy of Netgalley, in return for my honest and unbiased review.

Given that I liked JANE ANONYMOUS, the predecessor to this second, indirect installment in the series, I had high hopes for THE LAST SECRET YOU'LL EVER KEEP. Unfortunately, there were a number of things that made this feel more like a stumble than a triumphant return to an interesting and important book universe. While I think that Terra's mental illness and trauma were very realistic in their intensity and behaviors, the downside of that is that it means there is going to be a lot of repetition when it comes to the progress of the story. We had many moments of fugue states, dissassociation, panic attacks, and the fallout of all, as well as the sad truth that people with difficult mental illness and trauma are sometimes let down by those who say that they care and will always be there for them. There were lots of frustrating and sad moments where Terra was treated pretty badly, be it on purpose or accidental, which is a sad truth in real life situations like this. But while Stolarz (as far as I can tell) handled it all very well, it makes for a story that feels like it's spinning its wheels at times. Terra isn't passive by any means (though that isn't to say that a 'passive' protagonist is always a bad thing), as survival isn't a passive act, but that said, it took awhile for the promised mystery of what happened to her online friend Peyton to get going. Like, more than halfway in. True, there is the mystery of what happened to Terra, but outside of her investigating here and there on her own, a lot of it is, once again, her spinning her wheels because of her circumstances. And then when we do get to the big reveals near the climax, one of the situations seemed a little farfetched to me, or at the very least not set up in a way that made the farfetched wholly believable.

So in terms of realism and messages about mental illness and trauma, it was pretty well done. But as for the plot at hand, I was left wanting more. I'm pretty certain that if we get more books in the JANE ANONYMOUS world I will read them, as there is a lot one can do with that premise. But THE LAST SECRET YOU'LL EVER KEEP wasn't an entry that I connected with as well.

This story sounded very intriguing, but as I read it I got easily bored. I didn't guess the ending, but found that I didn't really relate to Terra and found her Aunt Dessa to be completely unlikeable as well.

- In the beginning, it was a bit confusing because of the format of the ebook (like whether events took place in the past or present always appeared at the end of the chapters)
- It is a very serious read and it can be triggering for anyone who experienced a traumatic event like a fire or abduction etc.
- At some points, I found myself just reading for the sake of reading the novel, but I did also enjoy the thrill of the suspense provided by the mystery.
- Terra is a female main character that I empathised with a lot because as you read, you realise how confusing her situation is as well as how nasty people around her can be.
- The perspective is in the first person and it flows really well, making it very compelling to read. I could not put it down because I just had to know more.
- It was not entirely predictable aside from a few things that were kind of obvious. The ending was definitely NOT predictable but kind of anticlimactic, although I'm glad the ending was comforting in a way.
- A lot of the characters were so typically mean, it got annoying because of how cliche a lot of them were.
- The story was a rollercoaster, it got your heart racing one minute but the next, it was calm and steady.
- It takes a very unique stance in telling a victim's story because, in most mystery novels like this, the victim is always trying to recover from a trauma WITH everyone's help but here, we see what it's like to not have a lot of support through Terra's POV.
- I recommend this for ages 16+ and anyone who just enjoys a book filled with suspense.

If I could give half stars, I would give this book 3.5 stars overall. I will say that I did enjoy reading this book, however, I kept feeling that it was a young adult novel. There were several parts throughout the book that drew me in, and then other parts.... not so much. The main character, Terra, is at times easy to relate to, and other times very distant. I spent most of the book not knowing if I even believed her - wondering if she was experiencing a mental health crisis or was concocting her own plan. I will say, once the climax of the book hit, I kept straight on through until the end. Overall, I would recommend the book, but especially for young adults.

The opening of The Last Secret You'll Ever Keep is very effective, we begin in the well and Stolarz has the MC explain how the reader will feel had they been in this situation. I had high hopes from here.

For me one of the most intriguing parts of the novel to begin with was WHY nobody believed Terra's story. We hear a lot about how she isn't credible and nobody but her online friend believes her.. but what caused this reaction?

The story is told with dual timelines both in first person told from Terra's POV, a perfect choice for such a novel. The reader only knows what Terra does, making her fear and confusion our own.

It's very hard to tell whether Terra is paranoid or intuitive throughout The Last Secret, each event lingering on the fringes of an identifiable coincidence.
I found the timeline in the well extremely claustrophobic and found each time the chapter ended I'd been gritting my teeth, willing Terra to escape even though we already know she does. To me that's a sign of great writing, in those moment I'm so invested that I've forgotten what I already know to be true.

Unfortunately the ending went in a completely different direction and didn't seem to fit what had been going on. The links were too tenuous and a huge secret that had been hinted at turned out to be about someone and something I didnt care about.

A long slow build up with little pay off.

