My Secret to Tell by Natalie Richards Review

My Secret to Tell by Natalie Richards

“But we’re all capable of bad things if we’re hurting enough.”

The story starts off when Emmie discovers that Chelsea’s (her best friend) dad has been hurt and is in hospital only then to find Chelsea’s brother Deacon covered in blood in her bedroom. Having fled the crime scene, Deacon is the main suspect but Emmie’s crush for him and her belief that he didn’t do it sets her on a journey to clear his name.

First I’m going to start off by saying that the title of the book is irrelevant – there is no big secret to reveal.

The plot is interesting because a lot of non cliché things happen in it.  Everybody but Emmie believes that Deacon is innocent so throughout the story she has to dodge basically everybody as she tries to find the real criminal. The good thing with that is that it dealt with different characters and different issues. Deacon is supposed to be in hiding however the majority the book is spent with Emmie which isn’t helping his case but it’s different as Emmie isn’t the only one discovering stuff to help the case.

What I didn’t like about the book is how focused on Deacon Emmie is – its way beyond him being a lifelong friend and crush. All the evidence points at Deacon and she just continues to trust him which is really annoying and stupid. Also the author did this really annoying thing to emphasise Emmie’s ‘devotion’ to Deacon. She made all the minor characters sort of villain-ised in the sense all their action seemed to make it seem as if Emmie was the only hope to find the truth. Honestly it was cringe worthy because it made Emmie seem so good and everybody was unlikable. Also the way that ex convicts are portrayed is really harmful in terms of representation.

Emmie if you take away her feeling for Deacon is a decent main character – she’s struggling with family issues and the element of realism is added.

The romance is surprisingly okay for me because although I don’t like how much she’s focused on him the romance is sweet and a part of me just couldn’t help but like them together.

Finally there’s a major twist in the book however once I found out what the actual criminal was doing it wasn’t hard to guess who it was. There’s a big hint near the start of the novel and so when it was revealed I wasn’t surprised at all which was a shame.

★★★☆☆