Thoroughly enjoyable novel. A novel about trust, about who you should believe. It's a novel about unconditional love and how that can sometimes cause great pressure within a person. It's a novel that, once it gets going, moves quickly. And the last section - wow, you'll have no choice but to power your way through, it's that exciting. Forget the washing up, forget going to bed, this takes priority! Great book.

When Kaia starts to claim that her dad is abusing her, her mother Grace just can’t believe it. But as evidence begins to build up against Marcus, her husband, that he is hurting Kaia she can’t ignore it.

But as the truth comes out, it is was more convoluted than she ever expected. There are more people involved than she first thought (including someone she never even considered) & she unveils a plot that puts her child at risk.

This book was ~okay~. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the fact that Kaia’s claims weren’t believed by Grace ASAP, that just didn’t sit well with me at all.

I also just generally had a tough time getting into the story, I’m not quite sure why.

Thank you for NetGalley for providing me with this book for review.
Wow if you are after a read that you won't be able to put down, then give this book a try. I absolutely loved this so many twists and turns, read it in one day.

This was an interesting read! The synopsis looked intriguing but the book was even better. The characters were well developed and I wasn’t sure who to trust with some. I enjoyed all of it and found myself unable to put it down!

Full review to come on Goodreads and Amazon. Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for a review copy.

I quite enjoyed this book. It is very well written and kept my attention from the start. Unfortunately it felt a bit unfinished, and I still had questions at the end, so I have marked down a star

WOW! WOW! WOW! AMAZING, PHENOMENAL, LOVED IT!. Sarah Clarke is one of my favourite authors and she is on par with other psychological thriller writers such as K.L.Slater, Kerry Wilkinson, Wendy Clarke. This is only her second book and it took my breath away, it's cleverly written, really fast paced, gripping and just brilliant. I absolutely devoured it. It's quite dark in places, sad and the ending just blew my mind. It held me in it's clutches until the final twist was revealed and what a shocker that was. The characters are relatable and the plot is awesome. Huge congratulations Sarah, you really are an amazing author and I can't wait to read more of your work. This will be a bestseller without a shadow of a doubt. I loved it.

A tense psychological mystery with a twist.
I enjoyed this gripping twist-filled mystery. The story was well-written, the plot intriguing and a whopper of an ending! The main character was interesting and likeable but quite frustrating at times. I struggled at times with her actions which kept me more invested in the story than had she been a likeable, straight forward character. The book grapples with some ethical dilemmas around who to believe and I feel this aspect of the story was well done. It made me think and wonder what I'd do in the same scenario. The few twists were a little predictable but nonetheless enjoyable. I found the ending a little out of left field but again felt satisfied with how it all wrapped up. I'd highly recommend this one and would read more by this author.
Thank you to the author, publisher and netgalley for this early copy in exchange for an honest review.

The premise of this book is: if your child tells you an outrageous story, do you believe her or the accused? What if there are compounding factors in your life that could be compromised, no matter whom you believed?

That's the dilemma that Grace faces when her once sweet little girl suddenly changes her personality overnight.

In her acknowledgements, the author says, "I love creating characters that sit in the gray area between good and bad". And that's exactly what she has done! Each of her characters must deal with an ethical or moral choice, sure to be doomed by the outcome whichever way they choose to go.

The characters are really well developed and even though you might see them coming, there are some great plot twists. This was the first book I read by Sarah Clarke and I can't wait to read more!

Thanks to NetGalley and HQ Digital for an advance reader's copy.

I was intrigued by the premise, having to choose between believing the husband you love and your child must be a heart-breaking dilemma.

When 7-year old, Kaia, falls when climbing a tree, she claims her dad, Marcus pushed her. Doctors tell Grace, her mum, that it could be confusion as a result of a concussion. However, when bruises appear on her arm and she becomes hostile towards her dad, it seems she might be telling the truth.

We learn the backstory involving their friend Coco and Grace's brother, Josh. The last few chapters were especially engaging and unexpected.

My only criticism is that I'm not sure we needed to have events from the perspective of Marcus. I would have preferred the focus to stay on Grace and Kaia or it might have been interesting to have Coco's point of view instead.

Thanks indeed to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I’d like to thank HQ Digital and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Every Little Secret’ written by Sarah Clarke in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Grace and Marcus have known each other since they were teenagers and Grace trusts him implicitly so when their seven-year-old daughter Kaia says Marcus is hurting her Grace finds it hard to believe. She trusts Marcus when he says he’d never hurt Kaia but she knows Kaia wouldn’t make up lies, so who can she believe?

