Cover Image: Little White Secrets

Little White Secrets

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Member Reviews

Little White Secrets by Carol Mason was my first read from this author, and I was certainly impressed by her ability to draw the reader in with an intriguing storyline and richly developed characters. This is a compulsively readable domestic drama that will engage you from the very start.

Emily Rossi, to all outward appearances, is living a life that others would envy. A loving husband, two children who are her pride and joy, and a challenging career provide the foundation of a near idyllic life. Everything changes, however, when fourteen year old daughter Zara brings home a new friend, Bethany, and as the lives of the Rossi family members begin to unravel, Emily knows that her perfectly ordered life will never be the same.

This is an engaging read that, in my opinion, lands solidly in the genre of domestic drama, rather than mystery or thriller, although there are certainly some elements of surprise. Wonderful characterization and a few well-placed plot twists will keep you turning the pages.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing UK for this ARC.

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Thank You to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing UK for this eBook!!

For Emily Rossi, life may not be perfect, but it’s pretty close. She has a great career, a house in the country, a solid marriage to Eric and two wonderful children, Daniel and Zara. But when Zara brings home a toxic new best friend Bethany, Emily’s seemingly perfect family starts to spiral out of control.

This was an intense book!! It's full of suspense and twists that keeps you turning pages to find out the little white secrets (which btw were not little at all) !!

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Thanks to Netgalley for a preview of this book. I was not disappointed! From the get go this book had me gripped &; engrossed. This book is fast paced and based plenty of twists to keep you going. Thus us a book not to be missed

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I struggled at first - the characters weren't rather endearing, the plot was a little jumbled. Then came the first twist and I was hooked - I had to find out what happened.

Don't get we wrong - the characters are still pretty despicable but the story is well written and has some great twists!

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This book was just ok. I guessed what was going to happen from the beginning. No great shocks at all.

Thank you to netgalley and the author for letting me read this book unfortunately it just wasn’t for me.

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The Rossi fami!y is going to be on the newspaper more than one time. An interview with the tennis player star and his family is going to be the first. But it will be more.
How can a family find their way back to what they knew as normal after several difficult situations?
Would they be able to do so?
I pick up this book because I thought it was women's fiction. But it was a lot more. The characters are so well developed! And even if the author goes back and forth in time, she does it in a neat and organized way.
I would like to read more from this author and absolutely recommend her.

Thank you Netgalley for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

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When I think of a little, white lie, I think of a fib that isn’t going to really hurt anyone if it gets out. It might hurt a feeling or two. I was expecting some minor secrets from this story, but it went much further than that.

Emily has a perfect life. She teaches part time at the local university. Her husband Eric has taken a job in London. Her son Daniel is a tennis star. And daughter Zara is doing just fine. But things are not what they seem in this family. Eric is a drinker and that is not the only secret he’s keeping from his wife.

Emily struggles through raising teens essentially by herself. Zara has made a new friend, Bethany, who may be a bad influence. Eric is away all the time. Emily is getting to know the new neighbor who just happens to be a good looking doctor.

The beginning was hard for me to get into. Once the ball started rolling, I had a hard time putting it down. It ended up being a good story with a not perfectly happy ending.

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This was a great surprise! I had never read this author before but was under the impression that she wrote romances so I requested this on NetGalley because it was filed under mystery but was apprehensive nonetheless.

It's a well-written mystery that reminded me a lot of Liane Moriaty's and Lisa Jewell's style, and that's a huge compliment, since they're some of my all time favorite authors.

The way the narrative is presented the reader gets parts of the picture as the story goes on but never the complete frame, so I was taken aback at some points by some revelations that I did not see coming. I think that having Eric tell his version of events in separate chapters was clever and made the novel even better.

I am for sure going to read more from this author now.

I'd like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with and ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

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This book was not good (at least not for me). I'm not sure if it's because I read a lot of thrillers, or if it's because it just wasnt my type of book. All I can say was I had to struggle to finish it, and I didn't like it once I did. The "twists" at the end were twists I saw coming at the beginning of the book. All in all, not worth the time it took to finish it.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are of course my own.

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Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. I have liked everything this author has written and this was just as good, good storyline, liked the characters and kept me guessing until the end.

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This book started off like any other thriller, knowing something was going to happen but not sure.
However I thought there was going to be alot of twists and turns but everything that happened you could see coming chapters before.
There was no major twist to the story and no big storyline, kept reading in the hope some big story would happen but it got to the end and nothing had happened.
If you are after a fast paced read with lots of twists this isn't it. It's a pleasant read but not gripping unfortunately.

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Not what I expected! At the start of this book I expected a plot centered around the son, and star tennis player. Not the case, although I was not disappointed. I finished this book in two days time, as there was something that drew me in. The author does a great job of going between decades to tell the story. Character development was key as there were times I sympathized with the character that ultimately is the antagonist of this story. The main characters feelings as a mother are spot on, although the twist at the end got me! No spoilers! I will be looking this author up online to read more! Thank you again for the advance copy!

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FABULOUS! I really enjoyed this book. Full of secrets, some guessable and some surprising. This held my interest to the end. Great thriller.
Thank you to publisher, author and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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I received an advance reader copy of this book to book in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

This was an enthralling and captivating read from Carol Mason and I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish. This is the first book by her I have read and I will definitely be seeking out more of her books!
The Rossi family from the outside look like the perfect family but then Zara (the teenage daughter) brings home a new friend one day (Bethany) and a series of secrets, lies and events unfold that turns the seemingly perfect family on its head.

