I’d like to thank Bookouture and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘The Birthday Weekend’ by Lesley Sanderson in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

It’s Amy’s 35th birthday and to celebrate she invites the friends she met at university, Louise, Daisy and Kat, to a reunion at her cottage near Blackwood Forest where their fifth friend Hannah disappeared in 2005 and never came back.  Her body was discovered some time later and Amy wants the friends to meet and celebrate how they remember Hannah.  During the weekend a suggestion is made that they play ‘truth or dare’ but little do they realise that secrets will start to emerge that could threaten their relationships. 

Although ‘The Birthday Weekend’ had an interesting description the story was slow to start and there was nothing in particular that grabbed my attention and made me want to read faster.  I couldn’t empathise with the characters who I thought shallow and insubstantial and it wasn’t until I was nearing the end and secrets were being revealed that it became more interesting.  I thought the conclusion was fair and appropriate and a fitting ending to a fairly average novel.

This book tells the story of a group of friends who met at University and then in their final year one of them disappears and then her body is found and it is ruled a suicide.  The other friends keep in touch and get on with their lives, marriages, babies, trying to find “the one”, falling out. 

They then meet up for one of the group’s birthdays and it emerges that new evidence has come forward that suggests that Hannah’s death may not have been suicide.

Weekend away to celebrate birthday just so happens to be in the cottage one of them inherited from an Aunt close to where Hannah’s body was found.  Back in the same area where they found their friend secrets and lies come out, jealousy, affairs.  Will the truth finally come out about what happened to Hannah and will rifts in friendships be healed?

Thank You Netgalley, Bookouture and  author for the ARC! This review is based on my honest opinion.

Louise gets an invitation from Amy to spend the weekend at Amy's cottage to celebrate her birthday, along with Kat and Daisy, whom they had been friends since the university. However, many years ago, during their final year in the university, one of their closest friends, Hannah was found dead, a few miles away from Amy's cottage. The death was ruled as suicide. However, soon, past secrets kept looming up, threatening to destroy the friendship...

To me, at first, the book started slow. However, gradually, the story started to getting a bit intense. There is not much twists and turns you would expect in a thriller but nonetheless, it was actually a good thriller that will get the reader hooked into the story. The truth and dare game towards the end of the book to find the real truth about what happened to Hannah had my interest piqued into the story.

It was a good thriller and a short fast read thriller. Worth three stars!

Thrilling. Tense. Suspenseful. Addictive. An absolutely amazing, brilliant, fast paced stunner of a story. Another wonderful thriller from this versatile, incredibly talented author. Highly recommended.

#OurLittleSecret #NetGalley
Thanks NetGalley, my favorite publisher Bookouture and Lesley Sanderson for an ARC to review.
Released on 18 Dec 2020.
15 years ago 21 years old Hannah went missing to be found couple of days later dead in the woods, presumed to have committed suicide. 
Louise, Hannah, Kat, Daisy, Amy and Sam were a close knit back then till Sam and Daisy broke Hannah's heart before her death.
Present day, Amy decides to celebrate her birthday by a peculiar sort of reunion reincarnating Hannah's soul to figure out what truly happened the night she went missing.
The book is told from Louise's point of view. It's my first book by Lesley, I loved it and couldn't put it down till the end.

Four friends reluctantly spend a weekend together celebrating Amy’s birthday.  They all travel to a cottage in the country, close to where their fifth friend, Hannah committed suicide 15 years before.  Her death has never really left any of the women, but could this be the opportunity for them to lay the past to rest?

Told from the perspective of Louise, it initially slowly builds up her story of her relationship with her boyfriend, Theo, particularly since from when he cheated on her.  As the other friends are introduced, the pace is turned up and we begin to find out the backgrounds of them all.  They are certainly a mixed bunch, and whilst they have been friends for many years, you get the impression that they don’t get on as well with each other as what they used to.

The mystery of Hannah’s death is something that has been dwelt on over the years, and when the investigation into her death is reopened by the police, each one of the friends seems to be hiding something.  In parts, I felt sorry for some of them, as they all seemed to be fighting their own personal demons in one way or another.  I did feel sorry for Louise, in particular who, as the leading character we’d come to know a bit better than the others.  She was obviously suffering thanks to Theo cheating on her, and it did feel at times that it was a make-or-break situation for them.

There were so many secrets being hidden between the group, and I have to admit to being kept on my toes trying to work it out what was happened!  Emotions were high throughout the story, and the tension and suspense of what happened to Hannah was palpable.  I loved how slowly, bit by bit, little clues were revealed and the how the secrets and lies began to unravel.  With a perfect ending, that sent shivers down my spine, this author has again written a thriller which will have you hooked until the last page!

This book caught my eye with the title and cover and it did not disappoint at all. A must read for anyone who loves these types of books like myself

Let’s state the obvious: this book isn’t the first of its kind in the thriller genre. But. When written well, these kinds of thrillers are oh-so-much fun to read, and I count this among one of the entertaining ones.

This book was my exact cup of tea. My cup of coffee. My perfect chocolatel-y cup of hot cocoa with extra marshmallows. Okay, you get the point.

Speaking of hot cocoa, I made myself a cup before beginning this book, then snuggled into bed with a big warm blanket wrapped around me, and dove right into the mystery.

A group of friends, who haven’t spoken in years, reunited for a birthday weekend. Missing amongst the guest list? One of their friends who disappeared years prior. Furthermore, the party is being held at the same place their friend went missing from all those years ago. As the weekend begins, trouble brews. Their all hiding secrets, and worried about what may be unveiled over the weekend. Holy drama and suspense!

This psychological drama was suspenseful, intense, and filled with twists and turns. 

