"The Secrets We Keep" was a fun, quick read that reminded me quite a bit of an adult version of Pretty Little Liars, where an unknown source is spying on a group of friends, although in this case the main character, Elizabeth, finds herself in a situation where she doesn't have a lot of true friends and instead is forced to interact with women that she doesn't fully understand. These women are reminiscent of the Real Housewives from Bravo in that they drink too much, indulge in retail therapy regularly, and feel pressured to keep up appearances. 
 I found myself feeling awful for Elizabeth, as she reveals her husband Jason's infidelities, her struggle with bipolar disorder, and her general inability to find her bearings in many ways. I was anxious to see how things turned out for her.

this book was so much like a reality show. Gossip, affairs, you name it it had it. Lots of drama, if you like that sort of thing. It had me laughing in some sections of what they got up to. I actually didnt think i would like it but i did.

Love this book. Found myself never wanting to put it down! Author made me feel every emotion, like I was right there in the story myself. Excellent read!

I wasn't that surprised that I enjoyed this book quite a lot, though I felt some of the characters were a little one sided. The story line was good, the writing was pretty decent.

What a dirty little twisted suburban tale. I loved it! The writing was hilarious at times and made me laugh out loud. 
Think Gossip Girl meets the The Barbies, The Plastics, Mean Girls, whatever you want to call them...these are those girls. Women. Grown women, mothers!  Fighting  and pushing to be the HBIC with the best Chanel bag. Lol. 
I read this in one day because I JUST had to have more! I couldn’t put it down. I would have been happy to have it go on another 300 pages! The Stepford Wives topic is always funny but the authors writing style kicked it up a notch. 

Thank you #Netgalley, the author and the publisher for my free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Secretly battling bipolar disorder and trying to move past her husband's affair is hard enough but when someone starts an anonymous exposing all of the housewives secrets, Elizabeth reaches a breaking point.. The Secrets We Keep was a rather intense book.. I didn't really want it to end. You could make this a tv show!

This book was FANTASTIC! A must read!  Everyone has things in their past that they would prefer to leave in the past. However, sometimes they have a way of following you and become gossip by others.

I love that Elizabeth and her best friend day drink and go to Costco! Who doesn't do that right? When trying to leave her past behind and protect her family in their "perfect little suburb town", Elizabeth has to figure out what to do when her mental health issues from the past suddenly start getting revealed by a mystery person.

Once I started the book, I couldn't put it down. Definitely carve out large chunks of time to delve into the world of Elizabeth in the suburbs!

This book is a definite read!

Bored housewives and alcohol......almost always a recipe for drama.  This time is no exception.  Book builds slowly toward a surprising ending that is surprising and satisfying.  However, there is one reveal that I found far-fetched and implausible - I won't explain which reveal it is and why I feel this way because it's the last twist of the book and I don't want to ruin the ending for anyone.  Despite this, I enjoyed the book and think it would be a great read for a suburban book club!

This is not my usual go to for a book, but I decided to change things up! This story is one of social status, gossip, affairs, and mental illness. A peak at the darker side of the “having it all” lifestyle.

Elizabeth and her husband move to Waterford for a fresh start after her husband’s affair. Unfortunately, things aren’t going any better, despite how hard Elizabeth tries. I liked Elizabeth’s character and kept cheering for her, but could not stand her husband.

Someone in their social circle is spreading everyone’s dirt on a blog and turning everyone’s secrets inside out. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out who it was until the last page. This book was a bit slower than I usually like, but the characters did grow on me after a few chapters and I needed to know how it ended.

For anyone sensitive to the topic of suicide, or bipolar disorder this book touches on both throughout the story.

The secrets we keep by author Mia Hayes is a psychological domestic thriller that holds your interest throughout. I finished the secrets we keep in three short sittings, I couldn’t get enough!! I definitely would recommend this book to other domestic thriller novel lovers.

Wow, Stepford Wives meets Desperate Housewives.  Just kidding, I really was entertained by The Secrets We Keep. Mia Hayes took a good premise,  secrets uncovered mysteriously, and plotted an entertaining story.  Though the women in the novel are a little two dimensional, shallow if you will, they were still interesting. The book kept my interest and I would recommend it to people that like Liane Moriarty or JoJo Moyes.

I liked it. It wasn't the best book I've ever read but it was definitely not the worst, either. It's not that it was bad, just not necessarily my cup of tea.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC. I really enjoyed this book and laughed at the 'over-educated stay at home suburban housewives' vs city women analogy. This golf club community took their day-drinking and gossiping very seriously. Though the characters were young adults with small children, the story-line was relevant to all ages. Women don't change and that is what makes us fun! Mental illness plays a part in this story but it is not the main focus. All of the characters were interesting. Who doesn't love a secret blogger? I recommend this book to anyone looking for a light, fun mystery.

