An enjoyable read about a young girls path through grief, a great story told well, the struggles and the outcome

This book is about a girl named Sydney. Her dad, the towns psychiatrist, dies unexpectedly in a car accident. She's confused by it, and is also confused at why the towns most popular girl, June Copeland is at his funeral. The two girls become close after the accident, but it is clear that not everyone is happy with their developing friendship. This book is a young-adult thriller mixed in with a bit of LGBT, and I did enjoy it! It is written from the perspective of Sydney, and we read all her thoughts and feelings while she is coming to terms with the loss of her father. But when she meets June and gets to know her properly, feelings develop and a lot happens from there. I at first struggled with this book due to reading about depression and what that can cause in such detail, but I managed to get through what I believed to be the darkest part and I'm glad I did. It was an interesting read and when I was able to read I found myself devouring it as I just kept wanting to know what happened next, and actually found myself reading over half the book in a matter of hours! I thought it was well written, an interesting story and the darker themes within the book were well executed. This book definitely hooked me in once I'd gotten past a certain part as it was just full of things happening, although it felt a little slow-paced to begin with. I feel as if the idea and feelings associated with grief were so well written in this book, they felt real and full of raw emotion, and I have full admiration for Savannah for writing about that in such an accurate way. The book is labelled as a mystery/thriller and I would definitely agree with that, but it is important to also make note of the depiction of the LGBT community and mental health, both of which are well done. The aspect of LGBT was so naturally included and I feel as if that it is important to mention. It's not too heavily plot-based, but very character driven as Sydney learns to deal with the death of her father and has this new connection with June. I did enjoy this book & do recommend that you give it a read if you're interested in reading about grief & mental illness, mixed in with a bit of mystery. This book comes out very soon, so keep your eyes peeled for it!

4.5 Stars.

Trigger Warning: This book features discussion and description of multiple deaths, discussion of elements of the embalming process, discussion of an abusive relationship: controlling and manipulative behaviour, stalking, abduction, attempted murder, discussion of racism, and homophobia.

I quite enjoy a YA thriller, so when I heard of The Truth About Keeping Secrets by Savannah Brown, I was really excited to read it! It wasn't quite the story I was expecting, but I really enjoyed it!

Sydney's psychiatrist father died in a car crash, and she's struggling to come to terms with it, and deal with her grief. The police investigation have written his death off as an accident, but that doesn't sit right with Sydney. She is convinced there's more to it. People don't just drive their cars into telephone poles for no reason. And, being a psychiatrist, he's going to know people's darkest secrets. Sydney knows he must have known something someone would have preferred he didn't, and killed him. When June, the post popular girl in school, turns up in the middle of her father's funeral, and is found days later at his grave, Sydney can't stop wondering why. The two form a friendship, and it's not long before Sydney falls for her. When someone starts sending Sydney threatening, homophobic text messages, Sydney is sure that whoever it is killed her Dad, but no-one will believe her.

I really, really enjoyed this story, even though it's not quite as thriller-y as I expected; for a lot of the book, it felt a lot more like a contemporary, with something strange happening one day, and something strange happening weeks later. Until the last 40%, the focus is mainly on the relationship between Sydney and June. I really liked them! As people, I couldn't help but warm to them. But neither of them are ok.

Sydney is struggling with her father's death, and as she's convinced someone killed him, she can't move on. As well as struggling under the heavy weight that is grief, she's also developed an overwhelming fear of death. She can't stop thinking about it; her dad's death, and how she might die, could die, at any moment, and sometimes wishes she was dead, just so she could stop thinking about it, stop being so scared. When online, she accidentally comes across Time of Death, a website that illegally shows camera footage of various real life deaths, be it from a mobile or CCTV. She becomes obsessed with it, spending hours watching video after video, an unhealthy coping mechanism; if she knows death, maybe she won't be so scared. The only thing that helps is June. Being with June, thinking about June. A friendship between the two forms after a conversation at her father's grave, and another when June turns up outside Sydney's dad's home office in the middle of the night. From then on, June is taking Sydney to and from school every day, and these are the only moments Sydney feels any kind of reprieve. June is beautiful and warm, and she cares, and Sydney holds on to her like a life raft. She forms an unhealthy attachment to June that eclipses everything else in her life - including her best friend, Olivia - as thinking of June and being with her are the only things that will keep her fear and grief at bay. My heart broke for her so many times, and I was always worrying about her.

