I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. I wouldn't classify it as a thriller per say, it's a coming of age story with some mystery mixed in. The characters were well developed and the story was engrossing. I was definitely not expecting the twist at the end. YA is not the typical genre I migrate to, sometimes the writing is too juvenile for me, but this was well-written.

This book took me back to my school days, making me reminisce about childhood friendships- the good, the bad, and the ugly. Full of drama and mystery, this book keeps you intrigued until the end.

This book's told from dual POV and varying timelines with an unreliable narrator. I loved the character development and how uniquely different each of the four girl's stories was. It's a slow-burn read, but I was very invested in figuring out what was going on with all the mystery and suspense that the author wove into each chapter. I recommend this book.

Tell Us No Secrets plays out across the graduation year of four adolescent girls whose lives are inextricably intertwined. Stonybridge School for Girls is an exclusive—but not top-tier—New England boarding school; it’s the school that families choose if their daughters “couldn’t get into a school like Madeira or Miss Porter’s, or if your mother had gone there and it was a family tradition.”

Their graduation year is 1970, a watershed year for teenagers.

During the 1970s, the so-called counterculture that was popular among teens in the ‘60s became more mainstream. Anti-war and government protests continued, and American culture as a whole began to challenge social norms, signs of which were now present in magazines, TV, and other media.

It’s September 10th, 1969—the first day of Senior Year. Meet Karen Mullens, Cassidy Thomas, Abby Madison, and Zoey Spalding. Karen is from Boston, Cassidy hails from the Midwest, Abby from preppy Connecticut, while Zoey lives in New York City. Their reasons for attending Stonybridge are very different. Karen’s middle-class family thinks their daughter will make connections at the school that will serve her well. Cassidy tragically lost her mother when she was young and her family pooled their money to get her a fresh start. Zoey’s parents are divorced and, lately, she’s become estranged from both. Abby comes from a traditional upper-middle class family where boarding school is de rigueur.

After three years as classmates, friendships and relationships might seem cemented but that is not the case. Although the timeline wanders through the decades, readers learn as the story opens that the Class of 1970 is haunted by the murder of one of their classmates. What led to such a shockingly tragic event?

Abby and Karen used to be close friends and roommates, as were Cassidy and Zoey. Zoey lays it out to Karen when they return to school for their final year.

“Anyway, in case you weren’t feeling bad enough already, you should know Cassidy went and stayed at Abby’s for a whole month this summer. In Abby’s family house on Long Island. The Bobbsey Twins on vacation. No, wait, it’s worse than that. They’re so close it’s like they’re sharing every available organ. The Siamese fucking Bobbsey Twins.”

“Abby wasn’t my boyfriend, Zoey. I wasn’t ditched.” A sliver of pride made her say this. She could at least attempt to stand up to Zoey.

“No shit she wasn’t. And Cassidy wasn’t mine. But don’t pretend we both didn’t get ditched. We were ditched. By our best friends. Who then became best friends. That’s cute, right? It’s almost poetic.”

“I don’t—”

“Know what to say,” Zoey interrupted, leaning forward. “You’re flummoxed. Because I said what you’ve been thinking. You’re still angry and hurt by what Cass and Abby did. Like me. Except I’m better at not showing it. You’ve put on even more weight this summer.”

“Jesus, Zoey—”

“Hang on. Sit back down. Don’t get offended and leave in a huff. I was trying to help, to tell you you shouldn’t care so much, or at least not show it. I’m sorry if my words wounded you.”

Tell Us No Secrets is Sterling’s debut novel. It’s a psychological thriller that holds its secrets very close to the vest. It would be a crime to say more about the relationship between the four seniors and how it plays out—how eventually a student was murdered. Without giving that away, was there a lit match that caused the senior class to erupt? Yes. Acerbic and articulate Zoey Sterling lays down an irresistible challenge—for each senior to share with her fellow-students when and how she lost her virginity and to rate the experience. One can imagine the peer pressure Zoe’s challenge creates. Tell Us No Secrets ricochets readers back to a time in their lives when friendships weren’t always wrapped up in kindness and loyalty. No, Sterling writes about the “terrible pain of betrayal” and relentlessly shows how a friendship fissure can lead to madness and murder.

This is a stellar debut, unforgettable and original.