‘Every Little Secret’ is a well-written thriller that commences in 2005 when Marcus who gets a scholarship for Chilford School becomes friends with Josh, his sister Grace and her best friend Coco. As the story moves on to the present time the plot becomes exceptionally chilling and unpredictable and the unexpected events and twists and turns make it difficult to decide who to believe, Marcus or Kaia. This is an entertaining book that’s kept me involved from page one, unable to stop reading until I’d reached the end and discovered the truth.

I was really looking forward to reading this book. The summary and the cover grabbed my attention immediately. However, there was not a way to make the font larger in the app. SO even with my magnifying glasses on....I just couldn't read it. I will be looking for this book when it gets published because I really want to read it.

Thank you @Netgalley and @HQStories for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

TW: rape, violence, domestic violence/abuse, blood and threat of rape

From the outside, it seems Grace has it all and yet only she knows about the cracks in her picture-perfect life. A secret that would disrupt the wind if it was carried in a whisper, how could she even imagine sharing it with anyone else? Yet one day, when a drastic incident causes her seven-year-old daughter to make a troubling accusation, Grace must choose between protecting her child and protecting her secret… before she loses everything.

This is the first book I have read by Sarah Clarke and I could not put it down. The writing is engaging and snappy and holds your attention throughout. I actually stayed up to get to the end because the story was riveting and I definitely haven't been taken by a psychological thriller like this one in a long time. Grace as a character felt relatable to me, as a woman, as a person, and maybe as a mother she speaks her thoughts in ways that other people who have often found themselves at crossroads might. The internal conflict with Kaia, her daughter, making the accusation and the consequences and even the dilemma that Grace faces was presented really well and you wanted to get to the bottom of it and live through that whole investigation, evidence to support and evidence to contest. I found myself thinking about what I would do too! As each character narrates their chapter, you are viewing the plot through their eyes and Clarke is brilliant at writing each perspective convincingly, you can hear Grace, Marcus in their voice, using their words each time. Marcus was the misfit in this story and yet on reflection the only criticism I had is that the story rides on the stereotype to fuel the suspense which in hindsight felt like it took away from an opportunity to develop the characters. The end for that reason feels abit abrupt rather than a bridge between the beginning and end ( we jump between different timeframes for the characters) and that moment where the plot is revealed and you feel goosebumps on your skin - this is something that kept happening in the early chapters. I realised at the end of the book that the ending felt a bit mismatched, whether it was in terms of the writing style or just a lack of bridging between the perspectives. I had figured out the plot twist but expected more from it's execution, I still had to know what happens at the end though and I would still highly recommend the book because it is brilliant and I loved the concept and mystery. Some triggers to note have been mentioned at the start.

Every Little Secret by Sarah Clarke is a recommended domestic drama.

Grace, Marcus and Kaia, their seven-year-old daughter are a happy family. Sure, there are some adjustments to make with recent changes, but they are all settling into life back in the UK after living in New Zealand. When Marcus and Kaia are climbing a tree and she falls, it is terrifying. When Kaia tells the doctor that her dad pushed her out of the tree, Grace finds it inconceivable. The doctor does admit that it could be due to the concussion Kaia has, which can cause confusion. Grace holds onto this thought knowing Marcus would never hurt Kaia, but the doubts are still there, lingering just under the surface, especially when Kaia is exhibiting other behavioral issues. Kaia continues to blame Marcus for hurting her in other incidents too.

The narrative is told through multiple points-of-view and follows two timelines, Marcus in 2005 and Grace in 2019. Grace is the primary narrator, especially in 2019, as is Marcus in 2005. The perspective of Coco, a friend of Grace, and Kaia are also shared. We know that Grace and Marcus have a big secret they are keeping hidden. We know that back in 2005 Marcus, a friend of Grace's brother, Josh, was attracted to Coco. So, basically, we know Kaia is accusing Marcus of hurting her, there are some long held secrets that obviously goes back in time, Grace wants to support Kaia and secretly has doubts about Marcus, and Grace has many doubts and fears about the truth of the long-held secret coming out. This information is presented in a drawn-out, tedious fashion.

Every Little Secret unfolds like a day time melodrama, with an increasing number of theatrical turns. After a promising start, the plot development began to deteriorate. (For example, early in the novel, instead of hand wringing and worry about the secret, why not take Kaia to see someone immediately once she started acting out and accusing her father of hurting her?) I understand that this would infringe on the tension being built in the contrasting action between the two timelines.

Perhaps it was the obvious build up to make this drama into a psychological thriller, but I began to lose interest in all the drama and just wanted to know what the secret was that would be so devastating if it was revealed. Admittedly I did not connect to or care about any of these characters. Every Little Secret is a recommended novel with the caveat that some readers will connect with it more than others.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of HarperCollins
The review will be published on Barnes & Noble, Google Books, and Amazon.

This was the first novel by Sarah Clarke that I've read and I really enjoyed this twisty thriller packed with family drama and secrets.