This book was considered a part of the Jane Anonymous series, and while it mentions Jane Anonymous, I wouldn't consider it a sequel. It just takes place in the same world within the story. This book was really intriguing to me because it reads for a while like an unreliable narrator before it really gets to the answers of your questions. Most of the book, for me, was not predictable. I did start piecing things together eventually but I wanted to keep reading to find out if I was correct. Overall I'd say it was a good read!

This book was a bit all over the place. I loved it in the beginning, but it began losing steam. By the end, I was more reading just to finish.

When Terra was thirteen, her parents were killed in a house fire. She survived but her anxiety became worse with her newfound survivor’s guilt. With no place to go she moved in with an aloof aunt who barely noticed her presence, and spent the next few years in and out of mental hospitals.

Five years later Terra went to a college party with a friend. Her experience wasn’t good, so she disregarded the many safety warnings her parents had drilled into her and left the party alone. Using her aunt’s hidden key she let herself in and fell asleep – only to wake up at the bottom of a well. After four despairing days filled with hunger, recriminations, thirst and hallucinations she managed to claw herself up to freedom. When she finally made it home she was shocked that her aunt hadn’t noticed her absence. When she described what had happened, the police didn’t believe her because they couldn’t find anything to corroborate her story. No wells existed in the town’s park, the kidnapper didn’t leave any clues, and Terra’s descriptions of him were too vague.

Left with even more anxiety and fear filled memories, labeled as a liar by her aunt, the police and everyone in town, Terra is determined to figure out clues and find out what happened. An online group for survivors is her only source of relief from the uncertainty that follows her every move. Her online friendship with Peyton, kidnapped in a similar manner, helped keep her sane. However when Peyton goes missing, Terra is the only one who can find her – even if it means putting herself at risk.

Terra’s story is told through flashbacks, allowing readers to understand her frame of mind and thought patterns. Stolarz’s surprise plot twist was artfully done. Well-done Laurie Faria Stolarz. Well done.

Recommended for ages 18 and older.

I received an advance reading copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book! There was a major twist I was not expecting! I was hooked from the very beginning. This book was written incredibly well. It didn’t lack description. I was left wondering what was happening when I had to leave the book for awhile. I’d recommend this to anyone who likes pretty little liars.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of this book. Unfortunately, I did not know this was a sequel, so I didn't read all of it. What bit I read I didn't quite get into much. Maybe if I had read the first one.

With a heavy heart, I regret to tell you that I did not enjoy this book.

I promise, I tried. When I read the synopsis, it grabbed me instantly. A mystery about a girl being abducted while struggling with mental illness is something that will tickle my detective mind. Unfortunately, the execution of the story fell flat for me. The writing seemed juvenile, lacking sense of depth and introspection. Terra, the main character was not appealing at all. Although her trauma and mental illness were to root for, apparently being stuck inside her head for more than 300 pages didn't make me root for her. I was actually confused with her motivations. She was an unreliable narrator, she kept on asking herself about things that happened in her life, whether it was true or not. A lot of times, it was thrown at you—directly in your face—that you should be as confused as her, to tell you that you should watch your guard, monitor every line for the big reveal in the end, but unfortunately, everything was underwhelming.

The novel focused on the back and forth between the past and present, revealing bits of information about the events after the party up to the point where she was abducted and kept inside a water well for days before she escaped, and the trauma she had experience after the death of her parents. However, it didn't struck me clear as to what she truly wanted to accomplish. Sometimes, it was implied that she wanted to know who the suspect was but sometimes, it was all about being in conversation and deeply attached to this online friend, Peyton, whom she met at this site called Jane Anonymous and also shared similar traumas with her. This girl received triggering clues, pointing out that the abductor would be back and take her again, so Terra was worried about her. She believed that Peyton's experience would crack the mystery of her own abduction, too. She didn't even know her, didn't even know her full name, her true face, etc. yet she was so invested—this, being the main point of the story.

The first half of the book was really slow. Not until at least 60% did the real 'thrill' began. I won't go into spoilers but here's what I want to say about this: if you really want to craft a good mystery, the grand reveal must be something that the readers must have known, had they carefully stitched the clues together, not some random character whom we didn't know, just popped up, for the sake of shock value.

It's the second book in the series so maybe I should have read the first to figure out everything, but I don't know if that's how each book should be executed. All in all, I was disappointed, I am sorry.

I received an advanced copy of this book through NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I previously reviewed Jane Anonymous for NetGalley as well. You don't necessarily need to read JA first as this book is mostly a standalone book.

Terra is still recovering from a traumatic kidnapping and survival after 4 days in a dark place she believes is a well, but after she can't prove she was taken against her will, everyone turns on her. She already survived a fire that killed her parents and had been living with her aunt Dessa, a nurse. Terra works at the local community College library and is working on getting her GED online to avoid bullies. Terra discovered a chat room called Jane Anonymous to help survivors of incest, assault and kidnapping. She befriended a user who goes by the name of Paylee and says her name is Peyton. Meanwhile, she is somewhat of an unreliable narrator due to her anxiety and trauma, compounded because nobody believes her.

A lot of what happens seems implausible because there were witnesses who saw her running away when she escaped. I am glad she found people that believed her and she was brave although still naive. The fairy tale story the kidnapper made up was....strange. in any case it was a quick read. It really does depict trauma realistically. (TW for sharing story about another character who was assaulted in the past but not detailed)

First of all, I should note that I didn't find out until after reading this book that it is the second book in the "Jane Anonymous" series. I did not read the first book, though I can't say whether that would've changed my opinion on "The Last Secret You'll Ever Keep".

This is a clever little mystery story about a girl that was taken and trapped in a well for four days before she managed to escape. Unfortunately, noone seems to believe that this actually happened to her, which makes her eager to prove them wrong. This is an interesting albeit not entirely new premise that initiatlly got me hooked and I devoured the first two dozen pages or so. The story is well written and the author knows how to draw readers in. The idea of Jane Anonymous, a website for survivors of crimes to chat and bond, is a really interesting one and I generally liked how the chats were incorporated into the story.

In the end, though, "The Last Secret You'll Ever Keep" didn't manage to really keep me interested for long.
For one, I didn't find the protagonist very intriguing and couldn't connect with her at all. I really liked how Stolarz focused on her struggles with both PTSD and the fact that noone believes her trauma actually happened, but beyond that I found her characterization rather lacking. I couldn't really tell you anything about Terra as a person beyond her trauma and her quest for truth. She's also a very unreliable narrator due to her skipping her medication which, for me, just seemed unnecessary for the plot itself and left a bad taste in my mouth due to the insinuation that she cannot be believed because of her mental illness. Unreliable narrators can add a lot of tension and mystery to a story if done well. In this case it didn't work at all for me.
Certain plot twists were rather predictable too and I was annoyed by Terra who later on actively ignores the truth because she's so set on her own version of events. I did interpret this as part of her trauma, of not wanting to accept certain hard truths that once again might shatter her view of the world, but it didn't have an emotional impact on me as it was more written in a way that made her seem incredibly naive.
The final plot twist and reveal of the Bad Guy fell flat for me as well because I didn't feel like this character had as much focus on him during the plot as would have been necessary for this reveal to really pack a punch. The motive was generally interesting and something I haven't read before. It sadly didn't make much sense to me, probably due to the aforementioned lack of focus on the Bad Guy. I felt it was, in the end, a weird motive for the kind of crimes the Bad Guy committed - but it's definitely a creative and promising motive.

"The Last Secrets You'll Ever Keep" can't count me among its fans, but it is still a wortwhile quick read for young mystery lovers. It probably just wasn't the book for me personally.

The Quick Cut: An 18 year old girl struggles to get others to believe her after being held hostage for four days.

A Real Review:
Thank you to St. Martin's Press for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Being a victim of a crime is always traumatic, but that only becomes harder to live with when others don't believe it happened. So you try to prove it happened or move on? This is the case for Terra.

For four days, Terra was held hostage and kept in a well dying of thirst. It's been six months since that happened and no one believes her. Her parents are long dead and the aunt who is responsible for her is getting frustrated with Terra's antics. Her only respite? The Jane Anonymous site where she can speak to her experience. Can she get others to see what happened or end up alone forever?

I loved the original book, "Jane Anonymous" for the way it put you in the shoes of someone who's been a victim of kidnapping. However, for how well written that story was, this one was decidedly not. Rather than speaking truth to the reality of these situations, this one instead avoids talking about the important details.

Terra has alienated everyone in her life except people who are on the Jane site. She's untrusting and anything she says can't be taken as true. I like this in concept, but that ending came with zero payoff. Terra clearly is struggling with PTSD and she never even acknowledges that.

A story that sends the wrong message.

My rating: 2 out of 5

When I learned that this was set in the same world as Jane Anonymous I was really excited to see how the two were going to have to do with each other, but I really love how Stolarz brought up the familiar elements of Jane Anonymous with a whole new story.

This book is full of twist and turns, things you never saw coming and things that make you second guess yourself over and over again. Terra's story is told in the present and the before. Before being when she was abducted. Throughout the entire story everything that we learn and see Terra do makes you question if she is a reliable character or not (I am not spoiling anything, I am going to leave that up to you to find out!)

But overall this was one of my favorite books of 2020 and I am excited to see what everyone else is going to think of it and if there will be more novels set in the Jane Anonymous world.