I absolutely loved Secrets We Keep and found myself very emotionally involved with the characters. Secrets We Keep tells the stories of Iris and Kate and the secrets Iris has long held within her heart. Kate is Iris's great niece although they did not meet until Kate's grandmother's funeral, Iris's sister. The two sides of the family had had little to do with each other over the years in order to protect this secret. Kate is a high-flying divorce lawyer in London but, increasingly dissatisfied with her life, she visits her great aunt and uncle in the small seaside town of Ballytokeep on the west coast of Ireland and falls in love with the place. She decides to start a new life in the town bringing the old bath-house back to life. As well as a chance to heal her broken heart after being jilted ten years ago, she finds new friendship and possible new love too.

What Faith Hogan has done so brilliantly in this book is to show all the different relationships in the book from Iris's passionate first loves to the tenderness of the love between the elderly Iris and her husband Archie. Iris's hopes and dreams and disappointments were clear to see and the heavy burden of her secret was sad to read about. Later in the book we discover she was not the only one with knowledge of that secret which was even more heartbreaking. The close bond between Archie and Iris was beautifully drawn and all the more poignant as Archie begins to slip into dementia and Iris fears losing him.

I particularly enjoyed the way Iris's story unfolded, moving effortlessly between the past and the present, revealing just a little at a time and often leaving each time period with a mini cliffhanger.

Kate was a character I really warmed to. I couldn't help but feel for her as she felt unable to put her past behind her. You might think that ten years is long enough for anyone to get over a broken relationship but as you will read, there were reasons which made it very difficult for Kate. What I loved about her was that she was actually such a strong character. She really took a risk leaving her law career behind her and taking on what seemed like a thankless restoring the old bath-house to its former glory. She is a loyal friend to Rita who is in a loveless marriage and really helps her to stand up for herself. She is so loving to the family she had never known and so supportive. As she works away renovating the bath-house she too comes across things which might just unlock more secrets from the past.

I must mention the idyllic sounding setting of Ballytokeep, by the wild sea. Although Ballytokeep with its bathhouse is a fictional place, the author says a similar bathhouse still operates at Enniscrone in County Sligo. I looked it up after I had read the book and have to say it is exactly as I pictured it when reading. Faith Hogan has painted a wonderful picture of the rugged cliffs, the wild Atlantic sea, the houses nestled round the coast, the beautiful windswept beach and showed the strong sense of community. I could completely understand why Kate felt welcomed and at home there, even though it was so different from her old life in London. As Kate says: "She only had to walk out her front door and she was on permanent summer holidays." There is definitely a nurturing and healing feel to the town which made it sound such a wonderful place to live.

This is a beautifully told story, compelling and full of emotion. It is a hopeful look at love, loss and second chances and I really recommend it.

Faith Hogan's story of a woman who finds peace and happiness in an Irish coastal village is beautifully written. The story is told mainly from the perspective of Kate and Iris, women related through a family secret and both looking for their true path in life. The scene moved between 1957 and present day where the two women have different lives but similar dreams and personal tragedies they have to deal with on the way.

The atmosphere of the sleepy seaside town in winter came through vividly and I especially liked the author's handling of the character of Archie, whose personality is slowly disappearing due to the cruel disease of Alzheimers. His distress and that of Iris having to watch his deterioration is well handled, and quite poignant, which struck a chord with me having faced this situation myself.

A beautiful story of where your passions can take you if you're willing to take a chance. A London lawyer finds a family she didn't know she had and she takes chances she didn't know she could. I highly recommend it! A cast of characters you will come to love.

Overall, it was a good story, and I enjoyed the descriptions of the area.
The good part- grandmother reunited with her family and finds her granddaughter.
The not so good part- the girl settles for the wrong guy!

The cover caught my eye straight away, I adored the freshness of it.The story had me hooked from the very beginning, it had likeable characters and was such an easy read full of secrets and intrigue.”Secrets We Keep” is really well written and I really love the way Faith is such an accurate writer, with a keen eye for detail. This is a great book to curl up by the fireside with.