Rachel knew that her time with her husband was limited and recently passed. Emma their teenage daughter her at a few crossroad in her life with choosing to go to college and is debating where to go. Anna is sister to Rachel whose marriage seemed perfect at a glace and and made a decision that ultimately led to her divorce. They all live in a small town and rumors can fly and make things difficult each women have some difficult decision to make to figure things out for their lives.

This was another book that's been a on my tbr list for a while and after reading it I'm surprised I didn't pick it up sooner. I mean at first I had a bit of a challenge trying to get used to the three perspectives plus the extras. Thats just one thing that I personally have a trouble getting through but once I figured things out it was smooth sailing. It was interesting getting to know each person. Each of the women were facing difficult choices. Rachel was trying to learn to live again after her husband passed and just felt so much guilt trying to past it and seeing how she was handling it was pretty interesting I did enjoy seeing her bit of romance. Then there was Emma the daughter who was facing school but didn't really want to leave her mother on her own thinking on relocating schools but really wanted to get out there but also facing some love herself. Anna poor Anna, I mean it was interesting seeing both sides of her and her husband once things came down to it. I mean she's the one who pretty much ruined the relationship but it was a long time coming and her husband didn't have to do that to her making things difficult for her. There is so much to unpack with this book but after it was all done I'm glad to have read this book. It was such a good read I really enjoyed it.

I‘ve been reading (and loving) a lot from Maisey Yates this year, most of which have been cowboy romance stories. This is more of a women‘s fiction story featuring three generations of women in the same family. All four of the women have complications in their lives which challenge their relationships with one another. I loved the realistic depictions of grief and betrayal. Also there‘s a big theme of judgment in this story, which was well-handled. Just an all around great women's fiction story with relatable characters. I didn't like every decision they made, I didn't like everything they said or did, but I enjoyed their journey through some very trying times.

Thank you to HQN Books and NetGalley for sending me a digital review copy in exchange for my review!

A culmination of relationships old and new tear at the seams of this family's dynamic! Maisey Yates has the reader's attention quickly with SECRETS FROM A HAPPY MARRIAGE. As one marriage shows true love even in the darkest days, another self-destructs before our eyes and we're left watching the pieces crumble. I really enjoyed getting to know these two sisters, their mother and the teen daughter of one try to figure out life after all is said and done. I would have liked a little more closure to the endings for some of them, but overall I enjoyed the characters a lot.

Rachel Henderson was one of my favorites in the book from the start because I could sympathize with her loss, but see the beauty of her growing friendship with Adam as it developed into more.

Rachel's little sister Anna will resonate with anyone who has ever felt unseen in a room full of people. She has a good heart, and she feels so much, but she self-sabotages instead of standing up for herself and what she needs.

Rachel's mother Wendy has a smaller presence in the book, but her teachings and beliefs bring a strong structure to what her daughters built their relationships on, so when secrets are uncovered, things become a bit dicey!

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a close knit family who readily admit they aren't perfect as they traverse the every day road of life and hope against hope for a happily ever after. The characterization was rich and the plot was thick with emotion.

Secrets From a Happy Marriage is a multigenerational story: Wendy the single mom who took her two daughters to the coast of Oregon after winning a bid to run a bed and breakfast at a historic lighthouse property. Now years later her daughters are grown and married, and mostly they’ve had a wonderful life, but things are changing. Rachel, Wendy’s oldest, is coping with the loss of her husband, a widow at just thirty-eight years old, Anna, Wendy’s younger daughter, is stuck in a loveless marriage, and Emma, Rachel’s daughter is feeling guilty leaving her grieving mother to go away to college. Plus, Wendy the “blameless” matriarch has some secrets of her own.

I felt for each of these women, was struck by each of their stories, and could really relate to one! Living in a small town their actions are scrutinized, and judged by some, and even by each other. At first, Rachel is so judgy with Anna, having grown apart over the years the sisters only see the surface and not really what each are struggling with. Rachel, realizing on an unconscious level she was jealous of Anna having a healthy husband. Anna for her part envied the real love and obvious connection Rachel had with her husband. I enjoyed seeing them open up, understand and become close. Each providing solace and support instead of judgment. Each had their own romantic story, but I really loved Rachel’s.

Emma, Rachel’s daughter is very much finding her own way. After living with her father’s illness for several years, and now finally losing him she feels like was grieving for a long time, even before his death. Emma’s feels moving across the country, leaving her mother to cope with the loss when she receives an acceptance to her dream college to study marine biology. Then there’s also Luke, her longtime crush from afar who finally notices her.

Wendy’s story was a bit of a twist, upsetting her daughters view of her and the life they’ve had. Wendy had to come to terms with her past and forgive herself. I also enjoyed her romance.

