Saturday 8 February 2014

Review: Sworn secret by Amanda Jennings


A stunning domestic thriller in the vein of Kimberly McCreight's Reconstructing Amelia.

When Lizzie Thorne's charismatic older sister Anna is killed in a tragic fall from the roof of her school, everyone is devastated. A year later, grief still has its icy grip on the Thorne family.

Mrs. Thorne has retreated from her life and is desperate to find someone to blame for her daughter's death. Mr. Thorne is doing his best to care for his family, but the stress of holding his marriage together is pushing him to the breaking point. Lizzie just wants to leave her sister's ghost in the past and find happiness again.

But then a shattering revelation begins to raise questions about what really happened the night Anna died. Lizzie finds herself speeding headfirst into a passionate but forbidden love affair, while at the same time trying to grapple with her dead sister's emerging secrets.


ebook, 100 pages
Expected publication: February 11th 2014 by Witness Impulse
 
Terri's Thoughts:

I received this ARC from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

I will begin with my major confusion.  Both Edelweiss and Goodreads say this story is 100 pages however this is not the case.  Although reading it on my Kindle I can not be sure the exact length of the book however it is much longer than that.  It appears that this is a re-release and perhaps there was an error made with the new release.

This story started out rather slow for me. The beginning is wrapped up in the grief from the death of Anna as Lizzie and her parents try to cope.  Almost too much so in the fact that I found it very depressing and hoping that the story would move along.  It wasn't until the real story of Anna started to come out that the book picked up the pace for me.

The strength of this story is the character of Lizzie.  She was the glue holding the family together and really was the only character that did not get on my nerves.  Her romance in the story while glossed over was really the only happy aspect to the entire story.  The flashbacks to happier times also helped lift this book because I will be honest the present day storyline was utterly depressing.

All in all this was a pleasant read.  I found that there were some aspects to the story that never really got wrapped up however the journey of finding your way (slowly) to the other side of grief was clearly depicted throughout these pages.
 
 
About the Author


Amanda is mother to three daughters and lives in chaotic contentment just outside Henley-on-Thames with a houseful of pets and a husband. Sworn Secret is her debut novel and she is currently finishing her second.


Website: 
Twitter:  mandajjennings


           


No comments:

Post a Comment