A sweet, fun read that keeps you engaged and has a great well developed plot and characters

Thank you to netgalley for the ARC

This was such a sweet, fun read. I loved the characters. I loved the backstory. I loved the plot that unfolded. This was overall just such a sweet book that felt so genuinely relatable to real life. So many teen books these days push to be over the top and put their characters in such bizarre, outlandish situations...and sometimes that's fun...but we need books that are closer to real life too and this one fell into that spot perfectly. I liked the way the story bounced back and forth between the two main characters so we got to see and feel what they were going through and glimpse a window into each of their close friends' problems as well. I really enjoyed the musical settings and references.

I really loved this! It was a lot of fun, well written and the characters were well developed! I highly recommend this for others!! This was an important read and I found the book to be so great!

Great read. The author wrote a story that was interesting and moved at a pace that kept me engaged. The characters were easy to invest in.

This book was good, and full of messages about sexuality, grief, and friendship, as well as mental illness. I also liked the focus on not just romance but also family. These characters felt so real and they were unique and interesting. Serena was a singer, and Max was in a jazz band. I had a hard time believing their relationship at first because there seemed to be no connection between Serena and Max but in the end I enjoyed seeing their romance. I liked that these characters were so diverse in that Max has gay dads, and Serena is living with her father because something happened to her mother. And Max also has a gay friend with a gay dad. So there was a lot of representation for the LGBTQ+ community in this book. I just think some details didn't fit right in my head, but the plot twists were fun as well. Definitely recommend this novel.

Title: That Secret You Keep
Author: Brenda Benny
Genre: YA
Rating: 4 out of 5

Max is seventeen, taller than everyone else, and trying to keep a few secrets from his dads. Like the fact that he wants to seek out his biological parents. And he’s not gay. But sometimes it’s easier to just keep secrets…secret. Like his longtime crush on Serena.

Serena was a shining star at their performing arts high school, until her famous mother died tragically. Now she sits in the back of the chorus, wrestling with her debilitating anxiety and panic attacks, avoiding the spotlight.
But together, Max and Serena find both happiness and understanding. They can tell each other anything. Except the one secret Serena has kept from Max, a secret that might tear them apart.

I really enjoyed That Secret You Keep. Max is awkward and adorable, and his struggles are so realistically portrayed. Serena is deeply scarred from her loss and doesn’t think she’ll ever get better, but in Max she finds hope. A wonderful story of healing and love.

Brenda Benny lives in Canada with her family. That Secret You Keep is her new novel.

(Galley provided by Liddle Book Press in exchange for an honest review.)

A really sweet book that flowed nicely and had likeable main characters. It tells the story of shy Max and his long term crush on Serena who is consumed with grief and guilt following the death of her mother in a car accident.

A big hurdle to their relationship is Max's general inexperience around girls thanks to 2 dads and a gay best friend with whom he used to be very close - a point I wish could have been explored further - however their relationship developed steadily and was overall very sweet.

I wish we could have learnt more about Hayden and Vanessa, in general the backing characters could have used some more fleshing out. Also we had Max debating whether he was actually straight - thanks to his dads and his past with Hayden - but I think Brenda missed an opportunity here to make him bisexual. We need more bi characters in fiction and bi men in particular get a bad rap but I can also understand not wanting to be too controversial with a debut novel. All in all I quite liked the book but it was just missing that spark to make it a 5.

The book is one of the must have summer reads. The characters are fully formed and interesting. The plot leaves you wanting more of the author's work. The writing is quite excellent. I would read this book over and over.

A great super fast read. The kind of novel that's perfect for summer reading. I loved the romance aspect of it. Highly recommended!

"It occurs to me that our worst secrets - the ones that we most fear revealing to others - sometimes cause no more than a small ripple on the ocean when we think a tsunami will follow."
I really enjoyed this book - particularly the musical elements. This was such a cute read and a wonderful debut by Brenda Benny - I look forward to seeing more from her.

We focus on Max and Serena, a couple whom meet at a Halloween party before getting together as the book continues.

Over the course of the book, we find out about both characters pasts and things they've had to deal with for Serena, her mum's death, for Max, having two dad's and no mum whilst dealing with not being gay as he has fancied Serena for ages before they got together. The pair are talented musicians, but as friends, Vanessa and Hayden influence their relationship, issues crop up they have to deal with.



