The Last Secret You'll Ever Keep

The Last Secret You'll Ever Keep A Novel

Bestselling author Laurie Faria Stolarz returns with The Last Secret You’ll Ever Keep, a thrilling novel of an eighteen-year-old girl's search for answers and what she finds instead. Four days... Trapped in a well, surrounded by dirt, scratching at the walls trying to find a way out. Four days of a thirst so strong, that when it finally rains, I drink as much as possible from the dripping walls, not even caring how much dirt comes with it. Six months... Since my escape. Since no one believed I was taken to begin with – from my own bed, after a party, when no one else was home... Six months of trying to find answers and being told instead that I made the whole incident up. One month... Since I logged on to the Jane Anonymous site for the first time and found a community of survivors who listen without judgment, provide advice, and console each other when needed. A month of chatting with a survivor whose story eerily mirrors my own: a girl who’s been receiving triggering clues, just like me, and who could help me find the answers I’m searching for. Three days... Since she mysteriously disappears, and since I’m forced to ask the questions: will my chance to find out what happened to me vanish with her? And will I be next?
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Reviews

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danielle bush@daniereads87
3 stars
Nov 29, 2021

Overall I enjoyed the plot and storyline of this book. The first maybe 60% was pretty slow going, we get alot of our main character trying to retrace her steps from the night she escaped, and her trying to dig into her own memory for any clues to what happened to her. She was trying to find any kind of proof that she was abducted and held for 4 days, because every one in her life from the cops to her aunt believed she was making up a crazy story.. However after that point things really pick up.. One of the girls from her chat group goes missing and she begins the journey of trying to find and help her, and this really starts to move the story along. I really liked the chats being a part of the story and seeing how the people in her group are supporting each other through their own tragedies. Terra is a unreliable narrator and while I believed her story, there were definite things that made me question her sanity.. There were some major twists and turns toward the end that were really surprising to me I had no Idea what was going to happen.. and after finishing the book I felt satisfied with how it ended..

Photo of Belle Ellrich
Belle Ellrich@belleeeey
4 stars
Aug 30, 2021

*I WAS PROVIDED A PHYSICAL GALLEY BY THE PUBLISHER IN RETURN FOR MY HONEST REVIEW. THIS DOES NOT AFFECT MY OPINION* When I saw the announcement that this book was getting published, I couldn't have been more thrilled. Having loved and adored Laurie Faria Stolarz's previous release Jane Anonymous, I was desperate to get my hands on The Last Secret You'll Ever Keep, and low and behold, this book happens to be a spin-off! I went into this book with high hopes, and I wasn't disappointed. To begin with, the character development in this book was really good. I really loved the main character Terra, and though I can't comment on the character's PTSD (as I'm not the own voices for that), I will say that I think she did a really great job of getting across what it's like to have your feelings, emotions and experiences dismissed by the people around you. I don't like talking about it much, but I had a stalker back when I was 15 who did threaten me, and when the police dropped my case due to insufficient evidence and the belief that I was lying (despite it happening to another girl), it hurt more than I think anyone around me realized. I was really able to connect with Terra through that, and I can't thank Stolarz enough for being able to portray that in such a sensitive and caring way that didn't romanticize it. I think the world-building in this book was fantastic. I was easily able to picture each and every place described, and it was almost surreal to have that experience in a thriller, probably the last place you would want to picture yourself in the scenes as they're happening. And I couldn't help but love the dual timeline POVs through Terra. That's one thing I really loved about Jane Anonymous and The Last Secret You'll Ever Keep. This story will keep you hooked just on that basis of the dual timelines alone because you can't help but want to figure out what happens next, when the two will coincide, and so on. I will say, one thing I wasn't that big on was the relationship between Terra and Garret. I think it was rushed, and I agreed with Terra that it was a little weird he was so eager to help her and believe her story when no one else did. At the end of the story especially, it felt like there was a chunk of scenes we could've been given that seemed to be taken away. And speaking of the end of the story, while I loved that it wasn't wrapped up in a shiny bow regarding Terra's kidnapper and stalker, I wasn't very thrilled with the time-skip ending. I'm not really a fan of those, and it didn't really satisfy me all that much. Overall though, I really loved this book. While there were a few things I wasn't that big of a fan of, everything else was what I had hoped the book would stay true to, and for that, I rate it 4.25. I'm highly anticipating whatever Stolarz releases next, and I can't help but hope it'll be another addition to the Jane Anonymous universe.

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