I love lighthouses! My husband and I took a three-week road trip a couple of years ago and visited lighthouses all along the Pacific Northwest. We were able to stay at one in Oregon: Heceta Lighthouse Bed & Breakfast and when I started reading this story, I was struck by how familiar the setting sounded. Come to find out Ms. Yates stayed there and based Cape Hope Lighthouse B & B after it! The place was gorgeous and magical, and I was so excited to find out it was featured in such a lovely story! It felt more personal to me. I included a few pictures below.

Secrets From a Happy Marriage was a heartfelt story about being yourself, accepting past mistakes, forgiving yourself and moving on; trying not to be hindered by what others think of you, and ignoring those determined to pass judgment. But it was also about supporting family and drawing strength from their love. I loved every minute of it!

I alternately listened and read Secrets From a Happy Marriage. Samantha Cook does a wonderful job performing both male and female voices, and I listened at 1.3x-1.5x normal speed.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Just loved this book and recommend it to everyone.

I really enjoyed this great story about the relationship between mother and daughters. I found it very emotional and engaging. The writing was so relatable and easy to just fly right over the pages. More chick lit than romance, unlike the other titles that I've read by her. Definitely recommended!

I loved this book. I picked it because it was a favorite author, but I honestly wasn’t sure if it would be my cup of tea. I don’t normally love women’s fiction. I’m a straight up romance reader. I want to be guaranteed a happy ever after. While I appreciate and understand that there is angst, death and despair in even the best in the romance genre, I tend to avoid starting a book, not knowing how it will ultimately end.
Love and loss, secrets and lies, disappointments and achievements...it’s all in here and it is glorious. It’s sisters and daughters, mothers and children at their best and at their worst. The story is uplifting as well as heartbreaking and the reader is actively involved in it all.
This is a different but no less wonderful Maisey Yates than her previous books. She’s descriptive without being overly wordy and her dialogue is honest and real. And she brought to life four very distinct women who are all a crossroads in their individual lives. It’s extraordinary.

I've been reading Maisey Yates' novels for a number of years and have enjoyed each and every one of them, but none of them prepared me for Secrets for a Happy Marriage. Was is a good read? No--it wasn't. It was a remarkable, brilliantly and beautifully written, deeply emotional, thoughtful, and heartfelt read, and, quite simply, it blew me away. I'd give it more than 5 stars if that were possible.

Secrets from a Happy Marriage took me a bit of time to get into--it's a multi-generational story with its roots in the past, opening with a letter from a mail order bride, Jenny Hansen, in response to an ad from the Chief Lighthouse keeper at the Cape Hope Lighthouse on the Oregon coast, Olaf Hansen. As we get to know her through her letters and her journal entries, as well as getting to read portions of letters from servicemen stationed on the grounds of the lighthouse during wartime, we also get to know the current occupants of the Cape Hope Lighthouse Inn, a grandmother, Wendy, her two adult daughters, Rachel and Anna, and Rachel's teenage daughter, Emma--and do we ever!

Rachel has been married to the love of her life, Jacob, for 20 years, and except for the first year or two of their marriage, Jacob has slowly and painfully been dying from a variety of illnesses, and Rachel has been caring for him, as has her daughter, Emma, both of them knowing that he wouldn't be with them forever, and making every moment of their lives as special and meaningful as possible. When Jacob finally succumbs to cancer, Rachel is unsure of how to proceed with the rest of her life without him, while their daughter, Emma, realizes that her beloved father won't be at her high school graduation or even there for her 18th birthday. She's dreamed of a career in marine biology and has been accepted to a college in Boston, but she is now torn about leaving her mother and grandmother alone in their grief, so she lies about her acceptance in Boston, and agrees to attend OSU, only 3 hours away--but is that really the right choice for her? Emma is also keeping another secret, her first crush on Luke, a 21-year-old car mechanic and high school dropout in town, and their budding relationship.

Rachel too has been keeping a secret--when caring for Jacob has been just too much, Rachel's found some respite at the small town diner, stopping in for a hamburger, and a chat with Adam, the proprietor--nothing really personal, just someone to talk to for a brief while. But what happens after Jacob finally dies? What will Rachel do with her grief and with her life moving forward?

Anna, Rachel's sister, has been married to a popular pastor in town, Thomas, for more than 15 years, yet she has felt him pulling away from her and becoming ever more distant as time has passed. She's tried to talk to him, but gotten nowhere. She feels unloved, ignored, and feels as though she's just going through the motions of being a pastor's wife, not really feeling much for him or the members of the congregation. In her frustration, she has an affair, which Thomas catches her at, and which he shares with his congregation one Sunday morning, shocking her, her family and the entire congregation, many of whom now belittle or ignore her, or treat her as a whore, and they aren't surprised when Thomas announces that he's divorcing her.

