Talk about secrets! Wow.. so many kept secrets too. But also so much healing after the secrets no longer were hidden. I love the different social issues addressed in this book and how they were handled. I also won this book in Goodreads giveaway. I look forward to meeting the author one day!

The Secret Keeper of Main Street by Trisha R. Thomas – This is a page-turning work of historical fiction with mystery and just a touch of magic mixed in. I finished it in one day.

“In 1950s oil-rich Oklahoma, Bailey Dowery, a dressmaker with the gift of “second sight,” reluctantly reveals the true loves and intentions of her socialite clients, making her a silent witness to a shocking crime.”

I was immediately transported when I started reading as the writing is vivid. At first everything seems fine on the outside, but as you read you’ll learn secrets that could bring great scandal to this small town. There are certainly hard parts to read, but let me assure you that the ending is absolutely worth it. So well done.

I thought it was a fun read. Many twists, some very unrealistic, I was disappointed in all the characters.

3.75 stars rounded up
Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this as an ARC. There were a lot of interesting qualities about this historical fiction novel. I liked the idea of a seamstress being able to tell certain things about a client by touch. That alone would be fraught enough- do you tell the client what you see? But then add in the fact that it is the South in the 1950’s, the clients are white and seamstress is Black. It adds an extra layer of danger to telling someone something they may or may not want to know.
There was a lot of characters and perhaps too many- it might have been a little too many along with the subplots. But it was a good read with an interesting concept.

Slow burn family drama that had a little too much drama for me. Oil tycoon, infidelity, LGBT attraction, rape, magical realism with visions.

Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley.

To be honest, I couldn't quite keep up with the list of characters in this one, but it did not stop me from enjoying the book. It's complicated with drama and a touch of magic.

Very well written and a great story. So many twists and turns in a small town in Oklahoma. The author does a great job setting the stage for the reader and characters. I would definitely recommend. Additionally, I think this book would be perfect for a book club!

In this complicated historical fiction novel, Thomas brings 1954 and the small segregated oil town of Mendol, Oklahoma, to life. Primarily following Black dressmaker Bailey Thomas and bride-to-be Elsa Grimes, the daughter of one of the oil barons, this novel explores two women’s quests for love and answers to long-time family secrets. Bailey, besides being a skilled dressmaker, also has a gift for intuition that the locals have interpreted as meaning she can find out someone’s true love and the fate of their marriage with just a touch. Elsa’s future, however, scares Bailey, particularly when a dead body turns up the day before Elsa’s wedding and she is the prime suspect. Bailey and Elsa are very different women, but their separate narratives are woven together by these secrets that threaten to destroy Mendol’s status quo. The novel itself is complex and well-written, blending several genres together to create this fascinating setting and background; the small-town vibes ensure that the pool of suspects is small and that everyone is interested in Elsa’s secrets and the dead body. Bailey’s gift is particularly interesting and Thomas explores it in plot-relevant ways. A complicated historical fiction mystery, Thomas’s latest novel is an immersive and interesting exploration of Midwestern segregation and the challenges of rebelling from their family and the status quo.

In 1954 Mendol, Oklahoma, everyone knows Bailey Dowery is a genius with needle and thread: styling, fitting, and sewing spectacular wedding gowns for the population who can afford them in the oil-rich state. However, few know of Bailey’s other talent, whereby a touch of another’s hand opens to her the true beliefs of their heart. She calls it reading heartstrings. One vision is so vivid that she blurts out during a fitting that her client is marrying the wrong man. As word of her gift circulates, Elsa Grimes, a rich, privileged white girl who is being pushed into marriage, begs Bailey for help. Elsa believes Bailey is the only person who can confirm her true destiny as she struggles to come to terms with herself.

The disparity between Black and white in mid ´50s America takes form in scenarios reminiscent of The Help, in this case spotlighting the wealthy Ingrid and Matthias Grimes. They allow Elsa to be raised from babyhood by their Black housemaid, while Ingrid concentrates her efforts on upstaging other women in her social scene and then wonders why Elsa’s emotional connection to her is tainted. As a result, I felt Ingrid to be stereotypically irritating, which leads to a melodramatic conclusion that doesn’t seem quite credible.

The premise of the novel is interesting with some well-drawn initial scenes. It wasn’t always clear to me what Bailey saw, or why she sometimes saw nothing, and this held me apart from the narrative. As can be gleaned from the title, the novel is about secrets – ones which remain hidden, and ones which are exposed, accidentally or otherwise. The novel has a contemporary feel, which didn’t immerse me in any particular time period, but readers who enjoy a happily-ever-after ending, where the bad guys get their comeuppance, will be well satisfied.

Set in a 1950's Oklahoma boomtown, it's an interesting time period and setting. Bailey is a seamstress that has visions. She tries to keep it hidden, but soon the town knows and women are coming to her for more than dresses. The small town has a lot of big secrets!

I enjoyed the characters and setting. The story has a lot going on, it's a little complicated and I don't think the book title really reflects everything going on.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for a temporary, digital ARC in return for my review.

I received an advanced copy of this book and am having a difficult time reviewing it. 1954 in Oklahoma, and a black seamstress, Bailey, works in an exclusive boutique. Bailey can see emotions and visions when she touches people. She does not publicize this, but people know and ask her for help.
There are many characters and coincidences that make this difficult to review without spoilers.
There is an interracial love story in 1926 that comes back in 1954 and I wonder how it will continue in the South of 1954, as it was illegal. That couple is intertwined in Bailey's story. There is a toxic mother daughter plot, as well as a secret gay plot point, and 2 unwed mother's whose stories end very differently. There is also a rape and a murder
The small town segregated divide is very well portrayed and seeing everything that happens through Bailey's eyes brings the story to life.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the EARC. This is my honest review of a story line I have not encountered before.

