Secrets from college? Yes please. This cover + synopsis + solid blurbs got me to click Request, and I few through this one!

📖: Sofia, Caroline, Jenna, and Brooke were college roommates with tumultuous relationships. After a tragic accident left Sofia dead, secrets linger to present day when she starts sending impossible texts messages. Someone knows each of their secrets from the past and the present. Through multiple perspectives and timelines, the intricate web of lies is unraveled.

🤝: This may be a good fit if you enjoy:
- lots of puzzle pieces in your thrillers
- dark academia + toxic friendships
- rich people problems

💭: I flew through this book! I was so curious about the ending. The first half felt like Tell Me Lies mixed with the mysterious texts of Pretty Little Liars, and I was into it. Then it felt like this book was doing the MOST. There were a lot of characters and events to keep track of, and I think I would have felt more invested with less done with more detail.

Rating: I liked it! (3)

Thank you to Crown Publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ebook in exchange for an honest review. Pub Day: 7/15/2025

I received a copy for review. All opinions are my own. I
Jumping between past and present, but this book explores how a tragic accident comes back to haunt those affected most by it. Complete with scandal, mystery, and plenty of drama, I was kept on the edge of my seat reading this. I could feel the tension in the characters as they try to navigate their current lives while dealing with a secret popping back up. There were so many twists and turns that kept me guessing what would happen next!

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A group of "friends" from college have buried one of their own and buried secrets. As they navigate through young adult life, one of the secrets they buried is about to be exposed.

Our Secrets Were Safe - Virginia Trench
When messages from Sofia start arriving, both Caroline and Brooke are left on edge. Sofia shouldn't be messaging them, because Sofia is dead.
Both Brooke and Caroline have done their best to move past the death of Sofia. They have the lives they have worked so hard to get, Caroline and her startup tech company, and Brooke starting her dream job at a prestigious prep school. But with the messages from Sofia, they know everything they have worked for is in jeopardy.
Knowing Sofia is truly dead, Caroline and Brooke must figure out who is playing the part to try to destroy them. And how far will they go to protect what they've built?
This book took me a bit time get into. I found it hard to remember who had what story line and I got it all mixed up in my head. But after I got it all straight (was definitely a me problem), I was hooked. The events that transpired, I never could've guessed. The title was perfect because the book was really about the lengths people would go to keep their secrets safe, and how one hidden secret has the potential to destroy a life in an instant. I gave this one ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5!
Thank you Netgalley for the ARC! This goodie comes to stores in July, so make sure you keep an eye out and snag yourself a copy!

3 ⭐️
Expected publication date - July 15, 2025

WHAT I LOVED - One of the characters ended up being not who I expected, and I really should have caught it, but I did not.

WHAT I LIKED - It was a fast read and kept me entertained enough to keep reading.

WHAT I DISLIKED - I had a hell of a time remembering who all these characters were and how they all related to each other. They were mostly all pretty unlikable.

WOULD INRECOMMEND? If you like the 'group of friends who did something bad in their youth and now their past is back to haunt them' trope, then yes.

Thank you, NetGalley and Crown Publishing, for this eARC for review. All opinions are my own.

So if you are not a fan of multiple POV changes (also past and present jumps) this is not for you. I'm definitely more of a one-perspective thriller, but the characters were very likable. It is a solid story, and the writing was totally great. Don't forget to get your copy on July 15, 2025!

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this ARC.

Our Secrets Were Safe is a razor-sharp, twist-loaded thriller that proves the past is never truly buried—and some secrets refuse to stay silent. A decade after the death of their enigmatic college friend Sofia, former best friends Caroline and Brooke have seemingly moved on. Caroline’s tech startup is on the brink of success, and Brooke is finally building the picture-perfect life she’s always wanted. But when cryptic messages from “Sofia” begin to surface, their fragile present starts to splinter in terrifying ways.

The novel kicks into high gear with threatening Instagram comments, ominous emails, and the sudden death of a mutual acquaintance, pulling Caroline and Brooke back into the darkness of a night they've tried desperately to forget. As paranoia builds and trust fractures, author [Name] deftly manipulates the reader’s sense of truth, offering up a chilling meditation on guilt, ambition, and the consequences of secrets that fester too long.

What sets Our Secrets Were Safe apart from other thrillers is its psychological complexity. Caroline and Brooke aren’t just navigating external threats—they’re unraveling internally, forced to confront not just what they did, but who they’ve become because of it. The writing is sleek and charged, with a slow-burn tension that explodes into a breathless final act full of devastating reveals and moral ambiguity.

Fans of Gone Girl, The Secret History, or Big Little Lies will be glued to every page. This is a story where no one is innocent, everyone is hiding something, and the truth is the most dangerous weapon of all.

