Just days before Anthony's friend, Lottie, was murdered, she lent him her laptop. Being the inquisitive sort, after police had questioned him, he decided to look in her computer. ..maybe there were clues to who had killed her.

What he finds surprises him. There are audio files she made in the year before her death. She exposes deep, dark secrets about her relationship with Davian.. Anthony's best friend.

When Davian is charged with her murder, Anthony refuses to believe it. He just wouldn't ... couldn't ... kill someone. Could he?

It becomes a he said - she said. One of them must be lying .. but who.. why?

The suspense starts on the very first page and never lets up. It's well written with a solid plot and unique characters. The ending came as quite a surprise. This is not the first book of this author's that I've read and none have been a disappointment.

Many thanks to the author / Booksirens / Black Cat Ink Press / Netgalley for the digital copy of this psychological thriller. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

Thank-you to Netgalley and Black Cat Ink Press for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I wasn’t a huge fan of this book. I was drawn in because I love a thriller, especially when a friend of the victim tries to solve the crime. I read it until the end because I started it and wanted to finish it, but I felt like not finishing it multiple times.

I didn’t really like the style of writing, and I thought the plot was far-fetched and a bit confusing.

The author also used the “r” word which I didn’t agree with.

I inhaled this book - the twist the turns - I thought I had it figured out - then had to change course. Do you ever really know your friends is the premise of this book. Anthony thought he knew his two best friends, but it turns out, he did not. I highly recommend this book and look forward to reading others by this author.

Unfortunately I didn't enjoy this one. The writing felt rushed, and the characters seemed one dimensional. The plot really felt as though it lacked depth, and I found it quite predictable.

couldn't get into this - the cover and synopsis are great but the first chapter is very bogged down and overly long

I wish we started with more action

If you are looking for a book that has secrets abound then this is the one for you. The main character, Anthony, is guiding us through his investigation into the murder of his best friend, Lottie, by using something he had "borrowed" from her right before she died. The supporting characters lives are all interwoven well with one another as well as with Anthony and his best friend, Lottie, providing the reader with a tale from several perspectives that blends in suspense and some gasping moments. I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher.

I enjoyed the premise of this book from Ellis - Anthony's friend Lottie has been murdered, leaving him in possession of her laptop, which she had lent to him days before her death. He finds a series of video journals on the computer and hopes that they might contain clues about her death. As Anthony watches the videos, a number of shocking secrets come to light, changing everything Anthony thought he knew about Lottie and their friends. Should Anthony turn the laptop over to the police? Or did Lottie leave it to him to solve the puzzle of her death?

While I thought the premise was interesting, I unfortunately did not enjoy reading the book as much as I'd hoped. The dialogue and characters' behaviors often felt unrealistic and over-dramatized without cause, and the writing was repetitive, which made it difficult to read smoothly. Thank you to Black Cat Ink Press and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Great story! I was engaged the entire time. A real page turner. Looking forward to reading more books from this author! Highly recommend!

This book. It sounded so good.

Unfortunately it fell incredibly flat to me. The characters were very two dimensional, and while I wanted to feel sad for Lottie and I wanted to want the best for Anthony I just couldn't. They didn't have redeeming qualities that made me want to feel for them.

The way this book is written just didn't pull me in. I stopped caring why Lottie died because I just didn't like her very much. Davian was absolutely not a nice person, and Anthony kept making these choices that did not make sense.

But it's something that the author wrote that made me downright hate this book.

In the book the author writes, in Anthony's voice, because the book is from his perspective, "Doing coke on the job was retarded." And I'm sorry but reading that line just ruined it for me. What author writes a sentence like that? You couldn't write, "Doing coke on the job was stupid/foolish/dumb/rash/ludicrous..." and I could go on and on. That single sentence made this book nearly unreadable for me. And I definitely won't read another of J.S. Ellis's books. 

Don't read this. It's not worth it.

Not only is this book choppily and poorly written, the use of the word retarded in a way to call someone’s actions stupid is irresponsible and abhorrent.

J.S. Ellis needs to work on grammar, plot structure and character development.


