A daughter pushing the limits. A marriage ready to crack. A secret that can break them.
For Emily Rossi, life may not be perfect, but it’s pretty close. She has a great career, a house in the country, a solid marriage to Eric and two wonderful children—tennis superstar Daniel and quiet, sensitive Zara. But when her fourteen-year-old daughter brings home a toxic new best friend, Emily’s seemingly … Emily’s seemingly perfect family starts to spiral out of control.
Suddenly Zara is staying out late, taking drugs and keeping bad company. And just when Emily needs Eric to be an involved father, he seems too wrapped up with his job in London to care. What’s more, he’s started drinking again.
When a dark secret from the past emerges, Emily’s life is turned upside down. Struggling to protect the people she loves, can she save her damaged family? Doing so may mean keeping a secret of her own…
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Outstanding. A gripping, beautifully-written novel that gradually peels back the layers of the truth behind the image of a family that appears to have it all. I loved that this book didn’t tick all the neat boxes. Yes, it’s part women’s fiction, part psychological suspense, and a portrait of a marriage unraveling. But it’s also a powerful story about the devastating impact of secrets, lies, and alcohol abuse on one family. From page one, I had no idea where the story would take me, but I knew the author would deliver. And boy, did she! I read many chapters with my heart pounding. I will not soon forget the characters or the storyline.
Carol Mason British author and this is her sixth novel. I’m not sure how I missed reading her books but after reading Little White Secrets I plan to read her earlier books. This was a well written book about a family in trouble and the lengths that a mother will go to make sure her family is safe.
Emily and Eric Rossi live in a small town in England. Eric works in London and only comes home on the weekends and Emily is a professor at the local university. They have two children: 18 year old Daniel who is a tennis superstar and Zara, 14 years old, who is quiet and sensitive and doesn’t fit well into her school life or her family life. Life may not be perfect for the Rossi family but it’s pretty close to perfect. As the reader gets to know the family, we see the cracks developing that may tear them apart. Emily resents Eric being gone all week and leaving the parenting to her. Eric is developing a drinking problem. Zara who hasn’t had a friend since they moved finds a new friend and she and Bethany become inseparable . The problem is that this friendship is toxic – Bethany has no respect for authority, drinks and has a boyfriend 10 years older than her. Bethany’s mom turns a blind eye to all the trouble that her daughter causes and doesn’t get involved in her life. When Emily finds out that Zara has been skipping school and hanging out with Bethany’s older friends, she forbids Zara to see her friend again. We all know how well that works out with a teenage daughter! We are aware that Zara has secrets but it’s the secrets that Eric and Emily are keeping from each other that may implode this family. Even small secrets, over time can become major. Can Emily save her family as the secrets come to light or will the secrets keep her family from surviving.
This is the story of family and love and acceptance. It’s full of suspense that keep the pages turning and make it into a very satisfying novel. It kept me up most of one night to see how it would end. If you enjoy family-centric novels, this is one to add to your to-read list.
Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.
Great book! Would read it again. I felt bad for the dad. It’s hard when the person you love is going through something that’s very difficult to go through. That’s why it’s understandable that things happened the way they did in the end. That’s life. What can you do? Anyway, I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading dramas. This was a good book. You won’t be disappointed!
Thank you, NetGalley, for my e-ARC.
“Such and such has the PERFECT life.” If only…The grass is always greener…True or not, most of us are prone to such feelings.
It would seem that Emily Rossi has an enviable life : beautiful home, career, loving husband, and two model children. The reality is not so pretty. Her mother recently passed away. Her career as a professor of PR & Communications is in jeopardy. Her friendship with her neighbor, Charlotte, is on a break after a falling out. Her relationship with her husband Eric is going through a rough patch. He is an absentee father and husband, unavailable to his family due to his away job and excessive drinking. Her daughter, Zara, lives in the shadow of her older brother, tennis superstar, Daniel, and has become BFF’s with toxic Bethany. Ironically, Emily and Zara first met Bethany and her equally unbalanced mother, Janet, when they came to their door fundraising for domestic violence.
Emily blames herself and Eric for the negative change in Zara. They were so consumed with Daniel’s tennis aspirations that Zara was not given her fair share of their love and attention. Emily is determined to make up for lost time. But it may be too little too late. Feeling alone and overwhelmed, Emily comes to depend on Steve, a new neighbor. He is reliable, empathetic, attractive, single, and…interested. She is sorely tempted. Steve is everything Eric is not. At least, not anymore.
Set in England. Two timelines, present and past. Written from the perspectives of Emily and Eric, this was a realistic rendering of an imperfect family in crisis. The Little White Secrets start revealing gradually. So many secrets. Until the end, when all is out in the open. Again… too late. But, would it have better if they were uncovered sooner?
This women’s fiction title was a change of pace from the suspense thrillers I typically read. A bit wordy at times, but overall, it was ok.
This book really blew me away.
It started off slowly and you started getting the impression very early on that the Rossi family was living behind this very glossy facade. Pretty soon chunks of the facade came crashing down and dragged little secrets everyone was keeping tucked away into the glaring spotlight.
I didn’t particularly feel that I liked the main character, Emily, but in a way she earned some respect from me for dealing with what she had to without totally losing her sanity.
Some chapters start off slightly tricky to understand because it is not always indicated who the speaker is, but a few sentences in you quickly click who is speaking. In a way the initial uncertainty as to who is speaking adds to the atmosphere in the spiraling chaos of Emily’s life.
The closing words stunned me. I put the book down after finishing it and was unable to focus on any other novel for at least a day. As a mother to two pre-teens my answer (Yes, possibly) to the question, “Would I do the same if I was in Emily’s shoes?” scared me slightly.
