This was the second book I have read from this author recently, and after reading it, I think I am going to have to take a break from them for awhile.

Don't get me wrong, I definitely feel like this is more of a me, not them, issue. The writing is solid, with enough twists and turns that make the story interesting and keep the reader invested.

The problem is, this feeling, at least for me, doesn't last. Throughout the book we get glimpses of their childhood as told by Nichole, and of the present as told by Krystal. I am assuming that the glimpses into their childhood was to show the trauma, but I never really bought into it. This is in part because of the fact that Mrs.Wheeler and her daughter Veronica simply ARE. There is nothing to explain why they treat the kids the way they do, and no mention of the case workers that would have been required to meet with the foster children (and potentially notice the so called abuse they suffered). Yes, Veronica was shown to be a vindictive and nasty piece of work, but we were never told WHY. Did she have her own trauma at the hands of her father before he died as I can't imagine Mrs.Wheeler hurting her beloved child.

Even the "secrets" were horribly underwhelming, to the point I'm surprised the detective assigned to Alice's case didn't figure out the truth in a way he could prove almost immediately. And while I'm on the subject of Alice and what happened to her - there is no way Krystal and Nichole as minors would have been allowed to be interviewed without a representative even if Mrs.Wheeler was unwilling to act the part.

The build-up was good, casting doubt on both parties, until it seemed like the author just got bored and rushed through the ending. An ending that I am sad to say was so obvious that it was almost laughable. However, this was also an ending that seemed rather abrupt? Honestly, I would liken it to being in a car speeding down a highway, everything passing in a blur, when you're suddenly slammed into a concrete wall that came out of nowhere.

All things considered, the fact that I am glued to the pages is enough to make me give this author another chance, but as I said above, it will be after a break from their work.

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.

This book pulled me in from the first page. This was a quick moving, thriller, that is told in current time and then in flashbacks. Two foster sisters who only have each other growing up, are so close they know everything about each other, or do they? Krystal and Nichole have shared so many things that keep them bonded as sisters, but when things go to far one night in the barn in their foster home, Nichole can't handle it. Krystal takes the mother role and thinks she doing the right thing, but for a 17 year old, she does her best. Lucinda Berry has become a must read when I see a new book coming out from her. Another great psychological thriller!!

3.5 stars

It was extremely interesting that the author of this book Dr Lucinda Berry was for a time a clinical psychologist, specializing in childhood trauma. She is well equipped to write of the characters Nichole and Krystal and the traumas the girls faced both in their young lives living as foster children in a home which was not loving but cold and demanding.

As they grew, the girls, who always felt like sisters even though they were not blood relatives, managed to achieve both prestige and success. Kyrstal becomes a lawyer while Nichole married a man who adored her, an architect, and her life seemed idyllic.

However, horrific instances of the past come back to haunt both ladies and seem to be even more prevalent in Nicole, as she experiences what appears to be psychotic episodes. These episodes seem to be triggered by her husband and because of her behavior and trying to burn down her home with her husband in it, Nichole is brought to a mental hospital where her behavior spirals out of control.

The question is who is responsible for this behavior? Is the husband all he seems to be, and is Krystal able to protect a sister who she loves and has a close affinity for?

While there are a few holes in the plot, the story does deliver a quick read and a definite look into the concept of a person's mental state brought on by a childhood trauma they can't seem to forget.

Thank you to Lucinda Berry, Bookouture, and NetGalley for a copy of this psychological thriller.

This book was so close, so close to being there. I just fell flat on every single platform to me personally. Everything was just put out there and straightforward. I don't know where the energy was. This was my kinda book too! Just not for me.
The characters were just meh. There were four main characters and not one of them did anything for me, Even the husband and his family who were like uber rich was just that, uber rich. Nothing else about them.
Overall it was just a quick read to get through while my kids were playing in the pool. I want to definitely try this author again, but not this book.

Krystal and Nichole are very close sisters. They are foster sisters, having grown up together since age 7. The chapters switch between Krystal and Nichole, and present/past, as their intriguing story unfolds. This is another really good book by Lucinda Berry. Recommended!

Lucinda Berry is the world's most underrated thriller author. This was great! I loved the main characters, their background, and I loved reading how the story unfolded. Berry always does well with realistic dialog and she always keeps me on my toes!

I rate this book a solid 3.5 stars. I didn't really like the back and forth between characters' perspectives and different time periods, but it was still quite suspenseful and had me wondering who did what to whom and why.

Lucinda Berry does it again! Here we have another twisty-turny thriller from one of my favorite authors of the genre.

