Two cold murder cases, both surprisingly similar to each other. Young Adults trying to solve a crime? I would say I’m pretty much getting used to it.

Eddie, Jacob, Casey, and Zoe are all set to record the last installment for their YouTube channel ‘We’ll Never Tell’ where they break into inaccessible areas to bring raw footage to the viewers. This time, they have chosen to record the crime scene of the infamous Valentinis’ mysterious deaths. Casey can't help but wonder how this crime is vaguely similar to the one where her mother was murdered. Zoe disarms the alarm system and four of them successfully break into the mysterious Silver Lake House. Casey has second thoughts whilst she finds mysterious objects that point out the fact that someone must have been here before them. Just like that, the alarm goes off with a shrilling noise piercing the air surrounding them and Jacob is pronounced dead by Zoe. Panic courses through their veins and the trio dash to the entrance of the property.

Soon they get to know that Jacob is alive but is stranded between life and death. Just like the tagline of the novel, fear grips Zoe, Eddie, and Casey and they vow to destroy evidence that can lead to their presence on the property.

The plot is crafted with elements of mystery, suspense, and a gist of the supernatural which gave me an eerie feeling. The story takes its own sweet time to develop and picks up pace once you are 40% into the book. I would admit that it was hard to dig into the plot, given there was no concrete trail. The readers view the events leading to and after the crime through Casey’s eyes. A lot of unfamiliar names crop up. Some widen the suspect pool and the rest that will divert your attention from the real perpetrators. Set in locales that are in direct contrast to LA’s vibrant, upbeat tunes, 'We'll Never Tell' is inspired by the Los Feliz murders.

A few years ago, I read my first book by Wendy Heard and was hooked (She's Too Pretty to Burn, highly recommend). I now will read anything she writes. When I saw We'll Never Tell was available on Netgalley, you better believe I 1-clicked that request button so fast. YA thrillers mystery are my jam and Ms Heard always creates creative stories with characters that I can't help but like and she has LGBTQ representation this is always well done and flows easily into the story.

We'll Never Tell is the story of 4 teenagers looking to break into a famous "murder house" in Hollywood that has some major history. These teens have a YouTube channel where they break into some of the most popular spots of the area, investigate and film to produce for their shows. They decide to end their senior year on the biggest story of all. The Valentini murder house that has gone unchanged since 1972. While these 4 friends are in the house capturing as much as they can separately on film, Casey and Zoe hear a noise, but can't connect with Jacob and Eddie and then the alarm is tripped and they have to get out of there before they are caught. Unfortunately one of them is injured and this is where all their decision making goes awry and makes for one heck of a YA thriller.

As Wendy Heard says in her acknowledgments, this story is inspired by the Los Feliz Murder House which as a Washingtonian, I wasn't too familiar with. I have done a little search now and am even more intrigued. But the fact that this story has 4 characters that all work together seamlessly to uncover cursed locations was appealing and had me glued to the pages from the beginning. I love a mystery and the way the characters all played off one another made this story more enjoyable. I liked how Ms Heard wove the history of the Valentini House and the occupants of the past with the present to work our way up to how everything connected with all the characters. When more characters are introduced, it was in a way that made sense and built onto the mystery. With the shorter chapters and something exciting happening in each one, this made for an easy to read book that I couldn't get enough of.

If you like thrillers, this is a must read. The fact that it is YA makes it even better in my opinion. The setting in LA was perfection and I loved the history we were given of the murder house. Casey, Zoe, Eddie and Jacob's friendship in the midst of tragedy combined with the mystery played out very well, but it was a relationship between 2 characters that pulled at my heartstrings. Let's just say that Wendy Heard knows how to include a little bit of a love story while also giving us a pulse pounding mystery. Definitely put this one on your TBR!! 4+ stars

Oh my how I enjoyed this book.

In this YA Thriller we get:

Dual time lines
Bestest of friends
Queer relationships
Testing of friendships
Old Hollywood vibes
Murder mystery
Dual POV

The old Hollywood mystery flashbacks mixed in with the current time line added to the story and really pushed the mystery forward. The reveal at the end was a little unexpected and a lot sad for our MFC.

The way the old mystery mingled with the current events in the story was written really well and I super loved how everything came together in the end!

If you enjoy YA Thrillers, I cannot recommend this one enough.

We'll Never Tell had me hooked from the first page! This was fast-paced, and so much fun to read. I love the idea of heading into locations at night and filming, and the fact that our group was headed into a famous murder house was right up my alley.