TELL US NO SECRETS
By Siena Sterling
Psychological Thriller
Release Date: June 7th, 2022

This book's told from dual POV and varying timelines with an unreliable narrator. I loved the character development and how uniquely different each of the four girl's stories was. It's a slow-burn read and I was truly surprised that at over 100 pages in, the rising conflict was unclear. I did love the characters, and I was very invested in figuring out what was going on with them. The author wove lots of mystery and suspense into each chapter and that kept me reading. I recommend this book.

Thank you to William Morrow for the gifted copy!!

*** I received an advanced copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. ***

I couldn't believe this book was a debut novel due to the way the story unfolds -- multiple points of view -- and two different timelines -- the 1960s and today. Tell Us No Secrets is the story of four teenage girls attending boarding school on the east coast. During their senior year, the girls decide to play a game to see how quickly they could lost their virginity, and after a while, tempers begin to flare as the competition turns more and more serious. While reading the book, I was pretty sure about who the murderer was, but I turned out to be wrong in the end. In any case, the book had a whopper of an ending that I did not see coming.

I am looking forward to see what other stories this author has in the future.

Set at a girl’s boarding school in 1970, Siena Sterling’s debut novel was immediately attractive to me, as a 1977 graduate of a girl’s boarding school myself. There is no doubt Ms. Sterling attended boarding school as the details are pretty much spot on. Happily, I had a much better experience than the four girls in the novel, Abby, Zoey, Cassidy and Karen. Boarding school is a time of intense bonding – girls are there from the ages of 14 to 17 or 18 – and as that coincides with the surge of adolescence and self discovery, the friendships formed during that time of your life often prove to be the most indelible.

Sterling creates four characters that are quite different from one another. Abby is the most obvious boarding school denizen, coming from a big East coast family with brothers at Harvard and Yale; Zoey, the daughter of a well known movie director, is the biggest rebel, questioning everything; Karen is the slightly shlubby, slightly overweight girl who just wants to belong; and Cassidy is the mystery – a drop dead gorgeous girl from the Midwest, something, along with a more middle class background, that seems exotic to girls who have never even had a summer job.

As freshman year began, Abby and Karen were roommates, and Zoey and Cassidy were roommates and best friends. As the book opens on senior year, Abby and Cassidy have become friends to Karen’s intense jealousy, and she and Zoey bond in the senior smoking lounge. The two pairs of girls and roommates have flip flopped, and, boarding school or public school, the flare up of female jealousy, resentment and payback are pretty universal. Sterling has created her witches brew, and she proceeds to stir the pot.

To begin with, Zoey and Karen post “The List” in the senior common room – when you lose your virginity, you are supposed to not only put a star by your name, but to rate the experience. In 1970 this was out there behavior and it gets the girls riled up. It adds to the tension Sterling has created with her characters. She is expert at delineating them, not only for themselves, but at delineating the ways their changed interactions and friendship relationships affect everything they do.

As things start to go very badly wrong, Sterling uses the various odd rituals that exist in boarding schools to highlight the ways they do go wrong. One of the rituals is “friendship weekend” where the girls are selected, two by two, to be literally tied together for the weekend, only being let off the leash to use the bathroom or go to bed. This amps up the action, amplifies resentments and jealousies, and pretty much rocket powers the narrative.

This is almost more of a character study than a mystery. The tension is high, as it should be in any good suspense novel, and there is actually a murder, but all of that action occurs at the very end of the book, complete with unexpected twists. Sometimes reading about adolescent girls is just irritating, and sometimes it’s revelatory, as in the hands of someone like Megan Abbott. This book falls into the revelatory category. Sterling is able to explicate and analyze friendship in a way that is authentic and that, if our own formative friendships had taken a wrong turn, could have gone as wrong as the things in this novel do. As a reader, it makes you think. There’s not much more I can ask from a book.

Lets be clear right here.... Tell Us No Secrets, is going to break the internet on June 7. If you have not already pre-ordered your copy you need to run on over to your favorite bookstore and make sure you have this book coming to you on release day. This is not a book you are going to want to miss.

Now, I feel as though I have been quite picky lately. When you read as many psychological thrillers as I do, it can be hard to feel impressed with a storyline that you most likely read 100 different versions of. However, Tell Us No Secrets, tips the scale when it comes to keeping you in suspense with a unique and engaging storyline.

There is nothing I love more than a book jam packed with secrets, deceit, and twists at every corner.

Told in dual timelines between the 2018 and the 1970's, Tell Us No Secrets, is anything but boring. Be prepared to have your world rocked. The character development and build up kept me in suspense. This is a bit of a "whodunit" but there is no way you will be able to figure it out until the twist is revealed to you.

