3.5 stars
First off, this book felt like it threw you into the story very quickly. I almost felt like I was supposed to know things beforehand but wasn't told.
Child actor Sam and his friends go out every Halloween to the "Dark Place" and tell their darkest secrets. But this year someone has thrown blood filled egg shells at their secret spot and they start getting blackmailed by someone named Sasha Craven. It turns out some of the friends may have darker secrets than anyone realized.
Though this was a mystery/thriller, I didn't really feel much tension and I wasn't on the edge of my seat. I enjoyed the plot line, but I wish it had been more thriller-y. There were parts that were action packed and the pacing was fast and easy to listen to, but it just wasn't nail biting.
The characters were all ok, but I never really connected with any of them. All of the relationships felt surface level whether it be friendships or romantic. The one relationship that tugged at my heart strings was between Sam and his sister Molly who was very young. It was obvious he loved her so much and it was very cute.
The twist ending was interesting, but kind of didn't make a ton of sense. It almost felt like a different story. It's hard to say my feelings about it without spoiling anything.
Overall, I did enjoy it, but it was kind of missing the wow factor for me.

In this taut thriller a group of teens are terrorized by a mysterious entity who threatens to expose their deepest secrets. This is a quick and exciting read with lots of teen appeal and a satisfying mystery

Secrets Never Die is a YA thriller from Vincent Ralph.

"Every Halloween, Sam and his friends go to a hut in the woods they call the dark place and leave their biggest secret there. But this year someone else is there and chases them from the woods. Now someone is blackmailing them with their secrets. Sam is not sure who's watching or who he can trust...or how far he's willing to go to bury the past."

This was my first book from Ralph. I always like to see a YA thriller. Of course, it's always about the secrets. Each teen has something that revolves around Sam and his child star past. There are some red herrings and a plot pivot that's surprising. But it's always about the secrets.. It's easy to yell at characters to talk, but it's realistic when they don't. People don't really share or talk as much as they should.

Some interesting observations about Sam's dad - someone who's desperate to be noticed in any way, even if it's through the kids.

Most of the audio is done by Christopher Gebauer and he does a great job. There's one voice done by Jennifer Jill Araya near the end.

A wild ending and conclusion to this one.

Good option if you like to mix in some YA. I'll definitely be looking for Ralph's other books.

This was my 1st book by Vincent Ralph but it won't be my last! He does a great job of building the suspense. This was a wild ride and man was the bad guy super fucked up! I didn't see the twist coming and I love that! I am now off to add all of his backlog of books to my TBR!

"Secrets Never Die" by Vincent Ralph is a fun novel that blends mystery and emotion. With a cast of characters bound by hidden truths, Ralph's storytelling keeps you engaged as secrets unravel. The themes of redemption and resilience are portrayed thoughtfully, and Ralph's writing style adds depth to the narrative. Overall, "Secrets Never Die" is a compelling read, although I wish it had been a slightly more exciting end to tie it all together.

As for the narrator, his general storytelling voice was fine, but his change in tone and pitch to create voices for other characters was irritating. It felt forced and unrealistic.

Vincent Ralph is the author of one of my favorite YA thrillers, 14 Ways to Die. So I was excited to read a new book by him, set around Halloween about a group of teenagers with secrets that begin haunting them.

The beginning of this book was solid, but it lost me in the middle. Then, unfortunately, the end was never ending. There were too many red herrings and then the big twist at the end was so far fetched and felt disconnected from the first three quarters of the book. It is so different from 14 Ways to Die which has super short chapters that all end on some kind of cliffhanger and which brings back around hints from throughout to get to the shocking twist at the end.

This wasn't the book for me. I think it will work well for teens looking for a creepy Halloween book.

I thought this was just okay. Characters had some interesting things about them. I thought the foul language could have been easily left out.

Maybe 3.25 stars for me.
This was pretty much just fine to me. I figured out the last twist very early on, but the rest surprised me. It was a very quick read, and definitely would have loved it when I was younger, but it’s not going to be my favorite book of the year. I was hooked though and really tore through it.

One of my favorite things in life is when a book sucks you in right from the first chapter. That’s what happened here and I finished this book in almost one sitting.

Every year on Halloween Sam and his friends go to what they call “The Dark Place”. They each go in there and tell the dark place their deepest and darkest secrets. They do it alone, no one is there to hear it. Now all their secrets are coming out. How does anyone know what they told the dark place?

Sam and all of his friends get a message from the same person and this person knows everything they have done and everything they have told the dark place and they are not afraid to use that knowledge to control Sam and his friends.

This is a wild game of cat and mouse and I was shocked just how deep it went. Sam is a former child star and I expected the reason they were getting messed with had something to do with that. I love when I am wrong. This was so much better than that reason.

This is a book you do not want to miss.

This was such a good quick read, the twists and turns are great. I was left with a few questions but overall I enjoyed this book. I’ll be looking into the previous books from this author.

This book will transport you back to the days of R.L. Stine's Goosebumps.

This was a YA Horror (so not too horrifying) about a group of kids. They have a secret place in the woods that they refer to as "the dark place," where they go once a year on Halloween to whisper their darkest secrets into the darkness. The friends don't know each other's secrets.

