This book kept its titular secrets round every corner, it reminded of Firefly Lane in terms of plot and characters. The author writes with warmth & really gets inside every character's inner workings & thoughts ( )

Very good job of handling multiple issues without it feeling like the author is trying to stuff every issue into the book. ( )

After years of Harlequin/Mills & Boon category romances (medicals and Presents) and single-title contemporaries, this is Morgan's first foray into the women's fiction genre. It's at the border of women's fiction and genre romance, because while it is about a group of women at different stages of their lives and their relationships with each other, their romantic relationships are still front and center.

Nancy, her two daughters Lauren and Jenna, and Lauren's daughter Mackenzie (Mack) are the women whose stories are told here. The catalyst is a sudden, unexpected tragedy in Lauren and Mack's world, which brings them back to Nancy and Jenna on Martha's Vineyard. Nancy and Jenna have their own difficulties to contend with, and everyone has secrets, some of which have created distances between the mothers and their daughters. Even Lauren and Jenna's tight bond as sisters has been frayed.

There's nothing terribly surprising in this novel, but the stories are well told and the setting is effectively portrayed. All the characters feel like real people who behave authentically and while there are a few plot coincidences, they didn't take me out of the book. If you liked Morgan's Puffin Island series you should like this one; it's similar in tone and approach, but with the addition of an older generation and mature parent-child issues. Mack reminded me a lot (in a good way) of the teenage daughter in one of Morgan's medical romances.

Two niggles, one potential for others and one actual for me: Morgan still uses a lot of Britishisms, which some readers find jarring. I'm used to them, but they don't sit quite right in the minds and mouths of Americans. And there are a lot of one-sentence paragraphs. This seems to be a style thing (another GR reader noted it about a Sarah Maclean romance), but it occasionally got to be too much.

Overally, though, this is another very satisfying read from one of my autobuy authors. As usual, I'll follow Morgan wherever she wants to go and be rewarded for it. ( )

I received this book for free from the publisher (Harlequin) as part of their bookstagram publicity campaign.

I loved this book!

A blurb on the back of the book from fellow author, Jill Shalvis, describes this book as being “Jane Green meets Sophie Kinsella.” I haven’t read anything by Jane Green but I definitely got a few Sophie Kinsella vibes from this (I love Sophie Kinsella if you didn’t already know). One of the characters, Lauren, lives in London at the beginning of the book, which reminds me a lot of Sophie’s characters.

A large part of this book are the secrets and the fallouts that happen when they get revealed and I thought they were handled perfectly. I loved how the secrets were revealed one at a time. They were spaced out nicely and woven throughout the story.

This book is about three generations of women, which is a trope I love reading about and it was very well executed. All the women were fleshed out and felt real. I liked that we are given all 4 perspectives because that allows you to really get to know the characters and their feelings. I know some people had issues with the perspective changes but I didn’t have any issue with it and didn’t find it confusing.

There is romance, but the main focus of the book are the familial relationships, and I liked how the romance didn’t overshadow that. There was a nice balance between the two.

Overall, this was a wonderful piece of women’s fiction with a lot of heart and romance. ( )

Lauren has her home and her life in England in perfect order, until one afternoon-everything becomes a disaster. Her sister, Jenna, across the pond comes to the rescue but has struggles of her own. Little do they know, their own mother also has secrets of her own that may tear the family apart. Can these three find a way to work together and work though these issues?

​This book was heavy! I cried with the characters, I laughed with the characters, I felt second-hand embarrassment. Basically, this book has all of the feels and I absolutely loved it. Just when you think it can't get worse, it often does. The images we portray are a mask for the secrets we keep. Thankfully, there is some scandal, humor, and hope thrown in to lighten the mood at times when it gets almost too dark.

​​How To Keep A Secret​ is different from the previous books that I have read from ​Sarah Morgan​, the From Manhattan With Love series in ​the sense that the perspectives alternate from more than just the two main characters. On the other hand, this book was compares in the way that it dealt with more than one crisis at a time. But this one had four surprising crises! However, Sarah Morgan wrote this novel so fluidly that it all blended together well in a realistic "when it rains, it pours" sense. For me, it also helped with the pace. The emotions were so raw at times that I had to put the book down as the pain that each of these characters are going through is very evident. Most prominent were: grief, frustration, regret, and panic.

​My favorite character was Lauren's teenage daughter, Mack, because she is brutally honest yet terribly insecure. I think out of all of the characters, she developed the most. She also was the source of a very pivotal surprise in the plot of which I laughed out loud in surprise then immediately felt guilty. I really appreciated that some of the perspective was told in her point-of-view as it added depth to the overall mood of the novel.

For those who may be triggered or offended: there are themes of ​grief, infertility, infidelity, mild foul language, and one graphically sexual scenario.

Please note: an electronic advanced reader copy of this book was generously provided for free by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ( )