If the Mean Girls grew up and moved to a D.C. suburb, this would be their story. The Secrets We Keep focuses on a group of women, living in a town called Waterford, that fill their days lunching at "the Club", shopping for handbags, obsessing over their appearance, and gossiping about each other. When a blog pops up, exposing all of the women's dirtiest and darkest secrets, it's all the women can talk about.

This book reads like a compilation of Bravo's Real Housewives franchise. None of the characters are likable, but much like the television shows, you can't help yourself from wanting to read more to find out what happens. This book kept my attention, yes, but I often found myself irritated and/or annoyed with the characters. There were opportunities to make the story much deeper, more interesting, but instead keeps you on the surface. I wanted more backstory, wanted to understand what brought the characters where they are today in the story, but we are never given the opportunity to know the "whys." Unfortunately for me, the plot of the story was easy to figure out (won't give away any spoilers here) and lacked any good surprises. The ending was flat and disappointing when it could have been so juicy and drama-filled. On the upside, this was a quick and easy read. I imagine that back in my 20's I would have appreciated this book a little more.

This book reminded me of a cross between "The Stepford Wives" and "Dangerous Housewives". Good read, lots of drama. Just when you think you have it figure out, you realize you do not. Drama, lies, etc. It's all here in this book. I recommend. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC of this book. Although I received the book in this manner, it did not affect my opinion of this book nor my review.

When Desperate Housewives takes a dark turn down Mental Illness Lane…

Elizabeth and her family lives in Waterford, where everyone is fake, and most women spend their time drinking and gossiping all day.

Elizabeth has her fair share of secrets to hide, so when someone starts a gossip blog about the people of Waterford, things aren’t looking very peachy for her. Her mental illness and past suicide attempt doesn’t really fit the style of Waterford that much after all.

Despite the fact that I figured out the identity of the secretive blogger pretty early on, I was totally addicted to this story.

It was like high school all over again, but instead of bitchy teenage girls we got a bunch of middle aged, drunken ladies who got suburb politics down to perfection. On top of the food chain you got the Bitch Brigade, headed up by Karen who basically runs the town. Then we get the Periphery Girls who are trying everything they can to become one of their minions. Why? I have no idea, but they sure as hell are dying to get into the inner sanctum.

The story is narrated by Elizabeth, who due to her medication she takes for her bipolar disorder washed down by prosecco and red wine can’t remember much most of the time, so you can imagine the uncomfortable feel that just keeps building up as things first turn weird, then unnerving, culminating in a tragic event that shakes her to the core and the poor woman is not even sure why. Jason, her husband is there to support her. Whenever it’s convenient for him, according to Elizabeth. Asshole? Or just a tired husband who can’t keep up with his wife’s ups and downs?

Can you build true friendship in an environment like Waterford? Who can you trust? Who is shagging whose husband? Why do grown ass women seek the company of fake friends and the validation from people they don’t give a toss about?

In an effort to start over after her husband, Jason has an affair and she having a breakdown, Elizabeth heads out to the suburb of Waterford to try an start over. There she meets a new group of "friends" whose days basically consist of day drinking and gossiping about others.

Elizabeth is secretly battling her bipolar disorder while trying to recover from her husband's infidelity. A blogger starts anonymously exposing the dark secrets of Waterford and Elizabeth's only friend suffers the consequences.

I did enjoy this book - great story line and realistic characters! I read it in a weekend and would recommend it as a quick read for others - nothing earth shattering, but fun to read.

The story starts off a bit fluffy, but then it takes a bit of a dark twist with a bit of a mystery.  
The author touches on the delicate topics of mental illness and suicide, and does so in just the right way, educating without being heavy handed or glamorizing it. 
Overall, as the story unfolds, we see glipses of relationships, the real ones beneath the facades that people tend to present to the world at large. In life, as in fiction,  rarely are things exactly as they seem.

I enjoyed this book.  Its fast paced and easy .  I couldn't stop reading it.  The characters are well developed and well written.  A great beach read.  Thank you to netgalley and.. the publisher for an arc in exchange for this honest review

Thanks, NetGalley and Amazon for allowing me to access an early digital copy of this book.  If you're looking for a light and gossipy beach read, this book might be for you.  However, I felt it was trying a little TOO hard to be Pretty Little Liars mixed with Desperate Housewives.  Those shows worked, because the characters were interesting.   

Mia Hayes fails to give the reader strong reasons to hate the B!tch Brigade of wealthy Waterford (honestly, they're just not mean enough) and doesn't give quite enough support to the main character we're supposed to be rooting for.  Elizabeth is yet another housewife controlled by her husband's money and status, using it as an excuse to why she won't leave him, even though she's miserable. (Feels like I've read too many of these lately.)  As she narrates, Elizabeth implies she is better than the other housewives, but doesn't show a glimmer of any redeeming qualities. 

Hayes sets the scene, puts in the actors and all the requisite plot points—the friend you don't know if you can trust, the controlling husband, the ex-boyfriend—but the story falls flat.  I crossed the finish line, but I can't recommend it.  There are a ton of other similar beach books that are just better plotted.  Sorry, 2 stars.