I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. Good characters, excellent plot and a quick read. Perfect as a light summer read.

A lovely read. An enjoyable escape. I liked the characters and the plot was believable. Will read this author again. Recommended.

3.5 stars

I enjoy books featuring women as friends rather than as competitors, and one thing Rachel Johns gets right with The Art of Keeping Secrets is the friendship dynamic between her three characters. 

Do they always like each other? No.

Do they always enjoy each other's company? No.

But they share an inherent sense of support of each other. Even when they are at odds, they are on each other's sides. 

Of the three women, Flick perhaps is the star of the show. She's a taxidermist, so her job is to bring life to dead things. This is more than just a little symbolic. Flick's marriage to Sebastian is deemed as the standard for marriages, but Flick knows otherwise. There is more to this relationship than her friends realize, more than even she realizes. 

Neve, a single parent, also conceals a secret. She has not been truthful with her son, who believes that his father has rejected him. The truth is, like Flick's marriage, more complex than that. Emma is also a single parent, but hers is more recent. She is divorced, her husband having remarried a younger woman (named Chanel, which made me laugh for some reason). Emma currently struggles with some health problems and a raging crush on her boss. 

These three have known each other for years. They met when their sons were younger, coming together as a unit to operate against the other mothers. Johns also has a strong sense of how women work against each other, as evidenced by the contrast with the school moms. 

If you're looking for a traditional romance, this perhaps is not the right book. Yes, there are hints of it, as far as girl-meets-boy. But the bigger, more significant romance is the one between the three women. They love each other, even if that love is nonsexual. Their love for each other is, in many ways, stronger than the love they may have for the men in their lives. 

The pacing is a bit uneven in this book, and I had a difficult time warming up to Flick. I'm not sure I ever did. I felt for her, but I never quite liked her. There were times when I wondered if I could be friends with her, whereas I knew that Neve, Emma, and I could be.

Rachel Johns knows that not every story will have a happy ending, and such is the case for at least one of these women. I liked that realism, though. I liked that Johns took a risk and told an honest story, as opposed to something unrealistically feel-good.

Review featured at www.books-n-kisses.com

This story is about friendship and secrets. Have you ever had a friend that you believe you know every little detail about. If you were to take a quiz on their life you would get 100% and even have stories for extra credit. Well what if you found out that your friend was keeping a big secret you never expected AND you now come to realize you have a secret that she doesn’t know about and it’s time to confess. 

Well that is what this story is about. Three friends who believe they know each other inside and out but are shocked to learn they don’t. 

I enjoyed each story. Told by each of the friends the book jumps to each character and at first I wasn’t sure if I would like it having the writing this way really added to the characters. I enjoyed the writing and the characters both forefront and background. 

This is women’s lit at its finest. 

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Great read! An excellent delve into the relationship of three friends and how twists and turns change their lives. I didn’t like the ending, I wanted to find out more of how things worked out, but overall I was really invested in each of their lives and kept turning page after page to see what was going to happen next. Strong characters, three meaningful plots that meld together through their friendship and show us what true friends should be!

Three of the more unconventional moms forge a friendship when their sons begin high school at an elite private school. Throughout their time there, they share the ups and downs of life and motherhood, their children form friendships together, and they’re like family to each other. Now it’s almost time for the boys to graduate and times are changing.

Genevieve Taylor (Neve) has been a single parent for her son Will’s whole life, but life is going to change when she’s forced to reveal a secret past that she hadn’t shared with anyone previously. Her friends accompany her on a trip to New York to be supportive while she tries to get some answers and rectify some mistakes.

Emma McLoughlin has been trying her best to survive after an unexpected divorce a few years ago, but she’s to the point of falling apart exhausted. Her son Caleb and younger twin daughters are the light of her life, but having to deal with her ex is nothing she looks forward to. To top it all off, she’s inappropriately crushing on her boss!

Felicity Bell (Flick) has the perfect life … or so it seems … a darling son Toby who is ready to graduate and prosper in life, a daughter ready to start a new chapter in her life and a devoted husband. What nobody knows are the secrets that are hidden behind the walls of their house … secrets that are going to be exposed that will devastate each of their lives.

