Our Little Secret by Lesley Sanderson is a thriller about a group of friends from college who spend a weekend together after going many years without seeing each other.  Their friend Hannah allegedly hanged herself many years prior, and the friends come together to celebrate a birthday but end up discussing Hannah's death.  They discover some inconsistencies, and then the real story of Hannah's death comes out.  This story kept my attention; but, unfortunately, I found the majority of the characters to be unlikable.  Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital review copy.  All opinions are my own.

A college reunion years after a good friend disappears, what could go wrong? 
Amy, one of the leaders organizes a long weekend desperate to find out what happened to their friend. You are in for one heck of a surprise!  The book starts off a little slow introducing each girl, but it picks up one fateful Saturday night when the group decides to play truth or dare. 

Louie, one of the main characters isn’t up for any of this. Her marriage has been on the rocks since her husband had an affair. As the group gathers, they learn that the police are looking into Hannah’s death. 

What happened to Hannah? Read to find out!

This book was okay, but not great. It honestly fell a little flat for me. It was a quick, buteasily forgettable, read. 3 stars

Louise and her old university friends meet up years later for a birthday party near to where their old friend Hannah committed suicide, everyone is apprehensive as it was a very sad time for them all.
A game of truth or dare brings out all their secrets.
Took a bit of getting into, the characters were difficult to like and the storyline slow and predictable.
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review

College friends who aren't as close as they once were, reunite for a weekend to celebrate one member's birthday in Lesley Sanderson's Our Little Secret. They were a group of six friends, one whom committed suicide after the only boy in the group broke up with her and starting dating another group member. 

After Hannah's death, the friends go their separate ways, some meet up once in a while and others stay close - but not as one group. For the first time in 15 years, the old gang is back together. 

Louise's marriage has been rocky after her husband's affair, she has no desire to celebrate this weekend with old friends. But Amy is the group's defacto leader and she had a cancer scare and wants to celebrate her life and remember Hannah.

It's like a seance has gone bad. The friends learn that the police is looking into Hannah's death. There is no evidence that her death is a murder and not the suicide that they all thought. These people were Hannah's closest friends - is one of them the prime suspect? Is one of them a murderer?

Gripping thriller, a very good story that will keep readers guessing until the end.

I've been a fan of Lesley Sanderson since her fantastic debut, The Orchid Girls, and Our Little Secret is probably my favourite yet. Fast-paced and twisty, this book is utterly gripping and emotional.

i very much enjoyed this author never disappoints very twisty and addictive ,Louise and Amy are best friends . Amy s birthday is coming up and she wants to have a get together with there old Uni friends Kat , Daisy  .. but one friend is missing Hannah she was found dead in the woods 15 years ago Louise has never forgiven .Daisy and Sam for hurting Hannah all those years ago . and Louise has given her husband a second chance as he had an affair and she never knew who the other women was not saying no more but how it all unfolds is just so good so recommend all this authors books .

This book focuses on Louise, who, along with her close knit group of friends form college, spend a weekend at their friend Amy's cottage near the area where the 6th member of their group, Hannah,  allegedly killed herself years ago.  Amy invited everyone because it was her birthday, but also because questions have arisen about whether Hannah's death was actually a suicide and Amy wants them to get together as a group and see if their collective memories can help piece together what really happened. 

The book takes place over a period of a couple days.  The first half of the book mostly sets the stage, and the 2nd half of the book moves at a faster clip as secrets are revealed and tensions are high. I got an idea of who the characters were and what they were like, but the characterization didn't quite gel for me.  I found it hard to believe that none of them had ever talked about Hannah's death in the past, when they were supposed to be close friends and they all said this was the worst thing that ever happened to them.  Louise hadn't ever even told her husband of many years about Hannah at all.  I found that odd.

I had an idea of who the villain was but the way it unfolded still provided a few twists and made for an interesting climax to the story.  I thought that more could have been done around the storyline with the journalist and the overall reasons for re-opening Hannah's case. 

