The setting of Melting in the Cotswolds sounded breathtaking, I could picture myself living close to the green, everything in walking distance. It had everything you could want in a story love, family, friendship and second chances.

Can You Keep A Secret? by Jo Lovett. What can I say other than I loved it and read in one day. Who doesn’t want to escape to an estate in the country. I have now added the author to my list of RomCom authors I love.

One New Year’s Eve, Georgie James and her friends come up with a genius plan to help them stick to their resolutions… They all write down secrets, seal them in envelopes and then post them to each other. The secrets will be revealed at the end of the year if they haven’t kept their resolutions.

It’s perfect. Except…

I found the characters to be well developed, and multi-dimensional. There were multiple sub-plots of family dynamics Georgie’s as well as Poppy’s new family situation that had you interested in the outcome. I must admit I choked up a bit and was totally invested in Georgie’s and Poppy’s situation and wanting things to work out.

It had me thinking about all the white lies we tell to ourselves and others. Sometimes you can get so caught up in trying not to hurt someone’s feelings that in the end it can be worse than if you told them to begin with.

Also I could relate to Georgie and her feelings of always being second best , not a nice feeling especially when it’s your parents treating you this way.

I’m hoping there could be a follow up book so we could catch up on the characters.
I will definitely read other books by this author.

I requested and received an advance reader copy of this book from Boldwood Books and Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I received an E-ARC with a request for my honest review.

This heart-warming romantic comedy follows a group of friends who on New Years Eve make a promise. They will keep all their New Year’s resolutions or reveal a secret they must write down to the whole group in a years’ time.

Georgie – She was very drunk on New Year’s Eve and can’t quite remember the resolutions she agreed to keep, however that isn’t the least of her worries as she knows the secret, she wrote could rip their friendship group apart. She must track down her secret before it can be read aloud, as she knows she may struggle with her resolutions.

Poppy – A new mother, she is struggling with her new life, and has suspicions about her husband. She must decide whether to risk her marriage or discover the truth to end her misery.

What is Georgie’s secret? What will trying to get it back lead to?

This romantic comedy is a heart-warming read, although sometimes it can be heart-breaking too. You get to hear from both Georgie and
Poppy as they both go through their own dilemma’s, which provided even more background and curiosity as to what the secrets they kept could lead to.

There is a romantic storyline entwined with the secrets which leads to more comedy and awkward situations at times and more heart-warming moments.

It is lovely to see the friendship shown throughout even through the harder times in their lives, how they support each other is amazing.

Overall, a heart-warming romantic comedy where one New Year’s Eve turns into a mission not to reveal some life changing secrets.

This is an easy light hearted read with an interesting plot and plenty of characters. Georgie and her friends decide on New Year’s Eve to write their resolutions down along with one big secret they wouldn’t want the others to know. The big secret will be revealed at the next NYE if the resolutions are not kept, We then get a insight into the next 12 months for all the characters figuring out how to keep their resolutions, maintain their friendships, all while worrying about their secrets being exposed. Thanks to Netgalley and Boldwood Books for an ARC of this story in exchange for an honest review.

Sounds like an accident waiting to happen. While tipsy a group of friends write down one truth and also a nye resolution list. If the resolutions aren’t kept the secret will be revealed. This story revolved more around Poppy and Georgie than any of the other friends. They both have big secrets that they don’t care to share but how else do you find out the truth? I didn’t like any character that much. I hate to say it but this was a miss for me. Thank you to NetGalley for this free advanced copy in exchange for my honest review

An easy read, characters are
All good. However I did feel it was
Quite teenage /young adult. Which brought
It down a bit.

A group of friends meeting up on new year's eve. A lot of alcohol and new years resolutions are made but with a twist, if you don't keep your resolution you have to reveal the secret you sealed in the envelope.
Secrets are painful when they involve others.
The year is explosive as at least two secrets are revealed before the New year.
They split the friendship group. Can they find their way back to friend's or at least civility for the new year?
You will feel the pain, confusion and unhappiness of the group as the story unfolds. Stick with it, it's worth it

