A story told from different perspectives with 2 different voices. One woman who has come home from London to see her sick dad and one woman who has arrived from France and is caring for the sick man. All have secrets and manage to misunderstand or miscommunicate in some way, making it difficult to know what really happened in the present and in the past. A page turner with a satisfying ending.

I’m sorry to say that, unlike some reviews I’ve read, I didn’t appreciate this book. I found the storyline to be disjointed and not really believable. I didn’t relate to any of the characters and I just couldn’t wait to be finished. I understand that the author has a very good reputation and I’ve enjoyed previous books written by her but this one wasn’t for me.

Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.

A good read and a perhaps not quite typical family drama, but definitely one that's real. A few twists, which you'll probably spot and written in a touching way using the main characters point of view which comes together to reveal the full plot.

“… we all have our secrets. And the longer you pretend something, the more real it becomes.”

Emily made one bad decision, and now her career could be over. Her family home on the Cornish coast is the only place where she feels safe. But when she arrives, there’s a stranger living with her father, Harold. Emily doesn’t trust Françoise, the beautiful young woman, convinced that she’s telling one lie after another.
Soon, Emily becomes obsessed with finding out the truth… But should some secrets stay buried forever?

The book is divided into parts, narrated alternatively by Emily and Françoise. They are interspersed with Harold's memories of the war in 1945 when he lied about his age so he could enlist to fight.

Jane Corry hooks you to this suspense thriller by dropping little nuggets of information that pique your curiosity. Her narrators are unreliable and the plot is rife with mystery. The events connect the present and the past, going as far back as the war. As the women compete for Harold’s attention, he himself is struggling with his demons that haunt him.

The narrative ends leaving you with more questions than when you started. A gripping thriller with sensational twists and mounting tension that is unputdownable.

This ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Penguin Random House UK.

I am a huge fan of Jane Corry and have read all of her books. Thank you NetGalley and Penguin for the opportunity to read and enjoy an advanced copy of We All Have Our Secrets. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good page turner. This story of Emily and her father will not disappoint. The tension will build and the twists just keep on coming. Find out for yourself what happens when Emily returns to her family home to find a cuckoo in the nest. I particularly enjoyed the fact the story is told from both perspectives, it definitely keeps things interesting and adds to the development of the main characters.

Brilliant twisty little thriller had me hooked from page one and the ending was not to be missed, will look out for more from the author!

I found Emily boring and stupid, I couldn’t identify with her at all.
However, the book was written in an interesting way, through the eyes of each character, making you think that they don’t have secrets, that you know them.
It did go on a bit, though…

We all have secrets is a domestic suspense that is centred around three people Emily, her father Harold and his live in carer Francoise. The dynamic between all three is what makes this book a page turner. Emily travels to Devon after a mistake at her work leaves her job in jeopardy, to her surprise Francoise opens the door of her fathers house. Harold is wealthy and clearly lonely so it's no surprise that Emily is worried Francoise is up to no good, They are all hiding something the question is what?

I really enjoyed this book and cannot believe that I kept it on my tbr list for so long, I'm glad i finally got round to it. Each character brought something to the story, I couldn't stop wondering what it was each of them was hiding. Emily is our protagonist, I couldn't help but wonder why I felt we were missing something with her story. As we know from the beginning about her troubles with work but it felt like much more and let's say it was worth the page turning to get to the truth.
Harold's story spends a lot of time in flashbacks when he was in the war, I kept wondering what the link was to the modern day. Actually that was the least interesting part of his story. I found myself close to tears, so i totally recommend a box of tissues.
Francoise was my favourite character in this book. I couldn't help but question what her secrets where and I did manage to guess correctly but the fall out was amazing. The way Harold is with Francoise is exactly why I didn't like his character. clearly using her to get jealous. But the way she is with Emily also made me realise there was more to her story.

As all three characters interlink we get to read the story from their POV, with Emily and Francoise's being the most dominate. I found it hard trying to figure out their instant dislike for one another but as the storyline unfolds you begin to understand more. I enjoyed that we got to hear from both points of view which was great as we can see how things got misinterpreted on both sides. It was actually great!!! This was one of the main reasons i really enjoyed the story actually.

Honestly I really like Jane Corry, she writes extremely well and she has the domestic suspense genre down to a tee. She writes so well and the way that the book jumps from characters POV, as well as time lines made the story more intense and I was constantly waiting for the next bomb to land on the page. Honestly my emotions were all over the place when I was reading this but I couldn't put it down.

