“Every lie you tell, every secret you keep, is a fragile little thing that must be protected and accounted for. One misstep, one miscalculation, and your safe little treasures can topple the perfect life you’ve built around them.”

ALL HER LITTLE SECRETS is a twisty mystery about a Black female lawyer who gets caught up in some shady dealings at work after the mysterious death of her boss and her subsequent promotion. This page turner explores race, women in the workplace, and the fallout of secrets — on those who bear the burden of keeping the secrets and on those who suffer the consequences of the exposure of secrets. I love a book about secrets, and I also really enjoyed the workplace mystery. It was a page-turner for me, but one that had depth and tackled important themes and topics. This is a debut from @wandamowrites and I’m looking forward to reading more of what she writes! 4.5/5⭐️—I really liked it!

Many thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow Custom House for gifting me a digital ARC of the debut novel by Wanda M. Morris - 5 stars for a book that kept me glued to the pages. Can't wait to read more from this author!

Ellice Littlejohn is working as a corporate attorney and having a relationship with her white, married boss. When she finds him dead on the floor of his office, she runs, afraid all the secrets she's been keeping could come to light. But when Ellice is promoted to take her boss' position, things go from bad to worse. Suddenly, her promotion doesn't feel right and the police are hovering asking too many questions.

Wanda Morris is a Black corporate attorney, so you know she's speaking the voice of experience in this story of racism and sexism in the business world. But she has created a tight suspense/mystery that will have you questioning lots of people and wondering how everything will play out. Her past is told in alternating chapters - let's hope more people have a Miss Vee in their lives to look out for those who need it. Great book!

This was a good book with a very timely message. Ellice is a lawyer who is meeting her boss/lover for an early morning meeting when she walks into his office to find him dead of an apparent suicide. One thing to keep in mind with this book is things are not always as they appear. I'm giving this book 4 stars and will definitely read the author's next book.

This book did what I need all thrillers to do! Be thrilling! I was engaged from start to finish.

I'm weary about thrillers that mention dealing with racism now because of thrillers that just did it so badly. Wanda M Morris doesn't make the same mistakes as other author by centering the white gaze. Not once in this story did it feel like she was trying to show white readers how hard it is for Black people. Instead she crafted a twisty tale about a woman with a very traumatic and abusive past who was just doing what she thought she needed to do to stay afloat.

Ellice Littlejohn has tried so hard to distance from her rural past in Chillicothe, Georgia. She has no pictures of her family or friends in her office and as far as everyone is concerned she's an only child. No one knows about her alcoholic birth mother or emotionally, physically , and sexually abusive step-father or any of the other secrets she's kept buried. The façade of her perfectly life as a top attorney at Houghton dramatically changes one morning when she goes to meet her boss in his office before work hours. Thinking this is just another one of their early morning trysts she's shocked to see his dead body with a bullet wound in his head. Panicking she flees the scene pretending as if she was never there.

The next day she's promoted to the executive position her boss held with the promotion being announced before they officially ask her. She finds the boy's club culture of the executive board unnerving as the only Black woman working at the company especially as protestor's march outside the building chanting about how Houghton won't hire Black people. Even more unnerving is how determined the executive board is to quickly move on from one of their members dying. They don't even attend his funeral and throw a huge social club party the day after.

Soon Ellice finds herself being framed for murder and discovers the shady businesses people are her job are participating in but nothing can prepare her for some of the other secrets she's uncovers.

Fast-paced, well thought out, and full of twists even at the end All Her Little Secrets never has a dull moment.

I received an arc from William Morrow Books in exchange for an honest review.

Eunice Littlefoot left her small town and became a powerful corporate attorney. As the only person of color at her firm, she deals with gossip and resentment after her boss is murdered and she is offered his position. But why was he murdered and what does it have to do with her past secrets?

My favorite part of this book was the main character. As the only person (and woman) of color at her place of business, she didn’t let any BS stand. I loved how the storyline pointed out racism, casual and blatant. The investigation within the story bogged me down at times. I didn’t have much interest in the business aspect, but I still enjoyed the story. I liked the looks at Ellice’s history and childhood a lot and how it shaped the future.

“Every lie you tell, every secret you keep, is a fragile little thing that must be protected and accounted for. One misstep, one miscalculation, and your safe little treasures can topple the perfect life you’ve built around them.”

All Her Little Secrets comes out 11/2.

