This was so good I loved that the actions of Cssey, Zoe, Jacob and Eddie were so morally grey put together with Hollywood and it's seedy side you have one hell of a story. I loved the that one of the characters had their own chapters which I found very very interesting.

Now Wendy was the Mistress of misdirection she literally led me up and down the garden path and then some thinking that I had solved the mystery instead I was slapped in the face with a rather large red herring. It was so much fun not. I will 100% be reading more of Wendy's Books once my ever increasing TBR shrinks.

For all the above reasons I am giving We'll Never Tell 5 big fat stars

Wendy heard is an expert at her craft. She drops you into an era and a location, usually if not always Los Angeles, and she makes you feel like you're a kid again in that time in that place. She introduces the first act's initial dilemma with nothing less than mastery. I felt like I was with these teenagers in this murder house filming In the dark wearing a ski mask. And when all went wrong I was right there with those kids, heart pounding, pulse racing, breath shallow. This was an incredible mystery with a great ending and compelling characters to keep me reading.

We’ll Never Tell is a ticking time bomb that builds on its brilliant premise to deliver an impeccably crafted story.

Wendy Heard is a master at building suspense and complex characters, pulling you entirely into the story and the tangled threads she weaves around you. This is no exception, with a sharp and shocking story that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. It is a layered and complex story that really sits with its characters. At the same time, it is a break-neck race through a twisty thriller that I adored.

I was entirely drawn to this book from its incredible premise - an anonymous quartet who go viral breaking into forbidden locations in LA when something goes terribly wrong and all hell breaks loose. I mean, I am a sucker for a bit of Hollywood lore and this is a book steeped in the glitz and glamour of the movies, but also delves right into the seedy side of fame. There is an examination of cold cases and how we are drawn to those hidden violences within stardom, reminiscent of several real-life cases. This dovetails nicely with an examination of modern stardom and how fleeting those fifteen minutes can be. I personally loved the central theme of family and legacy and how that reverberates in unexpected ways throughout.

In terms of thrillers, Wendy Heard is on my go-to list. She always delivers these enticing stories that build from the seed of an idea to intriguing and expansive stories. This fits the rule, spinning into a tale of exploitation and the ethics of stardom. It combines so many different and unexpected aspects, with twists that truly shook me to my core. Keep an eye on everything and everyone, because Heard will lead you down rabbit hole after rabbit hole until you discover the truth.

We’ll Never Tell proves once more that Heard can and will deliver the goods every time.

Four YouTuber’s go into a “Murder” house and only three come out in tact. I really enjoyed the premise of this thriller. We are crime junkies. I am a crime junkie and have listened to many podcasts, watched endless Investigative Discovery, and am always up for reading a good thriller. Using YouTube as another platform to feed the crime junkie addition totally works.

I liked how authentic the friendships felt and even the changes they were going through between them all felt genuine. You don’t always know what’s going on in a person’s life even when you’re best friends. After the incident in the house, and the police closing in, secrets are revealed. The history of the house just may hit closer to this group of friends than they originally thought and what happened in the past doesn’t seem so long ago.

I liked the premise and friendship in this book and it will keep you on your toes.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️/ 4.75 stars
Thank you to the author for providing me with an eARC of this book via TBR and Beyond Tours in exchange for an honest review!

We’ll Never Tell is a mystery thriller, in which four best friends who have a YouTube channel enter a mansion which was the crime scene of a murder in 1972 to film. During their break-in, one of them gets attacked and stabbed.

“All good things must come to an end. We’ll Never Tell, you’ve had a sweet ride. Time to go out with a bang.”

I love a good murder mystery as much as I love my fantasy reads! Reading the synopsis and knowing it was sort of about two murders, that happened at the same house but decades apart really made me curious to dive into this book.

From the very beginning, we learn about the Valentini murder that happened in 1972 and it really set the tone for the rest of the book. It was mysterious and really grabbed by attention.

