I absolutely loved Secrets of Rose Briar Hall. Millie was a strong character and I liked how she never gave up on herself. The plot of the story was well written and kept in interested in the story from beginning to end. I didn’t exactly see it ending the way it did but I liked the ending.

Sofia Willingham did an amazing job with the narration. She really brought Millie to life.

As soon as I can afford it, I will buy a physical copy of Secrets of Rose Briar Hall.

A historical romance set during the gilded age with mystery , suspense and twists.
During a dinner party a guest dies and the mystery begins.
Narration was okay.
Voluntarily reviewed.

Secrets of Rose Briar Hall was the second book I had the pleasure of reading by author, Kelsey James. It was well written and had me totally immersed right from the beginning. Over the years, I have read several books that were set in the guilded age. This time period, although fascinating, continues to remind me how dominant men’s roles were back then. Women were rarely, if ever, taken seriously or given the respect they deserved in regards to their intellect, rights or status. Secrets of Rose Briar Hall was set on Long Island, New York in 1908. It could best be described as a historical mystery thriller. The characters were well developed and believable. Secrets of Rose Briar Hall was a bit creepy, atmospheric and addictive. There were many twists and turns throughout the story that kept me wanting to read more. I listened to the audiobook that was narrated by Sofia Willingham. Her intonation was a little annoying at first but after I got used to it I enjoyed her performance.

Secrets of Rose Briar Hall was based loosely on the movie Gaslight. The term gaslighting suggests that a loved one tried to convince a significant other that they were not of a sound mind and could no longer trust their own thoughts and recollections. This method was used to have that person committed to a mental institution and gain access to their wealth and possessions.

Millie had led a charmed life. She was from a wealthy family and doted upon by a loving mother and father who had an apartment on Park Avenue in Manhattan. When Millie met Charles, a successful New York stockbroker, she felt like the luckiest girl in the world. Millie and Charles had a whirlwind and very romantic courtship. Charles was not the person her parents would have picked out for Millie but they saw how much Millie loved him and gave her their blessing to marry him.

After marrying Charles, Millie and Charles moved into Rose Briar Hall, a home on Long Island that Millie’s father had gifted to her. Millie busied herself with the responsibilities of decorating Rose Briar Hall. She made sure that she added things that she knew Charles would like. When the decorating was completed, Millie wanted to prove to all of her and Charle’s friends that she was the perfect wife for Charles. She still considered herself so lucky to be the one he chose to be his wife. What better way to accomplish this than by throwing a lavish dinner party and inviting all the “right” guests. Everyone would see how much Charles loved her and what a perfect wife she was for him.

The night of the dinner party finally arrived. Every detail had been seen to. Millie was excited to welcome their guests into her and Charles’ newly decorated home. Unfortunately, something went terribly wrong that night. Gertrude, one of the guests that had been invited, had died after drinking some tea that had been poisoned.

Three weeks later, Millie finally woke. She had no recollection or memory of the fateful night. Charles was at Millie’s side as she woke. He tried to jostle her memory by reminding Millie that she had been the one to pour Gertrude’s tea just before she died. There was no way that Millie would attempt an act such as the one Charles described to her. Millie also had trouble comprehending why she had been sleeping for three weeks. Charles tried to remind her how hysterical and anxious she had been since the party. The doctor that had been called for had given Millie something to calm her nerves. She was told that it was not unusual for someone to have memory lapses after suffering such a traumatic experience as what occurred at the dinner party that night. Eventually, Millie learned that she was being given a steady dose of Chloral to keep her sedated and to ensure that her memories from that fateful night stayed buried deep in her subconscious. Millie still believed Charles loved her and was doing everything he could to help her recover. Those feelings changed, though, as Millie began to get her memory back. She soon discovered that Charles had made sure that all her friends believed that Millie had purposely poisoned Gertrude. Charles had made Millie a prisoner in her own home. He wanted to put her in an asylum so she would get better but Millie didn’t believe him. Millie needed not only to escape from the prison Charles had created for her but find someone who believed her side of the story. Who was Millie to trust? If only she could get to her parent’s apartment, surely her father would believe her and know how to help her. However, Millie found an ally in the least likely person, a childhood friend named David, who was now a journalist. Would Millie be able to avoid the plans Charles had been making for her?

I admired Millie’s character a great deal. She was smart, resourceful, resilient and determined. Millie fought an uphill battle in a man’s dominated world. With David’s help and urging, Millie confronted Charles. It was sad that Millie’s parents believed more in appearances than believing and supporting their daughter unconditionally. I enjoyed the romance that David and Millie shared and how it grew into love. The ending of Secrets of Rose Briar Hall was satisfying and believable. I really enjoyed the atmosphere of this time period that was conveyed through the details and descriptions in the book. Secrets of Rose Briar Hall was enjoyable and I recommend it highly.