Dealing with complex issues surrounding death, being gay, friendship and general life, the pair fall into a natural relationship and it makes them feel like they're real life people and fully understandable in terms of how they are from their life experiences. It was a real and moving book.



Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

This was such a sweet, fun read. I loved the characters. I loved the backstory. I loved the plot that unfolded. This was overall just such a sweet book that felt so genuinely relatable to real life. So many teen books these days push to be over the top and put their characters in such bizarre, outlandish situations...and sometimes that's fun...but we need books that are closer to real life too and this one fell into that spot perfectly. I liked the way the story bounced back and forth between the two main characters so we got to see and feel what they were going through and glimpse a window into each of their close friends' problems as well. I really enjoyed the musical settings and references.

Overall, just a sweet, sweet book. that is a truly age appropriate read.

I really enjoyed this book. As far as young adult books go this one was very well done. It had a serious plot and situation but it wasn't presented in an overly complex way. I found the main characters really easy to relate to. The book was a very nice read and it pulled the reader into the story right away. It was all about two teens who fall in love even though they are both in difficult places in their lives. I think that the best part about this book was that the story line is not something that you see done all of the time, a YA book about love with gay overtones to it. Nothing was forced down the readers throat and it was very easy to get immersed in the
characters lives. This breakout novel was really well done and I can't wait to see what else Serena has to write about. I really liked the struggle and the almost normal-ness of all the gay relationships. I know that in lots of parts of the world it still is considered "wrong"so it was nice to not see it put down as some sort of fight with the world, just a fight with the inner world of this specific character. I liked the ease of the words and how the author didn't throw in any unnecessary metaphors or extra words. Nice simple read. I really enjoyed it.

Really great book with amazing characters!!! Can’t wait to see the other things books the author will put out

A really simple contemporary between two individuals with secrets of their own. Max and Serena are adorable together. What I really like, I suppose is that this story really changes perceptions of what is normal and how others perceive it. It's not life shattering but I think Max's pov was the best, like how he deals with his own complex family. In short this was an enjoyable read that shies away from anything too hard and heavy!

This was such a cute book. The music background of the book was fantastic and brenda made sure that it was one of the main focuses and not let it fade into the back ground. I liked how we were in the point of views of both our main characters, max and serena. Max was such a caring character, he has strong partnerships with all the characters around him like his best friend and his fathers and he tries his best to express his feelings. Serena is a strong female character despite fighting a huge battle herself and doesnt let her true feelings show. The relationship between the two characters was so cte and they cared for each other so much which made me physically smile while reading the book. 

I gave this book 4 owls as it was cute and fluffy and just what i needed

A lovely YA novel about Max and Serena and the secrets that they both hold that ties them down and may just be enough to bring them together.

That Secret You Keep was a wonderful debut by Brenda Benny. The story explores the aftermath of loss, and the struggle to keep going when you just want to give up. Max is a tall, gangly double bass player who has secretly pined for the same girl for years; Serena is a girl torn apart by loss, wondering how to go on. When events cause Max and Serena to come together, they must decide if their secrets will tear them apart or if they can overcome them together.

For one, I absolutely adored this book. The characters were relatable and easy to understand, at the same time being complex enough that you are left wondering what secrets they keep. The story keeps a good pace throughout, leaving me unable to put the book down. Not many books explore the idea of gay parents or young adults well, but this book hits it out of the park with every detail.

Two grieving high school students atrending a school of the arts help each other to heal and fall in love.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. NetGalley in no ways influences my opinion/review of this book.
Going into this book, I didn't really know what it was about. I obviously had read the blurb before requesting the book, but by the time I started, I had forgotten the blurb.
Within the first two chapters of this book, I was hooked. I see so many aspects of my current self in Serena and to see her evolve was comforting, and reassured me that I too can move on.
However, the book prevented itself from getting 5 stars by writing a story where the girls issues are all resolved because of a boy. Because Serena is such a relatable character, I can see that the author is trying to show that it was Max who saved her, but the risk and experiences that come within a relationship. So though I do recommend this book to you, if you want a sweet love story that also deals with grief and therapy, I will also warn you aspects of this book could be harmful for vulnerable individuals due to some unhealthy aspects and portrayals.