This is a new to me author and I am excited to read more by her. I love the Linda Castillo Amish mysteries so this was right up my alley. Very good narrator as well! Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for a chance to read and review this book in exchange for an honest review.

Nate Fisher, a shunned amish, is returning home following his father's death. While he is in town, his former girlfriend's brother is found dead, a his death is ruled a suicide but she is convinced it was murder. She convinces Nate to help her prove his death was not suicide. A glimpse into the Amish community, especially when a death.

The narrator Greg Barnett was great.

Thank you to Crooked Lane Books for ARC / Brilliance Audio for the ALC.

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!
WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!
WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!
WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!
WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!
WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!
WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!
WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!
WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!

Okay, I try very hard never to write scathing reviews, especially for books I've received free ARC for because I'm so thankful for them. But I also agree to give my honest opinions about the ARCs I receive, and in this case, there's just no way around it.

I applaud any author for sitting down and writing a book and getting it published. Truly. It's hard to send your literary baby out in the world for people like me to judge. So full kudos to Amy Lillard for that. But that's the only kind thing I can say about this one.

Frankly, I found this book totally unrealistic and completely pointless. And yes, I know how harsh that sounds, and I apologize for it, but it is the truth -- or at least MY truth.

As someone at least mildly familiar with Amish communities, I was frustrated by the way the story depicted events that simply would NOT happen in real life. Yes, teenagers will be teenagers, but the plot twists here stretched all credibility—especially the suggestion that the main character might discover he’s the father of a "bastard" Amish child in a possible sequel. Am I saying there are never illegitimate or unplanned babies in Amish communities? Of course not. But all the instances mentioned of the male and female protagonists lying together by the river and sneaking away to be alone? Yeah. No way they got away with that much unchaperoned sneaking around. Ridiculous.

Again, while I know such things aren’t impossible, the way it was handled, along with all the other implausible events, was just too much.

What really pushed me over the edge, though, was the ending. A police detective who decides not to arrest a murderer just because he thinks the person is unlikely to kill again? Come the heck on!!!

That’s not just unrealistic; it’s absurd!

The entire book felt like a string of forced, unbelievable scenarios, and I honestly disliked it from start to finish. I won’t be reading the next installment, and I can’t recommend this one to anyone looking for an authentic or engaging story. If I hadn't received an ARC, I wouldn't have even finished it myself, and I can count on .... maybe two hands now... the number of books I have started and not finished in my 41 years on earth.

Definitely not the book for me.

I liked this story up until the end where it fell flat. I hope there's a second book to pick up where this one left off to make up for the bad ending.

I didn’t realize this was going to have such religious themes.
Shame on me for not reading the synopsis on Netgalley.

I DNF this halfway through because it just wasn’t for me. I was lost, plot holes and almost too much going on for 1 story.

If you’re into religious thrillers perhaps this is for you but sadly it’s not for me 🙃

2-2.5 stars, and that is pushing it for me.
I didn't love this book. I don't know why, but I just never really got into it.
I thought the plot was an interesting premise, but it just didn't quite deliver for me.
Nate is a police officer who had an accident and goes home to Mississippi to the Amish community, where he is shunned when his Father dies.
Rachel is his old flame, and she asks him for his help solving her brother's murder.
Because Nate still feels for Rachel, he sets off to help her.
Rachel's brother was gay, which is not acceptable in this Amish community. He is also being hazed.
Secrets are unearthed and old feelings resurface.
There are lots of elements in the plot that feel a bit disjointed. I felt like some things were disconnected from the main story.
The plot was decently structured. The pace was slow for me. I found myself wanting to DNF several times, but I was able to get through it.
The characters were developed, but like the plot, somehow connected while not being fully connected? It was confusing for me.
This might be a great one for you, give it a shot, I just didn't enjoy it.
Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.
Happy Reading

A suspenseful and emotional mystery centered around proving that a supposed suicide was actually murder. Rachel’s conviction that her brother didn’t take his own life pulls you in, and there’s no shortage of suspects or secrets in this quiet Amish town. Nate’s return home, and to the Amish where he is actively shunned, brings up complicated feelings and buried truths, and the Amish culture adds a unique and fascinating layer to the investigation. Twisty, heartfelt, and full of tension!


Thank you Amy Lillard, Brilliance, and Netgalley for the advanced copy!

#thesecretswekeep #netgalleyarc #netgalleyreview #netgalley #arcreview #arc #arcreader #review #somanybookssolittletime

The premise of the story is intriguing: an ex-amish cop in turmoil returns to the community he grew up in and gets dragged into solving the murder of the brother of a woman he once loved.
The setting was reasonably well done. The characters are realistic. The fight with desicion and keep going against their own desicion. It was clear that Nathan and Rachel really fought with their shared past. But it became a little repetitive.
I liked the setting in the Amish community and the challenges a shunned person can face.
Also the plot does not have a definite conclusion. Like in real life, there often is not a good sollution to a bad situation, but some of the threads could have been rapped up better.

An intriguing new mystery series set in Amish country. Love that the story is set in a unique Mississippi Amish community, a nice break from typical Pennsylvania/Indiana/Ohio Amish fiction. And the shunned ex-Amish hero returning to his roots for a personal matter adds all kinds of complicated layers to the story.

