Cover Image: The House of Hidden Secrets

The House of Hidden Secrets

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Member Reviews

Serena Green accepted the role of housekeeper for wealthy widower Hayden Ramsay, she never imagined her new home would be Ramsay Hall, an ancient, sprawling mansion in Northern England.
Serena quickly becomes an integral part of the household, making friends with Hayden’s younger son Hugh, despite Jack, his older brother’s, coldness towards her and Lana.
But the hall’s beautiful exterior hides many ugly secrets. Though Serena and Jack begin to grow closer, she’s confused by his behaviour around Lana. What is he guilty of? And is there more to their mother’s death than the Ramsay men will admit, even to themselves?
Thanks to NetGalley and Hera Books for giving me an advanced copy of this psychological thriller.

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Serena answers an advert from Haydon Ramsey to become his housekeeper while he recovers from a hip operation. This job comes at the right time for Serena as she is escaping from her past. Haydon has two sons, Jack and Hugh and slowly we discover that everyone in the household has their secrets.
This book was a slow burner for me, parts of it I wondered if the story was actually going anywhere but towards the last quarter of the book, everything slipped into place.
Beautiful cover.
I received this book from Netgalley and publishers in exchange for an honest review, my opinions are my own

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Thank you to NetGalley, the publishing house and the author for the opportunity to read an advance reader copy of this book in return for a review based upon my honest opinion.

The cover of this book instantly grabbed my attention but it was the writing that kept me reading. The author has a great way of writing and I enjoyed it.

Serena and her small daughter appear to be on the run, she excepts a job as a housekeeper in an isolated house. It looks like Serena is trying to get her life on track and keep her daughter safe, but is this house full of secrets safe place for her and her young daughter. The owner of the home, Hayden Ramsey and his sons Jack and Hugh may be more dangerous than they look. The house and the setting was creepy and I didn’t trust the men of the house for one minute. The story had a good pace and I enjoyed it but felt like it was leading up to grand finale and it kind of fizzled at the end leaving me wondering if I had missed something.

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This is the first novel I have ever read by CE Rose and I am happy I was approved for it. CE Rose writes a thriller with many twists and turns. Every time I thought I figured out what would happen next I was taken to another dark secret. Secrets never end well for anybody. Especially Hayden Ramsey who put an advertisement for a housekeeper and nurse made for a short time. Hayden was recovering from a bad hip and needed help. Enters Serena Green and her daughter Lana. What were they running from or who are they running from? Along with Hayden are his sons Jack and Hugh who sometimes live with Hayden at Ramsey Hall. Rose shows us how Serena adjusts to life in the country taking care of this family while Lana seems to be thriving in her new surroundings. This is just a little to perfect. Secrets begin to unfold when Jack gets to close to Lana what could he be hiding. Are Serena and Lana safe in the little dollhouse cottage they live in? Then there is Hugh who was kicked out of Ramsey Hall by his dad and doesn't know how he will cope with life away from his family. Is Hayden Ramsey the kind man everyone thinks he is, what is he hiding? This thriller is worth the read. Like I stated before every time I thought I figured out the puzzle of the Ramsey-Green puzzle a secret is uncovered and the story takes a different turn. A mystery thriller which will keep you wanting more. I did I needed to know how will this end and why did it end this way. Thank you Hera Books for approving me and CE Rose for writing this gripping thriller. I look forward to reading more by you.

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Serena accepts a housekeeping job and she and her daughter move into a large house to help the owner while he recovers from an injury. Hayden the owner has two grown up sons, Hugh and Jack, who live there too, well kind of live there.
The book is written from the viewpoint of Serena, Hugh and Jack. I like the way the book moves, with the chapters from the different characters.
Serena fits in well with the family, but there was always the thought in my mind that questioned everything that went on. I found Serena quite mysterious and there were some creepy goings on too.
I liked the setting of the imposing house and learning about the character’s relationships with friends and family.
It was a very intense story and I could not put it down. A clever plot that kept me hooked.
Thanks to Hera Books and NetGalley for the review copy in which I give my honest opinion.

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"The imposing gates of Ramsay Hall yawned open."
Sadly the gates were not the own part of this story that yawned. Overall the story was not bad just not great. Many of the plot twist where predicable and at some point there where so many plot twist that they just felt cheap. Like one too many jump scares in a horror film. Besides the youngest son Hugh the other characters where super unlikeable. There was always an idea of a ghost but the author seemed to hesitant to ever really add her to the story. Hopefully, it was just a miss for me and others enjoy it.

