I wasn’t sure what to expect from a Jane Fallon book as this is my first read by this author, but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. It follows the story of best friends Holly and Roz, or were they?? The book covered friendships and how we sometimes shouldn’t take everything at face value and also how we can be easily manipulated to make someone else’s life a misery. There were a few twists and turns along the way that kept me wanting to read more. I will certainly be reading more from this author. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin UK - Michael Joseph for letting me read and review this book.

Not a bad book, not the best.
Well written but very slow to start with a realistic if exaggerated turn of events.
A funny but slightly predictable novel with some solid characters, I especially liked Hollies narration and POV. Overall a good book for a long journey or the like!

Read it with your friends, open a bottle of wine together then discuss and enjoy. It's one to share, not keep to yourself.

2024 52 Book Challenge - 48) The Word "Secret" In The Title

I found this to be a generally enjoyable book. It was paced well, everything kept moving, you just kinda wish that it was a bit more exciting. Like the vast majority of events in the book end up being spam emails, which is... not enthralling in a book.

There was a little bit of suspension of disbelief required, because parts were frankly unbelievable, but if you were able to ignore those parts, it was a fun and enjoyable read. I enjoyed the parts where the trio were planning events and acting like detectives.

Jane has always written a great story and this is one of her better ones. It explores female friendships and how we come to rely on them, potentially more than other person in our lives. But, should you share everything about your life and thoughts! Working in an office can be a minefield! When Holly gets a promotion at work why is her best friend not being very supportive. Some good side characters and the book read well. Yes it isn't a mystery but do you know what, not every book needs to be.

Advanced Reader copy - Enjoyed this book, really opened my eyes and made me seek out other similar books to read.

Wow. Really loved this book. Did find I guessed a number of the twists before they were revealed but it still kept me hooked. Thanks for the opportunity to read

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book and I possibly wasn't in the right space for it but the book fell short for me. I found myself struggling to pick it up and quickly forgetting what I'd read. This would be a great book for other people but just not for me unfortunately.

Hollies is a cat loving mother who has a pretty hum drum life and is overjoyed to have earned a promotion.
Unfortunately a colleague thought they would be getting the job instead.

This is extremely funny and a gripping mystery too. Whilst perhaps a slightly exaggerated version of expected events it is still quite believable. Especially to those who know cat behaviour at a tense moment.

Above all Hollie us really likable and a rather decent human being who just happens to be caught up in extraordinary circumstances.

I really loved it

I didn't enjoy this book much - I found it dull and predictable. The plot was scanty, the pace slow to stop, and the writing was cheesy. The characters were bland, clichéd and unrealistic and the twists were obvious and unexciting. Most of all I disliked the amount of alcohol the middle aged MC consumed - every meeting with her friends, every upset, every challenge, every day she turned to booze. It wasn't part of the plot in any way. Alcohol as coping strategy normalised. Not cool.

I’ve picked this book because I thought this was the perfect light and fun read for a week night. However, it had the same problem as many other books which I start and never finish: It didn’t hook me right away. I ended up reading it on a plane, many months later, and I believe this was the only reason I was able to finish it.

It did take a while for the story to start developing, and when it did, all I could think was: “Is this all that this is?” Perhaps this is me, and perhaps this is not my style of book. I did, however, end up having fun reading some of the parts of the book.

If you’re into work drama and friendships-gone-wrong, you’ll enjoy going through Holly’s daily life and office conspiracies.

Without revealing too much, here are some things I liked about this book:

🧡 Side Characters & Narration:
Okay, so not all of them, but overall, the way Holly described the characters was fun and engaging. Since the book relied on the main character as the narrator (Holly), this was important! This is my favorite part in a light read: a narrator has to be fun, light, and not take themselves too seriously. The side characters were are all surprisingly detailed, and Holly’s best friend Dee was quite funny. In my opinion, it was a good thing that Dee’s behavior was unrealistic and farfetched (I mean, who has the time for all that detective work, and is this really how a 40yo behaves in the real world?). Without a bit of exaggeration and unlikely scenarios, I think this book would have been dull.

🧡 A Fun Type-Of-Drama:
Holly had real problems to deal with, pretty serious ones, in fact. However, it was difficult to pay attention to these, because I was too invested in her office drama and side detective work. I am not sure if this is a good thing or not, depending on the author’s goals, but since I was expecting a light and fun read, I got what I was looking for.

