Audiobooks are always "make or break" with the narrator. This was a "break". Such a shame ... the story was interesting and had a decent twist, but the narrator's voice was like nails on a chalkboard to me. Even sped up, it was monotonous and had a very aggravating tone. What a shame!

This review was also posted on Goodreads.

I jumped at the chance to listen to the audiobook of Natalie Richards's Seven Dirty Secrets after recently enjoying listening to her book Five Total Strangers. In the Young Adult novel Seven Dirty Secrets, a mysterious gift is left for Cleo on her 18th birthday - in her bathroom while she is home alone and in the shower! Obviously, the story starts off with a bang as Cleo and her BFF Hope try to figure out who left the gift, how the person got into Cleo's house, and what the clue inside the box might mean. It turns out the gift is just the beginning of a scavenger hunt that sends Cleo and Hope chasing the ghost of Declan, Cleo's dead boyfriend who died exactly one year ago when Cleo and her friend group went on a rafting trip.

As the girls try to follow each clue to the next box, things get dangerous, the countdown clock is winding down to something terrible, and it becomes clear that someone knows secrets about what happened on that rafting trip. Everyone in the friend group is a suspect, but as the clues yield information that only Declan could have known, Cleo has to wonder, Is Declan really dead?

I felt like this story and tone really captured the teenage voice and properly shared the friendships and loyalties one would expect to find in a YA novel. What I didn't expect, however, was the constant theme of physical abuse that ran from start to finish in this book. In a family with perpetually absent parents, Cleo and her brother live at home alone. Cleo's now-deceased boyfriend Declan was physically abusive for months before his death; apparently, this physical abuse went undetected by teachers, the absent parents, and just about everyone Cleo interacted with. Cleo, understandably, is still dealing with those memories of abuse; and, as a result, the reader is often reliving those events with Cleo. I don't think I would recommend this book to a young teenager.

For adult readers who can look past the physical abuse of a 16-17 year old and focus on the story, I will say that the story kept my attention throughout, and the twist at the end was perfect! The narration for the audiobook was easy to understand and well-enunciated. I will definitely keep seeking out Natalie Richards books and audiobooks.

Thank you to NetGalley, Ms. Richards, and Dreamscape Media for an advanced copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

One caused the fall. One did nothing.
One saw it all. One didn’t care.
One used their head. One played the hero.
One was left for dead.

Cleo gets invited to a dark scavenger hunt, with only a week to solve the clues or her darkest secret will be revealed. Her boyfriend Declan died due to drowning, and it seems it was under mysterious circumstances. Cleo gets her friend hope and her brother Conner involved in the mystery as they all they all try to solve the clues. This is definitely action-packed but I can't really say that it did it for me. I admit that YA is not my usual genre, and so maybe I'm the wrong person to be reviewing this book. I think the audiobook didn't help things, as some of the narration was in my opinion not the greatest. I definitely cringed listening to the narrator act out Aiden's voice. It's a solid thriller and I did enjoy listening to it.

Thank you netgalley and Dreamscape media for giving me an advanced review copy of this audiobok in exchange for an honest review.

Interesting but not really my cup of tea. Well written I just personally couldn’t get into the story. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This was a pretty decent YA mystery with some really great elements but it also lacked in a couple of areas. The suspense and mystery aspect were well done and kept me reading. The characters made some really stupid decisions though and that seemed a bit unbelievable. It was pretty easy to guess the who early on, the why came at the end though. I listened to the audio and I felt the narrator did a great job capturing Cleo and the story.

I enjoyed this YA mystery, although I must be getting old because I kept wondering where the parents were!! The story slowly reveals itself with a birthday scavenger hunt in the present timeline, which then reveals clues from the past. Overall a great listen. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the audiobook!

It is Cleo’s birthday! A gift with a strange message is left in the bathroom while she is in the shower. She calls everyone she knows and no one has left it for her. So, she and her best friend decide to follow the message in the gift. Well, this leads them on a scavenger hunt with a possible deadly end!

Talk about intense! This story is intense from front to back! Cleo is a young girl with a tragic past. The author does a fabulous job slowly untangling Cleo’s past for the reader. This just adds to the intensity, add in the creepy gifts that keep arriving for the scavenger hunt, my stomach was in knots! And then the ENDING! OH MY!

The narrator, Natasha Soudek, absolutely MADE this book. She became the character Cleo. I am now on the look out this narrator. She is one of the best! And, I have never read this author (oh my!) I have now added her books to my tbr list!