The Secret Keeper of Main Street by Trisha R. Thomas was extremely well written and very entertaining.
I am a sucker for a good historical fiction & The Secret Keeper of Main Street was an incredible one!
Trisha combined all things necessary to make this historical fiction intriguing.

Thank You NetGalley and William Morrow for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

A joy to read, I appreciated the historical undertone of the book. A bit romance, a bit mystery, a whole lot of self discovery. The author dealt with sexuality, socio-economic standings, community and independence in ways that were unheard of for the time period. Captivating from the beginning, the story kept me interested until the last few chapters…I could’ve dealt without the next steps for Ingrid or the full circle moment with Sage , both could’ve been kept for future spinoffs. 4 stars, no disappointment.

This story was quite interesting. I enjoyed the genuine friendship that developed between the main characters as well as the authors willingness to include controversial relationships in the story as well. Although there were some secrets that appeared obvious to me while reading there were far more plot twist that caught me off guard. I read this story because I am a fan of Trisha R. Thomas’s work and this addition to her catalog did not disappoint.

Thank you NetGalley and Publisher William Morrow for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I have a lot of mixed feelings on this one? I enjoyed it enough to where I zipped through it pretty quickly. I thought Bailey and Elsa were interesting and engaging characters. But... the plot of the book is really nothing at all what the blurb suggested. The murder mystery was a blip that was mentioned briefly towards the end and then resolved within like, a chapter? And it certainly wasn't the overarching plot point.

Bailey's power was also really not a main plot point, as suggested in the book summary. I mean, it was there, but again, the blurb makes it appear as if Bailey's powers + the murder will be the main issue of the book, and it definitely is not.

I also did not really love how much everything ended up being interwoven, with Charlene + Matthias and Elsa + Bailey and so on, and I especially did not buy the saccharine-sweet happy ending with a biracial blended family, including a lesbian daughter with a child born out of wedlock, just... living happily and openly in 1950s/1960s Oklahoma. It was just really hard to believe.

I think part of my disappointment is ultimately due to how the book was described as opposed to it being an enjoyable read. I did finish it and liked it, but it just didn't seem to be the book I was told I was going to get, at all.

If you like Historical Fiction than you can't miss this one! Everyone had secrets in this book and it was such a fun book to fly through! If you want a high drama historical fiction with tons of action THIS is the one! This is fast paced so buckle up.

Acclaimed author Trisha R. Thomas delivers a masterful new tale of scandal and intuition. In 1950s oil-rich Oklahoma, Bailey Dowery, a dressmaker with the gift of “second sight,” reluctantly reveals the true loves and intentions of her socialite clients, making her a silent witness to a shocking crime.

I will be thinking about this one for a while! This was fast paced and intense. I can't believe I didn't read this sooner! I would even recommend this to those who like a good thriller. This has a little of everything.

This novel is a 3.5 star rounded to 4 for me. It is written well and had enough events to keep you interested. The story seemed to flow a little slow meaning I could put down and pick up at a later date without rushing to get back to it. With that said, other readers may dive right in and finish it in no time.
There are characters you will root for and others you wish to throat punch. All in all if you are on the fence, I suggest you read it.

Thanks to the publishers for an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed this book. Bailey works as a seamstress at a bridal shop. She has the gift of seeing things that happen to people if she touches their hands. Even though she tries to deny it, some brides come to the shop to find out if they are marrying the right person, which is an interesting concept.

.Race relations, mother-daughter relationships and love are explored.

The writing was good..The history was interesting. I recommend it.

Overall this book was a decent read. I enjoyed the fast pace and the shorter chapters to keep it moving. The multiple POVs was interesting as well. I thought the characters were well developed and interesting.

What this book lacked for me was a definitive identity and plot. It felt like it was trying to be too many things: a mystery, historical fiction, romance and a touch of magical realism. It was all these things but it didn’t do any of them particularly well. The plot got bogged down in too many side stories as well and nothing really felt finished or complete about this story in the end. At the beginning of this book I was really vining with it and felt it was going to be a 4-5 star read but in the end it fell flat.

This is the story of a young black dressmaker named Bailey in 1950s Oklahoma. She is gifted (or cursed, as she sees it) with an ability to see the true desires of one’s heart, and this secret ability has become well-known among the elite white women that are clients at her shop. One particular client, Elsa, is very unhappy about her current engagement and wants Bailey to help her find out if the true object of her affections could ever love her back.

This book was full of secrets, twists and turns. There were several points in the story where I had no idea what was going to happen. It was a fun, fast paced ride, and everything ended up connected somehow in ways I didn’t expect. The characterization was done very well. There were several different POVs, and the author did a great job of making each one have a distinct voice and their own motivations. The characters were realistic and engaging, and often relatable, even the ones I ended up hating.

One complaint I had with the story was that the pacing sometimes felt off. Many times I was left confused about how much time had passed from one story event to the next. At one point I read “it might as well have been yesterday instead of five months ago” and was momentarily confused because I actually did think the event happened the day before.

There were also many plot-lines, and some of them didn’t seem necessary at all and if anything confused me a bit. For example, the Alice and John situation didn’t really go anywhere and didn’t seem to serve a purpose in the story. Bailey could have discovered more about her ability in a different way, completely forgoing John, and it wouldn’t change a thing.

Overall, though, I was never bored reading this story and overall had a great time with it. I can see myself checking out some of this author’s other work in the future. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC. 4/5 stars.