I thought it was a good but didn't really connect with character, Ellice. I thought that Ellice should have picked up on the signs around her. All her little secrets are about to get Ellice caught up in a few precarious situations. The police are suspicion of her as her story doesn't add up. Why has the Senior Executive Committee promoted her to her dead boss and secret lover's position of EVP and General Counsel, something isn't right. Why is her past with secrets you take to the grave coming back to haunt her. Ellice is unraveling and doesn't know who to trust. Her trusted friends are realizing they never knew the real Ellice.

A huge thank you to the publisher @williammorrowbooks and @netgallery for my gifted eARC!

💭💭 𝑴𝒚 𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️4/5

Ellice is keeping some secrets, one of them being that she is having an affair…with her boss, Michael! Ellice is a black woman working in an office that has mainly white workers. One morning she is to meet Michael to discuss something important, only to discover him dead from a bullet wound to the head. Ellice panics, she flees the scene, goes back to her apartment, and acts as though nothing has happened, as she wants absolutely nothing to do with the investigation ahead.

After this discovery things start to spiral for Ellice. She has kept so many secrets from her childhood, something tragic happened to her that has changed her life, and that she wants no one to find out!

After Michael’s death-her work promotes her to take his place. She starts to uncover secrets about the company she works for. She must be careful, because her family, her friends, and her life are at stake.

Her bosses death was thought to be a suicide, but the investigator informs Ellice that the scene was staged and that Michael’s death was actually murdered. Ellice begins to think that someone is framing her for the murder of her boss. She needs to escape this mess, get out, but that means opening the doors to her past and confronting them.

This books was really good! I’ve been looking forward to reading it for awhile and it definitely did not disappoint. I LOVE the authors writing, and all the important topics that the author ties in throughout the book. I enjoyed all of the complex characters, especially Ellice and all her secrets that are brought to the surface. I found myself thinking about this book even when I was not reading it, that is when you know a book is good and has sucked you in!

If you enjoy legal thrillers tired in with mystery and suspense, than this is one I highly recommend.

Secrets abound in this thriller of a book. It’s a story of family and race. It’s a tale of our past and our present. It’s a story of becoming who we are meant to be wrapped up in a legal thriller. Ellie Littlejohn comes from a poor and abusive home and becomes a high powered attorney, but that doesn’t mean she is perfect by any stretch. I’d give this a 3.5 stars, and I’m grateful for the advance read from NetGalley.

All Her Little Secrets
by Wanda M. Morris
Pub Date: November 2, 2021
William Morrow

In this fast-paced thriller, Wanda M. Morris crafts a twisty mystery about a black lawyer who gets in over her head after the sudden death of her boss.
* Mystery *Thriller *fiction
This checked the boxes on the books that usually make me dance!
However,
Thanks to WilliamMorrow and NetGalley for the ARC.

Ellice is initially portrayed as strong, sensible, and smart. So it grew to be a bit frustrating reading about her making wrong decision after wrong decision that puts her in mortal danger.
Not my type of book.
3 stars

My thoughts on this book might not help you decide if this book is for you. I actually really liked it... it's just that I never felt like picking it back up. I enjoyed it every time I was reading it but when I put it down I found myself avoiding picking it up. I don't have a reason for it and probably will recommend the book when it fits someone's interests. Not sure what happened to me with this one.

I literally could not put this book down. It's fast-paced and utterly engrossing, full of twists and surprises. HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

Well-written, tightly paced. I went into this blind and am glad I did. It was a great ride. It’s part-legal thriller, part commentary on racism, a d it was fantastic.

Elise Littlejohn just got the opportunity of her life, promotion to general counsel, something she has dreamed of since she left Chillicothe, Georgia, and all of its secrets behind, it is umfortunate that it has come at the expense of the death of her married lover. His death not withstanding, this could be a chance of a lifetime, all of her sacrifice is being rewarded or is Elise actually the sacrificial lamb. Pick up All Her Little Secrets to find out which one.

All Her Little Secrets is a well written fast pace thriller replete with thought provoking prose and a flawed yet affable protagonist that you root for even when her sins come to light. I thought the mystery aspect was well done even though the small town girl who made it with secrets trope has been utilized time and again, Morris brought a fresh perspective with her Black protagonist Elise, a perspective which made it a satisfying read. I highly recommend that you pick it up. 4.5 stars

What a tricky and extremely complex novel! I’ve seen this cover so much I felt as if I had read it already. Give me a amnesia pill and let me read it again. Wanda Morris gives us a complex and intricate woman named Ellice Littlejohn,, a well respected corporate attorney at the height of her career who is casually intimate with her superior Michael in their Atlanta lawfirm. When Michael is found dead and Ellice is promoted to his job) the suspicion of the police and colleagues is pointed at her. Ellice, now feeling even more isolated as the only African American attorney, desperate to separate herself from the death, can only do one thing. Investigate. We are off and running on an enthralling and gripping mystery that is really a heart pounder. Excellent. Please write another, quickly.