Thank you to High Bridge Audio for allowing me to listen to Secrets of Rose Briar Hall by Kelsey James through Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

I absolutely loved this story. I was absorbed from the very beginning. The gilded age setting and mystery was perfect. I listened to the audiobook version and loved the narrator. I could not stop listening and ended up staying up all night.

Anxiety inducing in the best way possible!

Look - did I want to throw the book across the room a million times? 100 yes. Did I have to stop the audiobook to rant about certain characters? Also yes. Did I have a good time? Unknown - my heart was jumping out of my chest. But, did I love it? Yes - yes I did.

Please read this so I can talk about it with someone because I disliked almost every single man between these pages! 😹

Thank you so much HighBridge Audio for the ALC!

Is Millie Turner losing her mind or is her husband trying to kill her? This Gilded Age mystery has suspense, glamour, romance, and spice.

I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was not my favorite. Very breathy and kinda robotic at times. The story itself was engaging. It really showed that beyond the beauty of those grand old houses in the Gilded Age, life was not that great and women were treated like absolute shit. The good old days were indeed not so good. I was rooting for Millie all the way!

Oh wow this was one was a real whirlwind!

Firstly the narrator did a magnificent job of bringing the beautiful writing to life.

Millie Turner is the wife of powerhouse stockbroker Charles and they have a dinner party at their beautiful home, Rose Briar Hall. Something terrible happens during that dinner and when Millie wakes up days later she cannot remember what happened but everyone else knows and they are not telling.

It does a fantastic job of showing just how little women have back then, even Millie who is rich in her own right, cannot do as she likes and her husband has full rights over her in every single way.

She fines that she can't trust what is happening and even her parents don't want to get involved in her marital affairs.

It was so good! Highly recommend this book!

4 stars

Even though this book was filled with cliches I still found it an enjoyable read. I like that the heroine once she was aware of her plight thought for herself and pushed for her own independence.

I have a thing for books involving grand manors/houses. I love hearing about the beautiful rooms and intricate details. I will say this book doesn't have as much focus on Rose Briar Hall as I was hoping.

The narrator's voice was a little breathy and cheesy for me. I would've given up on the book if I wasn't planning to review the book. It made everything feel dramatic and like a cheesy romance novel. So if you read the ebook/physical, you might enjoy it more. I know that sometimes when I don't love the narrator's voice it can put me off the whole novel.

I was intrigued once the story got going and that helped me focus less on the voice.

If you like historical fiction and romance novels, I think you'll like this. It's not exactly a revolutionary story but it gets the job done. Thank you to NetGalley, Kelsey James, Sofia Willingham, and HighBridge Audio for the opportunity to read. I have written this review voluntarily.

This historical fiction is reminiscent of the movie, Gaslight, crossed with the HBO series The Guilded Age but includes a murder mystery as well as romance. Millie Turner comes from a newly wealthy family and married, she believes, a man a class above her, who loves and adores her. They have an opulent lifestyle, but that all goes downhill after they host a dinner party and she wakes up feeling awful and remembering nothing. She begins to suspect those she trusts and loves are out to do her harm. Along the way, the story touches upon how women were treated during that period, as property belonging to either their father or their husband, as patients who could be "locked away" at an asylum if the men in their lives thought they. caused too much "trouble" and as diminished in the eyes of society, thinking that women couldn't be intelligent or have hopes and dreams of their own. I loved the descriptions of the beautiful, extravagant households, luxuries and festivities.
I enjoy nearly all of the audiobook narrators I have listened to, but this one was very difficult to concentrate on due the distracting whispery, soft voice she used for the main character/narration, which was the majority of the book. The inflection she used for the main character was also unnatural sounding, with almost an AI quality. The other characters were voice well, with natural inflection and intonation, and had that been true for the main character, it would have been much more enjoyable listen.

Secrets of Rose Briar Hall is compared to GASLIGHT staring Ingrid Bergman and the comparison is of course, spot on.
Our FMC is Millie, newly married to a rich man, everything should be perfect in this atmospheric, gothic book set in the early 1900s.
The time frame is important, and almost a character in the book. During this time women are treated like dolls, often dismissed as hysterical or weak minded. This is the setting for Millie, who awakes after a party with no memory of what occurred, but knows her friends have shunned her and she is being treated like an idiot by the staff and her husband.
This treatment creates confusion for Millie and the reader, what has happened to her ideal life? Why is everyone being secretive and why is she finding notes written in her own handwriting warning: "don't drink the tea"

This has many twists and turns and is really enjoyable to listen to. Thank you to NetGalley and Highbridge Audio for the chance to listen and review.

The title of this book should have been Gaslighting of Rose Briar Hall. Poor main character Millie is preparing for a grand party and the next thing she knows, she has awoken from a three week nap with no memory of the party or the time afterwards. She soon finds out that a guest of the party was poisoned and since it was well known that Millie didn't care for the victim and is the one who served her the poisoned tea, she's the prime murder suspect. Now Millie has to prove to everyone that she's innocent; including her husband, parents, friends, house staff, and even herself since she has lost her memory.

