The Secrets We Keep by Colette Caddle
Synopsis
Four years ago Erin Joyce left Dublin under a cloud and bought a guesthouse in the remote, beautiful village of Dunbarra. The Gatehouse attracts a strange clutch of guests who, once ensconced, never want to leave. There's Hazel, a shy artist, and her sweet, silent daughter Gracie. Sandra, a brash American, wants to know everything about everyone. Then there's wise old easy-going PJ, who's seemingly part of the furniture. But Erin's fragile happiness is thrown off-balance by the arrival of A-list Hollywood actor Sebastian Grey. Erin finds herself drawn to this handsome enigmatic man, who used to walk with a swagger but now prowls the country lanes with haunted eyes. What trauma could have brought about this devastating change? Sebastian isn't the only one in the Gatehouse with a secret. Why is Hazel cast so adrift? Where does PJ go each week without fail, and what really brought Sandra to Dunbarra? As Erin finds herself embroiled in her guests' secrets she starts to ask herself: will she be ready to reveal her own?
My Review
I'm a sucker for a good book, one that I don't get bored with easily and keeps me turning the pages right to the very end....and I must say The Secrets We Keep is certainly one of those books. I didn't think it was possible for a book to be written on such simple life matters to be so engaging, there is normally a lack of
umph for me in Contemporary Fiction but not with Colette's novel The Secret We Keep, there is just something about the character's lives that wants you to know and need more.
Colette writes her characters well, I was touched by the difference between each individual and the fact that the main story was about Erin and was mostly from her point of view, but there was also little sections from many of the other characters in her life's point as well and that only made it more interesting to know how they where feeling also but never giving away too much information or that you guessed what was wrong or what would happen next...
Erin was a little naive when it came to certain things or should I say a certain someone...although she had the world on a platter ready to do anything for her she gave it all up for a possibility and this infuriated me.... She had Ronan a darling of a gentleman who was affectionate and compassionate giving Erin the space she needed when she needed it and then there was Sebastian a man who could have it all and then some, I certainly wanted to smack him one when I read the truth towards the end I mean 'what the funk he is such a punk' but these characters only added to the great atmosphere in this novel!
Colette Caddle has certainly touched a soft spot with this novel and not only has she thought inside the closet but she leaped outside too, giving me an awesome awestruck ride along the way as I hunt down for the truth behind my many possibilities...I'm also truly smoked away by the ending and I may just tempt myself for her latest release Always On My Mind.