While I did like all the characters of our main group, Casey was my favorite. The atmosphere of the house was top-notch, definitely gave off murder, and could absolutely be haunted vibes. There were twists and turns around every corner, and the suspense, and tension really built from the moment Jacob gets attacked in the house, and only rises as they try and hide what they were doing from the police

I couldn't put this YA thriller down. Casey and her friends Zoe, Eddie, and Jacob have a Youtube channel showing them trespassing on famous LA attractions. When they choose to do a famous "murder house" from the 70s, things take a turn for the worse. One of the group is stabbed, and they have a heck of a mystery on their hands. I liked the friendships these teens had, which is really the core of this novel. Being a Youtuber is so much more in depth than I had pictured. All that goes into filming a video is truly wild. I think teens will like this fast paced thriller, but adults will as well. Thanks to Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.

As with any Heard novel... readers should be aware that once they start reading, they are not guaranteed a full night of sleep until they finish the book. WE'LL NEVER TELL hits readers hard with the "just one more chapter" game and is impossible to put down because you just have to see what happens next.

The mystery is interesting, the overall resolution is good, and there were a few moments as I read in the dark with only the light from my Kindle that I was nervous about what was lurking in the shadowy corners of my bedroom. While I did guess who the major players of the mystery were, I did not guess what pieces of the puzzle they played until all was revealed. Heard excels at plot twists that are bonkers... just when you think you have everything figured out there's another twist that changes everything. Heard's novels are always a wild ride and this one is no exception. My only wish is that readers were given the opportunity to see the events unfold from all four teens points of view. I didn't love Casey as our main protagonist (even if it makes sense), I wanted more Jacob chapters for sure.

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, and Christy Ottaviano Books in exchange for an honest review.

I accessed a digital review copy of this book from the publisher.
Casey and her friends film "behind the scenes" after-hours videos of popular and interesting sites in LA. Now that they are in their last year of school, they have planned one last video at the Valentini “murder house”. But while they're filming, one of Casey's friends is stabbed. She doesn't know who did it and works to solve the stabbing and the Valentini murder.
The mystery and suspense are wonderful. Casey draws the reader in and keeps them with her on her journey.

I had high hopes for this book because the genre is one of my favorites, I mean I like the idea and at the beginning of the chapter I was already hooked with the murder case in the mansion, but unfortunately as the story progressed my expectations dropped, the execution was poor, and I wasn't connected to all the characters.⠀
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The only thing I like about this book is the writing, which I find addictive, and the fact that each chapter isn't too long, so I can get through it quickly.

We’ll Never Tell—Wendy Heard

The Valentini Mansion is the home of the notorious murder-suicide of Hollywood starlet couple, Andrew and Rosalinda Valentini—and the last location Casey Costello and her three best friends want to film for their Youtube Channel, “We’ll Never Tell”. But this house is unlike the other abandoned places they’ve gone to. It’s fully of grisly history, not to mention, supposedly haunted. Tormented by her own ghosts, Casey and set out to Valentini Mansion with only their Youtube channel on their minds. It’s turning out to be their best episode yet when the unthinkable happens.

But who would want to hurt one of them? Casey, the researcher, digs into the sordid secrets of the house to find out who. Meanwhile, the secrets of the rest of the group are starting to come out. As Casey gets closer to the truth of the house and who came after them, she realizes all the ammo someone could use against any of them—and that maybe it’s one of her friends trying to weaponize it.

WOW! For me, this was yet another amazing read from Wendy Heard. I thoroughly enjoyed the suspense her novel, “She’s Too Pretty to Burn” had, and am very satisfied that she really played into the psychological thriller realm with “We’ll Never Tell.” I loved how this one went from fun and campy to a super spooky mystery so quickly! I’m a huge sucker for the “something messed up happened but we’re not telling the cops bc of xyz” trope, and I love the twist Heard put on it. She made the situation so relatable, and I feel she wrote Casey’s character and her/her friends’ personal dramas so well. She has a gift with being able to seamlessly deliver teen drama and harrowing crime into one explosively twisty package. And the whole mystery of the Valentini murder!! So nicely woven into the plot, incredibly well done. I never saw any of it coming, and same goes for who was behind everything. Heard’s fresh voice, combined with her sharp descriptive writing and figurative thrill rides, is completely unstoppable. I look forward to her next novel!

