Brenda Novak's The Secrets She Kept is the sequel to The Secret Sister. The two novels make up the Fairham Island series, which, to date, covers the relationships of the Lazarow family. The Secrets She Kept is a "whodunit"/mystery/romantic suspense novel that mainly focuses on Keith, a prodigal son of sorts. Keith had been quite the wild sibling in the family, rebelling against an overbearing and abusive mother, and succumbing to drug addiction as a means to cope with his family's dysfunction. Five years ago, he walked away from his mother and her controlling ways to build a life for himself on the West Coast. He returns to Fairham Island when he learns of her death, which has been ruled a suicide. However, Keith can't accept that his mother, a woman who had always been proud about appearances, would commit suicide, because it would have been a sign of weakness.
I haven't read the first novel, but apparently, it involved a secret that Keith's mother, Josephine, had kept from him and his sisters. There are more secrets that are gradually revealed throughout The Secrets She Kept, and they are pretty shocking to the remaining Lazarows as they are discovered. They could mirror the front pages of tabloid newspapers. Financial troubles. Inappropriate photographs. Adultery. As the secrets are uncovered, it becomes apparent that Josephine Lazarow held very little sacred, not even her own family ties. It also starts to appear that Josephine did not commit suicide, but may have been murdered by someone whom Keith cares about.
Josephine had been a proud, stubborn woman who was unwilling to unbend, and would brow beat others to get her way, literally and figuratively. She also did things to fill her vanity, not caring about the havoc or maelstroms that would result from her actions. The destruction that she released on Keith led him to leave Fairham so that he could survive. Now clean, he returns to Fairham to determine whether Josephine was truly murdered, and if so, to catch who did it. However, returning to the island also causes him to confront his past with Nancy Dellinger, the woman who had loved him unconditionally when he was at his drugged up worst. Keith feels major regret toward Nancy. He knows that he was absolutely bad news to her in the past. Although he has cleaned up his life, he still feels incapable of offering her any semblance of a normal relationship, even though he is still drawn to her.
Nancy is a woman who has never gotten over the good looking, wealthy, bad boy who took everything from her, emotionally, physically, and financially. Presently, she is trying to find a marriageable man through online dating, but nobody can compare to the way she felt with Keith. When she meets Keith again, she tries to tell herself that she needs to maintain her dignity, and resist him, even though she knows that all he wants is a fling until the mystery of his mother's death is solved. Then he will return to the West Coast and leave her again, just as he had five years ago. For a woman who is thirty five and wanting to have children, Keith is not a good prospect. However, Nancy's lesbian sister, Jade, is Cupid's assistant, pushing Nancy and Keith together. Nancy's own heart betrays her, as she can't bring herself to feel that way with anyone else except for Keith.
The novel seemed to have two major plot threads. One was the mystery of Josephine's murder, and the other was the romance between Keith and Nancy.
As for the mystery, Ms. Novak did a fairly good job in deflecting characters as they came and went. I was kept in the dark until about three quarters of the novel when I started thinking about who had been brought out and discounted as possible suspects.
The novel is written in different third points of view. It definitely allowed the reader to see into the minds of different characters, and gave hints as to their innocence, except for one. This character, who was supposed to represent a person who Keith loved, but whom he feared was guilty, held a secret of her own. The reader was not privy to it until other characters exposed it. I found the revelation a bit jarring and felt a bit betrayed (maybe that's too strong a word...perhaps "bothered," would be a better one), because it showed that the character knew about her husband's betrayal at the time, yet she seemed to show uncertainty in her thoughts about it when the reader was allowed to look into her mind.
As for the romance, and as I mentioned before, Nancy is looking for a permanent love. However, Keith isn't, or at least, he doesn't think that he is. He considers himself too damaged by the dysfunction in his past to consider himself relationship material. After Nancy makes a declaration of love to him, he responds by saying, "I'd love you, too, if I was capable of it."
The Secrets She Kept is not a novel that I would have considered writing a review for, except for the fact that I won it through the Goodreads Giveaway program, and even though the program's policy says that I'm not obligated to leave a review, it is understood that it would be appreciated if one was given. So, here is where I will leave a few extra caveats for those who are uncomfortable with the following:
This is a secular novel.
If you are uncomfortable with reading about families which don't operate in conservative ways, then this is not the book for you. Although there are some characters that try and aspire to family unity and cohesiveness, reading about how Josephine Lazarow's actions impacted at least two family groupings got kind of depressing, especially considering what happened as a result. Everything was messy.
If you get frustrated with a man who holds a cavalier attitude towards casual sex without commitment, especially knowing that the female character is looking for something permanent, and he continues to pressure her to act against her conscience, even though he knows that he really shouldn't, then this is not the book for you. I suppose that it's supposed to be romantic that he couldn't help himself from pressuring her, but I'll call it as it is...that man is selfish.
And...if you are uncomfortable with reading sex scenes, considered yourself warned as there are a couple of them.
Before I close off this review, I'd like to mention something of interest to me. There is a reader's guide at the end of the book, and it contains questions for reflecting over the content of the book. However, I think these are interesting questions to think about even without reading the book; they are interesting enough that I want to repeat some of them here:
"One of the themes of this novel is forgiveness. What would you say each character has to forgive? And do you feel that being able to forgive will improve their lives? In what ways?"
"Some people handle adversity better than others. Why do you think that's the case? What makes the difference? How can one person thrive in spite of their difficulties while others get crushed beneath them?"
"At times, we suffer from the bad decisions of those we love. It often doesn't seem fair and can cause quite a bit of resentment. What are the dangers of harboring resentment? What's one way you believe we can overcome resentment?"
"Most people believe that, to a greater or lesser degree, forgiveness should be part of everyone's life experience. But is there a line beyond which we are justified in holding a grudge? Do you feel that certain characters in this story crossed that line? If so, which one(s)? Would you be able to forgive that person if you were in the same situation?"
"They say "time heals all wounds." Arguably, the same could be said for love. Do you believe that's true? Why?"
Finding these questions at the back of the book was kind of eyebrow raising. They captured my interest enough to look up Ms. Novak's biography online, and I discovered that she attended Brigham Young University for her studies. I wonder what her beliefs are. How much influence have they had in her writing and in the inclusion of these discussion questions in this novel? Given that Brigham Young University is connected to the Mormon Church/The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I would suspect that she may hold Mormon beliefs, which are different than mine.
Forgiveness, holding on through adversity, letting go of resentment, and the idea of love healing all wounds are fascinating things to think about. Unfortunately for me, I was left with a rather flat feeling after reading this book. I felt as if I was taken on a tremendous ride, but wasn't uplifted by the end, probably because I still felt blindsided by the mess that the characters found themselves with which they still would have to work through.
Without Jesus, I think that it would be too difficult to forgive and to let go of resentment. I don't even want to think about going through adversity without Jesus. I'm just going to say that I know with certainty that Jesus can heal all wounds. This review was difficult for me to write, because I was not certain about what I would say in it. I found the story troubling because I think that the characters have messy lives without God.
If mystery/romantic suspense novels strike your interest, and if you are interested in reading something that is clean, I would recommend reading Christy Barritt's Dubiosity.
Disclaimer: I was given an advanced uncorrected proof of Brenda Novak's "The Secrets She Kept" for free through the Goodreads Giveaway program. All opinions stated in this review are mine.
