Teenagers, summer, an incident that unravels and changes their friendship.  It is hard to watch it happen, but holds your attention until the end. Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the opportunity.

Let me begin by saying this is truly a good story but it is very slow on the takeoff. When I say slow I mean very slow! Almost like nothing really starts picking up until well over halfway into the book! I actually couldn't stand any, not one single character, until that point. 

Lindsey irritated me more than any of the rest though with her shallowness. I formed a strong dislike to her at her college graduation when she kept acting so ashamed of her hard working parents being there when all the other students parents were so rich and privelged like persons. I mean really them folks gave her life and abundant love and bent over backwards so she could accomplish going to that prestigious college and all in the first place and her act like that? She was just so whiny and poor me ain't got no job for the summer and I'm gonna have to move back home with my parents and then gets offered this nanny position with an upscale family at Martha's Vineyard and it's like she's  been slapped in the face because it wasn't the type job she wanted! 

Georgie the oldest child in that family is just getting to that age of exploration of new things, and wanting to make her own money, and falling in love for the first time and so on and is embarrassed for folks to know she has a nanny but her and Lindsey do eventually form a nice relationship until something so earth shattering happens that leaves them not speaking to one another for ten years which is the point the story really kicks off and I didn't want to put the book down.

#someoneelsessecret #juliaspiro #Netgalley #arc #netgalleyreview #bookreview I'm not even sure where to start. So. Let's start with this first. This book should come with a #triggeralert this book took a left turn and honestly I didn't even see it coming. We have a newly graduated college student. Her future plan? To be a curator of art. She's offered an opportunity. But. In order to get that helping hand she must nanny for this creepy older rich man and his cold wife. As she navigates summer. Love. Friends. The children. You'll find yourself enraptured with her story. As summer ends 😱 #booksofinstagram #booknerd #booklover #books📚 #bookaholic

This was definitely a book relating to current times. It was well written with an engrossing plot.  I liked some of the characters and some I didn’t, but I won’t spoil it for you and tell you who was who. There was a lot of emotion involved in this story and I felt spent by the end. 
Many thanks to Lake Union Publishing and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

4 Stars for this tangled drama!

After college, Lindsay is desperate for a job in her field, but they are hard to come by without a recommendation, So she takes a summer job as a nanny and in exchange her rich employer to introduce her to the right people. But Lindsay never expected the summer job to impact her life as it did. She is the nanny for a 5-year old rambunctious boy while trying to befriend his 14-year old sister. The mother has a hard exterior and doesn't show any love toward her children while the father is absent a lot of the time. 

This story is about being young and falling in love. It is also about a working class girl and a rich man's world. I really felt for Georgie ... she was a rich girl with no friends and no self worth. Lindsay kinda pissed me off because all she wanted was materialistic things and to belong in the world of the rich. I found the story very good although it did drag when they were in the year 2009 and then I found that the ending was rushed in the year 2019. But it is definitely a good debut novel.. 

I received an early copy courtesy of Lake Union Publishing through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a little different than I expected. Most of the book is spent 10 years in the past sharing the summer that Lindsey nannied for a family on the Cape. The book fast forwards 10 year to the present and this Is when the book gets really exciting and shows the power of women. After reflecting on the book I really enjoyed the way it was written and I really loved the power of the characters.

Georgie and Lyndsey tell this tale of a poisonous secret kept from the time they were 14 and 22 respectively.  Lyndsey is the nanny for Georgie's family during the summer of 2008.  She's meant to be minding the young son while they're on Cape Cod but she engages (rather immaturely to be honest) not only with Georgie but also Brian.  There's a fair amount of angst and drama even before the bad thing happens.  The novel turns on a topical issue, which Spiro, a good storyteller,  has handled well. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.  A good read.

When I sat down to write the review for “Someone Else’s Secret” I couldn’t decide if I liked it or not.  It was well written so  I finished it in about 2 days, but dealt with a topic that was a difficult trigger for me.  It was a bit slow in parts and I struggled to figure out where the story line was headed.

Slow. Then Wow. This debut book is very much a slow burn. A recent college graduate circa 2009 becomes the nanny for a Martha's Vineyard family, only to realize that there is much going on behind the scenes. One of her two charges, a 14yo girl, is coming of age at the same time and realizing that things are not always as they seem. Then, right around the 2/3 mark, The Event happens. Beyond saying that it ties into #MeToo, which is general enough to note a wide range within a given type of event, I'll say no more about The Event itself. But both women experienced it, and the back quarter (ish) of the book flashes forward a decade to how it has shaped both of them. To the #MeToo era itself, though this is never directly mentioned in the text by that name. And it is here the book ends, with some of the heaviest punches outside of The Event itself. But who knows, maybe, for me, that was due to my own life and how I know all too well how trauma can shape a life, and thus identified remarkably well with a now early 20s and mid 30s female despite being  a late 30s (ugh) male myself. Truly a remarkable debut, and I'm very much looking forward to more from Ms. Spiro. Very much recommended.

