ARC Review: The Secrets We Keep - Trisha Leaver

Title: The Secrets We Keep
Author: Trisha Leaver
Pub Date: April 28th, 2015
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Page Count: 304

A girl takes over her twin sister's identity in this emotionally charged page-turner about the complicated bond between sisters.

Ella and Maddy Lawton are identical twins. Ella has spent her high school years living in popular Maddy's shadows, but she has never been envious of Maddy. In fact, she's chosen the quiet, safe confines of her sketchbook over the constant battle for attention that has defined Maddy's world.

When—after a heated argument—Maddy and Ella get into a tragic accident that leaves her sister dead, Ella wakes up in the hospital surrounded by loved ones who believe she is Maddy. Feeling responsible for Maddy's death and everyone's grief, Ella makes a split-second decision to pretend to be Maddy. Soon, Ella realizes that Maddy's life was full of secrets. Caught in a web of lies, Ella is faced with two options—confess her deception or live her sister's life.

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This should've been perfect. There was an interesting premise to catch my attention, but the lack of plot tore down a lot of my expectations. - Nova @ Out of Time

Sometimes, when you read a book, you can't get enough of it until a certain point. Before the point, it's like "oh my gosh, this book is amazing!" You see no faults with it, convinced it's going to be a five star review even though you haven't read halfway yet. And then there's this revelation when you start to see the fault and they come in massive numbers. This is what happened to me with this novel. I started out loving everything about it and a bit after halfway, I saw it for what it truly was, plotless. And after that, I just couldn't ignore the major flaw.

Most of the time, I spend time talking about the main character but honestly, I didn't feel much for Ella. Rather, I was blown away by Josh's personality. This guy had flaws and he had quirks. He was real. I felt how real he was by the way he walked and how he spoke. Ella, to be, was nothing special. She was real enough, but like a lot of characters, didn't make me feel any sort of emotional attachment. Josh did. In real life, I'm pretty much Ella, only, I'm not overshadowed by my sister. I'm just overshadowed by everyone else. And someone like me needed someone like Josh, which is why my feelings for him are so strong.

And now that I've gotten something positive out in the open, I'm about to tackle the major problem. There is no real plot. This book is so character driven and for someone like me, it hurts. In the summary, it's said that there's this big thing that Maddy did that Ella didn't know about. It isn't that big. After I finished, I was like... over that? I know, it must be a lot more drastic in the "book world" but the way things were written, I was expecting secrets on a much grander scale. That completely ruined the ending of the plot for me.

What fixed it was the development in Ella. It's obvious Leaver can write. I saw a change in Ella that made me happy. Ella was very cynical in the beginning, which I really understood. Her situation was something insanely difficult to write and done well. Can you imagine everyone thinking you were your sister if both of you got into an accident and only one survived? I know it would make me question my worth and drive me to the point of insanity. I'd question if I even mattered and that's exactly what happened to Ella. That part of the novel was very important to her development and made me feel.

However, something that bothered me on a smaller scale was Jenna. There's this character who is stereotypical "mean girl" and everyone insists that she has home problems but we never see a different side to her. She's completely one dimensional with everyone making excuses for her. Ugh. I couldn't deal with someone like that, especially since there was never a side to her story. Plus, she was a walking stereotype with no original personality. Ella already had so much to deal with; in my opinion, Jenna was irrelevant.

Overall, I found this book to be enjoyable and there's such a strong message about sisters in it. Considering I have a sister, I was able to connect to it too. I don't regret reading it because there were aspects I liked, but I probably wouldn't read it again because I know I would be far more critical during the second time.

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Trisha Leaver lives on Cape Cod with her husband, three children, and one rather irreverent black lab.  She is a chronic daydreamer who prefers the cozy confines of her own imagination to the mundane routine of everyday life.  She writes Young Adult Contemporary fiction, Psychological Horror and Science Fiction and is published with FSG/ Macmillan, Flux/Llewellyn and Merit Press.