This book was really well written! I felt connected to the characters and I stayed motivated to read the book as I couldn’t wait to find out what happened.

Each of the children and their guardians represented a different demographic group which I really enjoyed as it showed how they can all get along despite their differences in their upbringing/ home life. I found the topic of gun control very prominent and I found myself waiting to hear more from the children opposed to the debate surrounding guns in the home.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book! I found it a quick read that provoked different feelings and discussions. The passionate opinions from some of the characters about gun control spoiled the read a tiny bit for me personally as I cared more about what happened in the stable and the children’s lives after that rather than the gun debate.

When I saw the comparisons to Big Little Lies, I was so excited to read this book. Unfortunately, it just wasn't great. As the book went on, I lost more and more interest. It just fell a bit flat for me.

I received a free ARC through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

The children's Secret by Nina Monroe had promise. The little excerpt I read hooked me right in.
That's where the positives end for me.
A child got shot in a small suburban town in the USA. No adults saw what happened, and the kids aren't talking.
The beginning was intriguing. We are right there in the middle of the action. The shooting happens, the investigation begins... then nothing,
Literally nothing happened for the next 200 pages of this book. The plot was thin and predictable. The pacing was a slog, which was odd, because with so many perspective changes it should have zipped right along. But then again, there was a lot of repetition. I felt like I read the same phrases over and over again.
This book had 400 pages, at least 100 of those were redundant repetitions.

There was an extensive cast of characters from various backgrounds and walks of life. From your homeschooling "hippie" to a Muslim immigrant family from Pakistan, English immigrants, a couple of foster kids with a bad history, a family with a kid on the spectrum... overall a pretty diverse group of people, yet they all seemed flat and interchangeable. If you didn't change the names, you would never know someone else was talking.
And the characterization left a lot to be desired. Has the author ever actually talked to a parent with a kid on the spectrum? As an autism parent myself I found the portrayal of Bryar's mom entirely unbelievable. "She wanted to get him a diagnosis other than 'on the spectrum', something treatable." On the spectrum is a diagnosis. It means he has ASD, and there are treatment options, yet besides some music therapy none of that was mentioned. But an end of summer party was going to be the answer to his social isolation? Hmm...
But I digress.
Pricilla, the victim's mom was equally insufferable, as well as unrealistic. Not only was she incredibly hostile (ok, I will give her that, she IS in a lot of distress), but the way she argued with everybody by passive-aggressively spitting their questions back in their faces, was just beyond annoying. Was this supposed to be a lawyer thing? I don't know, but it felt immature and grated on my last nerve.
And from one mother to another....
[possible spoiler} So if your kid is in a coma at the hospital after getting shot, do you jet out of town for a TV interview to peddle your political agenda? I can't imagine what it would feel like to be in that position, but even less can I imagine leaving my child's side for that.

Lastly, the political agenda itself was just... too much.
For context, I am a European immigrant living in a Texas suburb. I am the mother of an autistic child, whom I homeschool and a firm believer that owning firearms causes more harm than good. (None of this makes me an expert on any of that, so this is just my personal opinion, but I did see myself in quite a few of these characters.) I was annoyed. 75% of this book was anti-gun agenda and the actual tragedy of a child getting shot by her peers was almost just a side note. The characters reacted in ways that felt inauthentic, just to fit into the agenda. And even as someone who typically sits on this side of the aisle as far as that debate goes, I felt clobbered by it. If you are preaching to the choir and the choir turns on you, you have a problem.

I really am sorry that I have no good things to say about this book... after all this is someone's baby. Her pride and joy. So I tried. I read every single last word to the very end, but it just didn't come together in a satisfactory way for me.

Nine children sneak into a barn, and the unthinkable happens to one of them. After one of the children is shot, their parents and the neighborhood are up in arms. How did the children get a gun? How could one of the children shoot another? And what exactly happened in the barn on that fateful day.

This book started out very promising for me - the stakes were high, and I wanted to know what secrets the children were hiding. I appreciated the commentary on gun violence - it affects children all over the US. However, I ultimately had trouble with the pacing of the book - it took too long to learn the secrets, and then everything wrapped up very quickly. I think readers who enjoy social commentary might like this book, but I would characterize it more as suspense than an traditional thriller.

