Wonderfully written, the story gradually links its characters. Hard to put down, the reader's interest is maintained throughout until reaching a lovely ending.

This is my first book by this author and I'd like to thank Netgalley and Avon for the advanced copy.

I found this one pretty hard to put down. The title was THE Family Secret but they were pretty much everywhere and finding out why we were reading about two women 20 years apart kept the reader guessing. I didn't care so much for how the romance was written, but that might just be me. I'd look forward to reading more by this author.

This was my first book by this author and I'm sure it won't be the last. The book description was intriguing and I was delighted to find the book lived up to this. The timeline spans 20 years and the story features two very strong female characters and we get both their points of view which is always great in my opinion. This book is all about love, loss, tragedies, and secrets and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

This is my first time reading the author and I hope it won’t be my last. The book opens with a bang and raises some important, compelling questions that meant I absolutely had to read on. I didn’t like Lumin, the girl Amber finds at first. I’m not sure why and there’s nothing specific I can put my finger on. I just took a dislike to her and it took a few chapters for this impression to leave. The Family Secret uses a non-linear structure, moving from current events with Amber and Lumin into Gwyneth’s past, her connection with the McClusky family and the sinister secret they share and gradually reveals Lumin’s connection to Gwyneth and what happened to her. The Family Secret is compelling and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

There are two strong women in this book and a timeline spanning twenty years. It's a brilliantly told story of love, loss, family secrets and forgiveness.

Amber has known sadness when she lost the fingers on one hand to frostbite when she was four years old. Also her small daughter died after an illness and Amber's grief resulted in her leaving her husband unable to come to terms with the loss of her child. Amber runs a small business from the beach huts, which she is getting ready for a Christmas market. She becomes aware of a young woman staggering across the beach who is not wearing a coat or shoes and is suffering from loss of memory, Amber wants to help the young woman regain her memory and she soon sees that lying in a hospital is not doing any good. She comes up with a plan that just might unlock the memory gaps.

Gwyneth makes wildlife documentaries and her story starts twenty years before the young woman with memory loss appears on the beach. She has a painful family secret that she is unable to share with others.. The author treats us to some wonderful descriptions of the scenery and wildlife as we hear Gwyneths story unfold.

I really enjoyed this book, I was hooked from the first page and couldn't put it down.

This was a lovely story and a pleasure to read.
The story is Amber finds a girl wandering barefoot on the beach in winter and feels an urge to help her. The book is written from the POV of Amber and a woman called Gwyneth, both of whom seem lost. As the story unfolds they both seem to have the need to make connections with their pasts.
I highly recommend Tracy Buchanan as her stories enable you to see the good in the world through her stories.
Thanks to Avon and NetGalley for an ARC
#TheFamilySecret #NetGalley

Set in 2009 and going back to 1989 a family saga starting with a lost girl with no memory. A wonderful story that brings the two generations together. Love, loss, tragedies and secrets. Winter is the background for this wonderful read. It truly provides the most amazing background for all scenes from lochs in Scotland to ice beaches in Iceland. Get the fire on, grab a blanket and enjoy a glass of red wine with this beauty of a book!

Thanks to Net Galley an Avon Books Uk for an ARC of this book in exchange for a review.
This is a family drama, Amber has been living a quiet very isolated life since the tragic death of her daughter 10;years ago, and loosing her husband due to her sadness and grief. She has a gift shop business on the beach front and it’s on the beach a morning that she finds a young girl, wet, cold, wearing no shoes, the girl is confused and can’t remember who she is or how she came to be there.
The story is told between the past and the present, told by Amber and Gwyneth two of the main characters
Amber is determined to help her new young friend get her memory back and return her safely to her family, surely someone is missing this beautiful young girl.
It’s a story of family relationships, family secrets, loss, hope and love. My first book by this author but will definitely read more.

This seemed to start off as two separate stories, which eventually became intertwined, although you wouldn’t have guessed exactly how intertwined both parts would be. A very good, at times emotional story

A well written, easy read full of emotion, family dynamics, secrets, relationships and regret.

I liked how it switched between Gwyneth set in the past and Amber in the present. It kept it interesting and intriguing.

Thanks to Avon Books UK for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Review shared on Goodreads, Facebook & Twitter. Will add to Amazon after publication date.

I really enjoyed this book and reading it from the dual POV's of Amber and Gwyneth worked really well.

A girl comes into Amber's life; she is without a coat or shoes on a very cold day and she has no idea who she is. As Amber tries to unravel the story of the girl, she finds herself playing detective with very few clues to go on.

This was a difficult book to categorise, I found. It was all about family, secrets and love and it almost had a sense of menace about it. I wasn't sure how all the threads were going to be tied up, but tied up they were, with a big twist at the end! It was a real thinker of a book that left me with my heart in my mouth on several occasions.

Fabulous read! 5 stars from me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon.

I received a free e-copy of The Family Secret by Tracy Buchanan from NetGalley for my honest review.

A story told between two different time lines. The first in 1989 and the other in 2009.

One day in 2009, while Amber is walking on the beach with her Mom, they come across a girl who has no memory of who she is or how she got there. Amber takes the girl to the hospital, and now she has found herself trying to help her recover her memory and and find out who she is. You will eventually find out how their two stories connect. (Don't want ruin it)

A story of families, secrets, loss, love and even regret. Wonderfully told and lovable characters that will pull on your heart strings.