Someone Else's Secret is an entertaining read. It tells of two young women who both desperately want to fit in with their 'in' crowd.

The main story takes place in 2009 with the ending occurring in 2019. It alternates narratives between Lindsey Davis, 22, a scholarship student and recent art graduate from Bowdoin College, a small but prestigious college; and Georgie, 14, a girl from a privileged family, who is experiencing all the teenage angst of body changes, suddenly being "cut" from her crowd, striving for independence, wanting a boyfriend, hoping to fit in again and trying to be seen as older than she is.

Lindsey, unable to find a job after graduating, takes a position as a nanny for a wealthy couple with two children who summer in Martha's Vineyard. Her professor-advisor arranged the job for her, telling Lindsey that the couple has good connections to the art world and she feels confident that by summer's end, Lindsey will have a job in her field. Lindsey, a girl from a modest background, had trouble fitting in with the high-brow and exclusive crowd at college. The last thing she wants to do is to serve as a nanny and to be surrounded again by entitled people who make her feel like a fish out of water, but she needs the job, and hopes her professor is correct that it may lead to a job in the art world. 

Jonathan and Carol Decker, Lindsey's employers, are the parents of Georgie, 14, and Berty (a boy), 5. Carol is stand-offish and emotionally unavailable to her family. Jonathan is a guy who likes to party, is often away, and when home, gives Lindsey the creeps.

Lindsey and Georgie, both trying so hard to fit in, develop a friendship of sorts. Georgie sees Lindsey as beautiful and confident, Lindsey sees herself in Georgie's youthful struggles. A traumatic incident occurs at summer's end that will change the lives of both of these young women forever.

The author develops the female protagonists and captures their emotions very well, and her dialogues are realistic and believable. She also deftly handles the main subject of the book (no spoilers). I'm giving it 3 stars because despite all the good qualities mentioned, there is a tendency towards repetitiveness that detracted from the overall read for me.

My thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for allowing me to read a digital ARC of the book in exchange for an unbiased review.

4 stars / This review will be posted at BookwormishMe.com on 14 June 2020. 


Lindsey is about to graduate from Bowdoin with an art degree, but as yet she cannot find an internship or a job in her selected field. During the graduation luncheon, her professor introduces her to a family in need of a nanny. The last thing Lindsey wants to be is a nanny, but the family collects art and have connections that could help Lindsey. Plus, the job is to spend the summer on Martha’s Vineyard. How bad could it be?

Georgie is almost fifteen. She chose not to go to sleep away camp this summer so she could spend the whole summer on the Vineyard with her family. The only catch is that she has to work if she’s skipping camp. Georgie hopes she can get hired at the coolest place on the island. Maybe if that happens, her lifelong friends will let her back in the circle. 

The book opens with a dream sequence but without telling us who is having the dream. Just that it is happening ten years after the summer on the Vineyard. It foreshadows something terrible that will happen. Gives us some insight into the fact that though Lindsey and Georgie were hoping for the perfect summer, the summer was not so perfect after all.

I felt like the book was a bit on the slow side to start, but as it progressed, it picked up steam. Both characters are trying so hard to be something other than their real selves. It’s kind of tragic how they want to fit into worlds that perhaps aren’t the best fit for them. The story is well written and quite the enjoyable read. The prologue sets the tone, and most of the novel is spent waiting for the other shoe to drop. In the end I greatly enjoyed this read.

*3.5 stars* Sign me up for any book set in summer on Martha’s Vineyard! Julia Spiro delivers a dramatic and entertaining story of two young adults, Georgie at 14 and Lindsey at 22, who are just trying to find themselves in the summer of 2009. One night late that summer changes the course of both their lives forever. 10 years later they reconnect and attempt to get much needed closure. The 2009 summer part of the book had a seemingly abrupt ending, especially after describing the summer in such detail.
 
Thanks to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Georgie and Lindsey meet one summer and by that summer’s end share a secret. Most of it takes place in the past and only the last few chapters are in present day.
I enjoyed the story even tho I thought it dragged at times.
Thanks to the publisher for the early copy.

