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Tell Us No Secrets
This stunning debut thriller, set in a girls’ boarding school, will leave you breathless until the final page is turned.
Sometimes girls are the meanest of them all...
Female friendship is intense and that intensity can erupt into dangerous passions when teenage girls are cooped up in an exclusive East Coast boarding school.
Beautiful, streetwise Cassidy Thomas; debutante jock Abby Madison; academic, sensitive Karen Mullens; and sophisticated troublemaking Zoey Spalding are four seventeen-year-olds who should be cruising happily through their Senior Year. But jealousies are simmering. And when Zoey plays a game with the class list—if you lose your virginity you get a star beside your name—it sets in motion a chain of shocking events.
Nine months later, when one of the girls is murdered, the others must ask themselves if they can carry the truth of what happened the rest of their lives.
Tell Us No Secrets describes the bonds between these adolescent girls as well as the terrible pain of betrayal and the tragic consequences of peer pressure running riot at a time when the seismic shift of the Sixties changed the rules for everyone.
384 pages, Paperback
First published June 7, 2022
66 people are currently reading
4879 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 91 reviews
May 18, 2022
All the thanks to the publisher and Goodreads for letting me read this “can’t turn the pages fast enough” book! I’m starting to think the boarding school setting is my absolute favorite, and this one DELIVERED. Although this is definitely a whodunit thriller, it’s also a coming of age story for a group of four friends and their tribulations during a cultural revolution regarding sex, relationships and loss. Sterling absolutely smashed this debut novel and I will be eagerly awaiting her next release!
June 14, 2022
We meet seniors Cassidy Thomas, Abby Madison, Karen Mullens, and Zoey Spalding at an exclusive all-girls boarding school.
They have been switching loyalties to each other over the past three years, and it has continued into their senior year along with a murder.
Each is jealous of the other for some reason, and it escalates during their last year.
We get the backgrounds of each girl during the year 1970 and then meet an unidentified narrator in 2018.
Cassidy is beautiful, Abby is athletic, Karen is studious, and Zoey likes to cause trouble.
Something is definitely brewing with all four of these girls, but what can you expect with all different personalities, all different home lives, different thoughts about boys, and different thoughts about studying.
TELL US NOT SECRETS was a bit too drawn out with the detailing of these girls' lives, but it was necessary for the story line.
I actually kept getting the characters mixed up and with keeping with who was friends with what person and who was jealous of which person.
There was a bit too much teenage drama for me, but it played out well with a delicious ending. I wish it had been delicious sooner.
A lot of teenage drama, and they are definitely proof you never know when your actions are going to come back to haunt you, but if you meet these girls, you should be ok.
They know how to take care of things. :) 3/5
This book was given to me by the publisher for an honest review.
They have been switching loyalties to each other over the past three years, and it has continued into their senior year along with a murder.
Each is jealous of the other for some reason, and it escalates during their last year.
We get the backgrounds of each girl during the year 1970 and then meet an unidentified narrator in 2018.
Cassidy is beautiful, Abby is athletic, Karen is studious, and Zoey likes to cause trouble.
Something is definitely brewing with all four of these girls, but what can you expect with all different personalities, all different home lives, different thoughts about boys, and different thoughts about studying.
TELL US NOT SECRETS was a bit too drawn out with the detailing of these girls' lives, but it was necessary for the story line.
I actually kept getting the characters mixed up and with keeping with who was friends with what person and who was jealous of which person.
There was a bit too much teenage drama for me, but it played out well with a delicious ending. I wish it had been delicious sooner.
A lot of teenage drama, and they are definitely proof you never know when your actions are going to come back to haunt you, but if you meet these girls, you should be ok.
They know how to take care of things. :) 3/5
This book was given to me by the publisher for an honest review.
January 15, 2022
Tell Us No Secrets had the potential to be a great thriller, but it was just too slow. The story revolved around an unsolved murder, and the four girls who presumably are involved in the murder. There is a future narrator who remains unidentified to keep the mystery building on who could have been killed and who did the killing, but when we actually get to the murder (75-80% of the way through the book) it was super clear what happened. There was no mystery at all. We didn't solve anything in this book, we just learned about these girls until it got to the murder.
Even how the "mystery" was solved the future didn't make any sense. Some woman named Mary came to confront the future narrator about how she didn't believe her story in 1970 and now she's making a documentary about the murder, and then the narrator confesses. Mary was barely in the story at all, but the narrator, who lived in a different content now, allowed Mary to visit her out of the blue. I don't get it. What was going to be the outcome? It wasn't that the culprit was arrested or anything. Why now? That was never really addressed. I get that she is a documentary maker, but she could have done this story anytime, why choose now?
This was not my favorite thriller.
Even how the "mystery" was solved the future didn't make any sense. Some woman named Mary came to confront the future narrator about how she didn't believe her story in 1970 and now she's making a documentary about the murder, and then the narrator confesses. Mary was barely in the story at all, but the narrator, who lived in a different content now, allowed Mary to visit her out of the blue. I don't get it. What was going to be the outcome? It wasn't that the culprit was arrested or anything. Why now? That was never really addressed. I get that she is a documentary maker, but she could have done this story anytime, why choose now?
This was not my favorite thriller.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 28, 2022
Set in dual timelines, in the 1970s at an all girls boarding school and 2018 almost 50 years after the murder and told through multiple points of view. This book is very much a slow burn, however, there was a lot of good character development leading up to the murder.
The book was centered around four girls and an unsolved murder. The 2018 timeline is from an unknown narrator, presumed to be one of the four girls, but the narrator is not revealed until almost the end of the book which made for good suspense. As for the unsolved murder, it didn’t really take place until around 80% of the way through. I did like the ending though, that was a surprise I didn’t see coming.
Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The book was centered around four girls and an unsolved murder. The 2018 timeline is from an unknown narrator, presumed to be one of the four girls, but the narrator is not revealed until almost the end of the book which made for good suspense. As for the unsolved murder, it didn’t really take place until around 80% of the way through. I did like the ending though, that was a surprise I didn’t see coming.
Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
May 25, 2022
Lets be clear right here.... Tell Us No Secrets, is going to break the internet on June 7. If you have not already pre-ordered your copy you need to run on over to your favorite bookstore and make sure you have this book coming to you on release day. This is not a book you are going to want to miss.
Now, I feel as though I have been quite picky lately. When you read as many psychological thrillers as I do, it can be hard to feel impressed with a storyline that you most likely read 100 different versions of. However, Tell Us No Secrets, tips the scale when it comes to keeping you in suspense with a unique and engaging storyline.
There is nothing I love more than a book jam packed with secrets, deceit, and twists at every corner.
Told in dual timelines between the 2018 and the 1970's, Tell Us No Secrets, is anything but boring. Be prepared to have your world rocked. The character development and build up kept me in suspense. This is a bit of a "whodunit" but there is no way you will be able to figure it out until the twist is revealed to you.
This is by far one of my favorite books this year and I have already started recommending this to everyone I speak to.
This is easily a 5 star read and a sure hit.
Now, I feel as though I have been quite picky lately. When you read as many psychological thrillers as I do, it can be hard to feel impressed with a storyline that you most likely read 100 different versions of. However, Tell Us No Secrets, tips the scale when it comes to keeping you in suspense with a unique and engaging storyline.
There is nothing I love more than a book jam packed with secrets, deceit, and twists at every corner.
Told in dual timelines between the 2018 and the 1970's, Tell Us No Secrets, is anything but boring. Be prepared to have your world rocked. The character development and build up kept me in suspense. This is a bit of a "whodunit" but there is no way you will be able to figure it out until the twist is revealed to you.
This is by far one of my favorite books this year and I have already started recommending this to everyone I speak to.
This is easily a 5 star read and a sure hit.
January 11, 2023
Thanks to the author, Siena Sterling, and William Morrow for sending me this book as a Goodreads giveaway. I enjoyed it! Really good dark academia-it's a suspenseful drama in a boarding school setting. The Class of 1970 has some THINGS going on. Cut to 2018 when a Facebook friend request out of the blue threatens to stir up secrets they've been trying to forget. I liked that the major event isn't revealed until quite a ways into the book-it really kept me reading and guessing. This debut is worth reading!
July 20, 2022
2.5 Teen drama among 4 boarding school srs. Abby and Karen & Cassie and Zoey initially roomies and BFFs 9th and 10th grade. Then Cassie and Abby become BFFs and room together senior year.
Story alternated between narrator Abby in 2018 and the four girls in 1970. A list is posted of who has lost their virginity with experience ratings.
Each has secrets: Cassie got pregnant with her bf, Jed Abby’s bro at Yale (nobody knows about the relationship) and rebel Zoey helps her get an abortion. Abby had sex with her bf and was horribly disappointed, rating him a 1. Karen sows all this discord, and they inadvertently kill her — and then wait until she dies without calling an ambulance. They disappear, and nobody ever finds out.
Cassie does wind up returning to Jed, now a Vietnam vet with PTSD. Artistic poet Zoey winds up being a corporate attorney with kids in the suburbs. Mary in London married to a UK politician. None remain in touch.
A little heavy on the foreshadowing and a little too long to get there. Don’t know for a long time narrator is Abby. And we know something happens/someone dies but not sure whom. A little anticlimactic
2018 has another classmate Mary visiting Abby who lives in London, and she is hot on the trail. The last line has her getting hit by a bus, when Abby could have saved her a la Karen….
Story alternated between narrator Abby in 2018 and the four girls in 1970. A list is posted of who has lost their virginity with experience ratings.
Each has secrets: Cassie got pregnant with her bf, Jed Abby’s bro at Yale (nobody knows about the relationship) and rebel Zoey helps her get an abortion. Abby had sex with her bf and was horribly disappointed, rating him a 1. Karen sows all this discord, and they inadvertently kill her — and then wait until she dies without calling an ambulance. They disappear, and nobody ever finds out.
Cassie does wind up returning to Jed, now a Vietnam vet with PTSD. Artistic poet Zoey winds up being a corporate attorney with kids in the suburbs. Mary in London married to a UK politician. None remain in touch.
A little heavy on the foreshadowing and a little too long to get there. Don’t know for a long time narrator is Abby. And we know something happens/someone dies but not sure whom. A little anticlimactic
2018 has another classmate Mary visiting Abby who lives in London, and she is hot on the trail. The last line has her getting hit by a bus, when Abby could have saved her a la Karen….
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 10, 2022
Eh. I just kept expecting more. It was very juvenile, much like the book's characters.
May 28, 2022
Set at a girl’s boarding school in 1970, Siena Sterling’s debut novel was immediately attractive to me, as a 1977 graduate of a girl’s boarding school myself. There is no doubt Ms. Sterling attended boarding school as the details are pretty much spot on. Happily, I had a much better experience than the four girls in the novel, Abby, Zoey, Cassidy and Karen. Boarding school is a time of intense bonding – girls are there from the ages of 14 to 17 or 18 – and as that coincides with the surge of adolescence and self discovery, the friendships formed during that time of your life often prove to be the most indelible.
