Can love and family win through when there are so many secrets?
So many secrets! Why has Mackenzie turned into a sullen, moody teenager? Her mother, Lauren, has been hiding something from her but is seems secrets are nothing new in this family. Lauren and her sister, Jenna, made a pact many years ago to keep quiet about something shocking they discovered. And their mother, Nancy, doesn't have an easy relationship with her daughters.
When circumstances change dramatically, Lauren and Mackenzie return from London to the family home in Martha's Vineyard and the secrets start to unravel. I felt sympathetic towards each of them as they come to terms with problems, realise that a lot of the reserve was trying to protect each other from unhappiness and learn how to love and share. I liked the way the story moves from one perspective to another so we see how they feel about themselves and their relationships. Sarah Morgan cleverly captures the voices and shows all four as they develop trust and understanding of each other. This is really almost four different stories in one book but the relationships are so intertwined that you are swept along wanting to know what will happen to each of them.
A warm-hearted, feel-good novel with the Martha's Vineyard setting making it a lovely summer read.
A lovely, engrossing read about three generations of women and the secrets they have all kept and are still clinging to. Perfect to curl up with and escape into.
Three generations of Stewart women, grandmother Nancy, granddaughter Mackenzie, plus sisters Jenna and Lauren all have secrets. Some more devastating than others, but all impacting on one another's lives. When Lauren and her daughter Mackenzie end up home in Martha's Vineyard, it is finally time for the secrets to come out. This was a lovely portrayal of female relationships and the characters interacted realistically with one another. I was engrossed when reading and felt myself a part of their world. The secrets weren't hard to guess and the supporting male characters were quite two dimensional with no real depth, but that didn't really matter. It was a light read and the female characters were all realistic and enjoyable. I felt as though I connected with them. Definitely one to read if you like to see women supporting one another.
A really good read and I could not stop laughing in places about this though fictional family discovering themselves, they could be anyone's family in reality.
An excellent read!!
Here we have three generations of women, all related. The main characters in the book are Nancy, her daughters Lauren and Jenna and granddaughter Mack. All different within themselves and within the family and all seeking to find out where they fit into the familial dynamics. With it the story bring together all the emotions and fraught that can sometime be hidden away and only come to light when an event occurs in a family.
Whilst the family journey is running throughout the book, the individual experiences of the characters are also running in parallel and Sarah Morgan writes in such a way to keep the two journeys keep grab hold of the readers attention. The characters are human and what happens to them and their experiences can happen and is probably happening to many people and many families. The storyline is excellent and really enjoyable.
I loved this book, wanting to know what happened to the characters who were really well written and I really felt the emotion with them.
I have never read a book by Sarah Morgan before. At the start of the book there is a notice stating that she is going in a different direction with this book. This is a good book and this change is definitely a good combination. I look forward to further work and discovering her back catalogue.
How to keep a Secret is about 2 sisters and their Mum. The opening gives us a peak at a secret although you don't find out what they have seen got a while. This is really intriguing and definitely hooked me in.
The 2 sisters have complicated lives and take a turn which leads them in difference directions to what they thought would happen. One of the main themes is the rebuilding of their relationships and how finally talking about their secrets helps them grow and become better people.
I loved this book, wanting to know what happened to the characters who were really well written and I really felt the emotion with them.
I would recommend this book especially to people who like stories about family life.
A beautifully written novel about love, loss, heartbreak and the devastation that family secrets can cause when kept hidden.
In London, Lauren has the perfect life, a loving husband about to turn Forty and a stroppy teenager on the brink of something brilliant. Lauren chooses to ignore her husband’s odd behaviour and her daughter’s sullenness whilst she plans the perfect birthday party for her husband.
Across the pond in Martha’s Vineyard, Lauren’s sister Jenna also has a seemingly perfect life. She has the perfect husband, her dream job and thinks she might be pregnant. Jenna and her husband are desperate to have a child, but unfortunately it’s not happening for them.
Could that be about to change?
Nancy, their Mother hasn’t been the same since the death of her husband and their Father, Tom. But to hear that she wants to sell the family home is a shock to the sisters. But not as much of a shock as the event that turns their life’s upside down and sees them back together in Martha’s Vineyard for the first time in years.
Lauren’s reasons for not staying longer on her annual summer visits to Martha’s have been vague. But Mackenzie (Mack) her daughter is certain she knows the real reason they’ve never stayed particularly long.
This is where things become complicated.
I don’t want to say too much more as I’d give too much away, but this is a beautifully written novel. I’d never read a Sarah Morgan novel before this one, so I’m off now to discover some of her back catalogue!
All the ingredients for a great story to get immersed in during the holidays. Strong female characters and lots of secrets to be revealed, perfect.
