My Secret Lies With You by Faye Bird

“Three close friends…Two unforgettable summers… One girl’s deepest secret…

Alys appeared last summer, and then she vanished without a trace. Ifan fell in love with her. Hannah hated her. And Marko regrets what they did. This summer Cait is new in town, and a girl has been reported missing. Cait needs to uncover the truth. What happened last summer? And who is Alys?”

It’s a typical young adult mystery as so many are these days, but the mystery isn’t that deep. A young girl appears and changes the lives of three people forever. Cait is drawn into that intrigue the summer after and while the ending is sad, and yes, I cried, I wanted Alys to be happy and find a way to make things work because so much can go wrong with the life she’s chosen. And even though the end was somewhat resolved, there were other things that needed resolving and I don’t like it when books, like TV shows, end without the satisfaction of being neatly wrapped up in a bow.

I give it 7/10.

The Secret Orphan by Glynis Peters.

“Keep her secret. Keep her safe.

On the 14th November 1940, Hitler’s bombs rain down on Coventry. From the rubble of a bombed-out family home, a young girl is saved…

As the Nazis’ relentless bombs fall during the Blitz of Coventry, six-year-old Rose Sherbourne finds herself orphaned and under the guardianship of a Cornish farmer’s daughter, Elenor Cardew. Elenor knows that the only way to protect spirited Rose is to leave the city and make a new life for themselves away from harm. But soon Elenor discovers that Hitler’s firestorm is not the only thing she must fear when she learns a devastating secret about Rose…

With Rose’s life in imminent danger, Elenor turns to the only person she can trust to keep the deadly secret, heroic Canadian pilot, Jackson St John. And amidst the destruction of war, an unlikely romance blossoms as they find a way to protect the child they have both grown to love…and each other.”

Be prepared to go through a box of tissues.

I cried from the first few pages until the end, and I think that’s mainly because it’s a story involving a poor little girl losing her parents, orphans in particular get me, but it’s also about the war and how many lost their lives senselessly and how much needed to be rebuilt. And while this one ended in happier times, it ended without wrapping things up.

Without giving too much away, by the end of the book you learn nothing about what happens to the rest of the ensemble, even though you’ve read about them for most of the book. It’s all well and good for the story to end well for the orphan, but I would’ve liked to’ve known what happened to everyone else. Would’ve liked Titch to get her comeuppance, and wanted to know how Elenor and Jack went after moving to Canada and whether they had any more children. It needed to be filled out with details and finished off properly as each person’s story is left open-ended and you have to fill in the blanks and guess what happens.

The story itself has minor issues, and you need to have a good grasp of who’s who and what’s going on. One thing this book did was made me never want to read another orphan book again. Too damn sad.

I give it 7/10.

I finally managed to read the second Karen M. McManus book, Two Can Keep A Secret. Her sophomore book and follow up to One of Us is Lying, it’s just as exciting as the first.

Just as with the first, this book makes me want to buy it, it was enthralling and kept my attention all the way through, and you should be able to guess the twist at the end.

“Echo Ridge is small-town America. Ellery’s never been there, but she’s heard all about it. Her aunt went missing there at age seventeen. And only five years ago, a homecoming queen put the town on the map when she was killed. Now Ellery has to move there to live with a grandmother she barely knows. The town is picture-perfect, but it’s hiding secrets. And before school even begins for Ellery, someone has declared open season on homecoming, promising to make it as dangerous as it was five years ago. Then, almost as if to prove it, another girl goes missing. Ellery knows all about secrets. Her mother has them; her grandmother does too. And the longer she’s in Echo Ridge, the clearer it becomes that everyone there is hiding something. The thing is, secrets are dangerous–and most people aren’t good at keeping them. Which is why in Echo Ridge, it’s safest to keep your secrets to yourself. “

It gave me a Veronica Mars vibe, especially the first season when her best friend died and she was trying to find out the big secret. Which she did. That secret is this secret and well done for a young adult book. I definitely recommend both books by Karen.

I highly recommend this one too. 9/10

And, to add to the hysteria, a sequel to her first book, One Of Us Is Lying, is coming in Jan 2020.

The highly anticipated sequel to the New York Times bestselling thriller everyone is talking about, One of Us Is Lying! There’s a new mystery to solve at Bayview High, and there’s a whole new set of rules. Come on, Bayview, you know you’ve missed this.

“A ton of copycat gossip apps have popped up since Simon died, but in the year since the Bayview four were cleared of his shocking death, no one’s been able to fill the gossip void quite like he could. The problem is no one has the facts. Until now. This time it’s not an app, though–it’s a game. Truth or Dare. Phoebe’s the first target. If you choose not to play, it’s a truth. And hers is dark. Then comes Maeve and she should know better–always choose the dare. But by the time Knox is about to be tagged, things have gotten dangerous. The dares have become deadly, and if Maeve learned anything from Bronwyn last year, it’s that they can’t count on the police for help. Or protection. Simon’s gone, but someone’s determined to keep his legacy at Bayview High alive. And this time, there’s a whole new set of rules.”

Cannot wait.

I’ve also read The Half Sister by Catherine Chanter.

“When she was sixteen, Diana left her unhappy family and set out to make a new life. Twenty-five years later, she has arrived. Recently married to Edmund, she lives with him at his family’s historic country home.

But when Diana hears that her mother has died, she impulsively asks estranged half-sister Valerie and her nine-year-old son to stay. The night of the funeral, fueled by wine and years of resentment, the sisters argue and a terrible accident occurs. The foundations of a well-ordered life start to crack and the lies begin to surface, one dangerous secret after another. And then there’s the boy, watching, waiting.

The Half Sister is a profound and haunting portrayal of those who are imprisoned by their past and by the struggle to find the words which will release them.”

I read the large print version, because that’s the one I found at the library, and it was disjointed. The way it was written, a character would be having a thought and then hearing what another character was saying without anything actually being said. “Blah, blah, blah, I thought, and heard so and so say blah, blah and blah.” Confusing at times, I couldn’t keep up with who was actually thinking or talking and at the end; I just wanted to smack multiple characters.

There was also an error not picked up by the pub house before printing but it’s not a major issue.

I got through it, found the ending unfinished, and wished the story had’ve been filled out to bring the story to a close.

I don’t recommend it, but if you like the premise, go ahead. 5/10