The more I read of this the more I enjoyed it. Georgie, Poppy, Beth and Ankita are a group of friends who one New Year’s Eve write down their resolutions and one big secret. These are then sealed and then next New Year they will have to tell their secret if they haven’t succeeded in fulfilling their resolutions. The problem is that Georgie’s secret is HUGE and could cause enormous damage to others. When she sobers up and thinks about it she realises that she needs to get the sealed envelope with her secret in before it can be revealed. This was easy to read and follow with the main focus being on Georgie and Poppy. The dynamics of the all the characters and how their friendships and relationships are explored is well thought out. It wasn’t as easy as I initially thought as to how it was going to develop as a story. Thanks to Netgalley and Boldwood Books for the ARC

This is an enjoyable light read with a good plot and interesting characters. Georgie is part of a close friendship group. On New Year’s Eve they decide to write their resolutions down and also , sealed in an envelope, one big secret. The idea is that if they don’t keep their resolutions, the big secret will be revealed next new year. Georgie has had too much to drink, and writes down a secret that can destroy her ties with her friends. She goes to great lengths to get it back from her friend Raf, who has it for safe keeping. There is a lot of fallout from this and also, what is happening between Georgie and Raf. An enjoyable read. Thanks to Netgalley and Boldwood Books for an ARC of this novel.

This book can be read in one sitting! It's an easy read and the chapters are broken up into the different characters....the text seems to be for a teenage/young adult audience rather than older readers and that's why I only gave it three stars.

***TRIGGER WARNING: lots of mentions of vomit and vomiting***

First of all, I did think the synopsis sounded interesting. 30-something friends getting drunk at a pub and creating New Year's resolutions before revealing them in a year. My curiosity got the better of me and I decided to give the book a go.

Second of all, I did like the pub atmosphere, and that was well written.

On to the rest....

The characters were not well fleshed out. I immediately thought Georgie was immature and didn't like her chapters.

I am a person who has a neurological disability in which vomiting is a symptom something is seriously wrong, and I didn't like that in this book there was too much trivial talk of, and joking aound, vomit and vomiting (although it was related to a different cause). It was not appropriate and put me off the book even more. It could, and should have, been left out.

I wanted to like Raf, and did, but I felt I wanted to know him more but never did. Some things he did were romantic. Their romance was overall not romantic, or visual, enough for me. I liked his mother and the questions she asked. They were realistic. I'd have liked to have seen more of her.

Poppy was a favourite character of mine. I really liked Ankita (and her clothing style) and Beth, and don't understand why they didn't have theit own chapters too. They were in the pub scenes, yet only mentioned or appeared incredibly randomly. If you have a group of friends, you give each character their chapters in the book, This may as well just have been about Poppy, Georgie and Raf.

The pacing lagged immensely, and the writing style did not grip me. The book was too dialogue-laden and the dialogue washed over me and did not hold my interest except when about the pub scenes, Poppy, Ankita or Beth

I wanted more about the mothering side of life in Georgie's and Poppy's chapters. Poppy and Declan's scenes were interesting.

There was the fact that Poppy and Declan were GPs/family doctors. Some aspects of their jobs were hinted at, but I wanted to learn more.

Overall, Can You Keep a Secret? wasn't for me. I thought it would be a DNF, but I was wanting to find out what became of the New Year's Resolutions in the end. I think though that the "secrets" part of the plot was a little too far fetched, especially given the age (thirties) of the characters. I would have expected that more of teenagers.

Thanks to Jo Lovett, Boldwood Books and Rachel's Random Resources for my eARC in exchange for an honest and voluntary review.

2 stars.

I found this to be a quick read focused on friendships and relationships and how easily things can get tangled when secrets are kept. The characters are well developed, but frustrating at times as they have to keep secrets from one another to complete the resolutions they have set. It was interesting to watch how they worked through these dynamics and grew through the difficulties.

Can You Keep A Secret? is a delightful contemporary novel that explores the complexities of friendship, secrets, and the challenges of keeping resolutions.

Georgie and her friends embark on a seemingly innocent pact: to seal their resolutions in envelopes and exchange them, promising to reveal the contents only if they fail to keep their promises. However, when Georgie realizes that her secret could potentially unravel the very fabric of their friendship, she finds herself in a panic to retrieve her envelope before it's too late. The budding romance between Georgie and newcomer Raf adds an extra layer of intrigue to the plot, as Georgie finds herself torn between revealing her secret and protecting her heart.

The focuses on themes of friendship and self-discovery and also touches upon deeper issues such as honesty, forgiveness, and the importance of communication.