Sterling creates four characters that are quite different from one another. Abby is the most obvious boarding school denizen, coming from a big East coast family with brothers at Harvard and Yale; Zoey, the daughter of a well known movie director, is the biggest rebel, questioning everything; Karen is the slightly shlubby, slightly overweight girl who just wants to belong; and Cassidy is the mystery – a drop dead gorgeous girl from the Midwest, something, along with a more middle class background, that seems exotic to girls who have never even had a summer job.
As freshman year began, Abby and Karen were roommates, and Zoey and Cassidy were roommates and best friends. As the book opens on senior year, Abby and Cassidy have become friends to Karen’s intense jealousy, and she and Zoey bond in the senior smoking lounge. The two pairs of girls and roommates have flip flopped, and, boarding school or public school, the flare up of female jealousy, resentment and payback are pretty universal. Sterling has created her witches brew, and she proceeds to stir the pot.
To begin with, Zoey and Karen post “The List” in the senior common room – when you lose your virginity, you are supposed to not only put a star by your name, but to rate the experience. In 1970 this was out there behavior and it gets the girls riled up. It adds to the tension Sterling has created with her characters. She is expert at delineating them, not only for themselves, but at delineating the ways their changed interactions and friendship relationships affect everything they do.
As things start to go very badly wrong, Sterling uses the various odd rituals that exist in boarding schools to highlight the ways they do go wrong. One of the rituals is “friendship weekend” where the girls are selected, two by two, to be literally tied together for the weekend, only being let off the leash to use the bathroom or go to bed. This amps up the action, amplifies resentments and jealousies, and pretty much rocket powers the narrative.
This is almost more of a character study than a mystery. The tension is high, as it should be in any good suspense novel, and there is actually a murder, but all of that action occurs at the very end of the book, complete with unexpected twists. Sometimes reading about adolescent girls is just irritating, and sometimes it’s revelatory, as in the hands of someone like Megan Abbott. This book falls into the revelatory category. Sterling is able to explicate and analyze friendship in a way that is authentic and that, if our own formative friendships had taken a wrong turn, could have gone as wrong as the things in this novel do. As a reader, it makes you think. There’s not much more I can ask from a book.
Sterling creates four characters that are quite different from one another. Abby is the most obvious boarding school denizen, coming from a big East coast family with brothers at Harvard and Yale; Zoey, the daughter of a well known movie director, is the biggest rebel, questioning everything; Karen is the slightly shlubby, slightly overweight girl who just wants to belong; and Cassidy is the mystery – a drop dead gorgeous girl from the Midwest, something, along with a more middle class background, that seems exotic to girls who have never even had a summer job.
As freshman year began, Abby and Karen were roommates, and Zoey and Cassidy were roommates and best friends. As the book opens on senior year, Abby and Cassidy have become friends to Karen’s intense jealousy, and she and Zoey bond in the senior smoking lounge. The two pairs of girls and roommates have flip flopped, and, boarding school or public school, the flare up of female jealousy, resentment and payback are pretty universal. Sterling has created her witches brew, and she proceeds to stir the pot.
To begin with, Zoey and Karen post “The List” in the senior common room – when you lose your virginity, you are supposed to not only put a star by your name, but to rate the experience. In 1970 this was out there behavior and it gets the girls riled up. It adds to the tension Sterling has created with her characters. She is expert at delineating them, not only for themselves, but at delineating the ways their changed interactions and friendship relationships affect everything they do.
As things start to go very badly wrong, Sterling uses the various odd rituals that exist in boarding schools to highlight the ways they do go wrong. One of the rituals is “friendship weekend” where the girls are selected, two by two, to be literally tied together for the weekend, only being let off the leash to use the bathroom or go to bed. This amps up the action, amplifies resentments and jealousies, and pretty much rocket powers the narrative.
This is almost more of a character study than a mystery. The tension is high, as it should be in any good suspense novel, and there is actually a murder, but all of that action occurs at the very end of the book, complete with unexpected twists. Sometimes reading about adolescent girls is just irritating, and sometimes it’s revelatory, as in the hands of someone like Megan Abbott. This book falls into the revelatory category. Sterling is able to explicate and analyze friendship in a way that is authentic and that, if our own formative friendships had taken a wrong turn, could have gone as wrong as the things in this novel do. As a reader, it makes you think. There’s not much more I can ask from a book.
June 7, 2022
𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙂𝙞𝙨𝙩
Tell Us No Secrets is set in dual timelines but the majority follows four girls enrolled in an exclusive all girls boarding school in 1970. It’s their senior year and should be a bittersweet time filled with friendship, fond memories and excitement for the future. Instead, it’s a year of bitterness, betrayal, secrets and a plot for revenge that will ultimately lead to murder.
The timeline alternates with two unknown narrators set in 2018. There was an unsolved murder in 1970 but who and why remains a mystery until the end.
𝙈𝙮 𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨
Hearing each girl’s perspective (and Mr. D’s) as they go through senior year was a great way to tell this story. It highlights just how differently everyone saw the events play out. As friendships form and as they wither, each girl responds differently and eventually one of them will become so desperate that they’ll do anything to fit in or to just gain that one friend back.
I wouldn’t call this a thriller but more of a character driven mystery; I knew there was going to be a murder – that’s clear from the beginning – but who and why is the mystery and the psyche behind it the true story. What drives a girl to do something hideous? What causes a personality to fracture? What will a person do in the name of self-preservation?
As usual, I love any book set in academia land and this was no different. The characters, as I said, are really well-developed and emotive. The plot surprising – if not shocking, all the way to the last sentence and completely engaging. I read this yesterday evening and found I didn’t want to put it down because I was so invested in the characters. Make no mistake, I didn’t particularly like any of them but I did find their story utterly compelling and wholly unique.
Highly recommend this one to any fan of the genre!
My thanks to @WilliamMorrowBooks for this gifted ARC!