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Emily Rossi’s life is to close to perfect: she has a great career, a huge house in the country, an and amazing family. Her husband, Eric, is supportive, and her children Daniel and Zara are wonderful.

Life takes a turn when Zara brings home a toxic new best friend, Bethany, and goes from being a timid, introverted young woman with lots of potential to a rebellious teenager hanging out with the wrong crowd. To makes thing worse, Eric goes back to his old ways.

Soon the cracks start to appear, and the seemingly perfect life starts to crumble… will Emily be able to save her family?

Little White Secrets is told from the point of view of Emily (in the present), and Eric (in the past). This is so fitting to the story, which would otherwise be just a story of a marriage that is falling apart. We get to see why Eric is the way he is, and at times I found myself wanting him to do better for the sake of his family.

Emily is such a superb character -a very strong yet nurturing woman, she is very likeable and inspiring. Would you dare to make the same choices she makes to protect her family?

The teenage characters were also realistic without being overbearing or superfluous. The story of Zara, always in the shadow of golden child Daniel, and her descent into chaos after meeting Bethany. Has Zara inherited her father’s demons?

This was a complex book with some dark upsetting moments, which added depth to the complexity of the family ties, and it all made sense when the twist was revealed. Oh yes, the was a big twist, and it will leave you speechless!

Disclosure: I would like to thank Amazon Publishing UK for an ARC of Little White Secrets by Carol Mason. This is my honest review.

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#LittleWhiteSecrets #NetGalley
A good read.
Emily Rossi, life may not be perfect, but it’s pretty close. She has a great career, a house in the country, a solid marriage to Eric and two wonderful children—tennis superstar Daniel and quiet, sensitive Zara. But when her fourteen-year-old daughter brings home a toxic new best friend, Emily’s seemingly perfect family starts to spiral out of control.
Suddenly Zara is staying out late, taking drugs and keeping bad company. And just when Emily needs Eric to be an involved father, he seems too wrapped up with his job in London to care. What’s more, he’s started drinking again.
I loved its characters.
Thanks to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing UK for giving me an advance copy of this awesome psychological thriller.

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This was a great book that I really enjoyed all the way through. My first read by Carol Mason but certainly not my last. I knew from very early pages I was going to like this one.

Carol depicts her characters very realistically, even her grasp on moody teenage girls is impressive! As the book and the story really revolves around a cast of mixed characters I really liked the way I could connect. The book seamlessly moves back and forth in part between two timeframes and not for one moment was that disconnecting me from the book. It added a layer of questions that were not answered until the end and then that reveal was worth waiting for.

Families. Marriage. Friends. Teenagers. Neighbours. Secrets and Lies. You will get a blend of all this in Little White Secrets. Carol manages to give you enough teasers to want to taste more without giving away too much. My feelings about each character changed TOTALLY from beginning to end. I love it when a book can do that, play with my emotions around characters. This would make a great TV mini-series.

Some of it was totally unexpected for me and other bits I did see coming from early on, however I think each reader will have a different perspective reading this, I highly recommend for book clubs as it would make for hot discussion. I am a sucker for a bunch of dysfunctional, imperfect people in a novel and Carol delivered this really well. I thoroughly enjoyed Little White Secrets and am eager to read more from Carol, born in the North East of England like myself she must be a fabulous person. Recommended reading for sure.

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Although I read this book as I wanted to know the Ending it wasn’t an easy read. The characters are all a little self obsessed, can’t see what’s in front of their eyes and not really very likeable. Which OK is kind of part of the plot but you still need to identify a little with the lead so you want her to persevere - to come out victorious but in this book I just think she wasn’t someone I would want to know.

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Carol Mason, the best-selling author of After You Left and The Shadow Between Us has written an incredibly moving and poignant novel in this exhilarating work of familial drama.

The Rossi family all have wonderful lives... but they also have their own little secrets. Daniel, 16 is a star tennis player and his sister Zara, 14 is the introvert of the family. Mother and protagonist Emily teaches a communications course at University. Emily's husband Eric and father to Daniel and Zara, works in London and comes home on weekends. When Zara brings home new best friend, Bethany, Emily’s seemingly perfect family life starts to crumble around her. Emily realises that Bethany is no good for her daughter and tries everything to keep them apart. But just how far is she prepared to go to save her family?

The story is told in the past and present from the perspectives of Emily and Eric. Emily’s narrative is in the present, whilst Eric's contributions are from the past. This structure expertly draws the reader into the lives of both characters, as well as adding depth to the story as the reader begins to understand how Eric's experiences are now affecting his family currently. I found myself occasionally empathising with him but with some trepidation... For her part, I found Emily to be an extremely intriguing character. Although not always likeable, she regularly displayed a cocktail of emotions, from anger and frustration to wariness. All of this added to and complemented this wonderful character-driven story.

Deceptions, deceit, cruelty and confusion are all masterfully interwoven in Little White Secrets that encompasses addiction, infidelity and some very poor choices as the Rossi family slowly implodes, with each new disclosure becoming more painful than the last. An insightful and thought-provoking read about how the mistakes we sometimes make impact on others and the power denial can have. I found Little White Secrets an exceptionally enjoyable read, helped by Carol Mason’s beautiful writing which has depth and substance. The ending was very fulfilling with a little surprise. I will definitely be looking out for more of her books in the future.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from Amazon Publishing UK via NetGalley and this review is my unbiased opinion.

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Brilliant book. Not so little White secrets more like skeletons behind every closed door. Had me hooked from the beginning. Cant wait to read mor eb y theis author

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