A broken friendship, a terrible secret, the makings of a most enjoyable story.
The story has lots of teenage angst, jealousy and a brutal incident that changes lives forever.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Lindsay, a recent college graduate with a degree in art, takes a summer nanny job on Martha's Vineyard with a family known in the arts field. The promise of connections and a possible art field job in the fall helps get past that feeling of being an outsider, along with the fact that some college classmates are summer residents there to help ease the feelings of not fitting in.
There is the local guy Dylan and rich guy Brian for romantic interests, but not everyone has her well being at heart.
The couple she lives with have issues of their own and aren't quite the perfect parents to the two children she cares for.  Lindsay tries to help the teenage girl Georgie as she sees the awkwardness of that age as a memory she shares. Of course no good deed goes unpunished.
Two things annoyed me with the first being the male nickname for the girl. Dad calls her Gigi, which is fine, but there are so many pretty female names so why does she have a male name? My pet peeve, but I see it so often and don't like it. The second was the common practice of every chapter narrative by a different character which in itself is fine, but here content is repeated when seen through the eyes of the different characters. Some of that is fine, but there was no need to relate as much of the situation as it was repetitive and made me want to skim over it.
Not a bad story, but the end left something to be desired. The last chapter timing was not right. Seriously, weeks? Not believable. 
Thank you NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

When Lindsey finishes college she gets a summer job as a nanny for a wealthy family with two children. 
Their daughter Georgie is a fourteen year old with a rebellious nature and wants a summer job of her own.
One evening when Lindsey and Georgie are out at the lighthouse an incident happens that changes their lives forever.
Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was offered this book to read by Lake Union Publishing. It will definitely be a good summer read.  Lindsey takes a job as a nanny with the upper crust on the island in hopes of it getting her the job she desires.  Things move along as expected with a summer at a beach club and then something happens one night just before Lindsey is set to leave to shake her and the young girl she’s been living with as a nanny for her family.  Ten years go by when things finally are revealed and Lindsey has to make a major decision that could change her life.  
I enjoyed the read and always enjoy “being on the Vineyard” in books.

I enjoyed this mystery told in two different point if views about the same experiences during a summer at the beach.  Told from the perspectives of nanny, Lindsey and Georgie, a teenager, this story started strong for me. The only issue I had with it was the pacing in the last 3/4 of the book, it seemed a little rushed. Overall I enjoyed the way the author handled some heavy topics while focusing on the building of relationships and self acceptance. I will definitely look for more by this author.

4.5 stars!

Georgie is a teenager from a well-to-do family, and while spending the summer on Martha’s Vineyard, she hopes to become more independent, make new friends, and find young love. Lindsey is fresh out of college and dreams of landing a job in the art world. In the meantime, she accepts a job as a nanny for a family who could help her get her foot in the door at a Boston art gallery. Sounds perfect, right?

Lindsey and Georgie develop a bit of rocky friendship as the summer progresses, but one night changes everything and neither one of them speaks of it again...until 10 years later. But is it too late for justice?

This was a great summer read, and it reminded me a lot of summers spent in Cape Cod with my family. I thought Georgie and Lindsey were great characters, and I found a lot in common between the two young women. The situations they found themselves in were real and relatable (though at times difficult to read because of the subject matter), and I thought the way they responded emotionally to those experiences was spot on for their levels of maturity. Great character development!

Highly recommend! 

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3320975584

SOMEONE ELSE'S SECRET
BY JULIA SPIRO

I have recently been in a terrible reading slump and am thrilled to say that this phenomenal book gave me a reprieve and I can't recommend this one highly enough. If I could give it 100 stars I would. Both the plot and characterizations were absolutely fantastic. There is so much I want to say about this tale and how it affected me but I don't want to give away spoilers. This novel had me feeling so much empathy and compassion for it's many character's except for the antagonist.

It is college graduation time for Lindsey and it is 2008 during the time of this country's great recession. If you are old enough to remember that year you will realize that the joblessness was at an all time low and if the government had not bailed the banks out for the sub prime lending regarding mortgages this country would have gone into a Depression. People were losing their homes. That doesn't have anything to do with this book except to depict one of our main female heroine who has just graduated college studying art and her job prospects are low to non existent. She wants to work in Boston in one of it's art museum's and one day become an art curator.

While Lindsey is celebrating her graduation from college and wracked with years of college loan debt she has been trying to find an internship and can't find one. Most of them are unpaid but she is willing to take on any job while also working for free as an intern at one of the art museum's but she has found out that you have to know someone to get hired. Lindsey is jobless and during graduation a professor comes over to her table and says she would like to introduce Lindsey to the Decker family. The Decker's are on the board at the Museum of Fine Art and need a nanny this summer at Cape Cod.