Nate and Rachel have a history — they once planned to spend the rest of their lives together until he left the community. His return to Cedar Creek seems providential to Rachel who desperately needs Nate’s help proving that her brother did not commit suicide. A detective on leave, his Amish ex-flame…what could go wrong?

Loved the emotional intricacies in all the relationships in this gritty mystery. Very edgy and angsty and the investigation proves heartbreaking right up to the jaw dropping conclusion. Readers looking for a very toned down Katie Burkholder experience (Linda Castillo) might find this new series by Amy Lillard a good fit.

Of Note: There is a signifiant amount of mild expletives throughout the story, something I wasn’t expecting since I’ve read a number of Amy Lillard’s Amish romances.

I enjoyed listening to the audio edition narrated by Greg D. Barnett.

My thanks to Brilliance Publishing and Net Galley for providing me with an audio copy of this book.

I loved how easy it was to get immersed in this story because the writing pulled me in right away. The Amish setting was especially fascinating. I actually learned quite a bit while staying fully engaged and trying to piece together whether it was an accident or something more. The mystery kept me hooked, and the ALC version was excellent and the narration and voice acting were top tier.

That said, the ending didn’t quite land for me. It wasn’t as surprising as I’d hoped, and some threads felt unresolved. But if this is the start of a series, I’d be curious to see where it goes next. The author shows real promise, and I’d definitely listen to more.

Thank you NetGalley

I gave this book a 3.5. I was quickly pulled in to the book in the beginning. I loved that about the book the ease it took for me to immerse into the story line. I found that I enjoyed the Amish aspect of the book and learned a lot about Amish. I was so intrigued the whole time trying to figure out was it an accident, and what happened. So it kept my attention. I think the writing was good and the plot was played out decent,. Now for the bad I just felt like the ending wasn’t surprising, when I finally found out, I was just not overwhelmed. But it does seem like maybe this is gonna be a series so maybe it’s here will be more? I loved the alc version of this the audible was top tier and I loved the voice actors

✨Audiobook Review✨
📖 The Secrets We Keep
✍️ Amy Lillard
📅 Publication: June 24, 2025
🎤 Greg D. Barnett

𝐒𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬
Detective Nate Fisher returns to the Amish community he left behind and the woman he once loved in this gripping dual-POV mystery.
Fresh off administrative leave for a deadly force incident, the last place Nate wants to be is Cedar Creek. But when his estranged father dies, duty pulls him home. What starts as a brief visit turns complicated when Rachel Hostetler, his former love, begs for help investigating her brother’s suspicious death; one the police call suicide, but she’s convinced was murder.
As Nate and Rachel uncover buried secrets and old feelings resurface, they must race to find the truth before Nate’s past catches up with him and he's forced to walk away once more.

𝐌𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬
The premise of this story drew me in it had great potential, but overall, it just didn’t work for me. While the small-town mystery and emotional undertones were compelling, I was left feeling unsatisfied due to several unresolved plot points. One that stood out was the lack of closure around what happened to Rachel’s husband.
It took me quite a while to finish. I read another review that said the story felt “pieced together,” with too many loose ends, and I must agree. There were some strong ideas here, but the execution fell short. While this book didn’t fully work for me, I do think the author did a good job overall and showed real potential. I also think the narrator did a good job bringing the story to life, even if it didn’t add much extra impact to me personally.

Thank you, NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books, for providing me with this ARC for my honest opinion.

I give this book 3.5 Stars. This story is told in the perspectives of Nate and Rachel. I definitely would recommend this book and will be reading more from this Author. This is a story of love, family, culture, and loss.

The Secrets We Keep is the story of Nate Fisher who comes home to his Amish community in Mississippi after his fathers death. Nate left the community ten years prior, so he is shunned, and now lives his life as a Detective in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Nate only left the community, and the love of his life Rachel, because he was very good at baseball and hoped to make a career playing so that he could pay for his sister's heart transplant.

Rachel is dealing with the recent suicide of her brother, Albie. Rachel does not believe it was a suicide but as a woman in the Amish community her voice is not heard. Just in time Nate is home to help her find the truth. Nate has had a recent tragedy at work that has him traumatized, and this is what he needs to bring him out of his shell.

There were some issues I had with how repetitive the writing was sometimes, but there is so much more to the story that kept me invested. Some questions were left unanswered so I really hope there is another book coming.

2.5 🌟

The concept for The Secrets We Keep, was really interesting, a cop who has been shunned from his Amish family tries to make a brief return to “drive by” to check on his mother, but he finds himself embroiled in a situation where a young member of the community appears to have died by suicide, but his sister believes it to be murder.

The story had far too many gaps and loose ends for me to rate it any higher unfortunately and I warn s huge fan of the narration.

My thanks to Brilliance Publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this ALC 🎧

“The Secrets We Keep” by Amy Lillard had a compelling premise and moments of emotional depth, but overall, it didn’t quite reach its full potential for me. I appreciated the themes of family, secrets, and forgiveness, and there were definitely scenes that resonated, but the pacing felt uneven, and I struggled to stay fully invested throughout.

The audiobook narration was fine, though it didn’t add much extra impact to the story for me personally. Still, I think fans of small-town drama and family-centered plots might connect with it more.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the audio ARC.