Although a tad bit predictable, it was still a lot of fun with thrills throughout the entirety of the book.

Highly recommend!

I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to someone who enjoyed this genre. I look forward to reading the next work of this author.

This book was difficult to get into,the charcaters unlikeable and the story really has been a lot before,so apologies but this was a DNF for me although did try

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I kept telling myself, "if this is the big twist, I've had it figured out and that would be lame." Well, this book took the obvious twist and twisted that and the ending was perfect. The suspense all-throughout made it extremely hard to put this book down and the writing style as well as a lack of any errors made it a very smooth read. I think this is the first NetGalley ARC that I have read that didn't have any mistakes that I picked up, so I have to give props for that!

Thank you Netgalley for providing me a copy of Our Little Secret. 

Usually, I would love a book about not at all what it seems death but with this one I just found it hard to connect with the characters and their friendships, and I feel like for me this is really forgettable. I say this with the utmost respect.

This old friend conncection with a secret dark past that becomes exposed has been done time and again. It's nothing new and unoriginal.

When I requested Our Little Secret from NetGalley, I had never read anything by Lesley Sanderson, but now I want to read everything she's written! I really enjoyed this novel and couldn't wait to find out what everyone was hiding and what really happened to Hannah. I liked the characters, particularly Louise and Amy, and it was easy to see how much Hannah's death had affected them. I was surprised by the ending too, so that was a plus. Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read Our Little Secret...I highly recommend it, and I'm happy to have discovered a new author to enjoy. : )

Thank you for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. 

I enjoyed this a lot, its a great story and fans of physiological thrillers will love it 

A group of friends get back together for a special birthday, trouble is they've not really spoken much over the last few years. They're all hiding something, and when the birthday girl announces she's having her party at the same place their friend disappeared from years ago they're all worried what might come out! 

It's full of the twists and turns you want from a good thriller and I'd highly recommend it.

This was an easy read. Had a slow build up and explosive ending. The start felt a bit disjointed but the plot settled in half way through and drew me in. An intriguing page turner albeit a bit predictable.

Thank you netgalley for the arc

*4.5 Stars*

Copy kindly received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really interesting read, with likeable characters. It wowed me with the secrets being kept, and the lies and obsessions.

I enjoyed this one and it had an interesting ending as well.

My Review:

Omg, omg, omg!!!!! What did I just read. This book was spectacular. Oh my what a twisted read this was. So this was my first book by Lesley Sanderson and she knocked this one out of the ballpark. I will definitely be reading more of her books. This was a stand alone novel. 

This book was about a group of friends who came together after many years of being apart. Some of them still talked but some went their own way. As you see there was a tragedy long ago that separated them. It tore them straight to the core. But there was one member of the group that decided its been long enough and wanted to relive the past. So she got the group together and wow did the secrets spill out. What was this tragedy? How did that affect each member of the group? Will they finally learn the truth? You find these answers and so much more by the end. 

I want to start off by saying how much I loved this book and I couldn’t put it down for the life of me. I had to know what was going to happen next before I could even eat or sleep. This book was just that good. Let’s talk about characters. Well I loved them all. They all had their own unique qualities that they brought to the table and it worked really well together. It really brought the book alive and I felt like I was part of their group. I felt what they were feeling. Now on to plot. The plot made this book for me too. I just love a book that has so many juicy secrets that they are ready to explode off the pages. Who doesn’t like to find out what someone is hiding, I know I do. But my favorite part of this book was that twisty ending. When you have that many people with that many secrets you better watch out. A cat fight waiting to happen. I loved how the book came together at the end and you finally got the answers on what happened so long ago. 

Between the plot, characters and all the twists in this book it made it an easy and fast read. I would definitely recommend it and happily give it 5 Hearts❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

15 years ago, just before finals and graduation,one girl disappears and is found a few days later in Blackwood Forest. Her death is ruled a suicide and Hannah Robinson's group of friends leave university, broken by events but young enough to pick up, use those degrees and make a start with jobs, relationships and new places to live. The shadow of the past is never that far away though and eventually, Amy, the group 'mother' wanting to reunite the friendship group, invites the girls to her newly inherited cottage to ostensibly celebrate her 35th birthday, but really to come to terms with what happened all those years ago.
Louise, Kat and Daisy oblige. After all, their friend is in remission from breast cancer, so they should be celebrating, even if the cottage happens to back onto Blackwood Forest.
The 'party' held over an Easter weekend is the setting for Our Little Secret. The formula is not new; a group of people brought together where over the course of a few days, long buried secrets are uncovered and The Truth is revealed to expose distant darker deeds. Just because the concept has been used a lot lately by authors, it doesn't mean this novel isn't entertaining or an enjoyable read. It was quick and easy to read and I liked the contrast of the country style idyll of a cottage with a bright yellow door with the murky mist of a death in a forest.
However, this particular novel seemed to never change pace particularly and in places I felt the dialogue was repetitive. The plot seemed a bit static. The women clearly have different lifestyles and personalities which adds some depth to the novel but the fleeting use of a reporter rehashing the story as a podcast doesn't really add the tension you would expect. Each of the four girls have something they are holding back and a game of Truth or Dare quickly descends into lies, blame, and all sorts of personal claims against one another and in some cases, current partners.
Overall, quite a good read, but in an overpopulated genre I felt there needed to be a bit more oomph and a bit more of an assault on our detective senses for it to have a fighting chance of standing out.
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read Our Little Secret in exchange for this, my honest review.

A reunion of college friends to bring out the truth about a colleague’s death. The character building felt inadequate and the events predictable though with some good twists in the end. A couple of characters are left off after two or three chapters and the conclusion felt rushed after a slow beginning. 3.5 rounded off to 4