The writing was done really nicely and in a way that benefited for the vibe created. There was a tenseness when reading that kept building up the further along, I got in the story, which was really nice!

The plot was really engaging as well and written in a way that kept me on my toes wanting to find out who was behind the attack, what really happened and so forth. There was a hint of supernatural added as well which was really nice. I really had to keep attention to the dates at the beginning of the chapters, since there was some switching of timelines.

The characters were really well written! Casey has such a strong sense of justice that is really nice to see. I also like the approach that she isn’t a fan of true crime, but is in it for the research aspect. Jacob, Eddy and Zoë are very well-rounded characters as well, even though you don’t see as much of them as Casey, which was a pity.

The friendships were a true gem in this book. I loved the way the friendship between the four was shown, between Casey and Zoë, but also the strong bond that Eddy and Jacob had. The little bit of romance added to the story was also another nice layer on top of the amazing plot.

The twists kept coming and coming and it had me on the edge of my seat! So much kept happening and the true ending came as a big surprise to me! I had not seen that one coming hahaha. I do have to say that I do still have one question after that ending; which is a spoiler, so I'll put it at the very bottom of this review.

I kinda hope the author will revisit these characters, because they really are quite fun and I would love to see more of them!

Overall, We’ll Never Tell is a compelling story about friendship, love and two intriguing murder mysteries.






<spoiler> I know it was said that Rosalinda was murdered by Andrew and he later killed himself, but that there was also a third person in the house with them. I still don’t know if this third person (which was Ruby) killed them or something happened that made Andrew snap; like learning about Jonathan? I wished that would’ve become clearer in the end </spoiler>

Four best friends, a secret YouTube channel, and murder. This book will draw you in instantly.

Casey, Zoey, Jacob, and Eddie are all seniors with a secret YouTube channel. They explore abandoned places and film whag they discover. But they have one last episode before they all part ways for college. Enter in a creepy and abandoned mansion that was the home of a 1970s mysterious murder. They want to go out with a bang and think this is the perfect location! Things take a wrong turn when the alarm is tripped and Jacob is left behind bleeding out. Question is who would want to hurt Jacob? Is the house haunted? Will all of them survive and figure out what really happened?

What I enjoyed:
- the pacing! This was a quick and fun read! I enjoyed how we instantly get thrown into the action.
- All of the four friends were fun and interesting. I really loved our MC Casey and her nerdy research self.
- There is so many layers for a YA mystery and thriller. I wasn't expecting some of the twists or turns.
- Queer representation! AAPI representation!
- The ending was not what I expected and I was here for it

This is my second book by this author and I was not disappointed. I will absolutely check out their future books. Great, fun and fast read. 4 stars out of 5. Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to TBR and Beyond Tours and the Publisher for an arc of this book.

Before Casey and her 3 best friends graduate high school and go their separate ways, they are determined to have one last hurrah on their famous video channel--breaking into the house where a famous actress and her husband died years before. But when they get there, one of them is stabbed and Casey will do anything to solve the mystery--even if it means betraying her best friends.

I loved this! Wendy Heard's writing always has me on the edge of my seat and flipping pages far too late into the night. I really loved the dynamic between the four friends and only wished there was more of Jacob because I actually thought his character was so interesting!  Casey is great and I loved that even though she was the MC, she wasn't naturally the one in the group pushing to do dangerous things, which is kind of refreshing.

I also don't want to spoil anything, but I'm truly happy with the way the romances worked out! It surprised me on multiple levels and I was happy for the way it was done.

This book is super atmospheric and fast-paced and you should definitely add it to your TBR!

CW: blood, murder, death, loss of a parent, hospitalization, coma, violence, kidnapping, grief

We'll Never Tell by Wendy Heard is a perfect YA Thriller for murder mystery lovers. Four teenagers run a YouTube channel called "We'll never tell". Their video content revolves around their ventures into various Los Angeles locations, including unauthorized entry. Their plans to enter the murder house (a couple was murdered / suicide back in the 1970s) didn't go as they had hoped.