Rating: 4.8/5

This was so suspenseful and had me turning the pages so fast! I love the atmosphere and writing style. Very fast paced and kept you guessing.

I ended up really liking this book, it had a slow start but then midway through it picked up and kept going. It was told in multiple viewpoints and multiple timelines, college when the four of them were friends until one of them died, and current times. It explored, the effects of the secrets from the past and their current life struggles with relationships, businesses, finances, though most came from wealthy backgrounds. There was some surprising personal growth among some of the main characters that added to the story.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Our Secrets Were Safe.

The premise sounded decent although it's not original.

A blast from the past has returned from the dead to wreak revenge on her two frenemies, but who will get the last laugh?

The narrative happens in the past and present timelines to provide exposition as to why the main characters are in peril.

First, it's hard to like anyone. Okay, I didn't like anyone, and not just because most of them were rich, entitled, privileged brats.

With friends like these, who needs enemies? would have been the better title.

I don't mind flawed people; we all are. We're human. We make mistakes.

But Caroline and Brooke are not interesting or compelling; they're forgettable so why should we care about them?

Nearly all the men in the story are scum; Leo, the stepfather, Josh, Antony, all men are sleazebags so to hell with them.

Second, the writing is good, but wordy, long. It takes too long to get anywhere, to learn anything, to get any information.

Third, all the tropes are here, wealthy families with too much to lose, characters that have information but prolong the moment by saying "let's talk later' or get distracted by other people in the scene.

There are a lot of characters so readers may have trouble keeping up.

Even though the chapters are clearly marked with whose perspective we're reading I forgot who Brooke and Caroline was and their relationships to Sofia and their families.

I guessed whodunit easily and when the rest of the puzzle pieces were explained in an info dump I thought 'who cares?'

Thank you Net Galley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.
It was hard to keep up with the back and forth POV and different timelines. The characters didn’t really stand out enough for me to like any one of them. I guess this just wasn’t my cup of tea.
I don’t think I could recommend to friends.

Reviews are meant to be honest but I really wanted to love this one! The pacing felt off to me and I couldn’t stay invested much until the end (which I did enjoy). It just wasn’t enough for me to forget the confusion and frustration of reading the book leading up to. The characters were not memorable to me and I kept having to turn back in the book to recall certain things or see where I was at. It was a bit all over for me unfortunately!

Really interesting premise, but the booked hopped around a bit too much from character to character and from past to present. The characters were really well drawn out and the plot was well paced but it just fell a bit flat for me for some reason. I wasn't racing through pages, trying to get to the ending. I enjoyed the book but it wasn't anything that will be memorable to me.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. I did enjoy this book, but it did take some mental work to keep it all straight. Still, I would recommend

3.5 rounded up This was an enjoyable twisty tale with different timelines and multiple characters and their point of views. My only regret is that I did not allow large chunks of time to read this story. I appreciate the opportunity to have read the book and thankful to NetGalley and publishers.

For a debut, this is exceptional. The beginning pulls you in & the ending ties everything up with a satisfying & plausible ending. The middle did kind of lag for me …IDK if it seemed to wander or try to flesh out the more inconsequential characters (like Bryce), but I did enjoy this read for most of the journey. I look forward to Ms Trench’s sophomore attempt.

This story is told by three different characters and also in "then", "now", "three days later"....you name it.
It is all over the place. But mostly..
For me the characters fell flat, uninteresting and seemed to be the same person. I kept having to go back to see who's point of view I was reading. It was rather confusing. This is my first DNF ever. I went back at least three times but just couldn't finish it.
I will withhold my Goodreads review.

I would like to thank Netgalley, Crown Publishing, and Claire Douglas for the opportunity to preview this book. The Wrong Sister is a very quick read, It grabs your from the start and moves along quickly. This incorporates family intrigue, quick plot twists and a surprising ending that does sum up nicely. There is a little too much "chatter" that I skimmed over while reading but over all a good read. I look forward to reading more by Claire Douglas in the future.

I did not particularly enjoy this read, and there were several reasons behind my disappointment. Firstly, the constant switching of perspectives and the abrupt time leaps made the story quite confusing to follow. It was difficult to keep track of where I was in the narrative, and I often found myself lost in the transitions. Additionally, none of the characters stood out to me. They felt underdeveloped and lacked depth, which made it hard to connect with them or care about their journeys. The pacing was also inconsistent. At times, the story dragged, and I struggled to stay engaged, while other moments felt rushed, leaving important plot points underexplored. That being said, I did enjoy the fast-paced ending, which picked up the momentum, and I appreciated the twist at the conclusion, as it added an element of surprise. However, overall, the flaws in the execution overshadowed these redeeming qualities for me.

This book gave me vertigo, the constant change of perspective and character points of view as well as timelines. I did not particularly like any of the characters. The story kept me guessing and intrigued but the pacing was just off.