After reading many reviews, I got this book from Amazon First Reads. I tried to like it. I tried to finish it. However, the author’s style of writing is not what I normally read. That being said, I still tried to finish the book. I figured out one of the major plot twists almost right away. I stayed until about 40% and simply couldn’t justify my reading time for this. The story of Eric and Emily, of Kara and Bethany, of Janet and Bethany will have to wait for someone else to unravel it.
This was a very enjoyable book. A well written tale of a middle class family, living in a small English suburb. Emily is a Professor of Communications at the local University, Eric is an engineer currently working in London and home on weekends. Their son Daniel is a talented and up and coming tennis star, while his younger sister Zara is a introverted teenager, struggling to make friends and get out of Daniel’s shadow. The marriage is rocky and damaged by
Eric’s drinking and the job away from home.
A work colleague Janet is fixated on Daniel, dangerously so, and her willful daughter Brittany is a bad influence on the impressionable Zara. Many secrets and lies have infiltrated this cast of characters and a blowup is bound to happen.
Carol Mason is a skillful storyteller and has brought strong characters into this book. The tale of lies and deceit festers to a breaking point and the result is a real page turner.
My thanks to #LakeUnionPublishing and #NetGalley for my ARC. All opinions are my own. A book worth the journey!
An intense and gripping story of family secrets that threaten to tear a seemingly perfect family apart. Fans of women’s fiction and suspense will absolutely love this novel. Once you start reading, you won’t be able to put it down!
I have to admit, I did struggle a bit with this one, but plugged away and in the end was rewarded with a pretty decent family drama/mystery! At time of seemed to drag and covered the same issues over and over which made the characters seem “whishy-washy”, but about halfway through the story and plot devolved more body and picked up. I had the ending sort of figured out but not all of it and it was great!
Ended up earning a 4 star rating.
Powerful, terrific, and utterly absorbing, with an ending that literally left me gasping
Who knew there could be so many little secrets in the Rossi family! The son Eric is a star tennis player and the daughter Zara is the introvert living in her brothers shadow. The protagonist Emily is a strong female who teaches a communications course at University. Eric is the father/husband who works in London and comes home on weekends. The story is told in the past and present from the prospective of Emily and Eric.
Zara starts staying out late, drinking and taking drugs when she starts hanging out with the new girl Bethany. Emily realizes that Bethany is no good for her daughter and tries everything to keep them apart. This is where the story starts to unfold along with all the little secrets. Eric’s past is slowly revealed and you start to understand how it is affecting his present family problems. Emily is in the dark when it comes to Eric’s past, but hell knows no fury like a woman scorned.
There are characters I felt sorry for and characters I hated. The book is a well written intense story that kept me turning the pages. I figured out one of the secrets but still enjoyed the book and the ending. If you like stories filled with suspense, anger, and family issues, I highly recommend this book. This is the first book I have read by Carol Mason and I will be looking up her other books. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for a copy of this book and this is my honest review.
It’s hard to believe that I have not read any of Carol Mason’s books. I was thrilled to have received an advance reader’s copy of Little White Secrets and after reading it, I now want to read all of her books. This book had me captivated from the beginning. A story very well written with a good plot, believable characters, at times intense, and very realistic. I applauded Emily Rossi for doing the best she could to keep her family together even with a husband that wasn’t always around to help as he worked away from home in London and had issues of his own, and a teen daughter who suddenly becomes friends with a girl who is not a great influence and causes many problems for the Rossi family. Many lies and many secrets. Did they cause this family to be torn apart? Well, you will have to get a copy of this book to find out. This is one I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend. Make sure to put it on your TBR list.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy.
I did some day-reading with this one. I wanted to finish it last night but my eyelids refused to cooperate!
Ok, this is a good book, loaded with suspense and wondering. When Emily and Eric’s daughter starts hanging out with a new friend, life spirals out of control. In a span of not much time, all sorts of nasty things happen to this family of four. The characters are very vivid and their internal chitchat really sounds like a regular joe. You can feel what Em is thinking. You sort of have an idea of one of the mysteries early on but you don’t/can’t know the depth of it. The timing is kind of strange in this one. You have back and forth from past to present but the present seems like way too much happening in such a small amount of time. But the book works well.
The pages practically turned themselves. The other night, I started reading at chapter 12, hoping to get in a couple chapters before I fell asleep. I read to chapter 26. I would absolutely recommend this one to friends. I was invited to read an advanced copy of this book for an honest review.
Very well written and plotted story about secrets….all kinds of secrets.
The characters were all well rounded and while some I liked and some I didn’t, they were the overriding thing that pulled me into the story. I felt sorry for Zara because all the focus was on her brother and sadly, I think that might have been why she went off the rails.
This is an engrossing story, filled with foreshadowing as to what the big secret was. It wasn’t difficult to figure out, but it was a good read as the final secret unfolded slowly throughout the book.
I think this is the first book I’ve read by Carol Mason, but I will be reading more of her work in the future.
Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for granting my request for an ARC. All thoughts in this review are my own and freely given.
Definitely a novel that had me hooked from the first page!
There are so many secrets! None that are “little”!
The Rossi family is crumbling and the “closet skeletons” are beginning to escape for all of this family!
One of my thoughts as I continued on with this story : “Hell hath no fury like a Mother protecting her Children”. Emily will Not let her daughter ruin her life as she learn’s of Zara’s secrets. There is nothing that will stop her from keeping Zara safe!
Zara who has always been a “good” kid, has gone way off the beaten path and made friends with a girl named Bethany who is nothing but dangerous as we find out.
This is truly an intense, well written book with suspense, anger, crisis and family all rolled into it!
I truly will look for other of Carol Mason’s books! Excellent!