It's a hard book to review without giving out far too many spoilers, so I'll say this, trust no one, expect an emotional rollercoaster and get ready to be reading all night. I enjoyed this book so much the prologue is the advert for the home help it is one of the funniest adverts I've ever read, i was actually laughing out loud!!! It just got better from then on out. If you have read any of Jane's previous works then you will enjoy this one! 3.5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley, Jane Corry and the publishers for the ARC of we all have secrets in exchange for my far and honest opinions.

I’ve read all of Jane Corry’s books and this one certainly didn’t disappoint. Fantastic story line and great characters, I couldn’t put it down. Can’t wait for the next book. Highly recommend this author

This was an easy read for me. I enjoyed the cliff-hangers that occurred at the end of the chapters, drawing me in very quickly.

The main character was difficult to warm to, which might have been the point, but I felt her character, and the others in this book, were very well developed.

I like to be kept guessing when reading thrillers, and that is exactly what this book provides. I was kept on my toes, and truly could not have predicted the ending.

A great, easy read.

Emily, a midwife living in London, returns to her childhood home after being suspended from work. Her 93 year old father is showing signs of dementia, but she's not prepared when a beautiful young woman opens his door claiming to be his carer and Emily sets out to uncover Francoise's secrets.

This is a two part thriller with alternating chapters narrated by Emily and Francoise, occasionally with scenes from her Fathers time in the war. The main characters are all very complex, each of them with secrets to hide. I spent most of the time not knowing who to believe throughout this story.

I enjoyed it, it kept my attention throughout. I felt the ending spoiled a good story though, it seemed to go on too long with an annoying ‘she is, she isn’t, she is’ plot (without spoiling) saga.

When Emily is suspended from her job as a midwife she decides to go and stay with her 93 year old father in Cornwall. She is surprised when the door is opened by a young French woman Francoise who has been employed by her father as a live in carer. Emily is not pleased by this development and as time goes by she is disturbed by how close Francoise and her father have become especially when he gifts Francoise items that have been left to Emily by her mother. Emily begins to suspect that Francoise had an ulterior motive when she took the job as Harold's carer. However Emily has secrets of her own.

Told from present day perspectives of Emily and Francoise and Harold's time as a young soldier in France in WW2, this was an enjoyable read though I did think the ending wasn't quite as I'd expected.

Summary: We All Have Our Secrets follows Emily and Françoise. Emily, a midwife, is the daughter of Harold Gentle and travels home to Cornwall after an inquest into potential malpractice. When she arrives back in Cornwall she finds her 90 year old father being cared for by Françoise, a young French woman who turned up out of the blue and was hired on the spot. Emily is suspicious of Françoise‘s motives as she becomes very close with her father, but both women seem to be keeping secrets and they only getting more suspicious as Harold’s health deteriorates.

Thoughts: I flew through this book and enjoyed lots of the aspects of it I just wished it flowed together a bit better. The storyline with the hospital inquiry was interesting and I wanted to know more but it was pushed to the side. Then Harold’s diary entries, which again were interesting but used strangely and I didn’t really get what was going on with them until the end - maybe that was the point… The two women were the saving Grace and their characters were strong and likeable, I couldn’t help but continually switch sides as I liked them both. The ending all felt a bit rushed which was a shame but all in all I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to other would want an easy, whodunnit/mystery that you can read in 2 sittings.

This is the first book by Jane Corry I have read. I’ve heard good things about all her books, but I was a little disappointed. The characters were unlikeable, and I got the feeling anomalies in the book were solved by statements in brackets. While I finished the book, I struggled with frustration a lot - both with the characters and the story line. Sorry. Not for me.

Emily decides to go and stay with her elderly father while an incident at her work is being investigated. It’s a stressful time for her and the last thing she expects is to find a strange woman in the house when she arrives. Françoise has been hired by her father, Harold, to work as his carer but Emily is suspicious of her motives and becomes obsessed with finding the real reason for her sudden appearance.⁣
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We All Have Our Secrets is an intriguing family mystery told from three different perspectives. In the present day we hear the story from both Emily and Françoise’s point of view and the reader is left constantly trying to work out who is telling the truth and what really happened. This story is also broken up with flashbacks of Emily’s father’s experiences during the war, and the impact this had on his life after returning home.⁣
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This is the first book I have read from Jane Corry so I didn’t know what to expect but I was really hooked by the mystery elements and honestly didn’t know the way the story would lead. From the start, there were several paths it could have taken and I was surprised when the truth was finally revealed.⁣
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This is the perfect summer thriller, with plenty of tension, twists and conflict but not too dark or heavy going. A gripping page-turner and fantastic domestic suspense novel.