Tell Us No Secrets is set in dual timelines but the majority follows four girls enrolled in an exclusive all girls boarding school in 1970. It’s their senior year and should be a bittersweet time filled with friendship, fond memories and excitement for the future. Instead, it’s a year of bitterness, betrayal, secrets and a plot for revenge that will ultimately lead to murder.
The timeline alternates with two unknown narrators set in 2018. There was an unsolved murder in 1970 but who and why remains a mystery until the end.
𝙈𝙮 𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨
Hearing each girl’s perspective (and Mr. D’s) as they go through senior year was a great way to tell this story. It highlights just how differently everyone saw the events play out. As friendships form and as they wither, each girl responds differently and eventually one of them will become so desperate that they’ll do anything to fit in or to just gain that one friend back.
I wouldn’t call this a thriller but more of a character driven mystery; I knew there was going to be a murder – that’s clear from the beginning – but who and why is the mystery and the psyche behind it the true story. What drives a girl to do something hideous? What causes a personality to fracture? What will a person do in the name of self-preservation?
As usual, I love any book set in academia land and this was no different. The characters, as I said, are really well-developed and emotive. The plot surprising – if not shocking, all the way to the last sentence and completely engaging. I read this yesterday evening and found I didn’t want to put it down because I was so invested in the characters. Make no mistake, I didn’t particularly like any of them but I did find their story utterly compelling and wholly unique.
Highly recommend this one to any fan of the genre!
My thanks to @WilliamMorrowBooks for this gifted ARC!
September 29, 2022
3.5 stars
Is boarding school setting a thing? Or is this called dark academia?
I'm not sure, but either way, I enjoyed this book.
Now, let me be clear and say this wasn't a thriller, but more of a mystery.
From the very beginning, I was interested in the story of the Stonybridge girls and their drama. I loved the alternating POVs & I loved the different fonts for the different characters. I'm a big fan of fonts. 🤷🏻♀️
The timeframe mostly stayed locked into the 70s and followed the girls as they navigated through their senior year. One of them ends up dead right before graduation, and the book is a gradual unfolding of who died and whodunnit.
And gradual, it is. This was slow burn & really felt more like a study on female friendship than a murder mystery, and I was okay with that! Just go in knowing that all the "revelations" happen close to the end... and the book is close to 400 pages.
I felt like, for such a build up, those revelations were just kinda dropped in & didn't feel so revealing... if that makes any sense. But there was one part that I just didn't see coming (😉 iykyk) & those moments in books are everything to me.
Oh, and the 70s references were super fun too!
Thank you to William Morrow & the author for my review copy.
Is boarding school setting a thing? Or is this called dark academia?
I'm not sure, but either way, I enjoyed this book.
Now, let me be clear and say this wasn't a thriller, but more of a mystery.
From the very beginning, I was interested in the story of the Stonybridge girls and their drama. I loved the alternating POVs & I loved the different fonts for the different characters. I'm a big fan of fonts. 🤷🏻♀️
The timeframe mostly stayed locked into the 70s and followed the girls as they navigated through their senior year. One of them ends up dead right before graduation, and the book is a gradual unfolding of who died and whodunnit.
And gradual, it is. This was slow burn & really felt more like a study on female friendship than a murder mystery, and I was okay with that! Just go in knowing that all the "revelations" happen close to the end... and the book is close to 400 pages.
I felt like, for such a build up, those revelations were just kinda dropped in & didn't feel so revealing... if that makes any sense. But there was one part that I just didn't see coming (😉 iykyk) & those moments in books are everything to me.
Oh, and the 70s references were super fun too!
Thank you to William Morrow & the author for my review copy.
May 20, 2022
Thanks to William Morrows and Goodreads for providing me with an Advance Reader's Edition of 'Tell Us No Secrets', by Siena Sterling, coming to your nearest bookstore on June 7th.
I'm not going to lie, I was thinking of giving this book 3.5 stars, but it just lost that extra half point due to the last sentence, and I don't even know why that 'shocking' ending bothered me so much, but it kind of did, lol.
Anyway, this is a story that we have all heard before: murder in an all-girls boarding school, with alternating point of views and timelines. However, Sterling succeeds in creating quite distinctive voices for the four main characters, and I've appreciated the fact the story stays mostly in the 70s, turning it into some come of age tale, more that just your typical murder mystery with endless repercussions in the present day.
As I said, a novel that can be quite stereotypical at times in its plot and depiction of teenage years, but still a very compelling read, that keeps you hooked and guessing.
I'm not going to lie, I was thinking of giving this book 3.5 stars, but it just lost that extra half point due to the last sentence, and I don't even know why that 'shocking' ending bothered me so much, but it kind of did, lol.
Anyway, this is a story that we have all heard before: murder in an all-girls boarding school, with alternating point of views and timelines. However, Sterling succeeds in creating quite distinctive voices for the four main characters, and I've appreciated the fact the story stays mostly in the 70s, turning it into some come of age tale, more that just your typical murder mystery with endless repercussions in the present day.
As I said, a novel that can be quite stereotypical at times in its plot and depiction of teenage years, but still a very compelling read, that keeps you hooked and guessing.
June 8, 2022
This book's told from dual POV and varying timelines with an unreliable narrator. I loved the character development and how uniquely different each of the four girl's stories was. It's a slow-burn read, but I was very invested in figuring out what was going on with all the mystery and suspense that the author wove into each chapter. I recommend this book.
June 1, 2022
I loved this book. It kept me on the edge of my seat the whole way through. I loved that the ending wasn't what I expected. The characters and storyline did not disappoint.