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First of all let me say that the cover of this book is really beautiful, it definitely cought my eye when I was browsing the books on NetGalley.
This book is a slow burn, then eventually picks up and then you can't put it down anymore because you want to know what's going on and you are hooked by all the secrets everyone involved in the story has.
Very, very good psychological thriller, very well written, interesting characters, gripping plot. Definitely recommended!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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For the Safety of the Child

This book kept me guessing what was going to happen next all the way through the book. There was a lot of secrets held by the characters in the book, and some that will stay secret.

It was about Serena an abused wife that takes a job as a housekeeper for an elderly man Hayden Ramsey. She has a daughter Lana who is four years old. Hayden lives in his large farmhouse with his two sons Jack and Hugh. It appears they all have secrets and they are all running away from something or someone. Are Serena and Lana safe or should she fear the secrets kept in the house? What of her own secrets will they be revealed? A few twist and turns going on and a romance between Jack and Serena, and between Hugh and Robbie.

This is a good read if you like psychological thrillers and Romance. It has a twist at the end you won't see coming.

I did enjoy reading the book and would recommend it.

Thanks to C.E. Rose, Hera Books, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a copy for an honest review.

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I read and enjoy a lot of thrillers. This book started out slow for me, I put it down and picked it back up several times before I got into. As the title states, it’s full of secrets but most could be easily guessed by context clues. I kept waiting for a big twist that I didn’t see coming but it just didn’t come.

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An amazing twisting tale of the lives of the men of Ramsay Hall when entwined with a mother and her child. A fantastic story that had me desperate for more every time I picked it up.
The story tells of Serena and her daughter Lana arriving at the hall to look after a poor Haden who has injured his hip and in need of some help around the home. His two grown sons, Jack and Hugh, are there to look after him but not enough for Hayden.  We see the story through each of the characters eyes as years of secrets fall out in the pages wihh Jack, Hayden, Hugh and Serena full of surprises.
The story is beautifully written wihh wonderfully descriptive language that envelopes the reader to become part of the Ramsay Hall. The story is perfectly paced and each character so beautifully presented they become old friends that are revealing their deepest secrets.  Each turn of a page presents a new view of a character.  This story won't disappoint if you want thrills and mystery.

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Serena takes a job as a temporary housekeeper for an elderly man with a broken hip, while running from an abusive relationship. When she and her daughter arrive, the son, Jack, is obviously disturbed by them. Serena and Jack begin to get closer, but she begins to suspect his motives toward her daughter. It was a decent book. There were certainly quite a few secrets, most of which were not too surprising but there were a few things I did not expect. 3.5 stars, rounded to 4.

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Hidden secrets meaning : A. Something kept hidden or unexplained : mystery. B. Something kept from the knowledge of others or shared only confidentially with a few.

Another fab debut! This was a psychological thriller cum family drama. If you're a fan of Lisa Jewell this is the book for you.

It started off as a very slow burning book & admittedly I almost gave up, but I'm so glad I chose to read on, because that's where it introduced all the characters. Gripping, tense with a smidgeon of romance. Loved the plot line & how the secrets slowly started to unfold throughout the book. With one final unexpected revelation at the end, this left me open mouthed at how I failed to work this one out! 😱

The imposing gates of Ramsay Hall yawned open. As Serena and 4-year-old Lana walked up the long driveway, little did they know the dark secrets that lay within.

Many thanks to Netgalley for my ARC in return for my honest review.

𝗜 𝗴𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗮 5 ⭐ 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴

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Loved this one! So easy to read and lots of twists and turns along the way. Definitely a quick read and one I recommend.

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a book you won't be able to put down.

serena and her young daughter lana, are on the run from their past and find refuge at ramsay hall, as serena takes on the role of a live in housekeeper/carer for an older man.

the way in which each seemingly normal character, hides a plethora of secrets as a result of being put in extraordinarily difficult situations, really pulls you deep into the storyline.

i was absolutely absorbed in the goings on at ramsay hall.

this psychological thriller was a never ending journey of twists and turns. from the very first paragraph to the last, the author had you hanging onto her every word.

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The House of Hidden Secrets was my very first ARC from Net Galley and I really wanted to love it. I haven't read a good thriller is quite a while and I was looking forward to this one. Unfortunately, it really missed the mark. Right from the start, the writing itself fell flat - it was difficult to follow the flow of the story through the overwrought language. The dialogue was stiff and unrealistic, with minimal character development. I knew a lot of details about each character, but they lacked context. The characters all had Very Big Feelings, but not much motivation behind them.