A thoroughly enjoyable read - I enjoyed the cliff hanger chapter endings and warmed to both the main characters. A nice easy read for me.

I was very quickly drawn into this domestic thriller, told from the viewpoints of the two women Emily and Franscoise.

Emily is a midwife but following a bad decision at work her job is in jeopardy. She goes to stay with her father to recover but when she arrives there is a young French woman living with her father. Why doesn’t she trust this woman, Franscoise? She is meant to be a live in carer but why is she so over familiar with her dad? What is she hiding?

There are lots of secrets to uncover from both of the women in this story as well as Emily's father. There are snippets of his time in the World War 2, when he was just a 15 year old boy, interspersed throughout the story. I found myself constantly changing my mind. Which woman was telling the truth and who was trustworthy? It really kept me guessing! Although not always likeable, the characters were well written and very believable.
An intriguing and immersive slow burn psychological thriller about family, friendship and love. I will definitely be looking out for other books by Jane Corry.

EXCERPT: I begin to wonder if I have misjudged this woman. She's smart.

Like me.

Full of contradictions.

Like me.

Yet there is still a kindness to her.

Like me too.

We are partly bad. And partly good.

But only one of us killed our father.

Which means one of us is lying.

ABOUT 'WE ALL HAVE OUR SECRETS': Emily made a mistake, a mistake midwifes can't afford to make. Escaping to her dad's home in Devon to regroup and check in on him – his dementia has been worsening, and her guilt along with it – she is surprised when a beautiful stranger answers the door. Francoise is her dad's new carer, but Emily's father seems to have deteriorated under her care.

Emily doesn't trust Francoise – but she doesn't trust herself either. Each has a secret. And one of them will kill to keep it.

MY THOUGHTS: We All Have Our Secrets is my first book by Jane Corry, and I found it a disappointing experience. I would call this an entry level family drama.

I didn't find this to be at all suspenseful, nor thrilling. I expected the writing style to be a lot more polished than it is. I found the characters to be one dimensional, the dialogue stilted. The only element of mystery centred around Emily's mistake in her job as a midwife and, really, it's not much of a mystery.

There is are a couple of small twists, but nothing you won't see coming. And btw, Jane Corry, Hair analysis is done by evaluating hair structure and DNA from cells attached to the root of the hair. So cutting hair to send off for testing just isn't going to cut it.

There's a lot of repetition as we are told most events from both Emily's and Francois' points of view. I didn't get much from the occasional excerpts from Harold Gentle's diary either.

All in all, it's very superficial, no atmosphere, and I didn't connect with any of the characters. I felt no emotion whatsoever - I wanted to be suspicious, but I found I just didn't care.

⭐⭐.5

#WeAllHaveOurSecrets #NetGalley

I: @janecorry @penguinukbooks @pengionfigtree

T: @JaneCorryAuthor @FigTreePenguin

#contemporaryfiction #familydrama #mystery #romance

THE AUTHOR: Jane Corry is a writer and journalist who has spent time working as the writer in residence of a high security prison for men - an experience that helped inspire her Sunday Times bestsellers 'My Husband's Wife' and 'Blood Sisters'. Jane runs regular writing workshops and speaks at literary festivals all over the world. Many of her ideas strike during morning dog-jogs along the beach followed by a dip in the sea - no matter how cold it is!

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Penguin General UK - Fig Tree, via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of We All Have Our Secrets by Jane Corry for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review is also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage

Emily is a midwife whose elderly father Harold lives alone in Willowmead House in Cornwall, where Emily grew up.
Following a serious incident at work, Emily runs backs to Willowmead House and her father, only to find a young woman, Francoise, living there as a carer for her father, who has previously rejected all offers of help.
Emily is suspicious of Francoise and her motives for looking after Harold, so begins to investigate her background and discovers some unsettling facts.
I enjoyed this very much, although I did find Emily quite hard to warm to. The twist at the end was excellent.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book.

Wow I flew through this story! The story of two separate women bought together by a 90-year-old elderly man. The story is written in the present from both Emily and Francois, and dips into the past of the elderly man, Harold. The secrets surrounding all three of the characters pulls you in from the beginning of the novel and leaves you intrigued and wanting to know more. I found myself mad with the characters in the book at some points and sympathetic with them in other areas of the book. The book also ended with a twist that I didn’t see coming which I think was very clever of the author. I liked the way the book came full circle with only finding out answers to some questions right at the end. Really interesting book, and makes me want to read further novels from this author.