Cover Image: We All Have Our Secrets

We All Have Our Secrets

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Member Reviews

Emily Gentle is a midwife. She loves her job but one night she makes a mistake which leads her to be suspended and sends her scuttling back to her father Harold in Cornwall. When she gets there she finds he has installed a carer, the young and beautiful Francoise who is French. She is immediately suspicious that Francoise is after his money. The story is told mainly from Emily and Francoise's points of view. Interspersed with these are Harold's memories of his time in France during WW2.

I didn't enjoy this book. Both narrators are irritating and much of the book is spent ruminating about what the other woman is up to. Francoise's voice which is obviously French is very unconvincing. It didn't quite stoop to 'Ooh la la' but it wasn't much better. I couldn't get a grasp on the age difference between the father and daughter and also the reason Harold was in France was pretty unbelievable. But the real thing that annoyed me was just how unpleasant the characters were especially Harold.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

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I picked up this book as part of @neverendingnetgalley prompt for March which was Mystery March. I’m so glad I did! I loved it! It was fast paced and to be totally honest I had no idea how it was going to pan out. I spent the whole time second guessing myself and still didn’t get it right. I’m not sure I really liked either of the girls to be honest but I loved how the sections were told from different perspectives. It was very clever. I really enjoyed it and would 100% recommend it!

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Jane Corry is an excellent story teller and with We All Have Our Secrets, she builds on her success

This book is great! I never wanted it to end since I had so much fun reading

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Two women, Emily and Francois, the former a midwife and Francois a carer. They both have secrets which bring them together in caring for Emily’s father who has dementia. He too is not the man they think he is. The family solicitor, Nick has designs on Emily but he is in the middle of a divorce. The secrets slowly begin to unravel but unfortunately by the time I had forced myself to reach halfway in the telling I was beyond caring! The basic writing had me speed reading and am sorry to say that the bare bones of the story lacked the meat to keep me interested. I needed more depth, more credulity! Sorry but not for me!

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It is a long time since I read a book in just one day but this was it. Maybe it was being stuck in isolation or maybe just an easy read. Even though this is not Jane Corry at the top of her game, as I remember her, it was a very easy read and I lost myself in the plot and the characters.
The story is narrated through each character’s voice so your perception’s are constantly shifting and the plot moves along quite quickly. There is not enough intrigue for me, and the characters were quite easy to read but it did the job and whiled away a few hours.

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Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin for the ARC of this book.
Another very different story from Jane Corry. Although I enjoyed the book I felt it was a bit laboured. Started very promisingly but somehow felt a bit too trite. Not one of her better books I’m afraid.

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Emily is a midwife in London. Her father, Harold, lives in Cornwall, and although Emily phones him daily she doesn’t visit very often. After a traumatic event at her hospital, Emily returns home to seek comfort with her father. Unexpectedly she is greeted by a young lady, Francoise, who explains that she is now Harold’s carer. As the story progresses, nothing is quite as it seems.

This is the first time I have read this author, and for the first 50% of the book I was intrigued and enjoying the story. However, it then started to plod along, with a fair bit of repetition and pointless narrative. The ending was so long and drawn out that I lost interest totally.

I couldn’t quite get my head around the age difference of the parents, the young women and the lovers, it all became a little convoluted and hard work to read through. I didn’t care much either for Francoise’s opinion regarding the French attitude towards mistresses, I’m sure that can’t be true! Another of those urban myths perhaps?

I definitely would not regard this as a psychological thriller, more a family with secrets saga.

Thank you NetGalley.

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Generally I am a fan of her work but I found this confusing and a bit boring and struggled with it.
#WeAllHaveOurSecrets #NetGalley

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When Emily makes a mistake in her job as a midwife she returns to her family home to her elderly father, Harold. In his nineties, she feels she should be there for him but on arrival there is a young carer , Francoise. What is her father’s attraction to this young lady and what secrets does she know.
Oh this was a cracking read. Full of twists and emotions. Jane is an auto read for me without even reading the blurb I dive i and never ever disappointed. Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

