This is an addictive family drama which tells the story of later-in-life-love with a big twist. The pace was a little slower than I would usually enjoy, however the writing was so engaging and the plotting so smart that it kept me hooked. I’d recommend this to readers who enjoy an escape to the seaside with a sinister edge.

Beautifully written - scenic, lyrical and claustrophobic. Little to slow paced for my liking but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Loved it, can’t wait for more. Really liked the plot and characters and is this was a winner for me. Not my usual thing but wow it packed a punch, more please!!!

This was really one of those books you just couldn't put down. I enjoyed it throughout, and didn't expect the ending! Recommended.

This was a lovely easy read with a great storyline. Loved how the story unfolded, although a little predictable, and how I felt comfortable with the characters.

Thank you Netgalley

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. I have chosen to write this honest review voluntarily and it reflects my personal opinion.
I have read other novels by Hilary Boyd in the past, and this book has followed the same excellent exploration and understanding of the human psyche and emotions. This story centres on Sara, a widow in her fifties, who begins to look for a relationship. Inevitably the man she meets has his own history and baggage and it is easy to understand how they react to events as the past influences their relationship. This book was a page-turner, I couldn't put it down and thoroughly recommend it as interesting, engaging and credible. The only drawback for me were the number of American spellings when the book is set in England with English characters.

I have always enjoyed Hilary Boyd’s books and this one didn’t disappoint. Sara decides it’s time to move on with her life and try dating again as she has been a widow for six years and both her daughters, Joni and Peggy have now flown the nest. After a couple of disasters she meets Bernard in a tea shop. She learns that Bernard is a widower and his Finnish wife died, he also has two children, twins Carrie and Adam. Their romance starts to blossom over the summer and Sara moves in with Bernard. He has a large house set on top of a cliff. He and his wife were architects so the house seems quite imposing to Sara as she feels the presence of his late wife. Sara is very close to her daughters and becomes concerned that Bernard seems to be estranged from the twins. She is thinking of visiting Joni, who lives if California and wants Bernard to go as well. He then has to confess why he couldn’t go as he had been involved in a fatal car incident where he was driving and run over and killed a woman. Sara persuades him to invite the twins for Christmas but was not prepared for further revelations to be revealed. This causes heartbreak and heated arguments which result in Sara packing her case and leaving. Will Sara and Bernard be able to resolve their issues and will they have the same relationship? This is a very compelling family drama which you won’t be able to put down. An enjoyable read.
Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

A good book
Quite slow to get going but kept reading
It is a quite a compelling read
Thanks NetGalley

Thank you NetGalley for letting me review this book, It was a good storyline with a slight ghostly overtone. I enjoyed the interactions between the characters.

This is the first time that I have read a book by Hilary Boyd and it certainly won't be the last, on the strength of this novel.

The story revolves around Sara, a widow of several years, in her late fifties. She embarking on the next phase of her life, re-entering the dating scene.

I was quickly drawn into this book by the quality of the characterisation. The author manages to quickly introduce and establish the characters.

I won't go into detail about the storyline for fear of spoiling the book for other readers. Suffice to say that the path to true love isn't smooth for sara. After she begins to develop a friendship with Bernard, a widower of several years, it becomes apparent that life is rarely straightforward.

You will have to read the book to find out what happens. I give my thanks to Netgalley and Penguin (Michael Joseph) for a copy of this book in exchange for this review.

Thank you to #NetGalley and#Penguin for the advance copy of #TheHiddenTruth by #HilaryBoyd.
A story of second chances and finding love again. Sarah and Bernard get together after being widowed.
Bernard is keeping a secret, once it’s revealed can they survive.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is the type of book that will leave you pondering on the decisions we make to protect those we love, with strong characterisation and settings that leap off the page, it is an enjoyable and compelling read.
I love a book that makes you think

This literary family story is compelling and relatable, immersing the reader in its drama, dysfunction and late-life romance world. I love the dynamic between Sarah and her family and friends that contrasts so beautifully with Bernard's relationship with his twins. The later-life romance is sweet and believable, making the devastating reveal later in the story impactful.