I really loved the idea behind this story, but the way it was excited didn't quite live up to my expectations. A group of friends is trying to break into an infamous murder house, and something goes wrong, leaving one of them seriously injured. Overall, this was okay. I was let down mostly by the way the plot elements interacted together. There was also a supernatural element that I was hoping to dive more into. The pacing was also a bit inconsistent, which kept drawing me out of the story.

4.5 rounded down to 4 on goodreads.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I loved this book so much! I sped through it in a little over a day and it didn’t even feel like reading to me, I was completely immersed in the story, and I couldn’t wait to figure out what happened next.

The four owners of viral youtube channel, We’ll Never Tell, have decided to go and sneak into an abandoned house where a murder happened in 1972. But once they get there, something unimaginable happens to one of the friends…

CHARACTERS: I liked how Casey was the protagonist, she probably spent the most amount of time trying to figure out who stabbed Jacob, which makes sense. She tried to figure out the past and present mysteries while getting closure for her mom’s murder. She was a good choice for the main character. Zoe and Eddie were okay, after the first part they don’t really show up that much. Considering Jacob was the one who was stabbed, he wasn’t very interesting for most of the book.

PLOT: I enjoyed how the main characters were both trying to solve the mystery and hide their tracks at the same time because that made it stand out from other mysteries I’ve read. There are occasional flashbacks to Jacob’s past, but I felt like that wasn’t necessary except to build up the romance.

THE ENDING: of course the most important of a mystery book is the ending and if it made sense or if there were any plot holes. This book had a solid ending that I loved a lot.

SPOILERS BELOW FOR ENDING!! DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT SPOILERS

Jacob being descended from the Valentinis. I did not see this coming at all. It completely makes sense why he was sneaking around the house and doing research prior to the video, and I feel like this is what gives the murderer motivation.
Dallas being the murderer. I actually guessed this because I thought it was strange how nice she was being, but I suspected everyone at some point so that really doesn’t mean anything. It made sense, no plot holes, and overall a great ending.

SPOILERS OVER

This was a quick read (but a great one) and I really recommend it if you’re in the mood for a suspenseful and creepy mystery!

It was alright, definitely had some flaws. The concept was totally great! I just didn't get that invested in the actual plot execution and the characters. I like this author, but I think there are better books on their backlog than this one.

No one at Hollywood High knows who’s behind We'll Never Tell—a viral YouTube channel where the anonymous creators trespass behind the scenes of LA's most intriguing locales. The team includes CASEY, quiet researcher and trivia champ; JACOB, voice narrator and video editor, who is secretly dating EDDIE, aspiring filmmaker; and ZOE, coder and breaking-and-entering extraordinaire.

Now senior year is winding down, and with their lives heading in different directions, the YouTubers vow to go out with a bang. Their last episode will be filmed at the infamous Valentini “murder house,” which has been left abandoned, bloodstained, and untouched since a shocking murder/suicide in 1972.

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-ωєи∂у нєαя∂-
pub date: 16 May 2023
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5


This was a quick and fun thriller with lots of twists and turns. It reminded me a lot of Pretty Little Liars (the tv show, I never read the books), and if you were a fan of the show you would probably enjoy this book. Four friends, in their senior year, a tragic accident, all of them doing what it takes to figure out what went wrong, what happened and how to survive, all without jeopardizing their futures. Everything unfolds in the span of a week (it’s Hollywood baby, it’s movie magic).

While this isn’t psychologically deep or brain bendy, it’s definitely got enough going on to keep you interested and guessing…what exactly happened in the “murder house”?

I love Wendy Heard's books so immediately moved this one to the top of my list and raced through it! Wowie, was it good! Four teens have a You Tube channel called "We'll Never Tell" that is quite successful. Now they are investigating a suspicious death at the famed Murder House where Rosalinda and Andrew were discovered dead and Andrew was apparently the perpetrator. But what they discover is more than just a creepy house; there are age-old secrets, lies, tall tales, and things that will frighten just about anyone! Jump in and don't look back as Heard has it all: bones, skulls, family loyalty, teen love, and most of all, compassion! Can't wait for her next one!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

We'll never tell is a great mystery/thriller that follows four friends as they attempt to break in and film in a notorious murder house. This trip ends in disaster and one of them is seriously injured. It seems that there is a supernatural element, but perhaps someone else is more dangerous than they seem...
I enjoyed this and my teens who love twisty mysteries with a friendship element will as well!

So disappointed - this plot sounded amazing, but I have a problem with the pacing. It is very slow and I did not even manage to finish it.