Thank you to NetGalley for providing my ARC of this book.

this was a good book. Different storyline that I originally through.
Lottie dies in suspicious circumstances.
Her best friend Anthony, only days before her death, borrows Lottie's laptop.
After she dies, Anthony finds some strange video diaries on the laptop, but as he views them, he becomes afraid to reveal to the police that he has the laptop, and wants to continue to watch and learn why Lottie has lied and see if he can work out who possibly killed her.

A woman was found dead in her apartment. Her friend has her laptop. On this laptop are secret videos she made. He’s hoping these videos will lead to the killer. One man, an obsession, one dead girl.

Overall:
The video recordings didn’t read like someone taking journal notes of their day. They read like scenes. No one would document this way dictating every word and mannerism.
There were some inconsistencies: The author indicated the video clips were labeled in sequence from one to fifteen, yet the story included more that fifteen videos.
This turned from a murder investigation into a masochistic romance between co-workers. This was an office romance slash murder investigation.
The story was subpar. It’s mediocre at best. I was curious to find out who the killer was, but in order to do so I skimmed through the entire book. Most of what was in those videos wasn’t pertinent information.
While this is a story about Lottie’s secret it’s predominantly about Anthony and his relationship with her.
This is not set up as a police investigation it’s set up as the friend watching secrets on a laptop. Anthony doesn’t necessarily solve the case himself. He watches video confessions from Lottie. However, you do have to wonder if she is lying given her obsession with Davian.

The Secret She Kept drew me in quickly. Anthony's friend loaned him her laptop and now she's dead. Instead of turning it in to the police, Anthony begins to go through everything on the laptop in his own investigation into who caused his friends death. Told in alternating views, the story is part Lottie's video journal and Anthony's memories and current experiences. The end was a little disappointing as I found it predictable and unfolding just as I imagined a little over halfway through. Easy to read and fast paced, the story was an easy, quick, suspenseful read. My voluntary, unbiased review is based upon a review copy from Netgalley.

This was a good read. There was nothing earth shattering about it, but a good mystery, plot and story line. The book is in the eyes of Anthony, and Lottie’s video diaries, which keeps it interesting. There aren’t many characters in the book so it does keep the “who did it” factor a little more intriguing. I did figure it out before it was revealed, but it does become more apparent towards the last 20% of the book. There are some little twists here and there, which I can appreciate. It keeps you on your toes. Lottie’s character did become quite interesting, not very relatable but just interesting. This is a quick read, I finished it in 2 nights, although there are a couple of slower parts. All in all it was good.

This book definitely wasn't bad...I just felt like it was missing something. I did enjoy the 13 Reasons Why type aspect- having the victim tell their own story.

This is my first book by J. S. Ellis, but definitely won’t be my last. It’s a very quick thriller with many twists and turns. Lottie has committed suicide and her good friend Anthony is determined to find out why. As the story unravels, all is not what it appears. I would definitely recommend this book to someone who wants a quick read that is full of suspense and mystery. Thank you NetGalley and Black Cat Ink Press for my ARC.

This was an okay thriller. I think it had a good plot, but the writing style wasn’t for me. It was a short read, but I think it could have been developed better. The ending I wouldn’t have predicted right away, but by the middle/end I had a pretty good idea of what happened.

After reading the synopsis for this book I was excited to get my hands on an advanced copy as I love a good thriller and this one sounded right up my alley- unfortunately however it just didn’t hit the mark for me. I have to commend the author for the easy reading flow of this book which allowed me to finish in one session but I just felt that alternating between Anthony’s narrative and then the videos made it a little disjointed at times. I’m also a huge character lover and found myself not liking any of them in this book (due perhaps to a lack of background story) which I think also added to my overall disappointment. Still a big thank you to Netgalley and Black Cat Ink Press for this digital copy to review!

This is a story about a dead woman and her best friend, who desperately wants to understand what happened. In trying to piece together what led up to the death of his friend Lottie, Anthony goes through her laptop and begins to realize he didn't know his best friend as well as he thought he did. The Secret She Kept was a fast, fun, enjoyable read!

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and author for providing me with an early copy of the book for review.

I received this ebook from Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion and review. I wasn’t that impressed with this book. I was expecting thereto be some elaborate secret, but instead I just felt like it was a let down. This storyline could have taken a really interesting turn, but it didn’t. I did enjoy the last few pages where everything is revealed, but I wish there was more.