March 18, 2025
I would give this book 3/5 stars. I thought this book was ok. I liked how there were different points of views of the different characters, but it would sometimes get confusing. There were 4 main characters: Karen, Abby, Cassidy, and Zoey. I also liked how every character has a different font to represent their personality. Otherwise, I thought the plot was really good and it made me want to keep reading.
September 11, 2025
it was okay kind of drawn out
May 9, 2022
***I received a free ARC copy via Goodreads Giveaways in exchange for a honest review.***
Having just read another free ARC with a main cast of 3 best friends, where one ends up dead, I was iffy about reading another YA novel about another group of girls where someone ends up dead. However, both books were completely different, much to my relief.
I enjoyed this. I also feel that I might have enjoyed it more, had it not been packed with every teen issue under the sun. We had war and other political issues, pregnancy, along with other sexual hot topics as well as basic teenage girl drama, the normal stuff, dialed up to 100, to the point where someone dies.
Cass, Karen, Abby and Zoey. 4 different girls, all with issues and none of them particularly likable. I had to jot down details about each girl to keep them.syraight during the first several chapters so that I could remember who was who.
As with most books with multiple POVs, the girls lacked individuality. Yes, they all had different home lives, upbringings and such but each chapter sounded like the exact same person talking. I didn't feel that four different girls were sharing their different thoughts and views on events but rather, one person was pretending to be four different people. Add in a few extra POVs along the way and it all started to run together.
The over all story was presented in dual timelines but not equally. Honestly, the present day POV could have been edited out and the story would have been better as it added very little value to the plot.
Definitely wasn't a waste of my time, but one I would file under "slow burn", for sure.
If YA teenage girl drama, murder mystery is your cup of tea, I'm pretty you will enjoy this.
Having just read another free ARC with a main cast of 3 best friends, where one ends up dead, I was iffy about reading another YA novel about another group of girls where someone ends up dead. However, both books were completely different, much to my relief.
I enjoyed this. I also feel that I might have enjoyed it more, had it not been packed with every teen issue under the sun. We had war and other political issues, pregnancy, along with other sexual hot topics as well as basic teenage girl drama, the normal stuff, dialed up to 100, to the point where someone dies.
Cass, Karen, Abby and Zoey. 4 different girls, all with issues and none of them particularly likable. I had to jot down details about each girl to keep them.syraight during the first several chapters so that I could remember who was who.
As with most books with multiple POVs, the girls lacked individuality. Yes, they all had different home lives, upbringings and such but each chapter sounded like the exact same person talking. I didn't feel that four different girls were sharing their different thoughts and views on events but rather, one person was pretending to be four different people. Add in a few extra POVs along the way and it all started to run together.
The over all story was presented in dual timelines but not equally. Honestly, the present day POV could have been edited out and the story would have been better as it added very little value to the plot.
Definitely wasn't a waste of my time, but one I would file under "slow burn", for sure.
If YA teenage girl drama, murder mystery is your cup of tea, I'm pretty you will enjoy this.
September 21, 2022
I tried but this felt so corny and boring and nothing was happening. I give up.
June 6, 2022
First, thank you to the publisher William Morrow for my gifted finished copy of this book in exchange for a review! All thoughts are my own.
I was really into the concept of this one! It was framed as a multiple perspective murder mystery at an all-girls boarding school in the 60s, so in theory it should have a little bit of everything: suspense, historical fiction, murder. While yes, there was a murder, it didn’t happen until around the 85% mark. I was reading it and announced out loud to my road trip buddies “I have 100 pages left and no one’s dead yet.” It reminded me of what I imagine an early Lucy Foley draft would look like. Think The Guest List or The Hunting Party but the flash forwards can’t allude to the aftermath of the murder because the book doesn’t start out with a dead body. And then when you get to the murder portion of this self-proclaimed murder mystery…there’s no mystery. It played out in real time with the person who died and the responsible party. So it wasn’t like oh it could have been A, B, or C. No, we just saw it happen, so it was definitely A. And now that we know exactly what happened and whodunnit…why do we still have roughly 50 pages? The concept was great and the idea and elements were all there, it just seemed like it could have been organized a little differently to provide true suspense.
Aside from the lack of suspense, I did enjoy the character building and motivations. This book was told from four main perspectives with some cameos here and there, so about a total of 7 narrators. With that many distinct voices, it could have easily gotten lost or messy, but I felt the author did a fantastic job of giving each character their own personality. The character development was great for the four main girls – I felt the audience was able to truly grasp the essence of each girl and understand their motivations. What I could have done without was the font changes. None of them matched the girls so it kind of threw off the tone and if the writing itself hadn’t been as strong as it was, the girls could have easily gotten confused. For someone as badass, independent, and strong-willed as Zoey, why are we Bradley Hand ITC?!!! Why is Cassidy, the beautiful but hard-working dreamer, getting a typewriter? It was jarring to read. Rely on the strong characters that were written and the individual tones the different POVs have and the audience will be able to keep them straight on their own without having the visual aid of a font change.
My true rating is a 3.5 star, but I want to round up because the last sentence actually took me by surprise and I loved it. It was also a very quick read and if you are someone who wants to dip your toes into the thriller/mystery genre, this is it. It’s not exactly a “cozy mystery” because there is some action, but I wouldn’t categorize this as suspenseful or scary in any way.
**spoiler starts here
I read in the author bio that she is from London and I 100% picked up on that. I felt like some of the language and actions didn’t scream American to me. For at least the first quarter of the book, I assumed this was an English boarding school. The words and toning felt very England to me and it could have been based there without really changing too much of the story as a whole.