Need a novel that will have you on the edge of your seat…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today.

I received this from the publisher for a honest review.

DNF @20%.

After really enjoying Five Total Strangers, I was hoping that Seven Dirty Secrets would be just as good. Unfortunately, this one just didn't hold my attention. Don't get me wrong, the action starts right away, but I am really not into the whole weird cat/mouse game that is very reminiscent of I Know What You Did Last Summer.

I liked the story, the mystery and the action was good. But the narrator was a little whiny. Maybe she was going for that purposely, but I wasn't a fan.

The premise of Seven Dirty Secrets was quite enthralling for me... It definitely had a lot of potential. Unfortunately the main character, Cleo, just annoyed me. I found her quite useless, and she didn't capture my attention to be captivated by the plot.

The scavenger hunt was interesting to follow, and there were some twists I didn't fully expect, but I did predict the ending about half way through. I found some parts of it quite unbelievable (i.e. the detail of the hunt).

Overall an okay read. I would suggest reading this book as the narration was not something I enjoyed at all.

I liked how this story was crafted around a death and a scavenger hunt. It was a really fun was to unfol the mystery or what actually happened and who was behind different aspects of the story.

There are a lot of dark undertones to this story besides the death of Cleo's boyfriend. As the scavenger hunt continues, we get more and more inside into the abuse and I honestly didn't feel bad that the dude died....

I liked finding our little pieces not only from the hunt, but from little conversations the characters were having as well. Everyone had some kind of story to tell about that night and how Cleo was being treated, or should I say mistreated.

All in all, it was a pretty sold story and kept me interested the whole time.

Review of Seven Dirty Secrets by Natalie Richards

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Overall, I enjoyed this young adult thriller. I listened on audio and kept me engaged most of the story. It was a quick listen/read and had a decent twist at the end.

Quick synopsis: On her birthday, Cleo receives an odd package that is (eeeks!) placed on the bathroom counter while she is showering. She suspects first her best friend, Hope, then her brother b her both deny it. Her boyfriend is out of town but he also denies leaving her a gift. It turns out that it is a scavenger hunt. It is sent from someone who claims to know what happened last year in West Virginia. Cleo and her brother along with her then boyfriend and friends had taken a trip last year for rafting. Her boyfriend never came home. And someone knows how and why. Cleo needs to find out who is behind this gift and fast.

I enjoyed the audio version though the narrator was definitely not my favorite. This is a decent, quick read for YA thriller readers but definitely not for anyone who doesn’t enjoy YA.
Big thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.

I felt like the plot and twist were a little overdone and not shocking. This book was minimally engaging in my opinion. I like the way the author wrote but not this particular story/plot. I did not care for the narrator of the audio book on this one.

Seven dirty secrets:
-One caused the fall.
-One did nothing.
-One saw it all.
-One didn’t care.
-One used their head.
-One played the hero.
-One was left for dead.

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder meets Pretty Little Liars in this twisty, addictive story following Cleo on her eighteenth birthday. During a group rafting trip gone wrong, Cleo's boyfriend drowns in the river. Now, one year later, Cleo finds herself completing a scavenger hunt with cryptic clues revolving around her relationship with her late boyfriend. Her best friend (Hope) and brother (Conner) help her race against the clock to complete the hunt in time or risk their secrets regarding that fateful night one year ago coming to light and threatening their futures.

I thoroughly enjoyed navigating through this story along with Cleo and attempting to classify characters into each of the 7 roles presented. Natalie Richards did a great job at weaving an eerie vibe throughout the entirety of the book. The story was expertly paced and left you wanting to find out more about what REALLY happened on that rafting trip and who is now pulling the strings on the one year anniversary.

You ready?

This is a mystery, thriller about a teen named Cleo with a dark secret. One day after her shower as she is drying off, she notices a neat little package on the sink that was not there when she began her shower. Obviously someone was in the home and in the bathroom while she was naked with only a vinyl curtain separating them. The package contains a clue leading her on a sinister scavenger hunt. There are just four lines, somewhat threatening. Her parents are out of town and she’s home alone. Cleo contacts her best friend Hope, who is a bit of a prankster and loves a good mystery, bu5 t turns out that this “ prank” is not Hope’s doing.
Then there is a second box containing another poetry snippet,and this time a deadline. As more clues appear, Cleo and Hope attempt to solve a puzzle, with threats that failure to comply will endanger Cleo and expose a secret she hoped would never come to light. All the clues center on Cleo's dead boyfriend, Declan, who drowned on a group rafting trip exactly a year ago. The clues involve things directly related to him. And things only he could know… A bracelet she bought him, a song he loved, a photo of the rafting group, taken just before Declan drowned.
Then, the phone calls start! it becomes clear that someone knows what really happened to Declan. And that person will stop at nothing to make sure Cleo and her friends pay. They must move quickly to solve the quest before someone else winds up dead?
This is a good YA novel, but I think I would have enjoyed reading this instead of the audio version, I was a bit off putted by the narrator.