With All Her Little Secrets, author Wanda M. Morris captures her readers’ attention from the outset as Ellice Littlejohn, a middle-aged black attorney in a large Atlanta trucking company, arrives for an early morning meeting with the head lawyer. Entering the office of her boss, who also happens to be her long-term lover, she finds him dead in his desk chair, a gun on the floor beside him. Something in her past causes her to flee the scene rather than phoning the police.

Morris tells Ellice’s story in two time periods and locales, gradually revealing the secret past in small-town Chillicothe that shapes Ellice’s decisions in the present. As Ellice learns she has much more to worry about than her lover’s murder, further decisions complicate her situation, endangering her career and her life.

Many readers will probably want to devour this book in one sitting. I cannot help thinking what a suspenseful film All Her Little Secrets could become.

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the advance reader copy. I have preordered a copy for my daughter who works in an Atlanta area law office.

This debut novel by Wanda Morris was so well written and engaging. I loved it! I wanted it to get to the conclusion, but I really didn’t want it to end! Ellie was the perfect protagonist; likable, intelligent and loyal. She was perfectly imperfect and was so honest about how exhausting life can be for a black woman in America. It really made me think. Looking forward to more from this author. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a digital arc of this book. Releases November 2, 2021.

This is a story about secrets.  Ellice Littlejohn seems like she has everything going for her -- college and law degrees from top schools, a senior legal job at a major Atlanta corporation, and a beautiful apartment.  Beyond the facade that Ellice presents to the world, though, everything is not quite what it seems -- Ellice is sleeping with her married boss, she is one of the few Black employees at her company, and her childhood contains many dark secrets that she has successfully kept hidden ever since she left her small hometown.

One early morning, she walks into her boss/lover's office for an early morning meeting, only to find him dead from a gunshot to the head.  Soon, and seemingly out of nowhere, Ellice is called to the company CEO's office and informed she will be promoted to replace her boss.  As Ellice becomes more deeply enmeshed in her company's affairs, she begins to sense something is not quite right -- just as the police are getting suspicious of what really happened to Ellice's boss and her role in his demise.  Ellice soon finds herself trying to head off a conspiracy before it destroys everything, and everyone, in her life.

This was a strong thriller. The central mystery kept me on my toes, zig and zagging several times.  The author effectively paired the thriller with a story of whether it is ever possible to escape your past and an examination of the overt and covert challenges of navigating the legal and corporate worlds as a Black woman.  I tore through this one in a single day.

Ellice Littlejohn is a 50-something, Yale-educated corporate attorney working for Atlanta-based Houghton Transportation Company. Despite the company being criticized for its mostly white male hiring practices, Ellice, a Black woman, appears to be on a path for success. When she discovers her boss Michael Sayles in his office one early morning dead of an apparent suicide, she flees the scene. She wants to insure that her years-long affair with her mentor isn’t discovered and she wants to keep any knowledge of her past a secret. Once Ellice is quickly promoted to general counsel, her life turns upside down. She soon starts to discover the secrets being held by her company, which may have contributed to Michael’s death. In flashbacks, Ellice’s difficult childhood in rural Georgia is revealed and the tragic events she is hiding from everyone come to light.

Author Wanda M. Morris has created a tense mystery thriller in a corporate setting that is plagued by racism and sexual discrimination. It takes toxic workplace to a whole new level. All Her Little Secrets is a fast-paced, highly entertaining book that I couldn’t put down.

Rated 4.25 stars.

I kept wondering how the plot would have changed had Ellice called the police upon finding her boss and lover Michael dead on the floor in his office rather than walking away and letting someone else find him. An attorney for an Atlanta trucking firm. she's working hard to put her past and more importantly her secrets behind her but they're out there and some one always knows. Now she's been promoted into Michael's position and she's a target. No spoilers. This sorta legal thriller hits on issues of toxic corporate culture, racism, conspiracies, and so on. Ellice makes some remarkably bad decisions. Some of it is quite trope-y and some of the characters are almost caricatures but I did want to know what was going to happen- and was a bit surprised. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. I'm eager to see what Morris writes next.

This was a fast-paced story about a lawyer getting an executive position at the company where she worked after the predecessor allegedly commit suicide. As the story unwinds, there are some corporate challenges playout for the female character who is black. She finds out her brother is somehow involved and gets murdered. The story takes the reader through her discovering of corporate misdoing and making amends with her past.