Monday 6 February 2017

Book Review - Sworn Secret by Amanda Jennings - Rachel Reads Randomly Book #51

Amazon UK
Title: Sworn Secret
Author: Amanda Jennings
Format reviewed: Paperback
Source: Competition Win
Publisher: Canvas
Publication Date: 16th August 2012
Rating: 5 Stars


When Anna, Lizzie Thorne's charismatic sister, is killed in a tragic fall from the roof of her school, her family is devastated. One year on and grief still has a hold on them. Kate, Anna's mother, has retreated from her family and is desperate to find someone to blame for her daughter's death. Her father, Jon, is doing his best to care for his family but the pressure of holding his marriage together is pushing him to breaking point. Amid her parents' turmoil, Lizzie, Anna's younger sister, just wants to leave her sister's ghost in the past and find happiness again. But then a devastating revelation begins to raise questions concerning what really happened the night Anna died. Whilst Kate and Jon grapple with Anna's emerging secrets, Lizzie dives headlong into a passionate, but forbidden, first love affair. As the family battle to regain their footing they realise it's the love they have for each other that has the power to finally heal them.

What a truly magnificent book, starting with a horrifyingly intriguing opening chapter, it was a story that crept up me as to just how gripped I was finding it, until I could only put it down because I really needed to sleep and had work the following day. 

But yet I am honestly not sure what to say about the book, with retrospect just about anything I could say even about the early part of the plot, could be regarded as a spoiler, so let's try this. Sworn Secret is a story about one family's grief a year after a terrible accident. 

The chapters are all titled with an indication of what will be the focus of the chapter, and are generally incredibly short. Each chapter is written in the third person and Lizzie, Kate and Jon are all focused on at times. 

The three of them are all handling life incredibly differently, Lizzie is just entering into an ill advised first love affair, Kate is traumatized and spends most of her time painting and Jon is trying to hold it all together for his family, while having his own ill father. 

As secrets come out about the last weeks of Anna's life, everyone has to re-evaluate everything. I was shocked by the nature of the revelations, and to some the topics involved may make incredibly upsetting and uncomfortable reading. However to me, it seemed the more I learnt, despite how devastating it was, the more I wanted to just continue reading to see what would happen next. 

I can't believe it has taken me so long to finally read a book by Amanda Jennings, but I suspect it won't be anywhere near as long before I try the author again. I through the book was written very well, and there are some more light hearted moment, in amongst the generally quite serious book.  

Nothing I say is going to be able to do justice to this books, so if it even slightly interests you, I would suggest you take a chance on it, and I'm sure you won't be disappointed. 

Thank you to everyone who voted for Sworn Secret. On Monday I thought I was would be reading Kathy Reichs, and then Amanda Jennings' fans appeared and I'm so glad you did, based on how amazing Sworn Secret is, and despite being rather unsure about the book before I started reading, I am very glad you made me read it, as I now have a new author to keep an eye on! 

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...