When three generations of women are brought together by crisis, they learn over the course of one hot summer the power of family to support, nourish and surpriseLauren has the perfect life…if she ignores the fact it’s a fragile house of cards, and that her daughter Mack has just had a teenage personality transplant.Jenna is desperate to start a family with her husband, but it’s… Just. Not. … Just. Not. Happening. Her heart is breaking, but she’s determined to keep her trademark smile on her face.Nancy knows she hasn’t been the best mother, but how can she ever tell Lauren and Jenna the reason why?Then life changes in an instant, and Lauren, Mack, Jenna and Nancy are thrown together for a summer on Martha’s Vineyard. Somehow, these very different women must relearn how to be a family. And while unraveling their secrets might be their biggest challege, the rewards could be infinite…Heartwarming and fresh, Sarah Morgan’s brilliant new novel is a witty and deeply uplifting look at the power of a family of women.
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Sarah Morgan is one of my go-to authors. You can always count on her for an absolutely wonderful story!
How to Keep a Secret is my favorite book about sisters to date. Excellent women’s fiction! It’s about so much more than family dynamics though. It deals with marriage, parenting, infertility, grief, secrets, forgiveness, starting over, and second chances. I so enjoyed this book. Check it out!
Heartwarming, emotional, and witty. Sarah Morgan always delivers a wonderful story.
One of my picks for must read reluctant heroes in my monthly PopSugar Feature
Stories with family dynamics are one of my favorite type of books to read. I like the flaws and imperfections of the people because it makes them very real. This book did not disappoint.
Nancy, Lauren, Jenna and Mack are brought together, due to circumstances beyond their control, for a summer on Martha’s Vineyard.
Nancy has lived in her ancestoral home all her life and feels responsible to keep the memories alive of her family for her family. She has a secret. Her daughter, Lauren and Lauren’s her teenage daughter, McKenzie (Mack) come to stay with Nancy after experiencing a crisis which leaves them homeless. Lauren has a secret. Jenna, Nancy’s second daughter has never lived anywhere but Martha’s Vineyard. She and her husband were high school sweethearts and Jenna has a secret. Mack, accidentally, uncoveres her mother’s secret. Can we say drama!?!
This is the story of four women, family, second chances, love, forgiveness and their unbreakable strength. It’s also the story of becoming who each of them were meant to be. I enjoyed this book immensely.
The perfect beach read with the Martha’s Vineyard setting, likeable characters, and heartfelt story.
Family dynamics steal the show in the latest from Sarah Morgan! I was drawn in immediately into the life of Lauren, then when things happen for her, it leads her back home to the US and we meet her sister and mother and start to unravel what makes each character tick and what secrets from the past will mean for the future of this family. They’re faced with challenges of keeping secrets, of accepting people’s mistakes and most of all of learning to forgive and still love each other. Really great story!
When Lauren Hudson’s world crumbles around her, it sends her and her daughter Mack back home to Martha’s Vineyards for the summer. She will have to pick up the pieces from the fallout of the secrets she’s kept for all of these years, and try to move forward with a new life.
Her sister Jenna Sullivan is there to support her every step of the way, but she has her own issues distracting her as well. She wants a baby more than anything, but it’s not happening, and her husband Greg just doesn’t seem all that upset about it. It weighs on her mind each and every day, so how can he be so casual about it?
Her mother Nancy is just as standoffish and judgemental as always, but as they sort through a lifetime of memories over the summer, secrets come to light that explain just why she has always been the way she’s been. Truths are uncovered, new lives are started and above all, love is showered all around!
This is only my second book from Sarah Morgan. I just loved it, from reading the blurb on the back of the book I knew it sounded good, but actually reading it or should I say devouring it…WOW. Sarah keeps the flow of the book going with 4 different views (the Mom, 2 daughters and one grandchild). Its a story of secrets, tragedy and finding love again! I did not want it to end and yet I could not wait to see what happens! I just hope Mack gets her puppy….A must read for all who love a good solid novel!
How to Keep a Secret by Sarah Morgan is an excellent read!
The chapters in this book tell the story from the different perspectives of four women. This was exciting to see how the stories unfolded. Secrets between them as well as romance stories liven up the read. The two sisters really have a great relationship between them and the story builds off of that. Mother and daughter relationship challenges with totally unexpected twists make the book gripping.
The story follows three generations of Stewart women. The suspense in revealing the secrets they have kept had me on the edge of my seat. More and more secrets are revealed and you get to experience how it changes their lives. Through the ups and downs they manage to always pick themselves back up again.
This is definitely a book to place on your must read list. I’m sure you will enjoy it as much as I did.
I couldn’t believe how the stories unfolded… I couldn’t put the book down!
Three ladies living separate lives. Lauren along with her daughter Mack live overseas in Great Britian with her husband Ed seems to be living the perfect life. Her sister Jenna lives with her husband Greg in their hometown. She is a teacher and is trying to get pregnant. Their mother, Nancy still lives in their family home.