Atmospheric, claustrophobic and lyrical, it's a story that invests you in the characters and makes knowing what happens next essential. I particularly like the ending, which is in keeping with Sarah's emotional journey.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

EXCERPT: Sara got up at four on Sunday morning to drive Peggy and a mountainous, clanking backpack to the airport. Coming back to the empty house - it was still barely eight o'clock - she felt a wave of self-pity. What's wrong with me these days? Sunday stretched ahead and she thought of all the couples waking to each other, to a day spent lazing around with croissants and coffee, chatting and exchanging views on the papers, maybe meeting friends for lunch. Sara had friends, of course, but she was heartily sick of being the sad single at these gatherings, always having to enter a room alone, often being set up with another sad single - kindly meant, but embarrassing.

The buck always stopped with her. No one else would ring the insurance company to complain about a hike in renewal payments, or the service centre when the washing machine leaked all over the kitchen floor - as it had only the previous week. There was no one at whom to shout her frustration when her laptop crashed, a client played up, or even just relay day-to-day anecdotes to - about an amusing exchange she'd heard in the supermarket queue, for instance, or something she'd read somewhere. She'd just been plodding along in her own private lane since Pete, not really considering her situation that closely. But now this version of the world was beginning to seem less appealing. Fortified by a cup of coffee and some summer berries with yoghurt and local honey, she reached for her phone and opened the dating app.

ABOUT 'THE HIDDEN TRUTH': Sara Tempest has been alone since her husband died and daughters left home. But over the course of one summer she meets and falls in love with the charming Bernard. The years of heartache and loneliness are finally behind her.

She quickly moves into his beautiful home on the wind battered cliffs of Hastings. But, after a while, she begins to wonder if Bernard is all he seems.

He's barely in touch with his children and with stifling reminders of his wife everywhere Sara looks, the walls begin to close in.

Then comes Bernard's confession and Sara's newfound happiness starts to crumble around her . . .

MY THOUGHTS: Relationships are tricky things at the best of times. But second time around with adult children involved seems to prove more challenging than most. Particularly in this case where parent and children are concealing a secret that is not only destroying their relationship, but could have dire consequences for those involved if it is revealed.

Hilary Boyd has written wonderful characters. Sara and Bernard couldn't be more different. Sara, a widow, is a warm and relaxed person, and has a close relationship with both her daughters. Bernard, a widower, is basically estranged from his adult twin children, and is uncomfortable even talking about them.

I also really loved Sara's relationship with her deceased husband's mother. Margaret is delightful.

I loved the way this couple met; it was funny and entertaining, but also touching, and I enjoyed the spark that sprung up between them, but then . . . for a long time, nothing.

Hilary Boyd writes with heart and realism, and I enjoyed experiencing the growth and dynamics of this relationship from both Sara's and Bernard's perspective. It's a very rocky road as both try to do their best for one another and their own children.

This is a quiet book which kept me interested with the moral and ethical dilemmas that were posed. The Hidden Truth is a story of love and hope, actions and consequences, and living your life to the fullest. I must admit I finished it with a bit of a hitch in my breath.

⭐⭐⭐.8

#TheHiddenTruth #NetGalley

I: @hilaryboyd3837 @michaeljbooks

T: @hilaryboyd @MichaelJBooks

#contemporaryfiction #familydrama #romance #sliceoflife

THE AUTHOR: Boyd was born and spent the first six months of her life in Prestatyn, North Wales, where her father, an army major, was stationed after the war. She was later educated in London, then at the boarding school Roedean. She trained as a nurse at Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, and subsequently as a marriage guidance counsellor with Relate before reading English Literature at London University in her late 30s.

After college, Boyd became a health journalist, writing about depression, step-parenting and pregnancy. She began writing fiction as a hobby whilst raising three children and working at various day jobs including running a cancer charity, Survive Cancer, working for an engineering company, and an online vitamin site.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of The Hidden Truth by Hilary Boyd for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review is also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage

Hilary Boyd is a well-known name for great, domestic drama full of love stories and heartbreak moments.

The hidden truth proves it once again. A story about an older couple that finds love and a second chance at love. Nighter will miss the opportunity to meet someone new, to enjoy their moments together and interact while falling in love.

Sara has two daughters that she is very found, and they have a great relationship. Bernard is still alone and estranged from his now adults twins. But things change when Sara invited them for a Christmas party.

From now on we get immersed into a story with secrets revealed, lots of suspenseful twisted moments and the tension never ceases, not even for one second.

