#BookReview Every Single Secret by Emily Carpenter @AmazonPub

Every Single Secret by Emily Carpenter
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Emotionally guarded Daphne Amos always believed she’d found a kindred spirit in her fiancé, Heath. Both very private people, they’ve kept their pasts hidden from the world, and each other, until Heath’s escalating nightmares begin to put an undeniable strain on their relationship. Determined to give their impending marriage the best chance of succeeding, Heath insists that Daphne join him on a seven-day retreat with Dr. Matthew Cerny, a psychologist celebrated for getting to the root of repressed memories. Daphne reluctantly agrees—even though the past is the last place she wants to go.

The retreat’s isolated and forbidding location increases her unease, as do the doctor’s rules: they must relinquish their keys and phones, they’ll be monitored at all hours by hidden cameras, and they’re never to socialize with the other guests.

One sleepless night, Daphne decides to leave her room…and only then does she realize that the institute is not at all what it seems—and that whatever’s crying out from Heath’s past isn’t meant to be heard. It’s meant to be silenced.

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I have read Emily Carpenters two previous books, Burying the Honeysuckle Girls and The Weight of Lies, and loved them. So, it's with a heavy heart I have to confess that this book just didn't pull me in, in the same way as the previous two books did. It's not a bad story, with two main characters with secrets and a mysterious retreat where strange things happen. It's just that I failed to connect with the characters and the story never got really intense nor truly surprising.

I just feel that I would have preferred if the story hadn't the interludes from the future with Daphne Amos running away from the retreat and some man. That just gives the reader too much information about what will happen. And, the flashbacks to when Daphne was young never drawn me in either. The last part of the book was better, with a faster pace. Here finally I started to get the really interested in the story of the book.

I sound awfully negative, but I just had to explain why this book just didn't rock my boat as the previous two books did. On the plus side is the writing good (as usual), and there are good moments, especially towards the end when the truth is revealed. And I love the cover, it suits the book very well.

I want to thank Lake Union Publishing for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review!