Thank you to Crooked Lane Books for providing an ARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I can say I was invested in this book. I wanted to know what truly happened that day. Kids are in a barn, and one gets shot, but how? It is a question that everyone is asking because the children are not saying a word, but why would they be so quiet? As our story unfolds, we learn why they kept the secret, and we see just how well a secret is kept can tear friends, family, and even a community apart. When I started reading, I assumed the author would push an agenda on us about guns being horrible, and they need to be banned. I am thrilled she did not. Though I did get aggravated with one character, who kept just repeating guns being kept in houses and no one should have guns. I understood her meaning behind it all, but it still bothered me. Honestly, small towns that do a lot of hunting will have guns; it is up to the parents to have precautions to prevent accidents like shootings. We are told what is going on via different points of view, and it was easy to with. Overall the story was one you want to keep reading until you find out the ending. No one is perfect, people make mistakes, and sometimes they are deadly. This teaches that sometimes you have to learn not to listen to others when you know their idea is bad. You have to learn how to stand up and say no.

This was a terrible book. I like multiple storylines but all the characters seemed the same and flat. There was no real difference in the way the adult and/or children characters thought or talked. The theme was guns was something I was interested in and it felt like a good way to introduce it to the American masses but even that felt flat. What could have been a powerful book from the right author - was a waste of time.

The Party

Sadly this book deals with a case of children and gun violence. The story takes place at a party at the home of Ben and Kaitlin Wright and their son Bryar. The adults are all in the house visiting. The party is ending and some of the children have left already. The remaining children are in the stable playing. Seven children and one that was not supposed to be there. All of a sudden there is a gunshot and one child is shot in the chest. Afterwards none of the other children will say what happened.

It is a story of really listening to your children, be involved with them and make sure the doors of communication are open so they are not afraid to come to you and talk about their problems. It is about telling the truth and also being able to face the truth about yourself, your relationship and your child, even if it is not what you want to face.

The story is about the diversity of the members of the town, and the problems within the marriages of those involved in the incident at the party. It is about working together to resolve difference and be willing to compromise .

It is about the question of gun control and the different opinions on it, some very dramatically voiced. All involved learn this is a complex issue and not easily solved.

It was a good book in it showed that people can work together to resolve problems, and although they may be on different sides of an issue they can still be friends.

I loved the story and the characters, and I would recommend this book.

Thanks to Nina Monroe, Crooked Lane Books, and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary copy of the book for my honest review.

I enjoyed this book A lot it had me guessing back and forth a lot of the time before I truly figure it out what was going on. I read it in two days and I would definitely recommend it. Was a great Thriller

In a small New Hampshire town, at an end of summer children’s party, several of the kids sneak off into a barn on the property. Soon after, a gunshot is heard, and the one of the children is struck in the chest. That’s the premise for The Children’s Secret. In what starts off as a whodunnit type thriller actually becomes a forum for several social issues; gun control, racism, Islamphobia, among others. And that would be somewhat acceptable, except the author beats us over the head with these issues, told through stories about each of the involved children’s families, that just distracts from the plot. In fact, one of the characters is so unlikeable that it’s almost impossible to take her side (and you should). And the sugary ending just doesn’t jibe with the rest of the angry storyline. Sorry, just wasn’t for me. I received an ARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley, Crooked Lane Books & Nina Monroe (aka Virginia MacGregor) for this ARC.

This book is about a bunch of kids at a party that goes wrong. The children then keep what's happened a secret of who's done it. It tears some families apart and makes some bond closer. This book brings on lots of subjects, racism, divorce, gun control laws etc.

Overall it was slow paced, so you can get to know the families better, but a very good book.

#TheChildrensSecret #NetGalley #Goodreads

I thoroughly enjoyed this slow mystery. I love a good, face-paced thriller as much as anyone, but this novel is much more of a slow-paced mystery with a deep character study and I just loved it. I connected strongly with nearly all the characters in the novel, even when frustrated with their choices and actions. I think each of the characters will stay with me long after I have closed this book. The complexity of small town life, the influence of media, and the strong emotions surrounding guns leads to a good amount of reflection and a nuanced discussion of each of these aspects.

Even though nothing ever happens in this sleepy town, when a child is shot, focus shifts.

At a child’s birthday party, one is shot, and the others are keeping quiet.

I can definitely tell the amount of time this author dedicated to constructing her characters, but there were so many to keep track of, it would get confusing.

The premise for this book hooked me, and it is definitely a hot topic right now. While it is somewhat of a mystery (Who shot Astrid?), I would probably not categorize this one as a thriller.

⭐⭐⭐⭐In this Nina Monroe's novel explores the dangerous side of suburbia.

Residents are shaken to their core, when one hot Saturday afternoon, at a back-to-school party, nine children sneak into a barn...and only eight come out unharmed.

Questions are immediately asking, what type of parents let their children play unsupervised in a house with guns? What kind of child pulls the trigger on their friend? And most importantly: of the nine children who were present in that barn, which one actually pulled the trigger, and why are the others staying silent?

This thought-provoking novel asks how much our children are capable of, and how far we will go to protect them.

