Should You Keep A Secret? by Lisa Darcy
- Published on April 22, 2022
- Shalini
- in Book Posts, Book Reviews, Digital Reads Media, Digital Reads PR, Digital Reads Reviews, Fiction
Blurb
During a night out at the pub, Stella and Carly accept an invitation to a local party, but the scene they find there is not what they expected.
It’s a swingers’ event–and their friend Jesse’s husband is there among the swingers.
Now the two women aren’t sure what to do. Stella, who works with Jesse at the library, is inclined to keep quiet.
She doesn’t want to poke her nose into someone else’s marriage, and on top of that, she knows Jesse is facing a potential job loss.
The last thing she needs is more stress. Carly, on the other hand, thinks telling the truth is the right thing to do.
Meanwhile, the angry threats from Jesse’s husband warning them to keep their mouths shut only make the situation worse.
As the two deal with their own personal lives–Stella facing a marital separation and an ailing mother-in-law, Carly coping with loneliness as her husband works long hours–they find themselves blurting out the shocking news.
And even as dark secrets about Jesse’s situation are revealed, Stella and Carly will make some discoveries of their own.
My Review
What was it all about
A night out with three best friends, where one had to leave early and the other two witnessed the other’s husband in a swinger’s party with only a nappy and neck collar. The biggest secret had come to light.
How were Carly and Stella to tell Jessie about her husband’s extracurricular activities? Not that those two had a great marital life, one was going through a divorce and the other, through apathy and empty nest syndrome.
How it made me feel
Slightly confused was my initial feeling as I went through the book, thinking it to be a thriller. But it was a contemporary, women’s fiction with friendship and emotions.
The story was quite evocative as I didn’t know what I would do had I been in their position. Telling a friend about their husband was probably one of the most difficult thing to do in friendship.
The Good
The writing was softer with words used between a chick-lit and women’s fiction. The emotional aspect of their lives came through when one of them was in a life-threatening situation.
Mental health and other marital issues were dealt with kindly. I liked the author’s genuine portrayal of their lives. Many things I too have had to deal with in life.
For me, the book settled well into my realm of reading only in the second half when there was a crisis. I found myself gobbling up those pages deep beyond midnight.
The Bad
The blurb was slightly misleading as this was not a thriller or a domestic noir. It was all me, I was in a mood for a thriller not emotions.
The writing was not gripping in the beginning as the friendship between the friendship didn’t carry the warm vibes that I would expect from a book of this genre.
The first half with their marital problems didn’t pull me into the book as I thought it would.
The Conclusion
Quite an entertaining story which carried the flavor of friendship and sisterhood.
Book Links
Book Details
Publication Date: April 2022
I downloaded the digital version of the book from an online retail, and this is my journey down its pages, straight from the heart. STRICTLY HONEST and UNBIASED.
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