Review – The Last Secret You’ll Ever Keep

Posted June 9, 2021 by Carole in Reviews / 7 Comments

I received this book for free from the publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Review – The Last Secret You’ll Ever KeepThe Last Secret You'll Ever Keep by Laurie Faria Stolarz
Narrator: Stephanie Willing
Series: Jane Anonymous #2
Published by Dreamscape Media LLC, St. Martin's Publishing Group on March 16, 2021
Genres: Girls & Women, Psychological, Thrillers & Suspense, Young Adult Fiction
Length: 8 hours 22 minutes
Pages: 336
Format: ARC, Audiobook
Source: Library, Publisher
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two-stars

Bestselling author Laurie Faria Stolarz returns with The Last Secret You’ll Ever Keep, a thrilling novel of an eighteen-year-old girl's search for answers and what she finds instead.

Four days...
Trapped in a well, surrounded by dirt, scratching at the walls trying to find a way out.Four days of a thirst so strong, that when it finally rains, I drink as much as possible from the dripping walls, not even caring how much dirt comes with it.

Six months...
Since my escape. Since no one believed I was taken to begin with – from my own bed, after a party, when no one else was home...Six months of trying to find answers and being told instead that I made the whole incident up.

One month...
Since I logged on to the Jane Anonymous site for the first time and found a community of survivors who listen without judgment, provide advice, and console each other when needed.A month of chatting with a survivor whose story eerily mirrors my own: a girl who’s been receiving triggering clues, just like me, and who could help me find the answers I’m searching for.

Three days...
Since she mysteriously disappears, and since I’m forced to ask the questions: will my chance to find out what happened to me vanish with her? And will I be next?

Well, this book was not for me. It wasn’t a book that I hated but it wasn’t one that I liked all that much either. I realize that I am not the target audience for the book but I decided to take a chance on it anyway. A lot of times those chances work out well but sometimes they don’t.

Terra hasn’t had an easy life. She has lived with her aunt since her parents died and she has survived an abduction where she was kept for days inside of a pit. There is one problem though since most people don’t believe that she made the whole story up. Her aunt never reported her missing and there is no evidence supporting her claims but Terra knows what happened to her. She looks for support on a website for survivors, Jane Anonymous, where she really connects with another user. When Peyton disappears from the website, Terra knows that she needs to do something.

I didn’t connect with any of the characters in this book. The book does jump around in time quite a bit and I didn’t think that the transitions from one period of time to the next was always as smooth as it could have been. I was never invested in the mystery of the story since Terra was always sure about what happened so either it happened as she said or she was an unreliable narrator. I realized that the book wasn’t clicking for me about halfway through when I was more focused on how much longer I had to listen to the book before it was over than what was happening to the characters.

I thought that Stephanie Willing did a great job with the narration of this story. I thought that she did a wonderful job voicing the different characters. She had a very pleasant voice that was easy to listen to for long periods of time. I do believe her narration is the reason that I never even considered not finishing the book. Unfortunately, her narration alone couldn’t save this book for me.

I would encourage anyone who thinks this book sounds like something that they would like to give it a try. It wasn’t the right book for me but it might be for another reader. I would be more than willing to try more of Laurie Faria Stolarz’s work in the future.

I received a digital review copy of this book from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley and borrowed a copy of the audiobook from my local library.

7 responses to “Review – The Last Secret You’ll Ever Keep

  1. I’m sorry this book didn’t work well for you, Carole . . . I can see why you had troubles with it, and I really hope your next read will be great!

  2. Oh bummer. I’m still behind on Laurie’s backlist! I really enjoyed her first series, Blue is for Nightmares! That one was amazing, if you’re looking to give her other books a try! I still want to read her Touch series too. I might hold off on this one, I’ve a copy of Jane Anonymous I still need to read, so maybe I’ll wait to see how I enjoyed that before deciding on this one.

    Nice review all the same! Sorry this one wasn’t a winner.

  3. I’m sorry this book wasn’t for you. It’s definitely hard to enjoy a book when you can’t seem to connect with the characters. I don’t think this book would be for me either.