One day, they all start receiving texts from a mysterious person calling themselves Sasha, who knows all of their secrets. They think it is impossible, no one other than them knows about the dark place. The situation escalates when Sasha is blackmailing them, breaking into their houses, and forcing them to do things.

Eventually, they are forced to bring their parents into the situation, and the secrets only get worse from there.

I had the opportunity to listen to the audio while I read along with the book. I thought the narrator did a decent job with so many characters. I probably would have preferred a second narrator for some of them, but overall, it was not hard to differentiate which character was speaking.

I loved how the plot twist fit together really nicely. It was somewhat unrealistic to me that they didn't go to their parents with the problem sooner, but other than that, I thought it was a fun and fast paced quick read.

Keeping in mind that it was YA, I appreciated that there was a moral at the end of the story, and the main character learned a lesson.

This is a classic YA thriller/horror! It starts with a big Halloween party and an annual "ritual" in the woods that turns creepy and ominous. Sam and his friends are being tormented and blackmailed by "Sasha" and the secrets they've left in the woods over the years. I was definitely feeling the YA-ness of it in the beginning as the secrets seemed more like horrible misunderstandings of childhood than anything worth tormenting over but it definitely picks up as the story goes on. This was a really fun listen! The narrator is great and they bring in a second narrator for a flashback which I thought was fun. I love a good I know What You Did Last Summer esque YA horror and this fit the bill perfectly!

Okay, where do I begin? The cover and the premise of the book are fire! I enjoy a game of cat and mouse and a story of revenge. So this book had all the pieces it needed to be a great YA thriller. There is just something that never clicked for me as I read this book. The main character was somewhat likeable, but I don't feel like he actually did anything except for talk about doing something. The only clue he actually found was a photo that led to other people involved who then explained everything that was going on. I hate giving bad reviews because I want to enjoy every book, especially because I know how much work authors put into their writing. I just don't think this was the book for me, BUT I know that this book will be successful because these stories are extremely popular. Just because I didn't enjoy it doesn't mean that others won't, and based on other reviews, there are already readers who are devouring the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for a chance to early review this story in exchange for an honest review.

I really, really enjoyed this book up to the last 10%. Then it went completely off the rails. The twist came out of nowhere and there was nothing about it that made you say, “Oh I guess that thing foreshadowed it.” The friends secrets were a little dull too. Still I enjoyed it enough to probably give it another read closer to Halloween.

The narrator made this quite difficult to listen to and the execution of the story didn't grip me unfortunately.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 stars but I'll round up to 4.

I am a huge fan of YA mystery/thrillers. This one however fell a little short for me. It honestly reminded me of Pretty Little Liars and how A was tormenting the girls making them do crazy things or their secret was out, also sprinkle in a little I Know What You Did Last Summer and you've got this book! The secret in question in this book are so juvenile I laughed when I came across them. I felt like is was so played up, their secrets, and then I felt like I deserved better secrets.

I did not like the ending, it was not wrapped up completely, which I guess could lead to another novel but I still felt like the book ended and I was just eh.

The twist in the book came out of nowhere. While you would think that was a good usually there is some foreshadowing. This had NONE.

Still a good book but it felt very familiar reading it.

I had hoped to enjoy this book as much as I have enjoyed some of this authors other books, unfortunately that was not the case.

It did contain some action, short chapters, tension & twists. I just did not love the characters & couldn’t connect with any of them. I felt the romance between Sam and Elisha’s was just a bit boring and they felt more like friends than anything else. This audiobook was just mediocre for me and I think some of that had to do with the narration, it fell felt in my opinion and just did not give the book the excitement & dimension it needed. I honestly didn't love Christopher Gebauer and Jennifer Jill Araya as audiobook narrators.

I am still looking forward to reading his next work and keeping my fingers crossed that I will enjoy it more.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan audio for sharing the audiobook with me in exchange for my honest thoughts.

I really struggled with this one and i think it’s partly because the narrators were so distracting and i didn’t enjoy their different voices and they were over the top. I couldn’t focus on the book. The characters also lacked some depth. Just seemed like a teen slash flick

This audiobook kept me on my toes! It is definitely creepy. It is twisty and has parts that you could not see coming. It reminded me a lot of the "One of us is Lying" series as far as the parents having a backstory and actually starting the drama as teenagers themselves. I couldn't get over some of the creepiness, especially the blood filled eggs or mannequins. But, this book for sure kept me on my toes! It was an entertaining read/listen.

2.5 stars

On the upside, the pacing for this YA mystery/thriller is really fast. I listened to it without breaks while doing so many weekend errands and chores, and while I didn't find the characters or story as compelling as I'd hoped, it's worth noting that it's still a pretty engaging read.

The biggest struggle for me with this one was the two-dimensional nature of the characters and their affiliated secrets. Because I wasn't particularly invested in any of the characters, I didn't much care who was terrorizing them or why. The m.c. is ridiculous. He's a former child star who is absolutely incensed that people lie but also deeply protective of his own secrets. Ugh. The reveal and resolution are interesting but mostly because it's surprising that any of these people took these specific measures or had these kinds of fears over...what seems like not that big of a deal.

Again, I found this engaging enough to listen to, but will it be hitting the top of my YA mystery/thriller list? Unfortunately, not.