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The title is true I guess for many people. Harold Gentle is 93 years old. The book goes backwards and forwards to his time in the war in France and his life today. His wife has passed away and his daughter, Emily, is a midwife in London. Emily feels guilty by not visiting her father more regularly but her job is her life. Emily is dealing with a labouring mother who insists on a natural birth. Once baby has arrived Emily goes off duty to be told to return to the hospital urgently as something has gone wrong. Emily has an accident, falling off her bike and suffers with a head trauma but does not go to the hospital due to fearing the fallout of the phone call. Instead she gets a train to Cornwall to visit her dad to talk to him. She goes to the house, rings the bell and Francoise comes to the door. Who are you? It comes to light through the book that Francoise thinks that Harold is her father from a liaison when her mom was nanny to Emily. The girls do not get on at all. They do not trust each other and vie for Harold’s attention.
This causes more and more drama and little things creep into the mix. Harold deteriorates and becomes very abusive. The girls take it in turns to care for him and he passes away when Francoise was caring – she did not call for Emily and this makes the position more tragic. The post-mortem reveals a problem with the amount of morphine in his body so they now have to contend with a coroner and a police investigation. The girls blame each other for the overdose but the real reason comes to light. Eventually they compromise and the rest of the book is how they put themselves back together and move on. A delightful story

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Not sure if it was a file/download issue but there were lots of gaps, stop/starts which really ruined the flow. I would love the chance to read a better version as the description of the book appeals to me.

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Found this an intriguing book to say the least with plenty of twists and turns in it to leave one wondering but very enjoyable x

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Following an upsetting incident at work Emily Gentle returns to her childhood home. Her elderly father has employed young French woman as his carer and Emily is concerned that the woman is preying on her father for money.

The book starts well and I really liked the twist at the end, however I really struggled with the vast majority of the story. I couldn't engage with any of the characters, the story-line jumped around too much and was contradictory at times.

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With thanks to Penguin and the author for ARC in return for an honest review

I loved the setting of the house and could see, feel and almost smell the sea

However

The only characters I actually liked in this book were Joe and Nick

Harold is a grumpy, malicious old man
Françoise, just couldn’t take to her
Emily needs grit and backbone

Therefore through my dislike of these their characters were well written, not sure if anyone is meant to like them, but I did find the story long and predictable

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Emily returns home to her father's after a stressful situation in her job as a midwife.. She finds a beautiful french woman Francoise looking after her ailing father...all is not quite what it seems and hereon in unravels quite a tale..who is telling the truth and what is the truth? I loved the fact that interwoven is the story of Harolds life...
A great read. Highly recommend. Kept me hooked and I definitely will be recommending to friends and family.

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I found this a little hard going. It was interesting and different to what I was expecting, but I still struggled a little with the writing. However, if you can stick with it, it is an interesting read.

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I get excited when I see a new book from Jane Corry is out, so I was looking forward to reading We all have our Secrets.
Emily is a midwife working in a London hospital when she makes a near fatal error. She is suspended from working pending an investigation. So, she decides to go back and see her father for reassurance to the family home Wilowmead house in Cornwall. But, when she gets there, she is surprised that he has hired a young French woman called Francoise as a Carer.
Emily straightway gets jealous as he confides in Francoise better than he has with his own daughter Emily. Even given a pair of earrings that was her late mothers, that was supposed to be given to her. After Emily starts delving into Francoise past, she no doubt thinks she is only there to steal his money. But what Emily doesn’t know that Francoise is her half-sister. So, when their father dies. Both are accused of his murder. Both have motive.
Thank you, Penguin, for a copy of We all have our secrets for an honest review. This story was told in two points of views and the time when Harold was in the war, and I liked the premise of this story. It has a strong start of Emily being accused of misconduct in her job and her returning to the family home.
When we are introduced to Francoise and her background was revealed the time Harold was in the war. The story started getting too overwhelming at time and I got confused what was going on. I also thought that the ending just went on and on and I didn’t think the author knew when it should end. I just thought some of it was unnecessary. This is an interesting read, but I don’t think it’s the authors finest work. 3.5 from me.

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An engaging and well written family based crime novel with plenty of twists and turns. Told mainly from the viewpoint of two women , who may or may not be half sisters, I found myself changing my mind often about who the ‘baddie’ might be. First book I’ve read by this author but I’ll certainly look for others.

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A really great suspenseful family drama. With lots of dark secrets, hidden family drama and a well drawn out plot.

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I was given an ARC of this book, which has been described as a domestic thriller – spot on!

I was immediately drawn into this story about Emily, a complex character infused with guilt, compassion and hurt. Then there’s Francoise, a beautiful young woman who was now taking care of Emily’s father...

The plot was about the secrets and the thoughts and feelings of Emily and Francoise. As each POV is recognised, the story unfolded and the secrets were revealed.
The writing style was great, with enough descriptions to bring a sense of place, while its pace steamed along, bringing with it insight into relationships and how secrets can fester life.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story. I liked how the secrets were brought into the light. I liked the writing style and how it switched from Emily to Francoise. Yes, it was sad and disturbing in parts, and yet, that’s life.

Overall, for me, this was a five-star read.

Recommended.

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