Releas date September 7 th 2021

“Nothing ever happens in a sleepy town like Middlebrook. Until the residents are shaken to their core, when one hot Saturday afternoon, at a back-to-school party, nine children sneak into a barn…and only eight come out unharmed.

The press immediately starts asking questions. What type of parents let their children play unsupervised in a house with guns? What kind of child pulls the trigger on their friend? And most importantly: of the nine children who were present in that barn, which one actually pulled the trigger, and why are the others staying silent?”

Just reading the synopsis of this book had me hooked. In today’s polarizing views on gun control, this was one I wanted to read.

Six families living in a small neighborhood. Eva and her husband and daughter recently moved here from England. Eva is hoping with school almost ready to start up, that her daughter, Lily, will make friends.

She encourages one of the other families to host a party so the kids can get to know each other. Kaitlin Wright and her husband aren’t thrilled with the idea. Their son is introverted and prefers being alone. He had a good friend, but no more.

We have a family with twins, from Pakistan, whose father is building a mosque in town. We have the single mom and former attorney whose daughter is a mystery to everyone. We have the off-the-grid single father who is raising three kids alone and the Rev. Avery, who is fostering two kids.

Priscilla, the mother of Astrid has forbidden her daughter to go to the party, but we all know kids. Especially in a small town where they all know each other. She’s going to go.

While the parents socialize, the kids are in the barn with the dog and horses. Until there is a scream and a gunshot. And not everyone is coming out of there on their own two feet.

But where is the gun? And so begins the battle among the families and the press. There were a lot of extremes in this tale. NO GUNS EVER! GUNS ARE FINE. Everyone has an agenda and the children aren’t talking at all.

I enjoyed the story. Although all the parents pretty much seemed the same. The children were great little characters and acted more like adults than the adults did.

NetGalley/ September 7th, 2021 by Crooked Lane Books

I so wanted to like this book. It had an interesting premise and the opening chapters where really beautiful written. But the book was painfully slow and it made it kind of hard to care for any of the characters and the story itself.

It's taken me a while to write this review for netgalley. I really had to think about how to write this with a positive spin. This book has so much potential to be a great mystery. Instead the mystery aspect was muddled because of the highly politcal rantings that guns shouldn't be in homes and that good parents don't have guns in their homes. I know that guns are a tough subject for many. I found a lot of spite in this book. I feel like more than 75% was agenda-pushing. The story of the children having this horrific accident was lost. It could have been so good if it focused on figuring out what happened. It took me weeks to read this book because I just didn't want to pick it back up again. There were too many characters, it was confusing who was talking half the time because there was a lot of "he said" or "she said" instead of listing one of the 20 main characters' names. Overall, 2 stars only because of the potential I saw in what I thought would be the main storyline.

This was heartbreaking. This hurt. This hit you in the feels and made you feel things. Children refusing to speak about something horrific is both infuriating and terrifying. Wonderful take on gun violence and it was handled extremely well in my opinion.

this book focuses heavily on children so young keeping something so big from their parents. we start to see how keeping a secret this big affects the children, and their parents relationships. i often found it very confusing to keep up with the characters, since it switches povs multiple times throughout just one chapter. i loved the storyline, but it sort of dragged on and got confusing as the story progressed.

I'm pre-emptively giving feedback because I was just approved for this book today, but it gets archived tomorrow and I don't know if I can review it after it's archived!

I'm 20% in already and HOOKED. It's so gripping, so engaging, right from the prologue. I really like that the point of view is third person, so we get little snippets of everyone's thoughts and feelings, including the children. I'm predicting a five-star for this book, for sure, even as early as 20%. I hope it maintains this pace and intrigue!!

I will 100% be back to edit my review once I finish (tomorrow at the latest, since I can't put the book down!), assuming I can still do that once it's archived!

EDIT:
This was good! More of a social commentary than I anticipated, but I guess I should have inferred that from the premise. A wide variety of characters, but we only got surface level depth into them, just because of how many there were. Clearly, I was anticipating more of a thriller/mystery than it ended up being. In terms of the genre, I think it would've been more aptly marked as community/domestic drama as opposed to mystery/thriller.

Thank you to Net-galley for allowing me to read Nina Monroe's book The Children's Secret. I love the storyline, the background of each family coming to the fore, as their stories played out. The ability of children so young to keep a secret to protect each other. Mothers who could not and would not believe their child could be involved and a father's anger and struggle to understand his wife's conflicting views.
I did find it confusing at times to keep up with so many characters, mainly with the adult characters more so than the children.
I also found some information a bit disbelieving such as the placental abruption not resulting in the loss of the baby though we don't really know at one stage in the pregnancy the character is at.
I recommend reading this book, it really throws up some thought provoking questions around guns and Nina Monroe navigated her way around these issues beautifully.