The author did a great job with character development and left just enough gray area for the reader to make his or her own decisions about if the characters were good or bad. Trust me, you will go back and forth quite a few times just like I did.

I empathized with Grace and her struggle to choose who to believe--her 7-year old daughter or her husband she's known for 14+ years. As a mother, her main goal is to protect her child from harm, but what if that is from the man she's known, loved and trusted for years and has never shown anything but love for their child? I could truly feel her internal struggle. She only wanted what was right for her family. I could not even imagine being in the same predicament.

One character that I really ended up disliking was Faith, Grace and Josh's mother. She is truly the mother and protector of all secrets. I get trying to protect your kids from the big, bad world, but I feel like she went majorly overboard and was maybe even a little crazy herself. If I were Grace, I don't know if I could ever forgive my mother for keeping from me everything Faith kept from her.

I really didn't see the book ending the way it did, and I can't say I was disappointed, but there was one loose end that I really wished the author would have tied up and that is my reason for only 4 stars instead of 5.

Thanks to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks netgalley letting me read this very interesting story about how a small
Child can be influenced by the internet.
By Kaia using the internet she changed from a happy child to a liar and disruptive child and learnt to hate her father,
Grace and MArcus were a happy family before Kaia got influenced by the internet.

I liked this book, though it did leave a few unanswered questions. The story revolves around Grace, whose daughter Kaia gets hurt and suddenly starts accusing her father (and Grace’s beloved husband) Marcus of deliberately injuring her. Grace doesn’t know who to believe, as both strongly assert that their version of the story is the truth. The book is primarily told from Graces’s POV in the current time, intermingled with Marcus’s story from 14 years prior.

I love an unreliable narrator and you definitely get that in this story. The author does a good job building up suspense by alternating between current events and the potential lead-ups to those events from the past timeframe. When I figured out the twist it felt very obvious and I didn’t know why I hadn’t figured it out earlier. I’ve seen some other reviewers say that the book was slow paced but I didn’t feel that way: in fact I read it in one sitting over the course of 3-4 hours.

As mentioned above, there were some unanswered questions from me and I wish I could’ve gotten more backstory n the characters that would better explain the decisions they made. Marcus was well characterized but I didn’t feel that I got the same depth from the other characters, and some of them felt stereotypical versus authentic.

Overall, I liked the book and appreciated the twist that took me longer than usual to figure out. I’d recommend the book to those who like psychological thrillers. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

From the outside, it seems Grace has it all. Only she knows about the cracks in her picture-perfect life.... and the huge secret behind them, He brother Josh is thousands of miles away, he and Grace have never been close - he was always their parents favourite. Her best friend Coco walked away from her years ago, their friendship irreparably fractured by the choices they've made. Her husband Marcus seems a different man lately. But when her seven year old daughter makes a troubling accusation, Grace must choose between protecting her child and protecting her secret.

This story has a dual timeline flipping between the past, 2005 and the present day. The storyline tackles some of our worst fears. The characters are well developed and believable, it's told from multiple points of view and there's plenty of twists to keep you guessing. There were some chapters that were dragged out. This is an engaging and some what addictive read.

I would like to thank #NetGalley #HQDigital and the author #SarahClarke for my ARC of #EveryLittleSecret in exchange for an honest review

DNF didn't enjoy the format at all and the story just felt flat to me. The first page is meant to hook you into the story but it just felt to me like it lacked anything that would hook me or want. me to know more

Every Little Secret is a novel filled with many twists and turns and I am personally a fan of how the author orchestrated the unveiling of the events. Reading this novel had me gripping the edge of my seat willing to read each and every page with a determination to get to the answer.

I loved the different points of views of main characters Coco, Marcus, Grace and Kaia over the different time periods, because as the truths of the past are told the secrets of the present are revealed. I have come to love this aspect of storytelling and feel that the author did it well.

It follows the 4 main characters above, battling with all the lies and secrets they have told that are finally catching up to them. It all starts of with child, Kaia falling off a tree, after that incident we are led to believe that Kaia's father Marcus is a child abuser, hurting Kaia and leading her to harm others. But unbeknown to Kaia each time she confesses of her father's mistreatment leads all the past secrets and troubles of a seemingly perfect family to be revealed. Grace, Kaia's mother must choose who to believe, she must find out the truth of a family built on a lie, Marcus deals with the accusations and with him having a short temper and anger issues the reader is left to approve or disapprove of his actions, could he be harming the daughter he claims to love or is Kaia lying? With characters so untrustworthy who will you believe and by the time you know the answer will it be too late?

I genuinely loved this novel and I can say that easily it was a 5 star read for me. Through all the plot twists I was engrossed, hooked onto every word.