‘I couldn’t look anywhere without seeing his silhouette; his ghost crawled from the sewer drains. But in a town covered in residue, how could there have been such a lack? Outrage. Sound. Where were the sirens? The panic? Benjamin Whitaker was dead! Dad was dead!

‘There should have been chaos in the streets. The town should have been engulfed in flames.’

When Sydney’s dad dies in a car accident, she knows someone must be to blame. There’s no way her dad could have just died for no reason, especially not in a car crash. He was a therapist: one of his patients must have cut his brakes or done something equally extreme.

Sydney is tempted to go through her dad’s patient files looking for answers, but she resists for two reasons.

Because she can hear her dad in her head screeching “Patient confidentiality, Sydney!”
Because of her burgeoning friendship with homecoming queen June Copeland, who appears at her dad’s funeral. Turns out the most popular girl in school was one of her dad’s patients, and Sydney would have had no idea if her dad hadn’t kicked the bucket.
June is captivating, and Sydney quickly becomes obsessed with her. Her favourite part of the day is the ten minute ride to and from school; a chunk of time when she’s alone with June, no longer vying for her attention. She even ditches her best and oldest friend, Olivia, for the chance to hang out with June at New Year’s.

It isn’t long before Sydney feels herself developing feelings towards her that feel a lot more than friendship. But June and her boyfriend, homecoming king Heath, have been a couple forever, so there’s no way she’ll ever return Sydney’s feelings… Right?

But relationship troubles aren’t the only thing plaguing Sydney. Someone is stalking her, sending her horrible text messages that seem to confirm her suspicion that her dad’s death was less than clear cut. Sydney has no idea who could have been involved or why they’re now out to get her, but she’s determined to find out.

My only issue with The Truth About Keeping Secrets is that it’s slow. I wouldn’t necessarily market it as a YA thriller, because one of the key aspects of a successful thriller is the ability to maintain a fast, gripping pace which makes it difficult to put the book down.

It might be more accurate to describe it as a mystery, because there are lots of questions sprinkled throughout, combined with elements of gothic literature that make this novel very psychological.

However, The Truth About Keeping Secrets features one of the most accurate portrayals of grief that I’ve ever encountered. Sydney becomes obsessed with a website called Time of Death, filled with videos of people dying in various horrific ways. Grief often causes people to act inexplicably out of character, and it was nice to see that represented. It’s also not a habit she finds easy to break, either: she doesn’t automatically stop as soon as someone calls her out on it, instead choosing to get riskier, watching the videos on her phone at school.

The foreshadowing is a little bit forced, so I wasn’t as surprised by the outcome of The Truth About Keeping Secrets as I’d hoped to be, but the actual reveal is gloriously melodramatic and feels ripped straight from the script of a cheesy horror film. That might sound like a bad thing, but that’s one of my favourite kind of reveals, so I was hooked from the moment Sydney heard that car pull up outside…

If you’re a fan of adult thrillers but want something you can savour, this is the perfect combination of slow-burn drama and intriguing mystery. I was looking for a more traditional thriller for the YA crowd, but I ended up being pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book.

Splendid Young Adult novel that I will be sure to pass on to any YA I know who might need some insight or support. It is a novel however and a tightly written fast paced one at that

Exploring the themes of death, loneliness, isolation and belonging it’s well written and worth exploring

The Truth about Keeping Secrets by Savanna Brown a five-star read that will twist you up. I know this is in the teen and YA category, but it will appeal to so any more people than just that genre, so pick it up if you like a good plot with plenty of deep drama and mystery that will keep you turning pages till the very last. This is a story that will stay with you Sydney’s journey will be one that you will be sharing with those who need a little support and direction. I am sure that I will be recommending this to many people I know especially those I come into contact with and need a gentle help, I expect this will do for them what a certain book my aunt gave me at a similar age. It changed my outlook on life and showed me another path that I may not have been on now if I hadn’t read that one novel. This has that power, you can see it flow from the pages. I would so love to see this as a series as I know many more people would be able to see the story that way, and this is one of those stories that needs to be seen by many. Definitely one of the best stories I will read this year and that’s saying something as we are only a matter of weeks into the year.

A strange,unusual story told from a daughters pespective. Secrets and what can be hidden behind a seemingly perfect facade.

This books first half is a fantastic atmospheric,creepy story about grief and associated unhealthy coping mechanisms that also talks about what it's like to be the only girl who is out as a lesbian in your high school, the second half was about the main character trying to piece together a mystery. The writing is gorgeous and I loved this f/f story!

Oh my goodness, I absolutely loved this book and devoured the whole thing in one go!

It's a great thriller, which was refreshing for a YA novel, but also deals with many real-life teenage issues. Grief, sexuality, friendship, online abuse, mental health...

This is going to be a big success in 2019. Well done to Savannah Brown, and thanks to Netgalley for allowing me to read this ARC.

