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Blog Tour Review - Perception Check by Astrid Knight

 Blog Tour Review - Perception Check by Astrid Knight Her favorite tabletop roleplaying game is real, and her kidnapped childhood best friend is trapped in a far off land. Will she be able to save her? Let's roll initiative! Violet Spence wants nothing more than to have a normal life. After witnessing her childhood best friend get abducted by monsters, that’s easier said than done. At twenty-three years old, Violet cannot seem to move past that fateful night ten years ago. Her only solace is Mages of Velmyra, a tabletop roleplaying game filled with goblins, fairies, and all-powerful magicians. But of course, that’s all fantasy. Or, so she thought. As it turns out, the land of Velmyra is very real and the home of the monsters that took her best friend. With the help of her friends (and the creator of the game itself), Violet must navigate the once-fictional creatures and powerful mages of Velmyra to retrieve a set of ancient relics—all in the hopes that the journey will lead her bac

Review - The Truth About Keeping Secrets by Savannah Brown

The Truth About Keeping Secrets by Savannah Brown


Sydney's dad is the only psychiatrist for miles around their small Ohio town.
He is also unexpectedly dead.
Is Sydney crazy, or is it kind of weird that her dad - a guy whose entire job revolved around other peoples' secrets - crashed alone, with no explanation?
And why is June Copeland, homecoming queen and the town's golden child, at his funeral?
As the two teenagers grow closer in the wake of the accident, it's clear that not everyone is happy about their new friendship.
But what is picture perfect June still hiding? And does Sydney even want to know?


WOW!
You know when you pick a book up thinking you know what kind of a story it will be? I got a copy of Savannah Brown's YA debut from Penguin Random House, with a copy of Karen McManus' Two Can Keep a Secret, (reviewed yesterday) and I was expecting it to be a similar style of YA crime. I was expecting a murder, some plucky teens, suspicions, threats, a murderer caught. 
That wasn't what I got at all, and I was totally blown away by it.
The Truth About Keeping Secrets isn't really a novel about a murder, it is a novel about grief and loss. It's a novel about Sydney dealing with the death of her father, or trying to deal with it. It's not about plucky investigations, it's about a heart broken girl desperately reaching for anything to make sense of her father's death. 
It is intense! It is dark, and powerful and poetic and beautiful and lyrical and fucking intense!
It's definitely not a comfortable read. There are themes of grief, obviously, but also abuse and toxic, abusive relationships, and although they are dealt with in a very respectful and appropriate way, I felt very uncomfortable reading it at times. I love intense, emotional reads though, and this is definitely not a criticism.
The writing is incredibly beautiful. Savannah Brown is a poet, and it really shows in the lyrical quality of her writing.

The Truth About Keeping Secrets is an intense, emotional and beautiful read. It is out on 7th March from Penguin Random House.
I'm giving it five moons.
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I received a proof copy of The Truth About Keeping Secrets from Penguin Random House in return for an honest review.





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