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May 02, 2015

Review: The Secrets We Keep by Trisha Leaver



Title: The Secrets We Keep
Author: Trisha Leaver
Publisher: Raincoast
Publication date: April 28, 2015
Genre(s): Contemporary
Source: Publisher
Format: ARC
Pages: 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.
The Secrets We Keep deals with twin sisters, Maddy and Ella, who are identical but couldn't be anymore different. After a tragic accident leaves Maddy dead, Ella is overwhelmed and feels like she's the one responsible for Maddy's death. Through some mistake, everyone at the hospital has confused her for Maddy and when she realizes how happy they all seem that Maddy had survived and not Ella, she makes a decision to pretend to be Maddy to keep everyone happy.
When I first read about this book, I was really intrigued to pick it up, to find out what happens in the end, and hoping for something that was really awesome and that I could simply read in one sitting because it was that good. It's sad to say that I was somewhat disappointed with this book. It was pretty predictable right from the beginning and was full of cliches. 
Ella's reasoning behind pretending to be Maddy was so that she could "give her life" to her sister and let her be the one that survived yet this concept made no sense to me. It seemed like sometimes Ella was envious of Maddy and getting to be her she could finally have all the things she didn't get to have because of her quiet and shy personality. I think my biggest disappointment was that I could see this book being so much more yet it failed to deliver. It was a typical twin sisters fighting because they were complete opposite story. A mistake happens and one is dead and now the other feels guilty. I wish there were more emotions in the book and less of Ella trying to figure out what made Maddy so popular and why Maddy didn't want to hang out with Ella anymore. The ideas weren't unique at all and I could easily tell how the book would end a couple of chapters in.
I do have to say that there was a good mystery throughout the book. The secrets between the sisters add up and one of the reasons I kept reading was so that I could find out what exactly happened between them. It's a lot of high school drama, a little typical but overall a good book for a young audience. 



2 comments:

  1. Woah, the premise to this book sounds really intense! It's a bit unfortunate that the actual book was lacking though- predictability is never the best, and it definitely sounds like the character development isn't too great. Might give this one a miss.

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  2. Great review! I haven't heard of this one yet, but it does sound really interesting. It's too bad that it failed to deliver though and that it was predictable.

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