Lauren’s life goes into a tailspin when her husband dies suddenly of a heart attack. It’s bad enough to lose her husband, then during his funeral services her daughter, Mack, drops a bomb and then she discovers she is penniless. Her and Mack doesn’t have a choice but to move back home into her family home and try to pick up the pieces. Jenna is struggling to get pregnant. Her desperation is heart wrenching. The two girls growing up were never close to their mother.
As we read along we discover how the family dynamics was built, how they struggle to overcome their past and how they work through their issues to come together as a family. Three strong women who each have struggles to work through to have brighter, happier futures.
This book was very well written that kept me intrigued from the first word to the very end. I was very disappointed when the book ended as I wanted more just because I felt very invested in each of the characters.
This was Sarah Morgan’s first venture into Women’s Literature as opposed to her usual Contemporary Romance. This may have been a departure for her, but she did it brilliantly!
Ms. Morgan has taken three generations of women in one family and thrown them all together after years of being apart. They are all dealing with the disappointments that life has thrown them and trying to create a new life out of the hands that they have been dealt. They find that they don’t know each other as well as they thought they did…and what they thought they knew of the others just may be all wrong. As they learn truths about each other, they learn to love not only each other again, but themselves as well.
This book was a great reminder that our family may not always be what we think, or even what we want, but they are family above all else. A superb story by Ms. Morgan!
How to Keep a Secret is one of those books that will draw you in. Two sisters and their mother come together one summer on Martha’s Vineyard after one sister’s husband dies. It’s a story of love, loss, secrets, and the magic of family. You will not want to put this book down. I highly recommend it!
I so enjoyed this book! This is a departure from this author’s usual romance books in that this is a woman’s fiction and filled with family dynamics and dysfunction and brings together a mother and daughter who move from London to Martha’s Vineyard to be closer to family. They bring their drama to add to the family drama already going on and when everyone really needs to come together the secrets just start to unravel all over the place. This book was so much fun to read and the pages just kept turning because it was so well written and fast paced. I definitely recommend this one!
I loved How to Keep a Secret. The heartbreaking and uplifting emotional journey of Jenna, Lauren, Mack and Nancy was beautifully written. I enjoyed seeing what the future held for each of them as long held secrets were revealed, having both positive & negative effects on their lives.
I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary Advance Reader Copy.
There are those books that you just can’t wait to read, but then end up disappointed. Sarah Morgan’s latest How to Keep a Secret, is not one of them. I was excited when I heard she was going to try something bigger with a wider scope. I was hooked from the very beginning. Morgan deftly captures the complexities of family and how those bonds can be strained. The characters behave organically and the conflict resolution believable. I don’t know where Morgan is going from here, but I definitely hope there are more of these books in my future.
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this novel.
Such a powerful book about strong women, family & friendships. I really enjoyed this book about family bonds, friendships & real life issues.
“Love could be intense and passionate, but it could also be warming and comforting, like curling up in front of a log fire with a mug of hot chocolate.”
In How To Keep A Secret Sarah Morgan captivates her reader with the bonds of sisterly love , the endurance of motherly love, and the passion of forever love. Unexpected grief and change along surprise reunions and the unveiling of long held secrets, Sarah’s characters are built with strength and resilience and you will fall in love with them all! A summer must read!
How to keep a secret by Sarah Morgan a five-star read that will have you wondering. This was a breath of fresh air for me, I enjoyed the women in this story and loved how the family were real and had a story to tell each. Just like a normal family they had things they haven’t told each other and have secrets that may or may not come out. (I ain’t spoiling it for you read the book) If you have read any thing else by this author you will know the flow of the story and the talent to the writing, but this will still surprise you as there is a difference to this story and it shows in the freshness of the story. Each of the four women that we hear from in this story have a story to tell and they all have things that will make you like them and also loath them in places. The dynamics and dysfunction of this story will keep you on tenterhooks all the way through, it may not be what we have come to expect of this author, but it is so much more. Its deeper and more compelling that the usual romantic comedy elements, its descriptively enthralling and will make you ponder your own family dynamics. If you read one book that’s not in your normal genre, make it this one.
I always look forward to any book written by Ms Morgan, so I was anxious to read this story.
In this book, the author takes a different road from her usual format. While we usually have a story about a couple and the trials and tribulations they go through to find their HEA, in this one , we have three generations of women who are struggling to find themselves and deal with life in general.
It’s a story about family dynamics, or lack thereof, about secrets kept and the repercussion of those secrets and about relationships. Each generation depicting different perspective and also that what you see isn’t always what really is happening in people’s lives.
But above all, it’s also a story filled with hope, and strong women . I love that the author not only gives us an engaging plot, but also that Nancy, Lauren, Jenna and even Mack, are complex and strong.
Yes, not your usual Sarah Morgan story, but one definitely worth your time.
I received this copy from Netgalley. The opinions expressed are solely my own.
Wow, what an incredible book! I loved it! A story about three generations, relationships, family and love. The bond between the two sisters was especially touching. I was sad when the book finished as I wanted to continue reading. Totally absorbing.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.