Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Purchase: Amazon
Synopsis via Goodreads:
There was blood on his hands. Where was the guilt in his eyes?
There was blood on his hands. Where was the guilt in his eyes?
Emmie has had a crush on her best friend's brother forever. Deacon is the town bad boy who's always in trouble, but she sees his soft side when he volunteers with her at the local animal shelter. She doesn't think he's dangerous…until he shows up in her bedroom with blood on his hands.
Deacon's father has been violently assaulted and Deacon is suspect number one. Emmie's smart enough to know how this looks, but she also knows Deacon's biggest secret—he's paralyzed by the sight of blood. She's sure he didn't do this. Or did he? Because even Deacon's own sister thinks he's guilty.
*Publisher approved request via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I skimmed through the blurb for My Secret to Tell and went into the story with an open mind. I knew it had some mystery about it surrounding the family that Emmie was close friends with, but I didn't know what secrets they were hiding so my interest was totally piqued.
From the opening chapter, I got pulled into an intense moment where Emmie's best friend tells her that her father has been terribly assaulted. I instantly became curious and I wanted to know why Deacon was at Emmie's house looking guilty. At first I thought "well, it must be him". But then I quickly retracted because it would be too easy to simply assumed he did it. And as the story progressed, I figured out the deal with one person in particular because of how overly nice he was, along with his behavior towards Deacon. But I didn't understand why he'd do that to the family he claimed to care about and who else was working with him. It was clear to me that it wasn't a one man operation.
I found myself relating to Emmie's character in regards to how she's always trying to help others; wanting to find solutions and make everyone happy. Like her, I have a tendency to hold back my feelings and not stir the pot, so to speak. In Emmie's case, she was trying hard to live up to her mother's expectations and make her proud in the way that her brother had failed. So in spite of the situation, being caught up with Deacon and going against her parents when they told her to stay away from him helped her toughen up more, I think. And I was happy when she stood up to her mom about what she wanted.
I wouldn't call this a romantic suspense because even though Emmie had a crush on Deacon and he felt the same way, the situation was just too intense and their main focus was on clearing his name and figuring out who had attacked his father and why. That's understandable because I feel if the romance aspect was acted on too much then that would have taken away from the suspenseful elements of the story, and I liked that each page had me curious and wanting to know what the hell was going on and what sort of secrets were being kept. But I can't dismiss that it was sweet when they finally shared an intimate moment. No matter how short.
All in all, I liked that Richards had me guessing about various characters' involvement and whether or not this person could be trusted. I also liked how quick of a read it was; the writing style was fluid, and details were well-balanced. My Secret to Tell is a good story with chilling moments, especially that ending. The author had me at the edge of my seat. Loved how everything worked out for the characters, and I feel everyone got what they deserved.
Natalie D. Richards won her first writing competition in the second grade with her short story about Barbara Frances Bizzlefishes (who wouldn't dare do the dishes.) Now she writes about awesome girls, broody boys, and all things dark and creepy. When she's not writing or shopping her manuscripts, you can probably find her wading through the towers of dog-eared paperbacks that have taken over her bedroom. Natalie lives in Ohio (Go Bucks!) with her techno-wiz husband, three amazing kids, and a seventy pound dust-mop who swears he's the family dog.
Sounds intriguing. I always enjoy when I think I know "who-dun-it" and then I'm wrong. :) My WoW
ReplyDeleteYeah, me too. Love that about suspense books. This one had a lot of that :)
DeleteIt's on my tbr list too. Hope we both enjoy it!
ReplyDeleteAlma @ A Novel Place
This definitely sounds pretty interesting, thank you for sharing! I've been more skeptical of romantic novels but this one looks like it won't be too bad ;)
ReplyDeleteThis isn't romantic. It's more focused on the suspense and figuring out why Deacon's father was attacked. Hope you give it a try :)
Deletemy itchy fingers so want this, lovely review
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lily. Hope you get to read it soon :)
DeleteGreat review! I've read her other two books and will be reading this one soon. She's great with keeping me guessing and I always appreciate when authors can do that. Thanks for stopping by!
ReplyDeleteTressa @ Wishful Endings
I liked the previous one, Gone Too Far. That had some good mystery too.
DeleteThanks for coming by as well :)
Sounds like an interesting read Shane. I like that they are trying to clear Deacon's name! Nice review.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Naomi. Give it a try :)
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