One word to describe this book: Baffling!

I had no idea what was going on for about 70% of the book.

Nichole and Krystal are foster sisters and best friends. They put their hard life behind them and have garnered secure futures for themselves. Nichole is a happily married school teacher and Krystal is a practicing lawyer.

Imagine Krystal's surprise when she gets a call that not only did her sisters house burn down but her husband, Aiden, was barricaded inside. When authorities arrive on scene they find Nichole dancing around the yard. When they try to apprehend her she fights them with all the strength she has and she lands herself in the psychiatric ward.

Krystal rushes to be by her side to figure out what has happened but is bowled over by her sisters appearance and demeanor. In an effort to calm her she is able to hear something to make her pause. Aiden isn't Aiden, he's a murderer.

That's the gist and to say more will spoil future readers. The chapters alternate from their past living on a farm with their foster family and to the present with Krystal trying to figure out what the heck is going on. Another solid addition to the genre. The ending has me torn. I loved part of it but I also disliked another part of it. 4 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for my copy.

This is my second Lucinda Berry novel - the first being The Perfect Child, which I loved. She is fast becoming one of my must read authors.

This story follows foster sisters Krystal and Nichole, who share a troubled childhood. The story alternates between past and present, where Nichole has been committed to a psychiatric hospital after the attempted murder of her husband.

What a page turner! I couldn't put this one down, and flew through it! It has some great twists and I liked the psychological element of the story. I felt it ended quite abruptly, leaving me with some questions but I still loved it.

Thanks to Netgalley for the chance to read this book in exchange for this honest review.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

A fast paced can't put down thriller that is perfect for the summer! great book and a must read! My first book from Lucinda Berry and I'm looking to so much more from her the twists were great and the writing was perfect

This thriller was pretty average for me. I was expecting more shocking twists, but I found myself feeling bored and skimming a lot throughout the middle 50% of the book. I think the plot and character development was lacking, but I did like the overall structure of the story and writing style.

The Secrets of Us by Lucinda Berry
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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I think Lucinda Berry might be the author for me! I love how she seamlessly ties in mental illness to her books! And finds a way to make them a dark, thriller!
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Mini Synopsis: secrets, trauma, psychosis, and murder. Sisters Nichole and Krystal thought they left the scars of the past behind. But when Nichole ends of in the psych ward for trying to burn her house down, Krystal can't help but think the past has caught up to them.
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Thank you @netgalley for this one!
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Thanks to NetGalley for the early copy of The Secrets of Us by Lucinda Barry in exchange for my honest review and opinions. This is the first psychological thriller I've read by her and I will for sure be adding her to my list of must read authors. This book is fantastic. The only negative I can say about it is that I read it so fast that I was sad when I finished it. This is a must read for anyone who loves a good book that has lots of twists and turns and will keep you on the edge of your seat. Thanks for the chance to read this!

When Nichole is placed in the mental ward after supposedly setting fire to her home and attempting to kill her husband Aiden, her foster sister Krystal drops everything and runs to her side. Is anything they are saying true? Krystal is desperate to get to the bottom of it. As new evidence comes to light and a murder is now in the midst, Krystal isn’t sure just who to believe. Is Aiden telling the truth or is there more to the story? As Krystal and Nichole’s backstory slowly comes to light, little by little we we figure out exactly who’s guilty. The backstory is much more interesting than the present storyline and things are a bit muddled as the story progresses. An OK read, but nothing to write home about.

After a compelling start, this psychological thriller quickly fell into a "roll my eyes, shake my head but power through it" narrative of melodrama.

Two women who were foster sisters lived through some bad experiences as teenagers. After they escaped, one became a family court attorney and the other married the man of her dreams. So what compelled Nichole to set her house on fire and trap her husband behind a desk in their bedroom? Krystal tries to unravel the night in question and finds that Nichole is more than seriously disturbed.

This story is told in a "then" and "now" format with Krystal taking the voice on the current situation and Nichole relating the past portions. I immediately did not care for either of the sisters and I guess I just don't deal well with the explanations and excuses for who they are as adults. I couldn't buy into the whole premise nor muster up much sympathy or concern for the pair. There's not much to be said about other characters in the book who are completely flat stereotypes.

The whole event surrounding the fire and the explanations of Nichole's descent into drug-induced madness really disappointed me because I understand this author is a psychologist. All the voices in the head stuff just pushed me beyond my ability to suspend disbelief that her psychosis hadn't rendered her institutionalized long ago. There's no suspense, there's no big twisty anything that brings this to a recommendation level. I was happy when it was over.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for this e-book ARC to read and review. I've read a couple of this author's other books that I liked much better so I may give her next one another shot but this is one I should have missed.