But lets get to the nitty gritty of the characters. Is it bad to say I’m happy that Karen is the one who died? For a while there I thought it was going to be Cassidy – that Abby might have found out about her and Jeb or that Karen got too jealous or something like that. I’m really happy that Cassidy ended up somewhat okay. Karen straight up sucked. She blamed all her problems – being overweight, being unhappy, not being popular – on other people and latched on to Abby and then Zoey to carry her through. Then her revenge took it 10 steps too far – sure they made the last month and a half of high school uncomfortable for her (but she brought it on herself with being obsessive and creepy towards Zoey – I would refuse to room with her as well after the love poems and the forced sexual advances) but she was trying to ruin their LIVES. I think the only one who could have walked away from those letters somewhat unscathed would have been Abby – her boyfriend would have just learned that she didn’t think he was good in bed and they would have broken up, which they were on track for anyway. But keeping Zoey out of college and telling Jeb that Cassidy had an abortion was so far out of line. I can’t say murder was the solution but I also can’t say I felt bad about her.
The last sentence! That made me gasp! Like DAYUM talk about cold-blooded. Mary was starting to look into things but I highly doubt she would have been able to connect Cassidy’s abortion with Karen’s death. Mary was the only one with any sort of moral compass so that was shocking but made for a really interesting ending.
I was really into the concept of this one! It was framed as a multiple perspective murder mystery at an all-girls boarding school in the 60s, so in theory it should have a little bit of everything: suspense, historical fiction, murder. While yes, there was a murder, it didn’t happen until around the 85% mark. I was reading it and announced out loud to my road trip buddies “I have 100 pages left and no one’s dead yet.” It reminded me of what I imagine an early Lucy Foley draft would look like. Think The Guest List or The Hunting Party but the flash forwards can’t allude to the aftermath of the murder because the book doesn’t start out with a dead body. And then when you get to the murder portion of this self-proclaimed murder mystery…there’s no mystery. It played out in real time with the person who died and the responsible party. So it wasn’t like oh it could have been A, B, or C. No, we just saw it happen, so it was definitely A. And now that we know exactly what happened and whodunnit…why do we still have roughly 50 pages? The concept was great and the idea and elements were all there, it just seemed like it could have been organized a little differently to provide true suspense.
Aside from the lack of suspense, I did enjoy the character building and motivations. This book was told from four main perspectives with some cameos here and there, so about a total of 7 narrators. With that many distinct voices, it could have easily gotten lost or messy, but I felt the author did a fantastic job of giving each character their own personality. The character development was great for the four main girls – I felt the audience was able to truly grasp the essence of each girl and understand their motivations. What I could have done without was the font changes. None of them matched the girls so it kind of threw off the tone and if the writing itself hadn’t been as strong as it was, the girls could have easily gotten confused. For someone as badass, independent, and strong-willed as Zoey, why are we Bradley Hand ITC?!!! Why is Cassidy, the beautiful but hard-working dreamer, getting a typewriter? It was jarring to read. Rely on the strong characters that were written and the individual tones the different POVs have and the audience will be able to keep them straight on their own without having the visual aid of a font change.
My true rating is a 3.5 star, but I want to round up because the last sentence actually took me by surprise and I loved it. It was also a very quick read and if you are someone who wants to dip your toes into the thriller/mystery genre, this is it. It’s not exactly a “cozy mystery” because there is some action, but I wouldn’t categorize this as suspenseful or scary in any way.
**spoiler starts here
I read in the author bio that she is from London and I 100% picked up on that. I felt like some of the language and actions didn’t scream American to me. For at least the first quarter of the book, I assumed this was an English boarding school. The words and toning felt very England to me and it could have been based there without really changing too much of the story as a whole.
But lets get to the nitty gritty of the characters. Is it bad to say I’m happy that Karen is the one who died? For a while there I thought it was going to be Cassidy – that Abby might have found out about her and Jeb or that Karen got too jealous or something like that. I’m really happy that Cassidy ended up somewhat okay. Karen straight up sucked. She blamed all her problems – being overweight, being unhappy, not being popular – on other people and latched on to Abby and then Zoey to carry her through. Then her revenge took it 10 steps too far – sure they made the last month and a half of high school uncomfortable for her (but she brought it on herself with being obsessive and creepy towards Zoey – I would refuse to room with her as well after the love poems and the forced sexual advances) but she was trying to ruin their LIVES. I think the only one who could have walked away from those letters somewhat unscathed would have been Abby – her boyfriend would have just learned that she didn’t think he was good in bed and they would have broken up, which they were on track for anyway. But keeping Zoey out of college and telling Jeb that Cassidy had an abortion was so far out of line. I can’t say murder was the solution but I also can’t say I felt bad about her.
The last sentence! That made me gasp! Like DAYUM talk about cold-blooded. Mary was starting to look into things but I highly doubt she would have been able to connect Cassidy’s abortion with Karen’s death. Mary was the only one with any sort of moral compass so that was shocking but made for a really interesting ending.
June 11, 2022
I mean like it wasn't bad but it absolutely was not a thriller.
May 8, 2022
I received a copy of this book from GoodReads in exchange for an honest review. I have to say that this was an odd one for me. I'm all for boarding school secrets and murder stories, but something about the way this one was assembled didn't quite work for me. I think the author did a great job initially shaping the characters. I had a good sense of all of them and their relationships to one another. The tension also built very well in this book, since I wasn't sure what the actual conflict in the book was going to be, which eventually ended up being a murder of one of the main characters. That being said, it did feel like it took forever to get to the conflict piece of this book. I understand that it wasn't the main secret or plot point of the book, but it's placement in the text made the pre-murder part of the book feel very long, despite my pace of flying through the book. Then the cover up of the murder took up the short remainder of the story. Ultimately it felt like the resolution of the book just came too quickly and was resolved too easily. It would have been interesting to balance the narrative a bit more and flush out how each of the characters deals with the guilt moving forward in more detail. That was what I was left wondering about. I also think it could have been more interesting to have perspectives switch between the older versions of Abby and Mary in the 2018 chapters. I think it would have made the last few pages of the book pack a more powerful punch that way.