Casey and Zoe's friendship was so beautifully expressed. They were both in their senior year in school, just like Jacob and Eddie. The bond between the four of them was so good. The only drawback was that I didn't feel connected to any of the characters.

The plot kept me on edge till the very end. One twist after another poured in, making my mind go wild (in a good way). I love how the author included the Paranormal element in the murder mystery plot, making the story even more excellent. The switching between timelines made the story so interesting. Nothing felt rushed, even though the story was fast-paced.

This book expertly combines two intriguing murder mysteries—one from the past and one from the present—with a touch of the supernatural, which I found absolutely fascinating. Alongside the gripping plot, the story explores various themes, including friendship, love, and the significance of family bonds. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.

Quote: But then, that’s how pain works: When you’re in enough of it, there’s no thinking of anything or anybody else.

Wendy Heard really wrote grief and managing grief well. I could feel and see it. It definitely made me feel more connected to Casey because I understood her more. When I started the book I wasn’t really connecting to her (Casey) but as I carried on and she spoke about grief more; I did feel more connected. This is my first Wendy Heard novel so I have no idea if the theme of grief is present in her other books – I certainly hope so as I really enjoyed how it was written in We’ll Never Tell.

Quote: Sometimes, grief seizes me in a violent grip, and when it does, I almost double over in pain. I pause, breathe, try to release the image of how my life was meant to be. It doesn’t matter what was destined; it only matters what actually happened. That’s what I tell myself.

Quote: But in reality, there’s no romance in a crime of passion. There’s just the ending of a life, small and quiet, and the broken people who get left behind.

I like how they approached the story of the supposed ghost house and the true crime/unsolved murders. That in the end they’re still people and they deserve respect. They should’ve received respect but they didn’t get that. Instead they got a whole media circus over and over again. Every aspect of their lives were searched through and stories were made up left, right, and centre.

Of course, being that the main characters run a YouTube channel there’s a lot that can be said about true crime and these topics being shown in media. The world is so obsessed with true crime podcasts and they’re the first ones who’ll sit and binge watch unsolved murder tv shows – often forgetting that the victims were all people before all of this. Many times in fact, their families are often still alive and are witnessing the world obsessing over what happened to their loved ones.

I did want their YouTube channel to have been a bigger plot point. People finding out about it, more reminiscing about other projects they did – even just a simple scene or two responding to comments or looking at analytics. They’re apparently a huge channel (a million or more subscribers?) but it felt like after they went into the house the channel was simply forgotten about?

Quote: Maybe ghosts are real. I don’t buy it. Humans are worse than anything we dream up.

Casey and the boys (Eddie and Jacob) were my favourite and I disliked Zoe – I didn’t feel connected to her like I did to the others. But there’s probably others who disliked Eddie and Jacob and whose favourite character was Zoe – that’s what’s great about reading – that we can like different characters.

I hoped that I would see and believe the friendships in the book and I did! Even though I thought Zoe was the weakest one for me (personally) I could still see her friendship with the others. I think that made me like her a bit more, not enough, though.

Quote: But then, we’re all one of a kind. That’s the point, really, in the end. None of us are replaceable. When one of us dies, it leaves a hole that can never be filled. Ever.

I think this is probably my favourite quote of them all. This can be applied to any character in the book – living or dead. But it also can be applied to the reader – and you can take this quote anywhere it needs to be in your life. In this book it’s referring to Casey’s mom and how Casey will always be thinking of her (as is with loved ones who are passed away). The quote is also about the Valentini murders – how they were more than what was written about, and that all the headlines and articles never really seemed to get their personalities right. Which they wouldn’t because they care more about how big of a story it would make and how to sensationalise it all.