I liked the gothic vibes of the story but the mystery fell short for me. There were a couple of suspenseful moments but nothing that was overly exciting. I also feel like the romance subplot didn't add anything to the story. Millie herself wasn't very likable. Several times she admitted to thinking herself above others, sometimes to their face. All in all, this kept my attention and was a quick listen but I guess I was hoping for a stronger mystery.

Thank you to NetGalley and HighBridge Audio for providing me an ALC in exchange for my honest thoughts.

I really enjoyed this book. It start out with an exciting party and then you come back to quite the turn. I loved hearing about it from her point of view. She was a great heroine to root for. I enjoyed how the book ended and felt like everything wrapped up so well. It did give a great peek into how women were treated so differently than men during that time. I look forward to reading more from this author.

TW for gas lighting and abuse, attempted murder of someone in the home.

I enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it to folks who like revenge, happy ending, and historical mystery novels. I really enjoyed the setting and the detail that went into all of this book. While I didn't always understand the decisions the main character was making, they didn't feel grossly out of the established character at any point. Everyone was well written and the story was compelling. One of the better arcs I read in June for sure.

It's a historical fiction mystery thriller. I requested the audiobook totally by chance on Netgalley and found it really interesting. But as the story progressed it got thrilling and it kept me at the edge o my seat. the audiobook was really really good.it's 5 star read for me.

Kelsey James brings to us a stomach twisting masterpiece. Secrets of Rose Briar Hall presents many themes such as betrayal, appearance versus reality, murder, power as well as balance, and a never ending list more. In this entrancing story set in the early 1900s a young woman wakes weeks after a party she has no recollection of. No one explains anything… under her husbands doctors orders. Her maid handles her aggressively and her husband has become cold and distant. Not to mention the entrapment she faces being locked up in her manner as if she wasn’t the mistress. It’s up to this young woman Millie Turner to figure out the truth of the happenings herself. Throughout this traumatizing journey Millie discovers true love, the sting of betrayal, and so many more things but most importantly the importance of trusting ones instincts. The writing is exquisite, James surely knows how to capture a readers attention. However I do not like the voice chosen to narrate this novel,

"Secrets of Rose Briar Hall" by Kelsey James is a mesmerising gothic tale set in the opulent yet eerie world of early 20th century New York. This Gilded Age homage to "Gaslight" captures the essence of suspense and psychological intrigue, weaving a chilling and captivating story.
The protagonist, Millie Turner, is a young and beautiful newlywed whose life takes a dark turn after a grand party at her lavish mansion, Rose Briar Hall. The novel begins with Millie waking up to a disturbing reality: she has lost weeks of her memory, her friends have turned their backs on her, and her once magnificent home now feels like a prison. Kelsey James skillfully portrays Millie's descent into confusion and fear as she struggles to piece together what happened that fateful night.
James's writing is rich and evocative, bringing to life the grandeur and underlying menace of Rose Briar Hall. The characters are intricately developed, with Millie's charismatic and controlling husband, Charles, adding a layer of tension and mystery. The plot is meticulously crafted, filled with unexpected twists and a palpable sense of dread that keeps readers hooked until the very end.

I really wanted to like this one, but it was so boring 😩. The character of Millie was vapid and boring and the story didn’t take me by surprise at all. I also listened to this book and the narrator was very robotic and there was no emotion to the story telling. I did try at one point to switch to the ebook to see if that helped, but the writing was still a bit disjointed, like a statement of things that happened vs an immersive story. Others have reviewed it highly so don’t take my word for it, go ahead and give it a shot for yourself.

Thank you to RB Media & NetGalley for the audio arc of this novel.

I didn't enjoy this, the plot really held no surprises for me, the twists were ones you see often in this type of genre. The heroine was unlikeable and didn't really seem to see people below her class as human. I don't understand other than her being pretty (and rich) why she was so desirable. This book did not resonate with me, and court room dramas are hardly ever a huge payoff. You knew from the moment her lawyer said "a judge can over tern the jury's verdict" that that was going to happen. I don't want to get into the fine details of plot I didn't quite like, but I think it really comes down to having an unlikable lead that I couldn't find relatable.

I mostly listened to the audiobook version, and I wasn't a fan of the breathy speech. The inflections of the sentences also led an odd cadence to them. I had to have my husband listen to see if he could hear the same things, and his response was "Why is she talking like that?" Maybe if other choices had been made, I would have been less annoyed with the character.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to listen to this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

This was a rough listen. It felt very cheesy and forced. Maybe it was the narrator, but it all felt so overly dramatic. I couldn’t get into the plot and the characters just annoyed me. This was difficult to get through.