The Secrets We Keep

The Secrets We Keep was a great book but I felt the characters were quite annoying so I therefore I gave this book 4 stars.

Synopsis: Two woman who know nothing of each other embark on a summer alone with their children to escape the reality of their lives. Tessa has recently lost her mother and and her marriage is suffering so she has decided to take her children Katherine and Ben to the lake for the summer to rethink and regroup. Rebecca is battling some pretty harsh demons and has decided to also escape her lavish New York life with her three children Charlotte, Zoe, and Max for the summer. When the women's paths cross they become instant friends, or so it seems.

Trigger Warning: Discussions of self harm and molestation

I found the character of Tessa to be the classic overbearing mom who needed a wealthy best friend to bring her out of her shell and “find herself”, for most of the book she was really just a follower and extremely predictable. I was not a fan of her character and how weak she came off.

Rebecca is exactly what we are sold when we see rich wealthy woman fighting inner demons but still wanting to keep up appearances. I feel Rebecca was at least a strong character who was able to, despite her social status, be introspective and make changes in her life.

The story pace is really well done and the ending really was surprising and not at all what I expected. It was a full circle type of story line and I did shed a tear. There are some heavy discussions about self harm and molestation but it was not graphic and did not make me uncomfortable. By the end of the book I was rooting for these women to finally grasp their realities and make amends where needed. The descriptions of the locations were not to detailed but if you've ever seen a Lifetime movie set on the East Coast you know what setting they are in. I'm glad I read this book and stand by my 4 stars.