Overall, this isn't my most favorite book I have read, but if you're looking for a book to fly through and something that will surprise you here and there, this is a good one. I will say, and I'm not sure if this will be relevant for future prints of the book, my ARC was a paperback and the ink from the book bled very easily. I had carried this book around with me for about a week in my backpack and it would rub against my planner (which is a light pink fabric). It ended up bleeding its dark blue ink onto the pink, which I can't repair now. Not a big loss for me, but I would caution having this book touch other light covered books!
Overall, this isn't my most favorite book I have read, but if you're looking for a book to fly through and something that will surprise you here and there, this is a good one. I will say, and I'm not sure if this will be relevant for future prints of the book, my ARC was a paperback and the ink from the book bled very easily. I had carried this book around with me for about a week in my backpack and it would rub against my planner (which is a light pink fabric). It ended up bleeding its dark blue ink onto the pink, which I can't repair now. Not a big loss for me, but I would caution having this book touch other light covered books!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 6, 2023
Thank you William Morrow, #partner, for the finished copy of Tell Us No Secrets in exchange for my honest review. I borrowed the audiobook from the library.
There is nothing I love more than getting my hands on a debut thriller…that anticipation of seeing a new writer in a market that is so saturated with standouts and seeing how they will fare. I think Siena Sterling definitely has written a solid psychological thriller here and I will be eager to see what comes next from her.
One of my favorite settings within the thriller genre is the boarding school setting. While I didn’t go to one myself, I just love that dark academia setting to be so perfect to explore for a psychological thriller and let me tell you, Siena Sterling gives us toxic friendships and that whole “Mean Girl” mentality to the extreme! Boy, I’m definitely glad I didn’t know there girls…or have anything like this happen at my school!
This book was good, albeit a little slow for my liking. I loved the twists that ultimately happened, however it does take a while to finally get there. The dual time line definitely kept my interest and the character development was good, but I think the story could have been tightened up a bit. However, that last line was perfection!
I did enjoy this one and I will certainly be checking out the author’s next book. I think her writing style is quite engaging. This is one to add to your summer reading – it’s definitely a great beach read!
AUDIO THOUGHTS: This was a good one to listen to…Cindy Kay did a fantastic job narrating it, giving all the characters their own personalities and distinct voices. Yes, it’s a bit long, but I found myself engaged and eager to get to the end where we finally get the resolution.
You can see all my reviews at: https://www.alwayswithabook.com/
There is nothing I love more than getting my hands on a debut thriller…that anticipation of seeing a new writer in a market that is so saturated with standouts and seeing how they will fare. I think Siena Sterling definitely has written a solid psychological thriller here and I will be eager to see what comes next from her.
One of my favorite settings within the thriller genre is the boarding school setting. While I didn’t go to one myself, I just love that dark academia setting to be so perfect to explore for a psychological thriller and let me tell you, Siena Sterling gives us toxic friendships and that whole “Mean Girl” mentality to the extreme! Boy, I’m definitely glad I didn’t know there girls…or have anything like this happen at my school!
This book was good, albeit a little slow for my liking. I loved the twists that ultimately happened, however it does take a while to finally get there. The dual time line definitely kept my interest and the character development was good, but I think the story could have been tightened up a bit. However, that last line was perfection!
I did enjoy this one and I will certainly be checking out the author’s next book. I think her writing style is quite engaging. This is one to add to your summer reading – it’s definitely a great beach read!
AUDIO THOUGHTS: This was a good one to listen to…Cindy Kay did a fantastic job narrating it, giving all the characters their own personalities and distinct voices. Yes, it’s a bit long, but I found myself engaged and eager to get to the end where we finally get the resolution.
You can see all my reviews at: https://www.alwayswithabook.com/
May 8, 2022
I received this debut novel FREE via Goodreads Giveaway’s. It’s an ARC, due to be released next month (I think).
The setting is an East Coast Girls Boarding School. And someone gets murdered in the end.
I actually enjoyed this book, but I do feel that the author tried too hard to include EVERY SINGLE POLITICAL ISSUE into this story.
There’s Peer Pressure, Teen Sex, Divorce, War, Draft-Dodging, Abortion, Racism, Homosexuality, Suicide, Social Divide, Equal Rights….(did I forget something???).
Oh yeah, one of the girl’s is murdered! Yet, that really isn’t the biggest part of the story.
It is very much a, female Teen, coming of age story set in 1969. Four main characters who swap roommates in a boarding school because one of them is mad at the other.
The four girls continue to battle each other for ranking (even though they don’t admit it).
The story flip flops back and forth from 1969 to 2018. One of the girls has been contacted via Facebook in 2018 by a fellow classmate. They meet and the murder becomes the main topic of conversation. Who did it? Why? The truth never really came out…or did it.
I have to admit there was a twist that I did not see coming!!! And I can’t tell you when in the timeline the twist happens or I’d be completely spoiling it.
It was a quick read and I give it 3/5 stars ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️.
The setting is an East Coast Girls Boarding School. And someone gets murdered in the end.
I actually enjoyed this book, but I do feel that the author tried too hard to include EVERY SINGLE POLITICAL ISSUE into this story.
There’s Peer Pressure, Teen Sex, Divorce, War, Draft-Dodging, Abortion, Racism, Homosexuality, Suicide, Social Divide, Equal Rights….(did I forget something???).
Oh yeah, one of the girl’s is murdered! Yet, that really isn’t the biggest part of the story.