June was just awesome. We find out very little about her because she doesn't really talk about herself much (we find out why later in the book), but she is genuinely kind and warm, and just such a nice girl. I really, really liked her. Which was surprising to me, as she doesn't fit that trope of popular girls being mean girls. She isn't, at all. She's just lovely. She obviously has self-esteem issues, and issues around how she sees herself, and she kind of keeps Sydney at a distance as there are some things she just won't talk about, but at the same time, she truthfully cares about Sydney, and tries to help her with her grief in various ways. Sometimes she doesn't do the right thing - she makes mistakes, she's only human - but she has her heart in the right place. I know this kind of makes her sound insipid, but I can only say so much without spoiling the story!

Although I was expecting more from the thriller aspect of the story, I actually really liked that it was a slow burn thriller. Sydney is already convinced that someone killed her dad, so when she starts getting threatening, homophobic text messages from some unknown number, she's sure this person, whoever they are, is the killer. But they will go weeks without sending anything, and things go back to Sydney's current version of normal. But it goes from text messages to more stalkery behaviour that is actually quite sinister - and even more so because of the time that elapses in between each "event"; not only do you not know what they're going to do next, you don't know the when either. Sydney kind of thinks they've got bored and left her alone, and then something worse will happen. It really picks up in the last 40% of the story, and becomes quite the nerve wrecker. And I never worked out who it was. I was pretty much suspecting everyone Sydney knew, and even though I did suspect the actual stalker at some points, I will still completely surprised!

What I found really upsetting, though, was how people responded to it. Olivia pretty much brushes the texts off. When the police are told, they brush it off as bullying. They're going to talk to the school, but that's it. This isn't bullying, I need to make that clear. This is stalking. But even if it was bullying, the attitude towards it is disgusting. Bullying is serious, and not something to just brush off and dismiss. People have died by suicide because of bullying. But once the police officer hears of the homophobic bullying Sydney experienced in the past, his whole attitude towards the crime changes, and gives off this, "this isn't that serious" vibe. This isn't a criticism of the writing or the story, because I think it's probably realistic. It's a criticism of people in power not taking bullying seriously.

If I was to give a slight criticism, it would be that the dialogue was a little too realistic. There was a lot of "ums" and "likes," "I guesses" and "I means," things like "yeah, no" - an agreement that something is a negative. And while, yes, that is realistic, it kind of slowed the dialogue down a little, and it didn't flow so well. However, otherwise, Brown writes so beautifully, I'd just become completely captivated by the words, the flow of the sentences. She paints such pictures, that Sydney's surroundings feel alive, like characters themselves - a river, snowfall, a cemetery. It's just gorgeous, and you really feel like you're there, seeing it all. And Brown is also able to put thoughts and feelings into words that I struggle with, and not only that, but so beautifully, too! I really cannot get enough of her writing! I'm pretty much persuaded to buy Graffiti, her book of poetry, because if Brown can do this in prose, her poetry is going to be magical.

I absolutely loved The Truth About Keeping Secrets. It was such a beautiful, difficult, captivating story, and the writing is to die for! A wonderful debut novel, and I'll be keeping an eye out for whatever Brown writes in future!

Thank you to Penguin via NetGalley for the eProof.

So many reviewers have loved this and perhaps it's just a matter of personal taste but, to me, The Truth About Keeping Secrets felt like two separate books. One, a meditative and lyrical consideration of grief and trauma with  friendship at its core; the other, a YA thriller along the lines of Two Can Keep A Secret. The cynical part of me says that, considering the enormous market for YA thrillers, the author was encouraged to tack on that element by an agent or publisher. Unfortunately, what it's done is take something that had a lot of strengths and make it somewhat confused. For example, instead of InstaLove this book gives us InstaFriendship when Sydney meets Leo (who, yes, I adored but they go from zero to best friends and investigative buddies in the blink of an eye), as if chunks of text about the development of their friendship had been cut. Yes, the writing is beautiful (the author's background as a poet is clear) but it didn't quite feel like a coherent whole. However, there's good diversity, good F/F representation, and some difficult themes are dealt with well.

I won't re-hash the synopsis, or even talk about specifics in the book, because, in a way, this story transcends these explanations and weaves itself in a dreamlike way around your brain and tangles with your thoughts and feelings. 

This is such a good book that delves into secrets; who keeps them? why do they keep them? what are the repercussions of keeping them? It's a book about grief and friendship, love and hate, acquisition and loss. It's a powerful coming of age story, it's a story as old as time. In short it's amazing and you need to go read it now. 

My thanks go to the publishers and Net Galley for the advanced copy in return for an honest review.

As a thriller, I don't think this book was very strong which is why it is only a 3 star rating because that is what I wanted from this book.
It's quite slow paces and not very much happens until the last quarter of the book and as there is not a huge amount of characters in the book it was relatively obvious who did it.
What I did enjoy about this book though is the diversity of the characters, and how well Savannah writes about grief. I feel like if the thriller elements didn't exist in this book it would be a fantastic contemporary book instead as I really enjoyed how complex all the characters were. I think the study of June's relationship was great too as emotionally abusive relationships are not something we see too much in YA,
Overall I thought this book was good. I actually couldn't put it down and enjoyed so many aspects of this book, I just didn't get thriller vibes from it which is where I felt let down.