The book very abruptly turned into a romance novel about halfway through- the back half of the book was peppered with bizarre lover's quarrels and unexplained outbursts. C E Rose was able to pull all her narrative threads together by the end of the story, but it all felt contrived to me. Every character had some huge, dark secret and ultimately it was just too much like bad daytime TV for my tastes.

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Serena becomes housekeeper for the strange Hayden Ramsey. She & her young daughter find themselves in a small cottage alongside the Ramsey mansion. Serena is running from the past as are Hayden Ramsey and his two sons Jack & Hugo. Then the past starts to catch up on them all.
This is quite a dark book. Much darker than it appears at first sight. There are plenty of psychological twists and turns not all of which worked for me.
The book starts slowly; very slowly. Although I was enjoying it, the action doesn't start for quite some time. In fact it really isn't an action packed book at all, more of a slow burner with a few smaller action scenes late in the book.
I don't really know why this book didn't work that well for me. Maybe there were a few too many twists and turns? People's characters seemed to have many sides and I struggled to really get inside their heads.
Hugo is said to have some sort of autism but is portrayed as quite slow and stupid. I didn't like the way that was done and many of Hugo's characteristics didn't seem right.
This isn't a bad book, it just didn't work for me.
I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley.

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This book starts off when Serena Green answers an ad for a housekeeper at a Ramsey Hall. The book starts off very slow, creepy, and incredibly tense. I immediately felt distrustful of the Ramsay men and was scared for Serena's daughter the entire time. I did feel like the genre of the book almost changed halfway through which made me feel a bit disconnected from the book. It did all end of connecting by the end but that change really threw me off and made it hard to finish this. I did enjoy the ending but overall this was a bit of a miss for me.
Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for this ARC for my honest review - this book releases 4/12/21!

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The premise of this book sounded so exciting and I couldn't wait to get into it. Also look at this cover - it's great and very promising.
Unfortunately this book, to me, totally missed the mark.
First half of the book is basicaly a built up for later events. It's wouldn't be bad if it were more idk exciting, twisty or surprising. Then it randomly switches into romance and then at the end again into thriller. This, unfortunately messed up the pace and failed to keep me interested.
The three different POVs (one of them totally unnecessary) and random timelines jumps also break the pace and make it diffucult to track the plot.
The main plot twist isn't as twisty as it's supposed to be and it's pretty predictable. Some of the twists are super random.

I know that's not the author first book but sometimes it felt that way, as the writing even though not being bad it's not great either.

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Disturbing, eerie, and immensely captivating, “The House of Hidden Secrets” by CE Rose is a slow burning, gothic thriller that’ll send shivers down your spine from the first minute Serena steps inside Ramsey Hall. CE Rose’s writing is nothing short of masterful. Rich with details, the setting creates the ominous tone for the book. The old mansion. The dark rooms. Even the dust on the furniture. The complex, multi-faceted characters add to the vibe. The Ramsey men are morose and perhaps sinister. Serena and her daughter are sweet, yet shrouded in fear and mystery. There’s something to like about all of the characters, but the setting along with the continual (but gentle) twists make you doubt if you should.

Secrets run dark and deep in this book. They lurk like ghosts in the shadows and reveal themselves slowly in bits and pieces over the chapters. Once you think you’ve figured out what the characters are hiding, another twist throws you off track again. You’ll be surprised when the truth about the past is finally revealed — and shocked by who’s been keeping the darkest secrets all along.

Honestly, when I first started reading “The House of Hidden Secrets”, I didn’t think I was going to like it. The first few chapters felt bogged down by descriptions. Because the story is told from Serena, Jack, and Hugh’s points of view, it was also slightly difficult to sink into. But only for the first few chapters. I was hooked before I knew it! The story unravels slowly, but every scene and every chapter is so compelling that I didn’t want it to end.

CE Rose is the pen name of author Caroline England (aka Caro Land). Having read all of her books to date, “The House of Hidden Secrets” is now my new favorite.

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Talk about complex histories all converging! In this one everyone has secrets and you will be turning the pages trying go guess what some of them are - and you will find out at the end! Characters are well developed and each has a strong story that unwinds as the book progresses - definitely keeps your attention and although you may figures a few things out, you won't figure them all out! A good read.

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