As an occasional listener of <u> Unlikeable Female Characters</u> I was really interested in Wendy Heard's work, but sort of forgot about it until I came across this ARC on Netgalley & I'm glad I did. Every once in a while I'll read a YA novel that just captures my attention and makes me forget that I'm not a teenager anymore, and <u>We'll Never Tell</u> did just that. While yes, the main characters may have made some decisions that weren't the best, it wasn't like "oh no these teenagers are making cringingly bad mistakes because they're teenagers". And the mystery of the house sucked me in as well. If you like mysteries, even if you're not usually a reader of YA I would definitely suggest this one!

Thank you to @netgalley for my advance copy of this! Wendy Heard is an auto buy author for me, I will read anything she writes. In fact, she is probably my favorite YA author. She just writes young adults so damn well and so believable.

I was hooked from the start since this novel takes place in Hollywood which is about 10 miles from me! She drew her inspiration for this novel using the Los Feliz Murder House which is super cool! I loved the atmosphere and the creepy house vibes we got throughout. There is some paranormal here, but it is mostly just inferred which can be much spookier. I liked the You Tube channel idea that the characters had. I would totally watch We’ll Never Tell!

I loved the LGBTQ+ rep in this novel. It touched a bit on identity and how hard it is to feel “different” and to live with a secret. It was done with care and gave me all the feels for Eddie and Jacob. Casey was a good MC and also whip smart which I appreciated.

I will say I did not see two of the twists coming and I really enjoyed it. The story is wrapped up nice and neat leaving me feeling satisfied. This was a fun one with some LOL moments of banter.

This was a great read! In addition to having a real life murder house at the center of things, I loved the friendship portrayed here. These aren’t perfect teens with amazing lives. Each has their own issues. There’s some rainbow 🌈 kids here, but not in a way that’s intrusive or overwhelming. I love how the groundwork for twists and turns is laid out earlier so that when you get to the end it smoothly pulls into a clear picture. Very satisfying. Also, super well written. Loved the details that put you there, in the story. Absolutely would use as an example text in a writing class or for high school book club.

I was so excited to read this new book from Wendy Heard as I loved She's Too Pretty to Burn. We'll never tell had an interesting premise; viral YouTube channel, a murder/suicide from the 1970's.

I really wished that I had loved this more. I found it hard to get a feel for the main character and her choices. Things were solved a little too easy and wrapped up too quick for me.

Overall, I had a fine time and will continue to pick up books from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-arc.

This is a fun and wild ride through both new Hollywood and slightly older Hollywood. I liked it a little more than Dead End Girls and a little less than She's Too Pretty to Burn, which is pretty respectable, and I would recommend it if you're looking for a queer summer thriller that's a little outlandish and maybe not the most plausible.

I really enjoyed Casey as a narrator. Her feelings about true crime were a good juxtaposition to what she and her friends were doing, breaking into a very famous house where a very famous crime had been committed, and I think it would have been less interesting from any of the other possible perspectives. Jacob's occasional POV chapters were an odd diversion to me and I feel like his story with Eddie could have been told in a way that didn't detract from the main storyline, but that's just a quibble and I didn't mind it enough to take off points from the book. I'm just glad the bulk of the story was from Casey's POV because I was much more interested in her struggle with her mom's death and her relationship with her grandma, and her romantic subplot which went in a wild direction I won't spoil here, and her amateur sleuthing.

The thing I always find unbelievable in these stories is how multiple people end up agreeing to lie to the cops and to everyone else in their lives after witnessing or doing something terrible. Maybe it's just that I haven't been in such a situation and can't really know what I'd do, but it always takes minimal convincing even from the most morally upstanding of the group, and it never requires much more than mentioning how their lives will be ruined if their secret is discovered. I just feel like someone's actual life and catching the would-be murderer should take precedence, and I'd like to believe I would be harder to convince at the very least. It's fine though because it was fun to see all the precautions they took to avoid getting caught, and how Casey's obsessive study of true crime came in handy even though she hated it.

