A review by missprint_
The Secrets We Keep by Trisha Leaver
2.0
"But no matter what I did or how far I went for her, she'd keep me on the outside, five safe steps away from her and her inner circle."
Identical twins Ella and Maddy used to be inseparable until Maddy started to care more about field hockey and the popular crowd than she did about her quiet, artsy sister.
Ella still always come when Maddy calls. Even if it means sneaking out of her room and away from her art school portfolio in the middle of the night to pick Maddy up.
Instead of a quick drive and a painless trip with both of them home in half an hour, Ella's car goes off the road in the midst of a bitter argument.
After, Ella is in the hospital, battered and with little memory of the accident. Maddy is dead.
Surrounded by friends and family who believe she is Maddy--convinced Maddy will be missed more than she ever will and filled with guilt over the accident--Ella makes a choice. She will become Maddy. She'll live the life Maddy deserved. She'll make things right.
Ella soon realizes that her sister's life is filled with secrets which Ella will have to understand while she tries to keep them. As Ella tries to make sense of the sister she barely knew she will also have to decide if she can continue living a lie or finally step out of her sister's shadow in The Secrets We Keep (2015) by Trisha Leaver.
The Secrets We Keep is a story about family and grieving but also a mystery as Ella tries to understand what Maddy had done that left her crying and desperate for Ella to pick her up on the night of the accident.
Leaver begins the story with a prologue telling readers exactly what Ella has done and why she feels so strongly that she has to pretend to be Maddy (along with numerous circumstances stacking up to lead to Ella's initial mis-identification as Maddy). The book then backs up to the night of the accident as readers learn more about the sisters' estrangement and currently strained relationship.
There is no way to get around the fact that Maddy is a stereotypically mean popular girl before her death. An identifier which she never gets to transcend because she dies and instead it is Ella left picking up the pieces.
Unfortunately shifting the start of the novel to before the accident (and before Ella truly makes her choice as she is swept up in the post-accident confusion at the hospital) neutralizes a lot of the initial urgency. For the first seventy-five pages of the novel, readers know know exactly what happens after the accident which means that readers also know more than Ella herself.
Within The Secrets We Keep, Ella's decision to become her sister makes perfect sense as the motivations stem from a deep sense of guilt combined with grief. But the premise begins to wear thin as the plot progresses and Ella's secret begins to unravel.
Elements of romance and mystery move the story forward but never integrate perfectly with the main plot of Ella making peace with her sister's death. The addition of an awkward love triangle between Ella, her best friend Josh and Josh's two-years-younger girlfriend (who Ella strongly dislikes--and maybe feels threatened by--while refusing to acknowledge possibly having romantic feelings for Josh herself) further dilutes the core elements of the story which had so much promise.
Despite having all of the right pieces, including a great heroine and strong premise, The Secrets We Keep fails to meet its potential and instead becomes very familiar as the plot moves in directions previously handled more notably by Zevin and Oliver among others.
The Secrets We Keep blends several genres to deliver elements of romance and suspense within a story about loss and grieving that will appeal to readers looking for more of the same.
Possible Pairings: I Remember You by Cathleen Davitt Bell, Fracture by Megan Miranda, Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver, We Are the Goldens by Dana Reinhardt, Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, A Map of the Known World by Lisa Ann Sandell, The Edge of Falling by Rebecca Serle, Beautiful Lies by Jessica Warman, Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin, Falling into Place by Amy Zhang
*An advance copy of this book was provided by the publisher for review consideration*
Identical twins Ella and Maddy used to be inseparable until Maddy started to care more about field hockey and the popular crowd than she did about her quiet, artsy sister.
Ella still always come when Maddy calls. Even if it means sneaking out of her room and away from her art school portfolio in the middle of the night to pick Maddy up.
Instead of a quick drive and a painless trip with both of them home in half an hour, Ella's car goes off the road in the midst of a bitter argument.
After, Ella is in the hospital, battered and with little memory of the accident. Maddy is dead.
Surrounded by friends and family who believe she is Maddy--convinced Maddy will be missed more than she ever will and filled with guilt over the accident--Ella makes a choice. She will become Maddy. She'll live the life Maddy deserved. She'll make things right.
Ella soon realizes that her sister's life is filled with secrets which Ella will have to understand while she tries to keep them. As Ella tries to make sense of the sister she barely knew she will also have to decide if she can continue living a lie or finally step out of her sister's shadow in The Secrets We Keep (2015) by Trisha Leaver.
The Secrets We Keep is a story about family and grieving but also a mystery as Ella tries to understand what Maddy had done that left her crying and desperate for Ella to pick her up on the night of the accident.
Leaver begins the story with a prologue telling readers exactly what Ella has done and why she feels so strongly that she has to pretend to be Maddy (along with numerous circumstances stacking up to lead to Ella's initial mis-identification as Maddy). The book then backs up to the night of the accident as readers learn more about the sisters' estrangement and currently strained relationship.
There is no way to get around the fact that Maddy is a stereotypically mean popular girl before her death. An identifier which she never gets to transcend because she dies and instead it is Ella left picking up the pieces.
Unfortunately shifting the start of the novel to before the accident (and before Ella truly makes her choice as she is swept up in the post-accident confusion at the hospital) neutralizes a lot of the initial urgency. For the first seventy-five pages of the novel, readers know know exactly what happens after the accident which means that readers also know more than Ella herself.
Within The Secrets We Keep, Ella's decision to become her sister makes perfect sense as the motivations stem from a deep sense of guilt combined with grief. But the premise begins to wear thin as the plot progresses and Ella's secret begins to unravel.
Elements of romance and mystery move the story forward but never integrate perfectly with the main plot of Ella making peace with her sister's death. The addition of an awkward love triangle between Ella, her best friend Josh and Josh's two-years-younger girlfriend (who Ella strongly dislikes--and maybe feels threatened by--while refusing to acknowledge possibly having romantic feelings for Josh herself) further dilutes the core elements of the story which had so much promise.
Despite having all of the right pieces, including a great heroine and strong premise, The Secrets We Keep fails to meet its potential and instead becomes very familiar as the plot moves in directions previously handled more notably by Zevin and Oliver among others.
The Secrets We Keep blends several genres to deliver elements of romance and suspense within a story about loss and grieving that will appeal to readers looking for more of the same.
Possible Pairings: I Remember You by Cathleen Davitt Bell, Fracture by Megan Miranda, Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver, We Are the Goldens by Dana Reinhardt, Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, A Map of the Known World by Lisa Ann Sandell, The Edge of Falling by Rebecca Serle, Beautiful Lies by Jessica Warman, Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin, Falling into Place by Amy Zhang
*An advance copy of this book was provided by the publisher for review consideration*