Disappointing. This had potential, but the excessive drama and illogical behaviours just veered into boring-town.

The book actually got worse towards the end, and the ending simply came to the conclusion that was being pointed at for the entire book, nothing new, nothing 'wow'. Also, the trauma wasn't gobsmacking. I kept waiting for the situation to descend into the real trauma backstory, but that impact never came. The story focused on the two sisters POV narratives, past and present events. This unfortunately blocked out much of the surrounding characters development, and I was disappointed that there wasn't enough exploration of Veronica or Mrs. Wheeler. The book had moments at the beginning where there was suspense and suspicion around these aforementioned characters, but they just became ordinary spectators for a story that went nowhere..

The story mainly centres around Krystal trying to work out what happened with her foster sister Nichole, after she is reported to have burned her house down, with her husband inside. Nichole spends most of the book in psychiatric care, completely deranged and out of character, while Krystal uses her knowledge of family law to try and seek the truth and protect her sister. Just like she always did when they were children.

The character development is severely lacking, and the main protagonists voice, Krystal, just feels generic and puppeted. Everybody's responses just seemed mismatched in proper use of intensity, ill-timed, or feigned. Like how Krystal's head "spins" every time she's told some slightly perturbing news. And the dialogue and internal monologuing is so stretched out that I wish the book space could have rented more pages to building observational suspense or character development. Instead of spelling everything out in questions or obvious statements, or wasting space on superfluous details, readers need space for the imagination. For a psychologist author, the character behaviours have no emotional impact on the reader. They seem orchestrated or vacuous in depth. Also, there's an event towards the end where it's super coincidental and misplaced. The convenience of plot twists are just so mediocre. Then there's the notion that suspects would be under 24-7 watch if suspected of murder - so that confrontation scene makes no sense (nor the behaviours/motives/dialogue here). The only redeemable thing was Krystal's learning curve and a semi-interesting childhood story.

I was so bored. I do not recommend. I had enjoyed the authors' other book "When She Returned" but this one fell flat.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first book by this author and it did not disappoint. Best friends, a house fire resulting in attempted murder and secrets of the past, what more could you want?

I loved the pace of this book. I really enjoy a book that starts quickly. The only criticism I have is I feel like it ended too quickly. I would have liked another 3-5 chapters.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for a digital ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

The Secret of Us is exactly what I look for in a thriller.

The Secret of Us follows two sisters who had a rough childhood. They spent their entire adulthood trying to escape their past but what happens when their past comes to haunt them?

Throughout the entire book there was constant action, I was always sitting at the edge of my seat to find out what was going to happen next. And I loved the way the book end. Although I wonder what happens to Nichole and Krystal.

Thanks to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for the chance to read The Secrets of Us for an honest review.

The latest Lucinda Berry, ‘The Secrets Of Us’ is a page turner. Berry, with her own domain knowledge as a clinical psychologist , goes deep into the psyche of her characters to put together this psychological thriller.

Foster sisters, Krystal and Nichole, have always been there for each other. So when Nichole is admitted to the psychiatric ward of a hospital on the charge of attempted murder of her husband, Krystal a successful lawyer, drops all work to be at her sister’s side and defend her.

The book highlights the role traumatic pasts play in determining present lives. The twists and turns a mind can take when harbouring secrets, lies, and guilt is the basis of this intriguing read.

The book works in two voices, that of Krystal in the present and of Nichole in the past. The reader gets to know about their childhood, reason for being in foster care, treatment by the foster family, bullying incidents in school and finally, the running away of the girls to build a life for themselves.

Why is Nichole getting hallucinations? Why is she hearing voices? Does Krystal have a role in this behaviour? Why did Nichole attempt to burn down her house and why is she is calling her beloved husband, an imposter?

The book throws up many questions some of which are dealt with in detail; some in a rushed manner. After a great buildup, the end comes a bit too quickly though the tautness remains intact. A pacy read, with reveals you may not be able to guess.

Thank you Thomas and Mercer and Net Galley for the e-arc of this book, published in June this year. All opinions expressed are my own.

This was my first Lucinda Berry novel, and will not be my last! This was a fast paced thriller! It was dark, traumatic, and suspenseful. I loved every word. This story just flowed flawlessly. I really enjoyed the writing style of this author. I highly recommend this book if you like suspense/thrillers.