First, what I liked: The pacing of the book was great, The narrator was excellent and she really drew me in to the story. The story was compelling and I wanted to keep reading. I finished the book in a day,

What I didn't like: both the main character and her husband are detestable. She is a cheater and there really as no justification for it. Her husband is nasty and vindictive. Their daughter is spoiled. The big reveal, the major twist, was so obvious that it really can't be considered a twist. Then the ending was sort of meh. The big climax in the book was dramatic, but since I didn't care for the characters, I wasn't invested.

All in all, it was a quick but forgettable read. I don't think this should be considered a "thriller" or "domestic suspense"; it was more like plain old drama.

Things I liked:
I like the writing style. The storyline kept me interested.

Things I didn’t like:
The main character, Desi, was very egotistical/self centered. It was as if she thought that everything that happened was because of her, whether it was good or bad. A plane crashed? Yep, it’s her fault. Had a baby with another guy but married someone else and didn’t tell either of them….or the daughter. Anything that Jules wanted to do, Desi‘s response was, “we’ll talk about this later.” Like Jules couldn’t make up her own mind about anything.

I also thought that this was going to be a suspense thriller. That was my fault.

Secrets of Our House is set to release in February of 2022. Thank you NetGalley for the arc!

Desi builds a house for her family in the mountains of North Carolina, where she watches her husband and daughter grow more distant by the day. The family is dysfunctional and all hold their own secrets and lies. Desi is secretly in love with her ex, her husband secretly wants a divorce, and her daughter secretly wants to give up her college plans and stay in NC.

This was tough to get through because the situations were so over the top and unbelievable. Desi kept lecturing her daughter about giving everything up for a man when she was going to do the same thing with her ex. Desi was an extremely unlikable character who kept meddling in everyone else's lives.

I thought this was going to be some sort of domestic thriller, but instead it was just a bore.

From the outside, it looks like Desi has it all; the perfect house, a charming husband. But scratch the surface and underneath the veneer Desi is in love with another man and her past is far from perfect. As she and her family vacation in the mountains for the summer, that past comes back to haunt her as she and her family face a vacation that will change everything. Billed as a mystery, this is really more a family saga, albeit with a heroine with a shady past

Nobody has the ability to take me through the emotional wringer quite like Rea Frey, and this one is no different. From the city streets of Chicago to the mountains of North Carolina, Secrets of Our House is domestic drama at its absolute best. The parental relationships and the heartbreak of young love combined with some incredibly suspenseful situations (no spoilers here) make this book one that would be perfect to be snowed in with this winter.

The audio narration is absolutely spectacular. Every sarcastic comment or emotional outburst is so well captured that it makes you feel like you're actually a bystander in the story! Thanks so much for the opportunity to review.

Link to Instagram post:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CXmFVHMr77S/