Poppy, Georgie, Anita, and Beth….four adult friends who’ve been close for years….the idea of keeping resolutions to avoid telling a secret seemed great when they were drinking, but anything but when sober. The secrets , and trying to keep them that way, create a .lot of havoc for the friends and their loved ones. But maybe some secrets aren’t meant to be kept?
This was a very enjoyable story with a unique plot upon which to base a story of friendship, second chances, and new beginnings.

I loved that the story was told from Georgie's and Poppy's perspectives. It definitely helped to move to the story along. But I didn't love that we never really hear much about Dominic. He's Beth's fiance so you would expect to hear a little more about him.

Overall, this was a sweet and easy read about about a group of friends trying to keep their resolutions. I just wish there was more focus on the romance as it didn't give me any of the feels.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book.

Thank you NetGalley & Boldwood Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. This review is also posted on Goodreads.

Four best friends make New Year's resolutions together and promise to hold each other accountable. Their punishment if they don't follow through with them? A secret of their choosing that they've marked safely in an envelope will be revealed to the group in a year's time. The idea is cute, and the best friend group is fun and semi-relatable. But overall, this read fell a little flat for me.

It seemed odd to me that while there are four main best friend characters, we only get chapters from two of their POVs. I would've rather had all four or just one narrator. It felt very much like the Georgie and Poppy show - which I did enjoy. But it felt disjointed when Beth and Ankita would join in randomly in the story. As well as the men characters. This was a big distraction for me while reading & it kept me a bit distanced from the story.

Overall, this is a cute and quick read focused around friendships & how important they are, especially as you get older and life changes.

I enjoyed this light-hearted, emotional read. We start with a group of friends making New Year Resolutions and follow them throughout the year to see if they keep to them. There is an added twist that they write down and seal a secret to be revealed next New Year's Eve if they have not kept their resolutions. As the book goes on it becomes clear that the characters need to get to the bottom of their secret in order to move on in their lives.
Georgie is our main character and the one whose secret Lovett teases the most. I would say about half the book passes before the secret is revealed and whilst at first this worked and help create intrigue, eventually I just wanted the secret revealed. Having said this, when the secret is revealed it is worth the wait and leads to a complete change in plot direction and pace. As I have touched on, the other characters have secrets too and it was fun and interesting trying to work out all of the individual secrets.
This book focuses around a group of friends and Lovett does a great job at showing their close bond, I really got a sense that they were great friends and had shared a lot of their lives with each other.
'Can You Keep A Secret' is funny and at times emotional and overall a great read.
Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for an advance copy.

This was an interesting read. The characters had me hooked. Starting with the new year secrets and then the resolutions was an interesting concept and I was invested to see what was going to happen. The twists to the plot that Georgie brings were a total surprise to me and I think I was just as stunned as Poppy.

I really enjoyed watching Georgia and Raf spending time together working on their resolutions and developing their friendship. I was genuinely rooting for them.

I enjoyed reading this from start to finish and I would love to see a follow up to catch up with them.

I absolutely loved ‘Another time, another place’ but this didn’t live up to the high expectations I had. ATAP was such a wonderful book that I’m not sure anything would have beat it. I will still read the next books from Jo and hope to find another I love

In an effort to make each other stick to their New Year’s resolution, a group of friends write down their secrets that will be revealed in a year’s time if the resolutions are not fulfilled.
Told in dual POV, the story follows friends Georgie and Poppy as each grapples with secrets of their own. There is a bit of mystery regarding the secrets (which I have to admit was predictable from the start) but it did drive the plot forward. Even though the storyline is set up perfectly to explore different types of love (friendship, romantic love at its begging and romantic love in a marriage crisis) there was never any depth to it.
Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC.

I’ve read previous books by Jo so was excited to be given the opportunity to read and review her new one.

Georgie is a single mother to Max. Her friends are more reliable than her family and on New Year’s Eve they get together and talk turns to resolutions. A bet is made and everyone writes down their biggest secret to be revealed on NYE in a year’s time, if they fail to keep their promises. The next day, Georgie wakes up and realises with horror that there’s a good chance of her deepest, darkest secret being revealed to her best friends - Poppy, Beth and Ankita.

Because the resolutions have been posted out to other members of the group for safe keeping, Georgie realises she needs to keep her secret at all cost. So if that means spending time with handsome widower Raf, then so be it……but is everything as simple as it seems?

I really enjoyed this book and getting to know this group. I was rooting for Georgie throughout, even though a couple of her decisions made me cringe!

A great read. Thank you NetGalkey.