Once Upon a Twilight!: Blog Tour: The Secrets We Keep by Trisha Leaver + Giveaway

Welcome to our stop on The Secrets We Keep tour for Trisha Leaver. This tour is hosted by Me, My Shelf, and I.

The Secrets We Keep
Author: Trisha Leaver
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary
Released: April 28, 2015
Review Source: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux

A girl takes over her twin sister's identity in this emotionally charged page-turner about the complicated bond between sisters.

Ella and Maddy Lawton are identical twins. Ella has spent her high school years living in popular Maddy's shadows, but she has never been envious of Maddy. In fact, she's chosen the quiet, safe confines of her sketchbook over the constant battle for attention that has defined Maddy's world.

When—after a heated argument—Maddy and Ella get into a tragic accident that leaves her sister dead, Ella wakes up in the hospital surrounded by loved ones who believe she is Maddy. Feeling responsible for Maddy's death and everyone's grief, Ella makes a split-second decision to pretend to be Maddy. Soon, Ella realizes that Maddy's life was full of secrets. Caught in a web of lies, Ella is faced with two options—confess her deception or live her sister's life.

The Secrets We Keep is a dark and beautiful story about Ella, a twin to Maddy, who survives an accident that her sister doesn't. So in turn, Ella loses herself to become Maddy and keep her or perhaps her memory, alive.

The first fourth of the book was hard to get through. But, that doesn't mean it was bad, it was just very predictable. From the summary, we can tell that one of the twin girl will die (Maddy) and the other (Ella) will then pretend to be said dead twin. Well, it all leads up to it, and although interesting, I was just ready to get into the story. First of all, Ella becomes Maddy totally by accident. She's confused from the crash and has a bit of a memory loss I would say.

As the story continues boy does it pick up! I couldn't put the book down. I was completely glued. Ella continues to be Maddy for the sake of everyone else. It was always completely clear why she kept the charade on. But, honesty I became frustrated with her at times. I love getting frustrated with characters though, it makes them more real and relatable.

Being Maddy wasn't a piece of cake either. Ella discovered secrets and it made her open her eyes a bit more. Then there are other characters who I fell in love with. Josh, Ella's best friend, and Alex, Maddy's boyfriend. I tried hard to not like Alex for some strange reason. The story is told in Ella's POV the entire time, so at the beginning we only see what she see's, hence why Alex wasn't my favorite. But as Ella learns, we learn. We take this journey with her and it's exhilarating and it really gets you thinking.

I'm now going to beg everyone I know (including you guys) to read The Secrets We Keep. Trisha Leaver did a brilliant job in creating this amazing story and it deserves to be read...by everyone!

Trisha Leaver live on Cape Cod with her husband, three children, and one rather irreverent black lab. (He is actually half Dalmatian so that could explain a bit of the excitability.) She is a chronic daydreamer who prefers the cozy confines of her own imagination to the mundane routine of everyday life. She is a member of the SCBWI, the Horror Writers Association, and the YA Scream Queens -- a group of nine female authors who are deathly serious about their horror.