The other bizarre thing to me was that Casey seemed to accept that her best friend could be the murderer very quickly after the thought occurred to her, with no proof other than that she was the only one not accounted for in the house and that she was the one who wiped the camera footage and helped hide the tapes. If I thought that my best friend might have murdered someone, or even attempted to, I would be horrified and shocked and would desperately try to find any other explanation, and again, I would take a whole lot more convincing than Casey seemed to. I know my best friend and I believe I know what he is and isn't capable of, so I just think that even if the evidence pointed to him, it would be unbelievable to me. There was a little of that in Casey's narration, but not enough.

I wanted more from Eddie's relationship with his parents, more about why he felt so alienated from them and didn't feel able to come out to them and more about how their relationship changed at the end, if it did at all. And I also wanted more from Casey and her grandma. We got plenty of their relationship throughout the book, but I wanted to know how it was affected by all the things Casey went through, how her grandma knew about her sexuality, what their plans were for after graduation, etc. I understand that it wasn't necessary and it was a complete story without it, I just felt very invested and had a lot of questions.

Lastly, Rosalinda's letters to her cousin were a nice touch. They worked well within the larger narrative and the way it kept returning to true crime focusing too much on the murderers and the victims' last moments, and not enough on who the victims were as people prior to the terrible things that happened to them. She was a person, just like Casey's mom was, just like all victims of crime were at one point. They're more than just entertainment fodder or cautionary tales.

I don't want to go into the whodunnit of it all or the climax of the story, because that would require spoilers and the book isn't even out yet, but I will say that it's the main thing that kept it from being a 5 star read for me. It's not exactly that it was unrealistic, more that it didn't quite feel earned. I definitely didn't figure it out, which is largely because it seemed a little out of left field to me. I don't know. Maybe there were clues with hindsight, but when we suddenly swung into high gear and the villain revealed themselves, I was just kind of like...what? I did like the fight scene, it felt longer and not as easy as some of them seem to be, and there was poetic justice to the way it wrapped up. I just couldn't buy into the villain the way I wanted to. There's another issue I have with who it turned out to be, but again, it's too much of a spoiler to say it.

Thank you to Netgalley, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, and Christy Ottaviano Books for providing me an advance review copy of this book for reviewing purposes.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I love Wendy Heard’s books. Im obsessed with all of her stories. She knows exactly how to write a story that will be interesting but also be guaranteed to be insane. This is my 4th book by her and this one was no different.

A group of friends decide to break into the house of a well known movie star who was murdered in order to film for their YouTube series. This is a big farewell as they are going separate ways to college soon. When one of them is stabbed to near death and nobody knows who did it, Casey is determined to figure out who could be behind the savage crime.

I knew who the killer was and kept screaming it but of course nobody heard me. Like come on girl. I’ve learned enough from Wendy’s books to know you can’t trust anyone!

I knew Eddie & Jacob were supposed to be together from the beginning. They weren’t subtle at all and then were surprised that people knew. I would not have wanted to be together after all the mess Eddie said & did to Jacob. Yes, he was scared. You’re allowed to be scared and not be an ass to your friend!

I’m glad I got to read both of Wendy’s new releases this year through NetGalley. It’s safe to say I’ve found one of my favorite thriller writers.

Really enjoyed this book! I was very excited about the true crime YouTube aspect of this! I was nervous going into this since some YA high school books the characters are super immature and not likable but I thought theses characters were done so well! The mystery was really good as well I usual am good at picking up on things or guessing where things will go but I didn't with this book at all. I liked how there were a few red herrings but you kind of for the most part have to figure things out as the character did not very many clues! The vibes were very eerie there's a dash of paranormal. It's not super long I got through it in two days. Overall I think everything was done very well!! Definitely Rec!!