Emma, Flick, and Neve developed a tight friendship when their children all started high school. A trip to NYC is about to change all of their lives.

Emma, a divorced mom of three, deals with her ex and his much younger new wife more often than she likes. She struggles to make ends meet, while her ex, Max, buys their kids everything they want, including a vacation in Hawaii. All of the stress and headaches Emma's been dealing with are too much. When her friends drag her off to NYC, she's more than eager to go. She just doesn't know how much this trip is going to change her future.

Neve's a single mom. Her son wants to know more about his dad, and Neve realizes she's hidden the truth for too long. It's been so long that she doesn't know how to share the truth with her friends or her son.

Flick is happily married. Her marriage is the thing that her friends wish they could have. Flick's also hiding a secret, and it's a secret that has her at a loss over what to do.

As secrets are revealed, their friendship may or may not survive. The Art of Keeping Secrets takes a close look at friendships, secrets, and the changes that both can bring to a person's life.

Strengths and Weaknesses


I grew to like every character in The Art of Keeping Secrets and was sad to see the story end. It felt a little abrupt. I wouldn't mind seeing them reunite. The abrupt feeling to the ending was the only real downfall.

The writing moves quickly. One of the secrets took me by surprise, but the other two didn't. They did, however, draw me in. I felt for each woman and wanted to see how things turned out.

RTR's Bottom Line


There's a bit of a Rosamund Pilcher feel to The Art of Keeping Secrets. It's not quite like her writing, but the relationships and multiple layers make me think of her books. If you like books with multiple characters, multiple plots, and the tie of friendship keeping it all linked, you'll love this one.

DNF. Sadly not for me this one and is no reflection on the author, it's simply a case of it's-not-you-it's-me.

Three women, three big secrets (ok, maybe two big secrets and one thing where no one realized what was happening).  Emma, Flick and Neve live in Australia and send their sons to the same private school.  They've never fit in with the other moms, but they have become the best of friends.  Now their sons are graduating and each is finding that life as she knows it will be undergoing more changes than the predicted empty nest.

The biggest secret of all is Flick's, well, actually her husband's.  She learned while they were engaged that he was a cross-dresser, but they agreed it would be their secret.  Now, he has come out to her as transgendered but he (she?) doesn't want to lose Flick.  Flick is torn--she's not a lesbian, she loves her husband, but she doesn't want a wife.  What will she do?

None of these women have the traditional picket fence marriage--at the time of this story, Flick is the only one who is married--and the story is an interesting exploration of what marriage is and should be.  

I enjoyed the book but I can't say that any of the women particularly appealed to me--I felt sorry for all of them at different times in the book, but I was always the dispassionate observer, I was never emotionally drawn into the book.  

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley.  Grade: B.

[I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]

The Art of Keeping Secrets centers around a group of three middle-aged women:  Neve, Emma, and Flick. The trio have been best friends since their sons started high school together and they discovered a common bond. Neve has always been a single parent, Emma is recently divorced, and Felicity (Flick) seems to have the perfect marriage the likes of which others wish for.

The cracks in their personal relationships start to show when Neve's 17yo son becomes determined to find out more about his father, forcing Neve to confess to poor life choices when she was younger. Stepping into her shoes, you can somewhat understand her reasoning for her decisions, even though you can't help but shake your head at her for not realizing the eventual repercussions to her actions. Her friends are initially quite judgmental toward her which would make you think being friends with women might not be the smartest thing if they are going to kick you when you are down. Give them a chance, dear readers.

    As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.  --Proverbs 27:17

Within short order, the other two women must also face serious issues in their own lives. Emma a health crisis; and Flick must finally face the truth in her marriage when keeping its secrets is no longer a viable option. Their friendship does prove its mettle as they help each other get through very difficult moments as well as share hopeful and fulfilling times. 

Freedom from their burdens and hope for their future happiness comes to them by being put in difficult places where they are forced to put life in perspective and focus on what really matters:  health, love, family, forgiveness.

This is an accurate study of female friendships and of women in general, especially when faced with stressful events in life. There is also hope for second chances and a little romance thrown in.