Sydney Whittaker’s father and the only psychiatrist in town, is well respected and an excellent counsellor. Everyone soon knows about his death, but when his daughter learns that he has been killed in a senseless motor accident, she cannot accept that he is gone. They are extremely close and he is just too young to be lost forever. She refuses to join a teen counselling group because she has not accepted that her father is dead. She thinks about him constantly and cannot make sense of the fact he swerved off the road and died. He is an excellent driver and it just couldn’t have happened that way. She tries to rationalise her dark thoughts and find coping strategies. She can’t bear that everyone knows that he has died in an accident and feels myriads of eyes are watching her and waiting for her to break down which she refuses to do. She is distraught, angry and her head is literally spinning with negative and dark thoughts. A great part of this debut novel deals with this situation and her angst.
Soon the alpha girl in their Riverdale, Ohio high school starts to chat with her. She offers to take her to school and return her home afterwards. They strike up a friendship and soon Sydney starts to use June as a coping strategy. She relies on her so as soon as she has frightening negative thoughts, she thinks of June and immediately feels a fraction better. June likes her and she likes June a lot. June is in a committed relationship and has been forever, so there is no chance of a relationship, but June is thoughtful and includes her on social occasions. When Sydney finds out that June was being counselled by her father she is intrigued. June is everything, beautiful, popular, and compassionate. Surely she didn’t have problems? Someone is not very happy with Sydney and June’s relationship it is obvious. Still harbouring thoughts that her Dad was the keeper of secrets for many citizens of their community, Sydney’s belief that he may have been murdered escalates as anonymous texts arrive on her iPhone at key intervals and this strengthens her belief. This middle part of the story when the novel gains pace, is highly emotional and thought provoking and the tension and mystery deepens.
'The Truth About Keeping Secrets' is a Young Adult novel about coming of age, secrecy, friendship and insecurity. It’s well written with some really diverse characters; not all of them good though. I liked Sydney best of all. She was filled with a hotch-potch of unfamiliar feelings and emotions, self doubting, angry, confused but also brave, strong and proactive. Some of the themes were really heavy and issues under consideration were: homophobia, bullying, grief, mental illness, abuse, anger and revenge, making it very dark. To balance it out the novel is lifted by family, friendship, love and loyalty, with poignant scenes as well. I received a complimentary copy of this novel from publisher Penguin through my membership of NetGalley. Thank you for my copy sent in return for an honest and unbiased review. I did enjoy the novel but thought that the pace was unequal and the mystery element could have been accentuated more. The ending was dynamic and punchy. I liked it a lot. I did enjoy the novel and found myself eager to find out what happened in the end. It’s a 3.5* review from me.

This is classic YA with a bit of an edgy twist. A really enjoyable book with fantastic main characters who are different, quirky and all have their own spark. Some LGBT themes but not in the stereotypical YA way of main characters doubting themselves over their sexuality, which is so refreshing. A great addition to any YA bookshelf.

I expected a thriller and instead got a slow paced slightly muddled story about a woman who is exploring her own life.. It was fine in itself but not the book I expected to read

I received an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review

This book is not a thriller, not really. It’s an LGBTQIA+ YA romance/coming of age with a dead body in the background. Which is fine, just not what I was expecting, and a waste of a dead psychiatrist

I thought this was ‘just’ going to be a murder-mystery going in, but it was about so much more: grief, mental illness, love, friendship. I couldn’t stop reading it once I started! I quite liked the writing as well.

The Truth About Keeping Secrets is a slow-paced novel and an exquisite portrayal of grief following the sudden death of Sydney’s father in a car accident.

I have mixed feelings about this book. The first half is an atmospheric exploration of grief and the unique coping mechanisms one can develop. Sydney is reeling from the sudden death of her father and her coping mechanism? Scrolling through a website which posts surveillance footage of deadly road accidents. We delve into her mind and see how she struggles. She’s sad, angry and she uses sarcasm and jokes as her way of brushing off serious conversations.

Moreover, a large portion of the book is dedicated to establishing the relationship between Sydney and June; the golden girl who Sydney is fascinated by. We watch her feelings develop for her, picking flower petals in her mind while she is stuck in the liminal space of ‘does she love me back?’. The 20 minutes she spends in the car rides to school with her are her only moments of joy. Although I empathised with June's story, I struggled to take a shine to her. I wish what we learned about her wasn’t confined to the climax, but rather explored further over the course of the novel.

What let the story down was the second half. It was weak. It is centred around the mystery behind Sydney’s ominous texts and peculiar incidents following her father’s death. However, I thought the answer was predictable from the get-go. Various red herrings emerge throughout which only made me more certain of the foreboding outcome.

The Truth About Keeping Secrets touches upon not only grief but other poignant relationship issues; manipulative friends and abusive relationships. This isn’t a story for the faint of heart. It is predictable, the mystery isn’t too compelling. Nonetheless, there is an abundance of beautiful paragraphs and turns of phrase which made this a pleasure to read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House UK Children’s for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Truth About Keeping Secrets is a beautifully plotted novel with mystery elements but mostly focusing on a portrayal of grief – one young girl and her journey through the loss of her Dad, as such it is an emotional, compelling story that will have you hooked.

I loved Sydney and engaged with her fully – her distinct sense of loss, her reaching for connections and in doing so her developing friendship with June, the golden girl, who is hiding behind a facade. But why and what does this have to do with Sydney’s loss?

Intriguing and nuanced, The Truth About Keeping Secrets is enduringly spirited and often unexpected- a page turner with real heart and soul that digs deep into human reality.

Loved it. Recommended.

This is the story of Sydney, whose father is killed in a car crash but she believes he has been murdered. As well as grief she has a lot of angst to contend with regarding her sexuality and friendships. She starts getting threatening texts after the funeral and it escalates into a bit of a thriller. It is quite well-written but there are pages and pages of descriptions of feelings that I skipped, and really not a lot happens. The fact that in America rich and influential people are above the law is the most sinister thing in this novel.

A great read with lots to keep you enthralled. A couple of different themes to this book but always the lovely who is it to discover!

Gripping from the first sentence the novel goes from a coming-of-age story to a love story to a thriller and back again, dealing with the theme of grief and having a building tension. I absolutely loved both Sydney's cynical, dry humour and the sincerity Brown handles such sensitive topics.