Digital Reads Reviews

This post contains affiliate links for products and services I recommend. If you make a purchase through those links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

Happy Publication Day!!

Secrets can wrap a family and bind them in silence or tear them apart where pretense of being okay would be the norm. It takes a child sometimes to see the truth by seeing the pain via her eyes.

Addie was brought into this family while her mother was in hospital where there was widowed Emerson whose husband Will had committed suicide, sister Tillie with legs paralysed in an accident where Emerson was driving the car, mother Evie with her health problems, and neighbor Henry who was friends with all but had the biggest secret hidden m about Will’s suicide. All the 4 had their lives interlinked, and it took this child Addie’s entry as a catalyst to open them up.

My first book by Katie Grindeland, all I could say was that it was a sweet read. The story moved slowly delving ito each character’s life and their thoughts. The secrets come out gradually bringing them closer together with each knot unravelled.

The scenes in the book were brought out with careful detailing keeping in line with the characters, some of the lines were poignant. The mystery was kept till the end. Family bonding between the women had me smiling with Henry the odd man out, yet fitting into the paradigm perfectly.

My niggles had me running through the pages fast, the story, though good, was not very engaging to read. I found it difficult to immerse myself into their lives to feel their emotions. Such a story should have had power behind their words, which was missing for me.

Overall, a good read about family and what binds us together – LOVE

I received a digital copy of the book from Edelweiss and the publisher Ooligan Press, and this is my journey into its pages, straight from the heart!!

All my reviews can be found here

The Gifts We Keep is Katie Grindeland’s first book and winner of the 2016 Multnomah County Library Writers Project. Grindeland is from Bellevue, Washington, and graduated from Marylhurst University with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a minor in professional writing. When she is not busy working as a 911/Police/Fire Dispatcher in Portland, Oregon, she enjoys hiking and watching The Office on repeat with her two teenagers.

In The Gifts We Keep, dangerous secrets, past tragedies, and a violent obsession are forced to the surface when Emerson and her estranged family agree to care for a ten-year-old Native-Alaskan girl and complete stranger, Addie, in the wake of Addie’s single mother attempting suicide. Emerson has buried her emotions since her husband’s suicide a decade past, maintaining a cold and aloof exterior. Meanwhile, her younger sister, Tillie, avoids her own questions about the accident which left her in a wheelchair. Their mother, Eve, flits through life as though nothing is important. And the handsome neighbor, Henry, maintains a carefree attitude while guilt and secrets eat away at him. If these five can face their true selves, each other, and their past, they just might find a way forward to a life filled with love and happiness.

Publication Date: 16th April 2019

Publisher: Ooligan Press

11 Responses

  1. You are an expert at finding the perfect words to describe those elusive thoughts and feelings that I struggle to describe!

  2. I’m sorry that it wasn’t better for you, although 3.5 is still a good read, right? I’ll have to check it out and see if it might be something I could read on a slow day. It appears to have all of the right factors for a good, but slow, book. Thanks Shalini.

  3. Nice review Shalini. Knowing what type of books you really enjoy, I am confident that I would still like this one even though you only gave it 3.5 stars. It sounds like a good character driven story though a slow developing one.

Have you read this? Do you have it in your TBR? Let's chat

New Giveaway coming soon

Stay tuned.  

Want a site to buy new books In perfect condition in India?

CURATED PEGASUS

Genuine herbal products, oils and soaps, get it from 

ALOE VEDA

I have tried their products since the past 7 years, and I completely recommend them.

Pre-made book covers and trailers

This is an affiliate link

VBD COVERS

Click here

Destiny is super sweet and professional and with just a mail you would get the cover you want. 

Digital Reads Media/ Reviews blog is featured on 

KINDLEPRENEUR

New Books Alert

Click on the cover

wild and country
November 22, 2022
legend and country
January 18, 2023

Authors, if you would like to have your books mentioned in my newsletter and post, kindly contact me here.

If, after subscribing to my newsletter, you would like to put your books for review, then the link is here

Send me the details of your book so that I could have them on the sidebar and in my newsletter

Subscribe to my Newsletter

READERS

  • Get my interesting posts directly into your inbox
  • New releases and books on sale along with giveaways
  • Book Tours and Review options
  • Monthly random giveaways
  • February – March giveaway – Amazon GC US$5 for 1 winners

AUTHORS

If you want your books/sales promoted, subscribe to my NL

Before you go, subscribe to the newsletter

February – March Giveaway – 1 Amazon GC US$5

%d bloggers like this: