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The Secrets They Keep
The Chambers family has a secret, one so life-shattering, Alex’s parents have uprooted their lives to outrun it. When her cousin goes missing, Alex is pulled into a world that's woven into the fabric of her past but completely foreign to her. Will Seth and Alex be able to break free, or are they in way over their heads? --- Alex Chambers has finally graduated from University, and the real life she’s been promised lies in front of her. She has her own apartment, a shiny new job, and a great boyfriend; all the boxes are checked. Just when things seem to be moving down her chosen path, she’s sideswiped. Her cousin Seth goes missing, and no one appears to share her concern. Alex’s obsession with his disappearance takes over, and she starts to see cracks in the life she thought she knew. Her uncle knows more than he’s letting on, but that road is getting her nowhere. To make things worse, the little sleep she manages to get is haunted by terrifying dreams that leave her exhausted. When all leads seem to run cold, Seth shows up at her apartment in the middle of the night, desperate to save Alex from the fate that's breathing down their necks. The secret their fathers worked to conceal for over a decade is catching up fast, ripping Alex and Seth from the lives they built and into a world of secrets, kidnappings, and unimaginable influence. --- The Secrets They Keep is a contemporary fiction that dances the line between fantasy and reality.
237 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 26, 2019
About the author
Alison Haines
2 books2 followersAlison Haines is a debut author, with a long-held love for writing. Her career has taken her in several directions as a registered nurse and professor before she settled into the comfortable chair and cozy sweater that is writing.
Alison lives in a small town in South-Western Ontario, Canada with her husband and daughter. When not writing, she loves to travel, be outdoors, and gaming.
Learn more at www.alisonhaines.ca
Alison lives in a small town in South-Western Ontario, Canada with her husband and daughter. When not writing, she loves to travel, be outdoors, and gaming.
Learn more at www.alisonhaines.ca
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
May 21, 2019
Alex is trying to forge a life for herself with enough stability that she'll have some to spare for her little brother Caleb. She's doing alright as well! She has a teaching job, her supportive cousin Seth nearby, an apartment to herself and a very attractive boyfriend. Unfortunately, her life is about to be turned upside down.
There was a lot to enjoy in The Secrets They Keep. It starts off solidly in the familiar before veering wildly off-course, and Alex's 'before' life is nicely set up so that we know what she's losing. I enjoyed the various relationships with Alex's family members, and you get a strong sense of who Alex is from the start. From the moment her cousin goes missing the plot moves fast, and the story maintains an exciting pace right up to the last page. It's also got a lot going on to keep you guessing, with twists and turns throughout that keep the story from feeling predictable.
Despite what felt like quite a large cast of characters, they all felt very distinct from each other, which I appreciated. This is partly because they're painted in quite broad strokes, which works well for knowing up-front who you're rooting for but does mean there's a lack of depth to most of them. This worked fine for most characters, although it resulted in some of the character decisions (and therefore the plot lines that came out of those decisions) feeling poorly motivated.
The main thing that kept me from fully engaging with the story, despite an appealing protagonist and well-constructed setting, was a lack of clear direction. Alex starts the story with a definite driving motivation, wanting to provide some more consistency for Caleb, but that quickly gets lost in reacting to the situation around her and it's never really picked back up. Almost all of the major decisions made in the story felt reactive rather than proactive, and even though that made a certain sense considering the forces at play in the story I found it less satisfying to read as a result.
The Secrets They Keep is the first in a series, which shows in the number of plot threads introduced and left dangling at the end. I understand the need for this; if book one is a self-contained story then what's the need for a book two? But personally I would have liked to see more resolved by the end of the story.
Having said that, I will definitely be keeping an eye out for Book 2. With all of the groundwork laid, I'm looking forward to seeing how the author develops the world of the Guardians, and I would like to see how Alex grows and finds her place in the world she's been thrown into.
An action-packed story set in an intriguing version of our world, I would recommend this to people who enjoy fantasy, especially readers who enjoy Cassandra Clare's melding of the modern world with fantasy elements.
There was a lot to enjoy in The Secrets They Keep. It starts off solidly in the familiar before veering wildly off-course, and Alex's 'before' life is nicely set up so that we know what she's losing. I enjoyed the various relationships with Alex's family members, and you get a strong sense of who Alex is from the start. From the moment her cousin goes missing the plot moves fast, and the story maintains an exciting pace right up to the last page. It's also got a lot going on to keep you guessing, with twists and turns throughout that keep the story from feeling predictable.
Despite what felt like quite a large cast of characters, they all felt very distinct from each other, which I appreciated. This is partly because they're painted in quite broad strokes, which works well for knowing up-front who you're rooting for but does mean there's a lack of depth to most of them. This worked fine for most characters, although it resulted in some of the character decisions (and therefore the plot lines that came out of those decisions) feeling poorly motivated.
The main thing that kept me from fully engaging with the story, despite an appealing protagonist and well-constructed setting, was a lack of clear direction. Alex starts the story with a definite driving motivation, wanting to provide some more consistency for Caleb, but that quickly gets lost in reacting to the situation around her and it's never really picked back up. Almost all of the major decisions made in the story felt reactive rather than proactive, and even though that made a certain sense considering the forces at play in the story I found it less satisfying to read as a result.
The Secrets They Keep is the first in a series, which shows in the number of plot threads introduced and left dangling at the end. I understand the need for this; if book one is a self-contained story then what's the need for a book two? But personally I would have liked to see more resolved by the end of the story.
Having said that, I will definitely be keeping an eye out for Book 2. With all of the groundwork laid, I'm looking forward to seeing how the author develops the world of the Guardians, and I would like to see how Alex grows and finds her place in the world she's been thrown into.
An action-packed story set in an intriguing version of our world, I would recommend this to people who enjoy fantasy, especially readers who enjoy Cassandra Clare's melding of the modern world with fantasy elements.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review