Now what I didn’t like as much.

🌧️ The pace and plot’s predictability
I thought the pace was unnecessarily slow and it dragged when it shouldn’t. Perhaps because most of the plot was so predictable that it didn’t grant a slow pace. Predictability is not always bad, but the wait made some chapters less interesting.

🌧️ Curious to know what happens next? Not really…
As mentioned above, I felt I kept reading this book because it was entertaining somehow due to the way the story was told. I wasn’t especially invested or curious about what would happen to any of the characters. In fact, I was pretty sure I could guess the ending.

🌧️ Why so naive?
I struggled connecting or relating to Holly. You just found out that your best mate is not who she says she is, and you regret having told her all your secrets. So what do you do now? You go ahead and do the same mistake, over and over again, with everyone else. You’d think that this experience would trigger at least some caution in regards to who you’re sharing your details with. Instead, as soon as Holly gets her first suspicions about Roz, she tells everything to a stranger who rents a room in her house, a coworker she barely exchange a word with, and a cast member who could potentially ruin her whole career. I forgive this because it felt it was part of the comedy.

Overall, “Tell Me a Secret” was a fun read that is not intended to be taken too seriously. If you can live with the farfetched and unlikely scenarios, and the unrealistic behavior of the characters, then you might enjoy a light and fun read.

Unfortunately this one just wasn’t for me. I’m not a fan of chick lit but thought I would give this one a try. The writing was great and the storyline is an interesting idea, but it just wasn’t for me.

Holly gets a much-longed-for and deserved promotion at work. But pretty soon it becomes clear that someone is very unhappy about her success....but who?

Tell Me A Secret is a gripping and compelling novel about the dark side of female friendship and the knife-edges of office politics and relationships. I did pick the twist pretty quickly but I think that just comes with my job ;) but having said that, it didn't stop me tearing my way through the whole thing in less than a day!

Highly recommended, perfect escapist reading.

With thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC.

I read this book after loving others by Jane Fallon especially Faking friends but although a good read it didn't capture me in the same way.

As always it held the toxic relationships and as you read you are waiting for Holly to connect the dots as to what is happening. Unfortunately it didn't grip me as much as I hoped it would based on previous books I have enjoyed by this author.

Another brilliant book by this author and my thanks to netgalley for an arc in return for my honest opinion. Great friends Holly & Roz work together and play together, sharing the same sense of humour, likes and dislikes they are as close as best friends can be. All this changes when Holly is offered her dream promotion on the TV soap they both work on and she makes the mistake of believing that Roz would be the supportive friend and be happy for her ... when things start to go wrong, Holly has to work out who is sabotaging her opportunity and why...

I have been a long term reader of Jane Fallon and wow, this was brilliant. Jane manages to write wildly different stories, this is so different from last years. I have read lots of good books this year but this one was on another level. I loved the intrigue and it really did make me think about the decetion we see in our daily lives. would highly recommend. Fallon has completely outdone herself with this latest novel; it is utterly superb!

Please note that this book is not for me - I have read the book, However I had to DNF and because i do not like to give negative reviews I will not review this book fully - there is no specific reason for not liking this book. I found it a struggle to read and did not enjoy trying to force myself to read this book.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused and thank you for the opportunity to read this book

Jane Fallon has created a twisty, dark read about just how toxic female friendships can be. Holly has always assumed that Roz was her friend and that she could tell her anything. But as soon as things start to fall into place for her, she discovers that Roz may not be all she seems. The two central characters are not always likeable, but are always relatable, and the creeping sense of unease as Roz's true intentions are revealed was palpable. The reader is always aware that something isn't quite right, but it is slowly revealed, piece by piece, which creates a truly compelling read.

I am a huge, huge fan of Jane Fallon's books. They're such good fun!

This is another belter from this author - there's the usual character who you root for the whole book while some form of revenge is planned and served and there are tender and funny moments aplenty.

Enjoyable book that makes you seriously think about who you should trust and to always make your own mind up about people. I did find Holly mildly annoying and easily led but thankfully the other characters were great so it made up for it!

A nice easy read that would make for a great beach/holiday read with some laugh out loud moments. Its also a whodunit and you find yourself suspecting everyone and questioning their motives.

All in all a good read that kept me entertained and kept me wanting to read on but which didn't blow me away.

I have read a few of Jane's book and personally think she has written better.