I found it so intriguing and really wanted to know why Bernard was keeping so various secrets and not coming upfront earlier.

This is a great story that I would recommend to anyone who is seeking a good story overall.

🆓📖Very grateful to the publisher for my review copy

Sara Tempest is getting back into the dating game. It’s been years since she lost her husband Pete and her daughters have moved away. She dives back into dating and meets Bernard. A respectable gentleman who lives on a cliff near Hastings. Together they discover a new love. He too is a widower and he has children, but there’s a distance between them that Sara can’t get to the bottom off.

As their feeling deepen the pair move in together. However, Bernard has a secret. One which effects him and his son. Sara has her views but are they welcome.
This is a thought provoking booking. What would you have done in the circumstances. I see this book perfect for book clubs with lots of debate.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to see an Arc

In this, my second novel by Hilary Boyd, Sara Tempest moves to Hastings to live with her new beau, Bernard. Sarah has been a widow for six years and her offspring encouraged her to try out online dating but this approach isn't particularly successful in the cases of Colin and Gareth. She meets Bernard in a tea shop, by chance while there for another date, a dentist named Randall, and they get on well. Bernard's property in Hastings is an oppressive cliff house he designed himself as he's an architect. But is he all he seems?

Hilary Boyd's writing is exciting and she writes with heart. There's a lot happening in this novel and I was never bored with the occurrences and developments. The characterisation is excellent and I found reading The Hidden Truth immensely rewarding.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House via NetGalley and this review is my own unbiased opinion.

Thanks to Net Galley and Michael Joseph Penguin Random House for an ARC of this book in exchange for a review.
Sarah has been a widow for six years, her grown up daughters recognise that their mum is lonely and encourage her to try on line dating, which she discovers can be pretty awful. It is by chance though that she meets Bernard and agrees to have a coffee with him. They have a connection and she likes him, it’s several weeks though to she hears from him again. Things move quickly and she moves into his house on the cliff near the beach, the house is not what she expected it to be as Bernard is an architect, it’s dark and there is an odd heavy presence about it.
Bernard is often withdrawn and sullen and she knows it is related to his difficult relationship with his grown up twins. She feels he is hiding something from her, what will it take for him to open up to her and heed her advice to try to mend his relationship with them.
This is a beautiful story of a second chance, consequences, drama, a hidden truth which is festering, love and hope. It’s beautifully written and the pages turn themselves. Another great book from Hilary Boyd.

It was meant to be a summer of love. Then came the confession . . .

Sara is still grieving the sudden loss of her husband Pete six years ago and missing her two daughters Peggy and Joni who have both left home, but they encourage her that it's time to move on and find some happiness, so she decides to dip her toe in the water again. She meets and falls in love with Bernard and soon moves into his clifftop home in Hastings, but Bernard, also widowed, is hiding something and when he finally confesses to Sara the secret he's been hiding, things may never be the same again...

The Hidden Truth is a tale of second chances and consequences, it highlights what can happen when you try to do the right thing to protect a loved one, but the decision you make at the time isn't always the right one further down the track. Hilary Boyd is on point in her portrayal of these characters, drawing the reader in so you feel you are living there right beside them and involved in their troubles and woes. It's a beautifully written story with just the right amount of humour and emotion, I especially loved the relationship that Sara had with her mother in law Margaret, and admit to shedding some tears at one particular point in the book, it was very moving. Fans of this author will love The Hidden Truth, for those that have never picked up one of her books but like a family drama, I think you will love this book too, I definitely recommend it.

I'd like to thank Michael Joseph, Random House UK and Netgalley for the approval, I will post my review on Amazon and Goodreads.

This is an intense suffocating read. Both interesting and frustrating in equal measures.
Sara a nutritionist from Lewes Sussex, has started online dating, after being widowed by some years, is it time to start again!? Bernard lives in Hastings, also widowed but with dark secrets. They meet by chance in a tea shop......
Although I had much sympathy for the peripheral characters, Sara and Bernard left me cold, their relationship unbelievable. I read to the end which was hard as I felt the book lose its way, getting into trickier subjects which some were addressed but some not.
This is not a relationship I could ever live with, these are people I wouldn't care to meet.
The writing flowed at times but not at others....not the easiest of reads.
Thank you NetGalley for the early read.