A fantastic read with brilliantly written characters. I especially liked the mysterious and moody Scott Rhodes. I love books written with many narrators as you get to know each character in detail and this didn't disappoint. The main characters are four females of the same family and each chapter is written in turn from their perspective. They all keep secrets from each other which get revealed throughout the story, this keeps the story fresh and fast paced. You will enjoy this story if you like books about family relationships, friendships and love. I would recommend to fans of Cathy Kelly and Adele Parks.
Very romantic, about letting go of the past, moving forwards to the future. Could easily picture being on Martha's Vineyard.
What a great book. A story predominantly about 3 generations of women from the same family. How the past affects their futures and what they learn along the way. Sometimes I felt it was a little predictable however, I still loved it and didn't want to put it down. A great holiday read. Set mainly in Martha's Vineyard and having visited there, I could easily picture the great descriptions given.
Nancy and daughters and granddaughter learn to come together and appreciate each other in their new life together on Martha's Vineyard. A brilliant book by a great author.
Having never heard of Sarah Morgan, I started reading with trepidation, this is one of the books I most enjoyed, so will be looking for her other books. Nancy, her two daughters Jenna and Lauren along with Lauren's daughter Mackenzie all learn to get along happily, after years of living apart and keeping secrets about their lives from close family. I loved this book so much, it tells how they all come back together in a loving family. After the death of her husband, Lauren and her daughter move back to Martha's Vineyard from London and discover a new life there when Lauren reconnects with an ex who happens to be Mackenzie's father. Mackenzie also learns to change her life from teenagerhood to adulthood on the island. A book that concentrates on women and their feelings is a rarity and delightful to read. I hope there is many more books on the subject to come from this author
Story of three generations of women each with a secret. All about relationships being tested,re-emerging and a family coming together. You will not be able to put this book down.
I was asked by LoveReading to review this book which is due for publication 14th June 2018 - so not long to wait.
I enjoyed this book in the garden, this for the author is slightly unusual as this is a standalone book- just in time for the summer holidays.
Oh my goodness I found myself, laughing, in tears and in wonderment - this story is of three generations of women each has a secret. I found myself getting really immersed in this book and totally forgetting the time.
It is all about relationships being tested, re-emerging and a family coming together.
Boy are these strong characters and so well written and the descriptions of the setting in Martha's Vineyard was beautiful.
It is one of those stories you sigh at the end but the story and characters live with the reader for along time after.
This is my first take on Sarah Morgan and I will hope she continues writing in this style. A recommended sunbed read in 2018 and beyond.
Sarah Morgan doesn't disappoint her readers with this new book which is a departure from her usual style. This is a strongly written book with an emotional storyline. I loved it!
Sarah Morgan takes a departure from her usual style in this new, longer length story. Told through several voices, it charts the fallout following a family tragedy which affects different people in different ways. Everyone has to go on their own individual journey of realisation, complete with dragging skeletons out of cupboards, before the book ends in a satisfactory way.
This was a wonderful book - I've read most of her other work and I was excited to be chosen to review this one. I loved it!
A fantastic summer read that will keep you gripped with the secrets of three generations of women.
This was the first book I had read by Sarah Morgan, but after hearing good things, I was eager to see what lay in store for me, particularly as I read that this book is different in style from her previous books.
It starts with Lauren who is managing a busy household looking after her husband Ed and daughter Mack. She is in the throes of organising Ed’s 40th birthday party when tragedy strikes and she is forced to up sticks back to her family home. Lauren and her mother have never had the best relationship, so it is a challenging situation for her along with everything else that is going on. The book then alternates between four perspectives: Lauren, her sister Jenna, their mother Nancy and Lauren’s daughter, Mack. These three generations of women gradually unveil secrets they have been carrying and how they manage these along with the complexity of their relationships with one another.
Each character is really well developed and you are can really understand what each of them are going through and what they are feeling. It takes you on a journey of many emotions and is a very enjoyable book, highly recommended for summer!
But with transparency comes an honest and rich understanding that makes all their relationships deeper and stronger.
I enjoyed this novel very much. It is a well written and well-constructed novel with great storytelling.
The book deals with secrets, how we keep them and the long-reaching effects of these. It especially looks at secrets kept within families. Nancy, an artist was always distant from her two daughters as they were growing up resulting in them having a difficult and strained relationship. They didn't understand why she seemed so disinterested in them only and concentrating their love on each other and their father. The two sisters Jenna and Lauren are very close - sharing all their thoughts and experiences, or so we think. Their lives run a different course and although they face separate dilemmas this bond is never broken.
