DNF at 58% the story felt extremely repetitive. I loved the intrigue, the setting. The romance was cute. The mystery is fun and unsettling. However at the point of 58% i felt like we were going around in circles with no new development for the last 10-15%. It made me lose interest.

Do you want to know the end to the story? Then you miss the journey there. This was a great character driven story. Avril is a great MC that is driven figure out her past while at an intensive acting camp that her mother died at. You go on this journey with Av as she discovers the truth about what happened that night and becoming the person she is meant to be. I also enjoyed the tragic romance between Avril and Cole.

I loved the uniqueness and cleverness of Ginny Myers Sain prior novel, so I knew I had to read Secrets So Deep, and I can tell you the experience I had with this one was just as immersive. YA used to be one of my go-to genres, but I have since then cut way back on them, and it has to be something that REALLY interests me now to get me to read one. Clearly, this is saying something, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this if you want a YA that is both gripping and extraordinarily unique. Some parts were just plain weird (sorry not sorry), but this author has such a beautiful way of writing that nothing was going to stop my enjoyment. Also, the parts that I found weird were important to the story and in no way is weird a bad thing here. The storyline is so vivid, and I was a huge fan of how the fog felt like a character in itself.

Valerie Rose Lohman is the narrator for the audiobook and while her reading pace was probably too slow overall, I really enjoyed listening to her. She was also quite lovely as Avril, so if you asked me if I would recommend listening to the audio I would say yes. I loved that Secrets So Deep has some romance elements going as well as a mystery, and I was completely invested in both of them. It's hard not to root for Avril and with a setting as creepy and ominous as the one that Myers Sain created here, it's also hard not to be on edge the entire time. I really had no idea what to expect from the end, and what happens was a complete surprise to me. I'm sure there are some people out there who will see the major twist coming, but I did not, and I almost got chills at the audacity of it. Myers Sain is one of my top young adult authors now, and I will continue to read everything she puts to the page.

a beautiful haunted story, such a wild ride. This was great to dive into after reading Dark and Shallows lies last year, which I absolutely loved. The characters were luring. I enjoyed the romantic side on me. The mystery in Whispering Cove, was definitely hypnotizing. I would have loved to learn a bit more about the reasoning behind everything. I loved the twists the author took, it kept me interested in the story.

This book will be enjoyed by those who love romance and mystery.
Avril has returned to the summer theatre camp where her mother had died years before from a supposed suicide. She is plagued by confusing memories and hopes to learn more about that last summer with her mother.
The theatre and romance elements of this read will be enjoyed by many.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great mystery and I loved this novel!

Oh. Oh I LOVED this. The vibes? Immaculate. The setting? Immaculate. The characters? Weird and fun. I don't know that the plot entirely held up or it completely stuck the landing; a lot of the twists were either inexplicable or predictable, and I'm still not sure how much I should have bought into the supernatural elements (were they real? what's the lore here? does it matter?). But I had such a good time and will be recommending this one to everyone I know.

Not a fav and I probably wouldn’t recommend. I couldn’t connect with any of the characters and that’s always a downfall for me while reading.

I really am enjoying this author lately! Keeps me guessing and engaged through the whole book! The character development was great

Her first novel was so amazing so I was really excited for this one. Unfortunately, the romance aspect of this novel annoyed me. It was a constant occurrence in the story. The suspense didn’t happen organically and the poor choices of the main character was a lot to deal with.

I didn’t like this book as much as I did the author’s first book. I was expecting another supernatural thriller, but that’s not what I got. While this was a mystery/thriller at heart it just fell flat for me.

When the book first started there was a set up of a mysterious backstory for the location of the theater camp that the main character attends. A whispering that if you started hearing it, you’d be the next victim. However this storyline soon just disappeared. I honestly forgot about it until it was briefly brought up again near the end of the book.

I just felt like the author couldn’t decide which direction to take the story and it definitely suffered for it. I will definitely give this author another try and hope that this was just a sophomore slump.

Once again Ginny Myers Sain delivers an outstanding, suspenseful ya mystery that stands out amongst its genre. If I haven’t mentioned it enough- Dark and Shallow Lies was one of my favorite books last year- one of my all time favorite books ever so the expectations going into SSD were unreallll.

I’m happy to say that those expectations were met 100%, Ginny is an absolute legend for her lyrical writing and even more so for her brillaint storytelling. The theater kid aspect prominent here was also really amazing to read about. I am not a theater kid myself but the way the author writes the magic of the play and ability to immerse yourself in a role was breathtaking.

Only two cons I will mention:

1. I was able to guess the mystery pretty early on but honestly I was here for the vibes and haunting atmosphere and she defintiely delivered on that so it didn’t take away from my overall enjoyment. Plus Ginny has such a masterful way of unraveling all the pieces and little details that you can’t help but be awed regardless.
2. The ending was super abrupt to me- there was sooooo much build up and then we’re left with a lot more questions about so many things and it really didn’t sit well with me. I don’t know if the authors point for the ending was to keep me up every night wondering about the what ifs and what could’ve beens because that was definitely accomplished.

Overall, another amazing thrilleresque YA from Ginny and one I highly recommend!

4.25 stars
Another atmospheric read, spooky, gothic and features an unreliable narrator and also unreliable setting. There are a lot of murky details that normally would take away from the book for me but only added to the vibes of the book. There are secrets to be uncovered, people with obvious secrets kept, it’s a thriller mystery with paranormal aspects to it with the setting that seems like it is also alive. An element that I love when it is done well.

Like many other reviewers have said, this book wasn’t nearly as good as Dark and Shallow Lies (which had a fantastic atmosphere, btw). But still, it was a decent read.