Overall, decent read with a pretty good ending, but didn't fully do it for me, based on my lack of connection with the characters and what felt like some missed opportunities.  I give this a solid 3 stars.  Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Our little secrets follows a group of friends meeting for a reunion at a cottage where one of their friends was found dead by suicide. This is the first book i’ve read by this author and I enjoyed it! The writing style reminds me of Laine Moriarty, whose books I really like. The beginning was a bit slow, It was hard to tap in to all the characters and get into the plot, but after halfway in when the group starts to play truth or dare, it was a page turner. I wanted to figure out what happened! It was full of secrets which get revealed in an satisfying way. Overall, this book was a lot of fun and a good read.

I really enjoyed this book. It was written during the lockdown and plot tends to take place in one place which is nice for us who are also not going anywhere. Very interesting and different characters considering they were old friends. Good plot told mainly through the eyes of Louise. I will definitely look up more of Lesleys books. Will recommend to everone.

Books about groups of friends hiding secrets and exposing past lies rely greatly on the characters and their interactions. Unfortunately, I didn’t connect with a single one here. After kicking cancer, Amy throws herself a birthday party. She invites all her friends from college, including the narrator Louise, and plans a remembrance of their friend Hannah, who disappeared and was then found dead by her own hand. Now, the reader imagines that it was not so straightforward and that by the end of the novel we’ll find out what really happened. It’s hard to give a bad review, since it must be very hard to write a novel but I found the plot predictable and the dialogues too contrived. There is an absurd amount of attention paid to drinks, be it water or cocktails, and other details that don’t add anything to the story. I’m glad to see other reviewers liked this novel, it was not for me. 
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/Bookouture!

Four women will get together to celebrate a birthday in a secluded cottage that happens to be near the woods where something happened years ago. Something that the women will never forget, In the beginning there were five of them. That is until Hannah was found dead. after taking her own life. Why would they want to go back there? Then the writer introduces us to Sam and Theo who begin to realize that there are many secrets between all of the women. Something else happened to Hannah that night and the ghosts of the past finally come out when a game is played. I enjoyed reading this book and found the authors writing to be profound and full of mystery. I thought that I knew exactly what happened. But as I read further, I realized that my theory was way off. The characters were very well developed and believable. I felt as though I was inside the book following along. I recommend this to anyone who loves thrillers.

Thank you to netgalley as well as the author/publisher for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

This is one of my favorite genres, and I found it need that the author has the same first name (though spelled differently). So, I was excited to read this. Sadly, the story didn't quite hit the mark for me.

I've never read anything by this author, but I'd consider reading one in the future. 

The story is told through Louise's perspective. In general, I had a hard time connecting with her or liking her, and I felt that way about a number of the characters. The relationships felt a bit forced, and the dialogue was a bit stilted and awkward. While there were a couple unexpected twists, most of them were predictable. 

The premise was good, albeit not totally unique, but it fell a bit flat for me.

Our Little Secret won't  be a secret for long!  At least, not if I have anything to say.  It was a well put together plot with a surprising ending, revealed at just the right time.  The characters were such an interesting bunch of unique and divergent personalities, I couldn't wait to hear about each one's role in Hannah's death.  A game of truth or dare was a clever pretext to get each of the girls and Sam to tell the story of their last conversation or meeting with Hannah, which led to the conclusion.  

Lou had to be my favorite character, seeming to be the glue that held this group together many years after university and the tragedy of their friend's death.  She was a loyal friend and kept Daisy's secret until the end, even though Daisy didn't reciprocate with the same loyalty.  

OLS reminded me a bit of some of Liane Moriarity's work.  A compliment, if you ask me.  I enjoy LM's work also and for some of the same reasons - nice plots, great characters and usually a surprise reveal at the end.  I urge you to pick up Our Little Secret and see if you can determine the secret before the end.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and offer my opinion.

A reunion of four women, once a tight circle in university  to celebrate Amy’s birthday and to discuss the circumstances and mourn the loss of a beloved fifth woman, Hannah, who died before graduation in a suicide.  . A premise like that has to go horribly wrong, surely?  Add in Sam,  the boyfriend who deserted Hannah for Daisy and Kat and Louse, who have secrets of their own and you have a deadly emotional mess of a gathering.  Add in Theo,  boyfriend of the narrator Louise, who recently cheated, Jade, the new girlfriend of Kat, and you have a dizzying group of suspects .  Suspects? . Yes, somehow as they were all arriving at an isolated cottage in the woods, the police decide Hannah was murdered.  Never seen a group with so many secrets and underlying connections which make the book a quick and easy read.  Most characters are unlikable and part of me wanted a chainsaw murderer sneak into the cottage but the women avenge each other with little razor nicks all weekend and do the job themselves.