**2.5-stars rounded up**

One caused the fall. One did nothing.
One saw it all. One didn’t care.
One used their head. One played the hero.
One was left for dead.

Reading the above at the beginning of the synopsis for <i>Seven Dirty Secrets</i>, I knew I had to get my hands on it. I see something like that and automatically want to know all the scandalous details. In short, if someone has a secret, I want to know all about it.

Natalie D. Richards kicks this one off immediately. In the very first chapter you a diving into the drama. I really appreciated that. We follow 18-year old, Cleo, who on her birthday receives a hella creepy invitation to participate in a scavenger hunt.

At first, although the initial placing of the first clue was scary for her, Cleo believes that perhaps her best friend, Hope, or her brother, Conner, are behind it. However, when they both vehemently deny having anything to do with the hunt, she is forced to consider other culprits.

Cleo's given a weekend to solve all the clues, or a deep dark secret of hers will be revealed. A secret that involves the drowning death of her boyfriend, Declan, the previous year on a rafting trip. Cleo puts her head down and digs in, determined to solve this mystery, before it is too late for her and the rest of her friend group.

As mentioned above, Richards wastes no time getting into the nitty-gritty of this story. Cleo discovers the first clue within moments of the story beginning. After that, it is non-stop action until the bitter end.

While the synopsis of this seems absolutely up my alley, I can't say I thoroughly enjoyed this reading experience. I listened to the audiobook on a road trip over Thanksgiving holiday and had to push myself to get through it. The narrator just did not work for me. Frankly, it was painful. It felt so forced, with zero expression. The voices for the male characters, wow. I would have preferred she read their dialogue in her regular voice than the ones she was putting on.

Further, anytime there was any excitement in the narrative, where someone would be shouting, or freaking out, it felt like she was reading it out loud in her apartment and didn't want her neighbors to hear what she was doing. With this being said, I can't really blame the narrative style completely. There were parts of this story that I found repetitive and I didn't care for any of the characters.

While I don't need to like characters in order to enjoy a story, I at least need to be invested in their outcome. I just don't feel like I ever relaxed enough into this one in order to feel that for them. I think I was too distracted by everything else going on.

This is a solid premise and Richards does a great job of keeping the pace steady throughout. I wish I could have connected with it more, but just because I didn't, doesn't mean you won't. If this synopsis sounds intriguing to you, absolutely give it a shot. A hard copy could end up being one of your favorite books of the year!

Thank you so much to the publisher, Dreamscape Media, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I appreciate the opportunity to provide my honest opinions. Even though this one didn't hit like I wanted it to, I will absolutely continue to pick up Richards future work.

3.5 stars

This book jumps right into a mystery when the main character Cleo finds an odd present on her bathroom sink. It's the first clue in a scavenger hunt that soon turns dark, threatening to tell everyone what really happened last year in West Virginia. Cleo and her best friend Hope start following the clues and try to figure out who could be behind this. Is Declan alive or is one of Cleo's friends actually an enemy?

I liked that the story started out quickly and kept up a pretty good pace. There are a lot of secrets revealed and some of them I didn't guess. I did think it was clear who was behind everything and the climax wasn't as exciting as I'd hoped. Maybe I've just read so many YA thrillers this year that I wanted more?

The clues were fun to figure out and there were some high stakes moments that got me excited and a bit anxious. I am a fan of the author and look forward to more mysteries!

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All opinions are my own. Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the copy

I truly enjoyed the scavenger hunt aspect of this novel, but found myself distracted wondering about the title--I wasn't sure if there were really seven secrets that were going to be revealed, or if it was seven clues. I had a difficult time listening to the narrator and staying focused on the story. Her voice was too breathy, her intonation was often flat, and her presentation of the male dialogue was not believable. I would probably have enjoyed this one more if I had read it instead of listening to the audio version.

I purchased this one as soon as I finished it. Very compelling mystery and I did not see that ending coming! Excellent thriller to add to my library's collection.

Excellent read! The scavenger hunt element makes it interesting. The reader voice took a bit to get use to, but it fits the story well.