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Review - The Secrets Women Keep by Fanny Blake

Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Orion
Publication date: 03 July 2013
ISBN13: 9781409128472

First Line - "The dark outline of hte doorway framed a section of the sun-drenched garden beyond, the brilliance of the outdoor colours such a contrast to the house's shady interior.
Rose waits for her family to arrive at their villa in Tuscany when a casual glance at her husband's phone tips her world upside down. The text reads simply: 'Miss you. Love you. Come back soon.'

Daniel has always been popular with women, she knows that. But until this moment she has had no cause for worry. Has something shifted within their marriage without her realising?

As the family gathers for the summer break, Rose's faith in Daniel is shaken. How well does she really know him? She fears that, after decades of marriage and children, the man who lies beside her at night is lying in other ways too. Then events take a tragic turn."


This is a good book. It's just not a good book for me.

After a really slow start it just meandered along to the end and never really engaged me or captured my interest. I found it really hard to keep going with this one. I'm still not sure why it's called 'The Secret's Women Keep' it would have made more sense if it was 'The Secret's HUSBAND'S keep'. That was what the whole story revolved around, Rose's husband's secret. I didn't really have any interest in her husband's secret though, to be honest. If it was happening to anyone other than Rose I might have been more drawn in but as it is I just didn't really care much about her problems. I couldn't really relate to Rose and her actions and re-actions just got on my nerves for most of the time.

It's a story of flawed characters, dealing with situations that could probably all be sorted out in a few chapters if they'd just talk to each other. Get it out in the open, deal with it and move on. All of them seem to have 'issues' of one description or another and to be frank a lot of it was just tedious and petty.

I think it will appeal to those looking for a family drama set in a sunny climate but I didn't enjoy it as much as I was expecting to.

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