This is by far one of my favorite books this year and I have already started recommending this to everyone I speak to.

This is easily a 5 star read and a sure hit.

There's nothing I love more than a good boarding school mystery. There’s something about it that I just can’t resist picking one up when that’s the storyline. This is set in two timelines, the 1970 and about 50 years later in 2018. It’s an exclusive East coast all girls boarding school and it focuses on four girls.

There’s a virginity game played by the class that ends in murder. As we go thru the ups and downs of being a teenage girl and the betrayal of friendships. With multiple POVs this is a bit of a slow burn but once it gets going you will be decently invested in it.

An all girls boarding school in Connecticut during the 70s is the setting for this debut novel by Siena Sterling. The author captures the awkward and intense relationships and jealousies of teenage girls forced to live in close proximity for four years. Cassidy is the beautiful and popular girl everyone wants to be their friend. She and Zoey, the angsty rebel from New York City, have been roommates for the first two years at school. When Junior year arrives, Cassidy ditches Zoey and decides to room with her new friend, the jock and debutante, Abby. This means that Abby’s roommate, Karen, has also been discarded and now Zoey and Karen will be roommates.Tensions build and friendships become obsessions as Senior year approaches. This once favorite class of the school has been slowly reaching a boiling point.

The writing in this novel drew me in from the start. The characters develop beyond a stereotype into complicated and multi-layered individuals. As the school years progress so does the suspense. The book portrays the changes in society during the 60s and early 70s and the consequences of these changes on the lives of this group of girls. Told in modern day and flashbacks, this book had twists that surprised me till the last page.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the opportunity to review this title before its release.

Tell Us No Secrets is a great suspenseful read, right up to the last page. The story is told in modern day and in the 1970's as a flashback to board-schooling days. The friendships and bonds formed at the boarding school has the reader intrigued and on edge every chapter. I really enjoyed reading this book and even to the last page I was surprised.

Tell us No Secrets
by Siena STerling
Pub Date: June 7, 2022
William Morrow
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.
* Thriller * Fiction * Young Adult
This stunning debut thriller, set in a girls' boarding school, describes the bonds between these adolescent girls as well as the terrible pain of betrayal and the tragic consequences of peer pressure running riot at a time when the seismic shift of the Sixties changed the rules for everyone.
Set in dual timelines, in the 1970s at an all-girls boarding school and in 2018 almost 50 years after the murder, and told through multiple points of view. This book is very much a slow burn, however, there was a lot of good character development leading up to the murder.
3 stars

Tell Us No Secrets was a very good "who did it" because of all the drama leading to the event. Four seventeen-year-old girls in a boarding house, trying to navigate this thing called life and doing what girls do at that age, up to a point. Sadly one of them goes too far, and it causes the "event" that they will carry with them throughout their lives and into their 60s. When a woman who was at the school shows up to say she doesn't believe the stories that came out of the "event" and wants to do a documentary about it, this causes a "ut oh" moment. What will they do about it?

I am so happy I had a cup of coffee when I started reading this book because it was a page-turner for me, and it was very realistic about the behavior of teens, especially during the time set in the 70s. The book has twists and turns and an ending I didn't see coming!

I will certainly read other books by this author, and I look forward to the next one!

Set in dual timelines, in the 1970s at an all girls boarding school and 2018 almost 50 years after the murder and told through multiple points of view. This book is very much a slow burn, however, there was a lot of good character development leading up to the murder.

The book was centered around four girls and an unsolved murder. The 2018 timeline is from an unknown narrator, presumed to be one of the four girls, but the narrator is not revealed until almost the end of the book which made for good suspense. As for the unsolved murder, it didn’t really take place until around 80% of the way through. I did like the ending though, that was a surprise I didn’t see coming.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I've been finished with this book for about a day and I'm still not too sure how I felt about it. It takes place in the '70s but jumps back and forth to present day once in awhile, and is based around a group of for girls and ultimately one of them dies and you know that from the start and you have to try and figure out who died. The book was well written and the characters were pretty good as well but it just didn't keep my attention very well. I normally love books set at boarding schools and added a mystery is my kind of book but I just couldn't get into it. I'd say probably three out of five stars. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for a honest review.

Mean girls on steroids. I loved this twisty thriller full of strong female characters. I was on the edge of my seat captivated and could not wait to find out what happens. WINNER!