Getting old friends together to reminisce over the past and reveal old kept secrets, with often lethal consequences. No change here: old friends gather to celebrate a birthday and recovery from disease. 
But it seems to be centered around the horrible death of one of their own. But as the weekend progresses, old secrets, jealousies, and double dealings. No one was really who they thought each other was.

None of the characters seem very attractive,so sympathy for them is hard to find. At the big event of the weekend, all sorts of things happen and are revealed. 
It is a pretty fun and fast read, not sure I would seek out another like it- 
The ending and final reveal seems familiar and you could kinda see it coming, without trying to hard.

A very solid 4-star read!

A group of friends meet up for a reunion in a secluded cottage, set near a dark forest where one of their close friends disappeared and later was found dead. They all want to put the ghosts of their past behind and lay to rest what happened so many years ago. A game of truth or dare ensues, threatening to uncover their darkest secret…

Full of twisty little secrets, this gripped my attention from the get-go. Such an interesting premise and it did not disappoint. Very fast-paced and gripping till the very end. It’s like one of those locked-room mysteries with a foreboding sense of something sinister that’s about to go down. It reminded me quite a bit of ‘Pretty Little Liars’ but like an adult version of it. It sure is a page-turner and a very enjoyable read. I found the ending just a tad bit disappointing, but overall a very good read.

I received an eARC of #OurLittleSecrets via #Netgalley, author, and publishers. All opinions are my own. Pub Date 18th Dec, 20.

This is my first book by Lesley Sanderson but one I certainly enjoyed. It started a little slowly. Also - and this is me being anal - the book opens with our lead (Louise) at netball training, and then talks about her team winning 3-nil. Perhaps it was a very short practice match / first team to three goals or something?! 

We take a while to get to the death of the girls' university friend, Hannah but when we do we learn the story of her death quickly. It's the revelations that come after that are of most interest and eked out for the rest of the book. Of course we're in Lou's head so don't really know too much detail about the secrets the others hold but it's obvious that none of the girls, or Sam (former boyfriend of Hannah who ditched her for another of the group) were completely honest with the police during the investigation into Hannah's disappearance and then her death. 

The (literal) 'game-playing' near the end to uncover secrets felt a little contrived so I was glad when that was dropped and everyone shared their stories. I didn't guess the twist around Hannah's death and thought the latter half of the book, when the paced picked up, was strong. 

There's a subplot featuring Louise and her partner Theo. Sanderson's initially pretty subtle, referencing the 'before' and 'after'; but the theme around trusting someone who's cheated before is an interesting one and probably got a little lost amidst the mystery and then the drama of the end of the book. 

3.5 stars

Another amazing book that I couldn't put down. It involves romance, love triangles, secrets and a shocking conclusion. 

I liked most of the characters, despite a few of them being toxic. I also liked that they didn’t all stay close after what happened to their friend. I think it made it better when they agreed to seeing each other over the weekend, and were very wary of each other and what each of them knew about that tragic day. 

I also had an inkling of what the outcome of the book would be, but even when I was right, there were still a lot of twists thrown into it! 

Thank you to NetGalley for letting me read this book! You can find my reviews about the book here: 

https://kileystruecrime.squarespace.com/config/pages 
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3649882594

A solid slow moving, intriguing story that draws you in, and you can’t stop reading. It’s not a scary thriller, but a layered onion that keeps on giving, layer after layer. You sort of know what is coming, but you still have to read it with your own eyes to believe it.

I like the main protagonist, and I like the way her mind works. Not sure I agree with everything she did, but she’s so filled with guilt and questions to begin with that I feel proud of her because she’s a strong woman. Finding out that people are not what they seem to be is nothing new to most people, but finding out that everything you believed in, everyone you trusted have been lying, is a bit different.

I had most of the things figured out, and even though I find the story to be believable, it still amazes me how devious people can be. Convincing characters, nice setting, and well-written.