This was such a dark, emotional, hard read. I needed to take small pauses sometimes in between chapters and just breathe for these very broken girls who just called to me. They needed hugs, they needed comfort, they needed revenge. Most of all, they needed to be heard and seen and loved.

This was such a fantastic read that was every bit as hard to put down and sometimes unbearable, as it was dark.

I absolutely loved this and can't recommend it enough.

This was a slow burn for me, and I initially found it hard to connect with the main character, but I’m so glad I stuck with it. Seven for a Secret delivers a twist that completely flips the entire story on its head, and it’s one of those rare moments in a book that genuinely shocked me and that I couldn't see coming..

Its exploration of small-town secrets, generational privilege, and the quiet ways communities protect their own felt incredibly authentic. As someone who’s lived in a small town, the tight social web and unspoken codes of loyalty really rang true.

By the final chapters, I was completely gripped, and the book has stayed with me since finishing it. It’s absolutely going on the top of my list to purchase for our library. I think it’ll spark some great discussions among readers.

Seven for a Secret by Mary E. Roach follows Nev, who is the only survivor of 7 girls from a group home where the girls were claimed to have run away, but Nev knows something different and believes they were all murdered. Five years later, as each of the men from town who were involved in the group home begin to die one by one, Nev and some of the other girls are drawn back to town to try to solve what's going on.

The dialogue is a little stilted and repetitive at times. I get that Roan and Nev were at the home together and Roan is older, but the believability was a little hard to follow with her just being a few years older, the idea of a "journalist" getting a free pass on all the information as well as the convenience of some of the other girls working in the business in the area. Through this, Nev was able to follow along and get information despite her young age and seeming lack of direction, even pushing adults to speak to her on their own. These become plot points later (no spoilers), but it did hurt the readability along the way for me.

That being said, I'm not sure teens would mind these inconsistencies as a teen detective story. The reader is given just enough information to let the story unfold without being too confused. The mock news stories are a nice touch. Nev is an interesting character who teens will like, and the story will be a fitting thriller for a teen audience that wraps up in a way that teens will definitely enjoy. It's a secondary purchase for most high school libraries.

This book is so incredibly important to me. If you love furious girls, secrets as deep as the river, and a cathartic ending, this is the thriller for you. Please check content warnings before reading, though, as this book comes with some big ones!

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. Seven for a Secret by Mary E. Roach introduces us to the character of New, an emancipated foster child, who came from a group home that housed girls no one cared about, girls who had nothing and no one but each other. Over a period of time eight girls disappeared never to return, only Nev returned. She returns to the town five years later searching for the answers of what happened to her ’sisters’.

This book deals with tough and realistic subjects that face individuals in foster care or in at-risk situations. If you are a fan of mystery, thriller, suspense, you should give this a try.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Publication Date: September 30, 2025

#SevenforaSecret #NetGalley

Told first person by the seventh girl to go missing from a foster home for teen girls, this book is dark and unsettling. The ending was not what I expected, and instead of cathartic, it was just sad.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this book!

This was a tough story, but one that is so important. Readers follow Nev, a teenage girl who spent part of her adolescence in a group home for girls. While there, several of the girls went missing, including Nev--but she came back. Now Nev is older and returns to the town where all manner of dark things happened to her and her "sisters" in the home. I did find this a smidge difficult to follow at times, but I do think that occasional chaotic feel to the writing adds to the story in a sense, as Nev is unraveling memories and trying to figure out what happened years ago and what is happening in the present. I loved the relationships and solidarity between all the girls and absolutely did not see the ending coming. I'll be adding a copy of this to my classroom library!

I thought this was a really great young adult read. I enjoyed every aspect. The characters, setting and premise were all great!