When an unforeseen tragedy brings them all back together in their family home in Martha's Vineyard the secrets begin to unravel and surface. No one remains untouched. Even Lauren's teenage daughter Mackenzie has her own secrets to protect and disclose.
But with transparency comes an honest and rich understanding that makes all their relationships deeper and stronger. 'How to Keep A Secret' is not necessarily saying that secrets are 'bad' or underhand - most of these secrets are kept for the right reasons and are to protect rather than harm.
This was my first Sarah Morgan book and I will be going back to her previous novels to read more.
A beautiful, inspiring story which will sing to your soul and make you long for a change for the better too.
How to Keep a Secret is THE perfect holiday read. So engaging and compelling, I just wanted it to go on forever. The characters and settings so familiar by the end that I had the worst book hangover once finished I even started to google Martha's Vineyard to research a future holiday!
I love it when life throws a curve ball and it shakes everyone concerned enough to step up to their biggest brightest life, this book is all about that and more. A beautiful, inspiring story which will sing to your soul and make you long for a change too.
How To Keep A Secret....but is it one secret or many? A thoroughly enjoyable book that has many layers of family lives just waiting to be unfolded and uncovered as you race your way through this great novel.
A wonderful modern novel that tells the story of a fractured American family, a story which unfolds as it is told from the point of view of each of the four female characters - Jenna and Lauren the two adult daughters, Mack who is Lauren's teenage daughter and Nancy their somewhat estranged artist mother/grandmother.
The title 'How To Keep A Secret' makes you assume there is just one secret to be discovered but as you continue to read chapter after chapter you realise that each character has been hiding his or her own secrets. It is a wonderfully multi-layered book which was a joy to review and which I didn't want to put down. Thank goodness for long bank holiday weekends !
The story starts with Lauren and Jenna, as young girls, seeing something they know they shouldn't have seen which leads to a life-long secret as they make a pact to keep it to themselves but a secret which inevitably must come to the surface.
Having to move from London to live back home on the island of Martha's Vineyard following the death of her husband Ed (who also hid his own secrets), a devastated Lauren comes face to face with her own secret past. Ed's death has compounded his daughter Mack's own secret as she had recently made a shocking discovery about who she had thought she was but she feels unable to share those awkward teenage feelings with her mother. Jenna loves her job as a school teacher and is trying to become pregnant but at least she is happily married to Greg...or is she ?
Nancy had let her husband's infidelity and subsequent death put her own life on hold but she's never shared these emotions with her daughters...everyone is hiding secrets, every life-changing event has been the outcome of these hidden secrets which are all finally uncovered and re-unite the Stewart women as a strong family unit once more.
Having read the list of her books at the front I realise I have read one of Sarah's books before - Sleigh Bells In The Snow - which I loved as a wonderfully light-hearted and romantic escapade of a book but this one is just so much more rounded as a story and if Sarah Morgan continues to write books in this vein I will definitely be looking to read them as she writes about emotions so very well. Definitely my sort of author !
This is an ideal summer read for those lazy days reading by the pool. It is about three generations of women from one family dealing with the complexities of life and learning to live and love each other for who they are.
This wasn’t my usual genre of book but I did enjoy it nonetheless. It is an easy to read book which touches on some really complex issues but deals with them in a manageable and sensitive way. It is explores three generations of women from one family dealing with the complexities of life and learning to live and love each other for who they are. This is an ideal summer read for those lazy days reading by the pool.
A simple, enjoyable enough story, but with no surprises and everything apple pie neat and tidy.
I always feel a bit mean reviewing a book in a genre I don’t like, but I had hoped, from the synopsis, for an incisive examination of the difficult relationship between a mother and her two daughters, both of whom witnessed something shocking in their childhood that they had kept secret ever since. Sadly, for me, it was written in such a saccharine and predictable way it didn’t deal with many of the issues and tensions I had hoped for.
I am sure lovers of romance and happy endings, and if the blurb on Sarah Morgan is to be believed she obviously has an absolute army of followers and devoted fans, but I’m afraid this book just wasn’t for me. A simple, enjoyable enough story, but no surprises and everything apple pie neat and tidy.
It's a perfect literary example of 'sugar and spice and all things nice'!!
It's a bit difficult reviewing a book which, to my mind, is clearly a novel more for females due to its romantic bias and happy ending.
Basically sisters on different sides of the world live privileged lives. Their mother is equally privileged but with a strained relationship with her daughters. However there is one unfulfilled need, a child for Jenna.
Enter sudden heavy debt, death, a previous lover and an attractive gardener!
Whilst people continue throughout to not be who we assume, they all come together to resolve each and everyone's problems in both the financial and love stakes.
So happy sugar coated ending and smiles all round.