I thought this was a pretty good and worthwhile YA book focused around teens solving a mystery in the heart of L.A. The plot was easy to follow and the supporting characters themselves were well defined and distinguishable from one another. I will also say the author really knows how to set a scene and describe the details; the book was filled with many descriptions of different parts of L.A and it felt very immersible. The dual POV with different timelines was also very well done, but I could have done with a bit more Jacob and less Casey; Casey, despite being the main character and POV, felt one dimensional and I think her development relied solely on past trauma.

Overall, I thought this was an entertaining read. If you like YA Mysteries that have a pinch of LGBTQ+ elements, this is a good book for you.


Thank you Netgalley and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for this advanced reader's copy is exchange for an honest review.

I had really high expectations for this book given that I really loved SHE'S TOO PRETTY TO BURN, Wendy Heard's previous YA thriller novel. I loved the aesthetic, I loved the tone, I loved the way that it burned slowly and then very bright. So when I saw that she had a new YA thriller called WE'LL NEVER TELL coming out I was very excited and very ready for it, and while some aspects of it worked for me, other aspects weren't as strong. THe strong things were pretty dang strong. I really liked the L.A. setting and the feel that we had for the city. I think that Heard really knows how to capture the atmosphere of L.A. with both the glamorous aspects of the history of the city and culture, but also the darker and seedier aspects. I also really loved that the Valentini Murder House is so clearly inspired by the Los Feliz Murder Mansion, a notorious bit of Los Angeles lore that still intrigues people to this day. And I LOVED the epistolary parts of this book that gave us clues to the Valentini murder as well as some of the fallout. I just adore well done found footage/material devices in thrillers, and this one was great for that. That said, I had a very hard time connecting with our protagonist Casey, as she had a lot of aspects to her character that felt more like tragic background trying to make up for character development. I just didn't find her as interesting as I wanted her to be. And the mystery about what happened to Jason and what was going on with the Valentini house wasn't very hard to figure out, and while I'm usually fine with easy to guess solutions in my thrillers, that is usually only if the characters are awesome or the journey is enjoyable on its own, and neither of those things really quite got to the levels needed.

I'm definitely going to read more books by Wendy Heard as time goes on, I just didn't connect to this one as much as I had hoped.

This was good for a YA book. Definitely predictable, but still a fun read. I think they should have killed the friend and had some more suspense around the 3 remaining friends

Two cold murder cases, both surprisingly similar to each other. Young Adults trying to solve a crime? I would say I’m pretty much getting used to it.

Eddie, Jacob, Casey, and Zoe are all set to record the last installment for their YouTube channel ‘We’ll Never Tell’ where they break into inaccessible areas to bring raw footage to the viewers. This time, they have chosen to record the crime scene of the infamous Valentinis’ mysterious deaths. Casey can't help but wonder how this crime is vaguely similar to the one where her mother was murdered. Zoe disarms the alarm system and four of them successfully break into the mysterious Silver Lake House. Casey has second thoughts whilst she finds mysterious objects that point out the fact that someone must have been here before them. Just like that, the alarm goes off with a shrilling noise piercing the air surrounding them and Jacob is pronounced dead by Zoe. Panic courses through their veins and the trio dash to the entrance of the property.

Soon they get to know that Jacob is alive but is stranded between life and death. Just like the tagline of the novel, fear grips Zoe, Eddie, and Casey and they vow to destroy evidence that can lead to their presence on the property.

The plot is crafted with elements of mystery, suspense, and a gist of the supernatural which gave me an eerie feeling. The story takes its own sweet time to develop and picks up pace once you are 40% into the book. I would admit that it was hard to dig into the plot, given there was no concrete trail. The readers view the events leading to and after the crime through Casey’s eyes. A lot of unfamiliar names crop up. Some widen the suspect pool and the rest that will divert your attention from the real perpetrators. Set in locales that are in direct contrast to LA’s vibrant, upbeat tunes, 'We'll Never Tell' is inspired by the Los Feliz murders.