Wendy too has been keeping secrets, secrets that will come as a shock to her entire family, and to the reader as well, the lead-in being a handsome, single, older man whose history is also tied to the lighthouse, spending some vacation time there at the inn, and spending much of it with Wendy, who is happy to share her love of the lighthouse and its history with him.

Each of the four women in this novel are keeping secrets, each of them trying to deal with their own issues, their own problems, their own grief, and the novel is so beautifully written and so well-paced that, as a reader, I often had to stop and ponder what I would do if faced with the decisions these women have to make and deal with, and take a good hard look at how keeping their secrets have affected their relationships with their partners and especially with each other.

At my age, 67, I've been through all these stages of life, I've been a young teenager with a secret crush, I had to decide to go to college while living at home, rather than accept a scholarship at a college away from home after my mother's sudden and unexpected death when I was 15, and, as an only child, I couldn't leave my father alone with his grief. I've had to deal with my husband's cancer diagnosis (thankfully, he's beaten it), and other personal issues that might have torn my marriage apart. To say that this book strongly resonated with me is putting it mildly. In one way or another, I've faced what these characters have faced, and in every case, I believe these same issues will resonate with readers of all ages, in all walks of life, because they are very human issues, and Maisey Yates has done such an absolutely incredible job of making these characters come to life (although I wish she'd given us physical descriptions of them), and imbuing them with such humanity, self-awareness, and honesty that I can't recall another book that moved me quite as strongly as this one in several decades. These are characters that will live with me for a very long time, and I cannot recommend this novel highly enough.

I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this novel. The opinions expressed are my own.

Maisey Yates’ first foray into women’s fiction is a perfectly acceptable if overstuffed and predictable yarn.  Secrets from a Happy Marriage is about healing, growing and trying to find true happiness – all in that familiar way.

Rachel Henderson has been dealing with her husband Jacob’s terminal illness for years, and when he passes away after years of suffering, she has to deal with the remnants of their twenty year marriage and the pain at the prospect of starting over again.

Emma, Rachel’s daughter, is waiting for a college acceptance letter that will take her far from her family’s Cape Hope Inn and hopefully to an exciting future studying marine biology in Boston, when her father dies. Forced to give up her dream, she’s unable to grieve her father and bitter about being stuck at the family’s inn.

Anna, Rachel’s sister, is married to Thomas, the local pastor.  Anna’s unsatisfying marriage has led her to seek both an affair and eventually a divorce. This quickly turns her into the town scandal, something about which she is defiant.

Wendy McDonald works for the local historical society and is Anna and Rachel’s mother.  Her latest project involves chronicling the love story between Olaf and Jenny Hansen, the first bride and lighthouse keeper to occupy the historic lighthouse which eventually became The Lighthouse Inn, where Wendy is a chef and Rachel helps run things and lives with Emma. With a full house and the possibility of new love (with one of the Hansen’s descendents to boot) on her plate, Wendy is concerned about how her daughters will adapt to the challenges facing them.

As Rachel embarks on a relationship with Adam, who works at a local diner, the sisters begin to get closer, and Emma falls into a secret relationship with the mysterious Luke.  How will all of the McDonald women manage to find love and new beginnings?

Yates does have a few really interesting things to say about love, together with some beautiful passages about moving on and meditations on grief.  That pushes Secrets from a Happy Marriage a grade above where I would normally rank it for its simplistic plot.  Yates is good, and her characters – particularly romantic, wistful Wendy – make the book stand out from the pile, even though the story does not service them well.

However, the most fascinating of the four main women here is Emma.  Balanced between a need to escape and a first-love romance about whom everyone but her is realistic, she’s part child, part woman, part old soul.

Anna and Rachel too, have depth all of their own. Rachel’s grief is painfully realistic, her mourning process and fear of new love (and ecstasy in it) are beautifully crafted.  Anna’s journey, meanwhile, is much more about acceptance of self than romance, which is perfectly pitched. The book’s relationships work well, with the one between Rachel and Anna – fraught because of Anna’s lack of discipline, her need for Rachel to play caretaker – being particularly interesting.

But this plot has been done so many times in women’s fiction, and while grief is something we will all face in time, there’s nothing duller than seeing it executed and spoken of in the exact same way over and over again.  You know they’ll find love again, you know they’ll find a way to stay planted in the town’s warm, rich rockbed, and little happens to challenge that impression.

Overall, Secrets from a Happy Marriage, while not Maisey Yates’ best is nonetheless absolutely readable and contains a number of  memorable pieces of writing.

Buy it at: Amazon, Audible and your local independent bookstore.
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A great story of life, family, forgiveness, and learning to start over, Maisey Yates hit it out of the ballpark with this story. From the first page to the last, I was excited to read the next chapter in the lives of Wendy, her daughters Anna and Rachel, and her granddaughter Emma.