An interesting read. Full of twists and turns and well-kept secrets from the reader. You won't guess the ending. Perfect spooky book for the colder weather.

Whilst dealing with grief Sydney starts questioning the circumstances surrounding her fathers recent death. It was ruled an accident but she thinks there’s more to the story.

This book began well and I went through the first quarter thinking I’d found a new book. It was very atmospheric and the portrayal of Sydney’s grief was emotional to read and very real. We also find out early on that Sydney is gay and she suffers from bullying because of that.

It had a lot of elements that I wasn’t expecting going into this and whilst I enjoyed those I couldn’t help but feel I’d been lied to. I was excited to read a mystery and honestly that part was just lost in the story.

This book could have done with not trying to be a thriller at all. I would’ve probably loved it if it had just focused on friendship and sexuality. But the mystery dragged and the revelation just felt so ‘meh’ to me and was overall quite disappointing.

I do still recommend this book, just don’t expect a thrilling mystery.

Thank you to netgalley.co.uk for providing me with a free copy of this book. 

With this book, I thought I was getting another thriller but I thought the author made it slightly different by exploring the process which would be something I would see in a women's fiction novel rather than a mystery/thriller novel. I have to admit that it took a while to really get into the novel, it didn't feel like what I normally read but that's a good thing. Once I got about halfway through the book, I was hooked and needed to know more. I really like the author's writing style and can't wait to read more of Brown's work.

This book does take a little while to get going. But the build up is worth it.
It’s a love story crossed with a little bit of thriller.
An odd yet great combination 
Great Read
🌟🌟🌟
Thank you to both NetGalley and  Penguin Random House for my eARC in exchange for my honest unbiased review

I was pretty hesitant about this book, mainly because I know that Savannah Brown is a writer mostly known for her poetry, rather than her thriller YA novels. But for a fiction novel debut, this was amazing. Not only does it have inclusive characters (the main character is a lesbian, and the main relationship is f/f), but the plotline was genuinely exciting and creative and never fell into that bracket of feeling just a little too cliche.

I absolutely adored every page of this book! The story is heart-wrenching, the writing is beautifully detailed and that TWIST. Wow. I was intending to take my time with this one but I just couldn't put it down and ended up finishing it in just over a day.  Sydney's voice captured my focus from the first line - the perfect balance of vulnerable and snark; and the intricate weaving together of grief, friendship, family, love and trust was absolutely stunning. 

I was expecting to like this book but ended up loving it - I've already recommended it to three different friends and will definitely be re-reading soon. There were so many important little moments that intrigued me, and so many misdirections that I truly had no idea what was going on until the final few pages and I loved it!

LOVE LOVE LOVED THIS BOOK! 

And as a character-driven story, The Truth About Keeping Secrets is really good, since it succeeds where many other supposedly character-driven books fail: the main character's voice was perfect. Sydney is a teenage girl who is grieving, who is dealing with her father's death in an unhealthy way, and she's sad and angry and using sarcasm as a coping mechanism, and she felt real in a way very few characters do.

‘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.

Sad, honest and brilliant. So much more than a YA thriller, this book tells a story from a very emotional perspective.

If you read the synopsis, you'd assume it's a YA mystery. But it's not really. It's more about what grief feels like than why the narrator is grieving.

It's a sticky book that will glue it's addictive tiny details to your mind and walk with you to your next grocery trip, or sit along with you in your next class. Or sing along with you the last lullaby to your son at night, lingering in the air long after the last syllable. All the while making you think and wonder about all the what-ifs...THAT's how real it feels. THAT's how good the writing is.

Well done, Savannah Brown. Something new and beautiful where only miserable and typically high school used to lay. A fabulously promising new author to follow.

Thank you Penguin Random House for the chance to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

The story focuses on Sydney, a young girl who lost her father and goes through grief while also having to deal with bullying, sexuality, friendships and just teenage girls problems in general. It's hard to put this book in a certain category because it covers so much, it's a romance, a thriller and a lgbt+ book all at the same time.

Even though it's quite slow and it can go into a long description of each feeling Sydney goes through, it doesn't become boring, it actually helps making the book more relatable even if the reader has never experienced anything similar. It becomes easy to feel empathy for the characters and understand the reasons of their acts.

It's simply one of those books you can't stop reading once you start that explains real problems that real people go through in a realistic way without romanticizing them like most contemporary media does. I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to get excited about reading in the way just certain books get us.

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!