It is very much a, female Teen, coming of age story set in 1969. Four main characters who swap roommates in a boarding school because one of them is mad at the other.
The four girls continue to battle each other for ranking (even though they don’t admit it).
The story flip flops back and forth from 1969 to 2018. One of the girls has been contacted via Facebook in 2018 by a fellow classmate. They meet and the murder becomes the main topic of conversation. Who did it? Why? The truth never really came out…or did it.
I have to admit there was a twist that I did not see coming!!! And I can’t tell you when in the timeline the twist happens or I’d be completely spoiling it.
It was a quick read and I give it 3/5 stars ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️.
May 18, 2023
Honestly, this should've been a four-star book, with the great writing and the genuinely page-turning plot, but... Anyways, I do think that the plot twists were well-handled, and relatively reasonable, and honestly that ending was *chef's kiss*.
June 2, 2022
*** I received an advanced copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. ***
I couldn't believe this book was a debut novel due to the way the story unfolds -- multiple points of view -- and two different timelines -- the 1960s and today. Tell Us No Secrets is the story of four teenage girls attending boarding school on the east coast. During their senior year, the girls decide to play a game to see how quickly they could lost their virginity, and after a while, tempers begin to flare as the competition turns more and more serious. While reading the book, I was pretty sure about who the murderer was, but I turned out to be wrong in the end. In any case, the book had a whopper of an ending that I did not see coming.
I am looking forward to see what other stories this author has in the future.
I couldn't believe this book was a debut novel due to the way the story unfolds -- multiple points of view -- and two different timelines -- the 1960s and today. Tell Us No Secrets is the story of four teenage girls attending boarding school on the east coast. During their senior year, the girls decide to play a game to see how quickly they could lost their virginity, and after a while, tempers begin to flare as the competition turns more and more serious. While reading the book, I was pretty sure about who the murderer was, but I turned out to be wrong in the end. In any case, the book had a whopper of an ending that I did not see coming.
I am looking forward to see what other stories this author has in the future.
December 3, 2025
When I picked up this book I thought it was going to be a mystery genre, but most of the book kinda , just revolved around the relationship between the three main characters. Even though it wasn't what I expected, I really liked this book. I would recommend it. I feel like it gives romance fiction kind of vibes, but if you're looking for mystery, I don't really commend it, even though it was a really good book. The whole book is kind of already told in the summary, and if you're looking to actually get a little bit more into the murder and what happens, I would not recommend because there's not much going on, although I did find the ending really,really sad specially how the love life between the main character and her boyfriend ended,made me cry over this, but besides that, I think this was a really good book. I would recommend reading it , but I wouldn't consider it a mystery.
May 24, 2022
1960’s, New England all girl’s boarding school
Four main girls, roommates become best friends. Forging lasting friendships until their senior year. Some actually matured; others who didn’t got left behind. Anger and hurt feelings; friends become enemies. Petty jealousy, assumptions and accusations leads to rivalry.
Swapping roommates shouldn’t have been a big deal.
A special “list” of achievements becomes both the new entertainment and tradition, that sours the mood at school and has deadly consequences.
Competition starts a frenzied wave of behavior that changes the course of three lives.
A stunning debut; a coming of age story with relatable characters and situations and a brilliant shocking ending!
Four main girls, roommates become best friends. Forging lasting friendships until their senior year. Some actually matured; others who didn’t got left behind. Anger and hurt feelings; friends become enemies. Petty jealousy, assumptions and accusations leads to rivalry.
Swapping roommates shouldn’t have been a big deal.
A special “list” of achievements becomes both the new entertainment and tradition, that sours the mood at school and has deadly consequences.
Competition starts a frenzied wave of behavior that changes the course of three lives.
A stunning debut; a coming of age story with relatable characters and situations and a brilliant shocking ending!
September 12, 2022
“You send your child to boarding school
Who do you get back?”
Incredible debut thriller novel by Siena Sterling! Taking place at Stonybridge, an all-girls boarding school in New England, four girls — Karen, Abby, Zoey, and Cassidy — become obsessed with changing the status quo. The tension between the foursome is felt across the entire class. After Zoey proposes a scandalous challenge for senior year, all hell breaks loose as the girls navigate the pressure of friendships, academic success, and what their future holds as graduation approaches. With just a few days left of the year, Karen, Abby, Zoey, and Cassidy will not let the well-behaved, standout Class of 1970 be forgotten.
My jaw DROPPED at the last line of the book. I cannot wait to read more from Siena Sterling!
Who do you get back?”
Incredible debut thriller novel by Siena Sterling! Taking place at Stonybridge, an all-girls boarding school in New England, four girls — Karen, Abby, Zoey, and Cassidy — become obsessed with changing the status quo. The tension between the foursome is felt across the entire class. After Zoey proposes a scandalous challenge for senior year, all hell breaks loose as the girls navigate the pressure of friendships, academic success, and what their future holds as graduation approaches. With just a few days left of the year, Karen, Abby, Zoey, and Cassidy will not let the well-behaved, standout Class of 1970 be forgotten.
My jaw DROPPED at the last line of the book. I cannot wait to read more from Siena Sterling!
December 18, 2025
Rating this a 4.5! This was such a fun and juicy read. An all girl boarding school, friend group drama, secrets, and teenage girl cattiness and jealousy that takes a disturbingly, dark turn…I was SEATED. The book is written from the four respective point of views of a friend group, so it’s a very interesting look into female friendship and how deep, but also how fragile, it can be. My only qualm is that it did start out a tad slow—because there are four POVs, the first like 100 pages is mainly exposition about the four girls which is necessary of course, but it was a little boring as very little was happening plot wise. The rest of the book makes up for it though and I was fully invested after that point!
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