Lindsey is an only child and doesn't have much experience with taking care of children. Jonathan Decker says that if things work out this summer with Lindsey being their nanny he can introduce her to his friend whom both husband and wife can get Lindsey a paid job in the fall at Boston's Museum of Fine Art. Lindsey is beautiful and has great ambitions of creating a great life for herself in the art world. Jonathan and Carol Decker tell Lindsey that she will have a free place to live with food and all she has to do is take care of their youngest child Berty by taking him to tennis camp and getting him breakfast and her afternoons can be spent taking Berty to their beach club. Berty is five years old and I just loved him. He is a lovable child and easy to care for. Lindsey decides to take the job.

Georgie is the Decker's fourteen and a half year old daughter who is going to be working her first job at the Picnic Basket. She is disdainful, moody with hormones and doesn't want to have to answer to Lindsey. Lindsey is kind and friendly and doesn't force a friendship with Georgie. Georgie is experiencing all of the teenager angst of wanting to find romance. Georgie doesn't have any friends this summer as her former friend's are ignoring her and she is jealous of Lindsey. Carol Decker is a very hands off mother and I didn't like her at first until later in the novel when I learned what she has gone through. Carol seems very cold and uninterested in her children. This leaves Lindsey with the full time care of Berty from morning until after he is read a bedtime story by Lindsey and he falls asleep for the night. After that Lindsey is free to do what she wants and she usually goes out.

Brian is the character that most readers I suspect won't like at all. His parents are wealthier than the Decker's and also the ones who are pivotal to Lindsey getting her job in the fall. He is also Joanna's boyfriend. Joanna didn't give Lindsey the time of day in college but for some odd reason she befriends Lindsey and there are many nights spent drinking at beach parties with Joanna, Brian and all of the other wealthy 24 year old's who spend every summer at Cape Cod. The first party that Lindsey attends Joanna leads Lindsey to do something to get back at Brian by keying his car. When it is time for Lindsey to go home she meets a wholesome and kind working class guy named Dylan who sees Lindsey and offers her a ride home. The two of them fall in love over the course of the Summer.

Georgie has a deep crush on Brian even though their age differences are significant. Brian goes into the Picnic Basket every day for iced coffee and again for lunch. Georgie whose job assignment is to work in the back office sorting mountains of paperwork and inventorying all of the swanky merchandise that the establishment sells besides food. When Brian comes in Georgie is often found sweeping and washing down tables escaping the back office so she can talk to Brian. Georgie feels awkward and frustrated with her life and getting a few breadcrumbs from Brian makes her feel like he is interested in her. One odd night Brian sees Georgie walking home from a party and he offers to walk her home. They almost kiss when Lindsey being protective comes out and breaks it up. This is where the climax of the story begins.

Georgie runs into her house and sobs uncontrollably over Lindsey ruining her big chance of romance with Brian. Lindsey had that day off and she spent the day at Joanna's drinking and later that night went out with Dylan and drank more. After separating Brian and Georgie Brian asks Lindsey to go for a walk to the lighthouse on the beach. What happens next will alter Lindsey and Georgie's Lives for the next ten years. It will haunt them both and change who they are for the worst. I felt so much pain for both of these two and felt like it happened to me. I asked myself what would I do if I was Georgie or Lindsey. Something brutal happens and the way they deal with it by keeping silent is the lesson of this excellent book. This was a fascinating story that I will never forget. Every once in a while I read something such as this excellent book and it is so compelling that it raises the bar so high that I never want the story to end.

This is a gripping narrative that examines so many important themes that I highly recommend this. I thought about what would I do if I was in Lindsey, Georgie or even Carol's position. Thinking about the consequences for these three character's if they face the issue and illuminate it could I do the same thing? Ten years later the issue will resurface and that is really the heart of this story. I highly felt so much compassion for these character's and how much a single incident can bore away at your soul and obliterate the way in which you live and the way you view yourself and everybody else. This author is one to watch out for and this was a fabulous debut which I loved so much I know it will take a long time for me to value a book as much as this one. Don't read any reviews if you choose to read this as I didn't and it worked out in my favor. Unforgettable, Life changing, Original and highly relevant in this day and age.

Thank you to Net Galley, The talented Julia Spiro and Lake Union Publishing for providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

Publication Date: July 1, 2020

#SomeoneElse'sSecret #JuliaSpiro #LakeUnionPublishing #NetGalley