AN ICY WINTER TALE WITH A PERFECT BLEND OF LOVE, LOSS, FAMILY, SUSPENSE AND SECRETS

Two women. Two timelines. Different lifestyles. Different mindsets. And an unexpected force pulling them closer, day by day, without them knowing. But do they want that? The Family Secret blooms like a rose, one petal at a time, and hooks the reader until the end!

Amber has lost her daughter ten years ago. But the pain lingers. So does the pain of losing her fingers to frostbite as a child. Her mum and aunt are an annoying yet the only company she has got. Managing their chitter-chatter is her biggest concern. Running a gift shop on the beach is not an easy job either. Her life seems almost meaningless when a stranger, a teen girl, collapses by her shop.

The girl has no memory of who she is and where she comes from, and that gives Amber a chance to live the moments she would have lived if her daughter has been alive. Amber finds an instant connection with the girl, and in her quest to help her reunite with her family, Amber fights her own feelings of longing and belonging.

Gwyneth regrets her teenage years. The rejection and abandonment her parents have brought her for a fatal mistake she has made is like a thorn stuck deep in her heart, the hurt still fresh and bleeding. An accidental meeting with Dylan, a Scottish builder and his family dissolve Gwyneth in their Christmas hospitality. But she senses their untold dark secrets...just like hers.

Gwyneth’s career as a wildlife documentary maker takes her to places of paradise on earth of rare species of animals and birds. Her fascination for the animals and her encounters with them are beautifully explained throughout the book!

Tracy balances the timelines of Amber and Gwyneth perfectly! Her brilliance in altering third and first person POVs while keeping the emotions and sensitiveness intact in both allows the readers to fall in love with her story and characters!

The Family Secret in its perfectness breaks your heart, warms your soul, freezes your bones, and leaves you awestruck!

I love this book. A story of sadness, loneliness and isolation. A poor girl isolates herself away from everyone because of her past. Brilliant book with great unusual story, plot and characters. love it. Thank you for writing.

A very intriguing plot that has surprising ramifications for all the central characters. Amber divorced her husband,Jasper,after their daughter died from meningitis and runs a tiny beach shop in Devon. We find out that some childhood trauma has caused her to lose fingers on her left hand,and this is believed to be holding back her ambition and success in life.
Gwyneth is a wildlife photographer who is hiding a terrible secret,so bad,that her parents sent her away to live with relatives. Whilst in Scotland,she becomes stranded in the snow and is rescued by Dylan, who introduces her to his mad,eccentric family. They are all complicit in a secret that is tearing them apart.
Amber meets a young girl on the beach in a state of distress and becomes involved in trying to find out who she is and return her to her family.
Three different females, with a shared history that both pulls them together and tears them apart in this absolutely marvellous story.
It is full of strong characters,with a no nonsense attitude to life. Told through the style of timelines, it is well written and observed and is a compelling read. All wrongs are explained by the end of this book,all events are neatly tied up.
I was particularly impressed by the descriptions of sex in this story. Each episode is beautifully described, It is sensual and loving,erotic and arousing,descriptive and not gratuitous,well done!! Some sex writing is so bad,you cringe as you read it,but no problems here!
I throughly recommend this book and give it five stars.

Thanks to netgalley for an early copy and Avon books in return for an honest review
First time reading this author and really enjoyed the unfolding story of how two becomes one. A very intriguing plot that kept me engrossed till the end can highly recommend

Another interesting read from Tracy Buchanan.
This book tells the story from 2 perspectives.
Amber (who finds a young girl on the beach who has lost her memory) and Gwyneth.
How do these 2 stories come together?
The book is set over 2 time periods but blends together very well.
Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read early

Interesting dual strand storyline with characters I could relate to. I did, however, find the conclusion quite complicated. (Or maybe that was just me as I read the book over the Christmas period.)

A book where the story matches the locations perfectly and vice versa? From a frosty beach in Devon to the icy landscapes of Iceland via the rough terrain of Scotland, this is a story about secrets, finding out about your past, discovering who you are and where you belong...plus much much more.

Two timelines and two women separated by them. Gwymeth in 1989 allows you to see so many sights due to her work as a wildlife-documentary-maker . Then there's Amber who rescues a young girl who has lost her memory and is found wandering on a Devon beach in December. Amber then goes on a journey to try and help the girl find out who she is.

The threads of the story and the various locations will seem at first to be far apart from each other but the more you read, the more you see the threads of history and family pull them tighter and tighter. But wait, is that a web of lies forming too? It's a plot you find yourself getting further and further involved in...and not sure how it all will mesh together.

I particularly loved the inclusion of animals in the story - those in their natural habitat such as the seals of Iceland. The setting of Scotland was claustrophobic and creepy (that family!!, the loch!) and where it all started on that desolate Devon beach. There's something really lonely and desolate about a beach in winter so the locations really captured the mood of the book and the characters well.

Some fascinating family dynamics in this book. A good mystery to find out who that girl on the beach is. The whole story comes full circle in a nice way - you really don't know when and where those secrets from the past are going to wash up!

I was given an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest and independent review.
Another well written book from Tracy Buchanan. Two stories set a number of years apart. One of the best things for me was the descriptive narrative which was so well portrayed that I felt like I was there. Excellent characters that kept me gripped to the storyline until the very end.
4.5 stars