Wendy reveals a secret that changes the course of their lives. Anna is starting over after being unfaithful in her marriage, Rachel is learning how life will proceed after the death of her husband at 39 years old. Emma is adapting to life without her father and they're all adjusting to a new normal.

How they get there along with the decisions they make in this small town on the rugged Oregon coast, is what makes this book on your must read list.

I received a free ARC eBook from Net Galley and the publisher in exchange for my honest opinions.

Secrets from a Happy Marriage by Maisey Yates is her newest book. The novel focuses on the four women of Lighthouse Inn and B&B with all of the struggles of loving another and living with another over a summer. The lighthouse and its history was a key element within the story as the novel unfolds.

Wendy with her two small daughters Rachel and Anna worked to open the Lighthouse. Now as adults, Rachel and Anna have ended up back at the Inn to help out, while they deal with their newest reality. Rachel’s daughter Emma is also in a time of reflection and decision making. While three of the women are struggling with what is next, their mother also has a secret of her own that adds to the realization that the past does not determine the future.

I love Maisey Yates. I think she is a marvelous writer. I have found her stories wonderful reads with great characters and a level of poignancy not found with a lot of writers. Having said all this, Secrets from a Happy Marriage is a bit wordy for my tastes. The constant revelations and reflections toward the end of the novel while illuminating, important and completely consistent with the novel and the author were for me, overdone.

Secrets from a Happy Marriage by Maisey Yates is a good read.

This will appear next month on the Romance Reviews Today website: http://romrevtoday.com/

SECRETS FROM A HAPPY MARRIAGE – Maisey Yates
HQN
ISBN: 978-1-335-66646-8
May 2020
Women’s Fiction

Sunset Bay, Oregon – Present Day

Three generations of women face their past, present, and future in this heartwarming and emotional tale.

As SECRETS FROM A HAPPY MARRIAGE opens, Rachel Henderson is losing her beloved husband to cancer. Being a widow at the age of thirty-nine isn’t something she ever expected. Their seventeen-year-old daughter, Emma, is about to graduate from high school. What Rachel doesn’t realize is that the day her husband dies, Emma learns she’d been accepted into college in Massachusetts. Because Emma feels her mother needs her by her side, she makes the decision on her own to stick closer to home by planning to attend college in Oregon.

Rachel’s mother, Wendy McDonald, has a deep secret about her past that she hasn’t told her two daughters. Her youngest, Anna, has become the town’s pariah after her husband, who is a minister, announces to his parish that Anna betrayed him by sleeping with another man. Rachel, Anna, Emma, and Wendy all live on the premises of a historic lighthouse inn that is the source of their income. Wendy is forced to stand back and watch Anna being treated badly by people who hate her for what she did to her husband. How can Wendy protect her children from being hurt? Especially in light of what she did…

As Rachel, Wendy, Anna, and Emma deal with the past and the present, they wonder about their futures. Rachel doesn’t quite realize it at first, but she’s about to find herself attracted to Adam, the owner of a local diner. Meanwhile, Emma finally admits she’s finding Luke, a young mechanic, attractive. How can she get him to notice her? Anna must deal with the whispers and cold stares from people in town even as she tries to keep her head held high. Can she make peace with the man she betrayed? A stranger connected to the inn’s past arrives and catches the eye of Wendy.

All four women in SECRETS FROM A HAPPY MARRIAGE experience growth in themselves in different ways. Will this result in happiness for all of them? Can life go onward and forward for them? Within the pages of this tale are stories of love, hope, and forgiveness. The forgiveness plays a big part for all four, especially when Wendy’s big secret rips apart their once happy family unit.

If you love heartwarming tales of family love and devotion, mixed with some intriguing and endearing characters, then grab a copy of SECRETS FROM A HAPPY MARRIAGE. Once you pick it up, you won’t want to put it down.

Patti Fischer

I loved this book! The Lighthouse and the surrounding living quarters where Wendy, her daughter's Anna and Rachel and Emma, Rachel's daughter live is rich in history. Keepsakes and letters from past residents are cherished by the current women who live there. Each of them have secrets, heartache, and baggage to overcome with each other and within themselves. How they come together as a family and discover themselves is pure gold. Highly recommended.

Secrets from A Happy Marriage is about love: love of family, love of place, love of dreams, love of self. Mother Wendy, her two grown daughters Anna and Rachel and Rachel’s soon to be 18 daughter Emma have kept secrets from each other and from themselves. The death of Rachel’s husband and the end of Anna’s marriage become the catalyst for these four to finally learn truths about love, forgiveness and stepping forward towards new beginnings. The book is well written, full of insight and hard to put down. It is women’s fiction at its best. I voluntarily reviewed an advance copy of this book from NetGalley. Most highly recommend.