I liked the summer camp setting and the fact that it was on the ocean. The pacing was rather slow for most of the book, but the little snippets we got here and there were enough to keep me interested. The audiobook narrator was pretty good, which also helped with the pacing issues.

I wish I had been able to connect to the characters more. They were all pretty dull to me, so I didn’t care about any of them. I didn’t care about the romance either (unfortunate considering it’s the main focus of the book in the middle), which I felt moved too quickly and lacked chemistry. I outright hated the play scenes where Avril and Cole were acting out basically their exact romance in play form. Those scenes were awful to me and I just wanted to skip them. I found the play scenes to be completely dull and pointless, View Spoiler » However, I did really appreciate the platonic relationship between Avril and Lex. It’s not very often you see a M/F relationship that is strictly platonic, it was refreshing!

There is an interesting twist at the end! I was starting to suspect who the killer was, but it was a good reveal. I have a lot of negative things to say, but this book wasn’t bad by any means. It was good while I was reading it, it just won’t make a lasting impression on me and was overall kind of underwhelming. I also got pretty annoyed with the constant use of the word ‘fuck.’ I curse like a sailor sometimes, but it was overused to the point it felt unnecessary.

Rating: 3.5/5 ⭐️
TW: mental illness, mentions of suicide, drowning, fire, and hallucinations

“There are pieces of the past buried all over Whisper Cove. It’s easy to get tripped up.”

Twelve years ago, Avril’s mother drowned at Whisper Cove theater, just off the rocky Connecticut coastline. Local legend claims that the women in the waves—ghosts from old whaling stories—called her mother into the ocean with their whispering. Because, as they say at Whisper Cove, what the sea wants, the sea will have. She’s spent the past twelve years trying to make sense of the strange bits and pieces she does remember from the night she lost her mother. Now, at seventeen, she’s returning to Whisper Cove for the first time, and she might finally unravel the mystery of what really happened. As Avril becomes more involved with camp director Willa and her mysterious son Cole, Whisper Cove reveals itself to her. And Avril keeps meeting herself—and her dead mother—late at night, at the edge of the ocean.

Starting off pretty slow, I was pretty back and forth on this novel. A tad predictable with a little too much romance for my taste, it was also quite nostalgic as a former theater kid and ended up being a beautifully haunting story. Every character focused, I really enjoyed the complexity and realness they offered. I enjoyed the overall mystery but my absolute favorite part had to be the atmosphere!! Suspenseful, beautiful, and strange Whispering Cove was the perfect setting for this paranormal mystery!

I recommend this one to all my present/former theater kids, fans of “The Depths” and “Dead of Sunmer,” and anyone looking for a not too creepy paranormal mystery for this spooky season!!

I’m kind of annoyed with myself that I took the time to SLOWLY read this instead of DNF’ing it. I started Secrets so Deep early October for a “spooky season” read and it’s now November and I just finally finished it! To be fair, I read my eARCs slower but this book just had so much filler, it was a lot to get through. Also the epilogue?? Can someone message me to explain what happened by the end of the book because I just feel very confused by it lol.

Secrets so Deep wasn’t so bad, I was definitely curious which is why I continued it and finished it but I did guess extremely early on who the killer was, I just wasn’t sure why and wasn’t sure about the finer details. I also did love Cole, Lex, Val and Jude but the main character fell flat for me. Also, the hallucinations and the fog and all were just a bit much for me? I think the author was going for spooky and atmospheric but it was all honestly just so.. strange.

Overall, not a terrible book, but also not my favorite.

Avril is a theater buff with two goals for her summer: to attend a theatre camp under the famous Willa Culver and to get answers about why her mother drowned at this camp years ago.

**Thank you to Penguin Teen and Netgalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review**

The author does a fantastic job of painting a picture and showing the character’s emotions. The writing was very emotive and eerie.

I was drawn in by the idea behind this paranormal thriller but it wasn’t quite what I was expecting. It’s hard to put my finger on what was amiss. The pacing was pretty slow and because of that it took me a lot longer to finish.

The characters could have been a bit more developed, I didn’t feel a huge attachment to them. And while there was misdirection and plot twists they just didn’t hit very hard because I wasn’t as invested.

While this story wasn’t quite for me but it did have a haunting feel to it and is a nice intro into YA thrillers.

Avril hasn't been back to Whisper Cove since the night her mother drowned there. Avril was only a toddler that summer, but she knows something isn't quite right about the story she's been told. Now at 17, she's back in the seaside town for the summer, ready to unravel the truth about what happened to her mother, whether it was an accident, or something much more sinister. After all, the town's local legend is an entire village of women being called into the sea by whispering voices in the middle of the night.

I found this book a bit slow at the start, as we mostly focus on Avril's summer at theater camp, and her budding romance with the director's son, Cole. We get to watch scenes of the play the camp is working on that summer, and I found those to be a bit lackluster and contrived. Some spooky things happen here and there, but they are mostly brushed aside and unexplored until the back half of the book. It was definitely not as immersive of a setting or story as Dark and Shallow Lies, which I loved. However, once the mystery/thriller aspects picked up, I was on the edge of my seat waiting to find out what happened, and if Avril would uncover the truth about Whisper Cove, and what role it played in her mother's death. Avril's relationships with several of the other characters became very intriguing and complicated, and the latter half of the book was a wild ride.
Overall, it was an enjoyable read, but I'd categorize it as being just alright.

Thank you to PenguinTeen for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Secrets So Deep a haunted mystery with good pacing. The right book to read in October. Enjoyed all the characters and the friendships.

Secrets So Deep is underwhelming attempt at crafting a YA thriller. The reveals and the mystery were incredibly disappointing given the length of this novel. Secrets So Deep is truly a missed opportunity.