I was t to thank Net Galley and the publisher for the audio ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

3/5 Stars for this one. It was fine but not great. Possibly the audio consumption of it affected how it read as keeping everyone straight took some effort.

The narrator was pleasant enough to listen to but sometimes the voices for the individual characters were not consistent and blurred together which added to the confusion of who was talking.

I think one of the biggest issues was the characters were awful people. Even those doing something altruistic still were overly flawed. I didn’t enjoy that making them written that way was the red herring device. Plus being told “this is a red herring” loud and clear as a device just causes frustration as you don’t want to care about any one. I didn’t even care about the victim as you you felt like the other shoe was going to drop at any moment since everyone else’s flaws were right out there but she was painted as perfection the first half of the book.

However, some folks may enjoy trying to sort through the mystery of what happened. I suggest the digital or print copy over the audio if you have the option.

My rating system (I really wish Good Reads would enter 2024 and adjust their rating system for partial stars as personally I always round down with some exceptions.

⭐️ Hated it
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, really not my cup of tea
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meh, it was an ok read but nothing special
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really enjoyed it! Would recommend to others
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! Will circle back and read again


Good Reads link https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6342972748

Lauren really knocked it out of the park with this domestic thriller! I truly didn't see any of the twists coming, and that's rare since I read so many thrillers and mysteries. The different POVs were well executed, although I didn't see the need for quite so many; it would've been better told through maybe 3-4 maximum.
The narrator, Emma Woods, did a WONDERFUL job as well.

I give it a 4.5

My rating guide:
1- Hated it
2- Not for me
3- Very good!
4- Loved it
5- NEW FAVORITE


Thank you to NetGalley and Bolinda Audio for the advanced audio copy of The Teacher's Secret in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I recently listened to The Teacher's Secret by Lauren North, narrated by Emma Woods. It was a quick listen, and the narrator has a nice English accent that is easy to understand. She has to voice several characters, and she does a terrific job.

Schoolteacher, Cate and her son, Archie Walker do not arrive home after school. Cate's husband, Oliver (who is the headteacher at Cate's school), fails to report her missing until the next afternoon.

A new substitute teacher, Lexie, arrives to fill in for Cate. At drop off, the busy-body moms are gossiping and whispering. Everyone seems concerned about Cate's disappearance.

There are police interrogations and threatening letters. There is a nosy neighbor, a jealous teacher in reception, and painful skeletons in the characters' pasts.

It was an interesting listen with a lot of moving pieces. What did the husband do? Is the new sub poking her head where it doesn't belong? What did the nosy neighbor do and why does she have children's clothing?

The book had a lot of twists and turns and kept me interested enough to keep listening, but it was not a homerun.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bolinda Audio for the advanced audio copy of The Teacher's Secret in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was a great listen! I was intrigued from the very start of the book. I liked the different POVs and seeing how everything tied together in the end.

First off the narration is wonderful. I was kind of dumb when it came to the different perspectives but that is on me and not on the author or the narrator. I caught on quickly anyway, they are vastly different. I laughed a little too. The town hall meeting and some guy is like "my neighbor is missing" and then someone else is like "she went on a trip." That is SO how town hall meetings are. I laughed.
Anyway, I was not expecting the ending.

Gripping domestic thriller, packed with twists and red herrings.

When a popular primary school teacher and her son go missing after leaving school as normal on a Friday afternoon, Lexi is the substitute teacher sent by the agency to look after her class.

As the story unfolds from multiple POV we gradually learn that this village and prestigious school harbour many secrets.

I don't want to say too much and give the game away but this was a great listen and the author's killer twists are ramped up even more by the addition of multiple narrators which are perfectly captured by Emma Woods

My genre. Completely, and unashamedly, my genre.

The Teacher's Secret was an audio arc from Netgalley, and met all my requirements in a good domestic thriller - great setting (neighborhood and school), a missing women (and kid), multiple suspects and enough twists and turns to keep me listening.

I cannot give away any details because it will be fairly easy to then guess the path of the story, but as an audio book I applaud narrator Emma Woods for a great performance and keeping me invested in each of the characters.

This was my first Lauren North novel and I'll now be watching for future works.

While this is not my first Lauren North novel, it is my first by her on audio. I was immediately immersed into the story and the narrator was good.

🎧4.5⭐️

I had the audiobook version read by Emma Woods who is good to listen to.

A story set in a small community with lots of secrets. I seem to have read several of this style of book recently. The story starts when Mrs Walker (school teacher) and her son (Archie) go missing after school.
The story is told from several POV, one of the main characters is Lexi, a stand in teacher filling in for the missing Mrs Walker.

The pace is fast with all of the revelations, giving lots of interest throughout. The tension is maintained with the hints to there being secrets. There’s plenty of twists and turns and sleights of hand which kept me riveted. There was so much going on with the various characters. Non of them are very likeable, but I must say that I empathised with Lexi.

I loved this one, I found it very entertaining. This is a favourite of the books I’ve read by this author.

I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was good. The premise seemed interesting but there was just so much going on. Most of it wasn’t important or even relevant to the storyline. I’m sure this will be a favorite for some but it just wasn’t for me.

Narration at 3x speed was still excellent. Accent worked beautifully for the story.

The many, many characters were a bit confusing and I had a hard time keeping up with who was who while listening. There was also a past v present storyline going on. It seemed like each character was hiding several secrets, as well, which again added to the confusion moreso than coming across as red herrings.

The story went quickly. The plot was slightly drug out, but it still worked. The ending definitely was a riff of another popular thriller (no spoilers here, but you'll know it as soon as you read it).

Overall: 3 stars (I liked it)

I'll tell my students about: language, sex, violence/gore/death, physical abuse, trauma, stalking

**Thank you to NetGalley & Bolinda Audio for the free ALC. All opinions expressed are my own.**

The narrator of this audiobok was fantastic. It is a psychological thriller that I didn't want to turn off because I knew something big would happen after teacher Cate and her son Archie went missing, I just didn't know when it was going to happen.Lots of twists and turns which keep you on edge as you listen and an ending which I did not guess.

I had trouble following this story. Too many threads opened at once; it was very fragmented. Perhaps too many POVs. I was intrigued by the premise. The narrator did a great job.

Sadly I really didn’t enjoy this book. The plot had sounded exciting. But I found it hard to keep up with who’s who, Felt lost to often that it ruined the whole book for me

On Friday afternoon, Cate Walker and her son Archie leave the school playground in Leedham but never make it home. The school headmaster, Oliver, husband of Cate and father of Archie, is understandably devastated. Lexi, Cate’s substitute teacher, swoops in and takes it upon herself to find out what happened to Cate and Archie. Is Oliver harboring a big secret like Lexi thinks or did someone else have something to do with Cate and Archie’s disappearance? Only time will tell.

I really liked the premise of this story, but unfortunately, it fell a little flat for me. I didn’t feel connected to any of the characters, they were all underdeveloped. The pacing was also a little slow. However, I did want to keep reading to find out what happened to Cate and Archie and the twists were decent. The narration by Emma Woods was great, but with multiple points of view, it could have been better with a full-cast narration. Overall, I give it 3/5 stars.

An intriguing audiobook that had me caught up in the mysterious disappearance of teacher Cate Walker and her son Archie one Friday afternoon on their way home from school. The focus soon homes in on Mr Oliver Walker, the husband father and school principal as it is clear he is hiding something. Why does the new substitute teacher have such an unhealthy interest in the family and the disappearances? Who is the unknown watcher in the village with their own secrets? Who is sending the threatening messages to the new substitute? Lots of different story strands and all given from multiple storytelling perspectives, which keeps us guessing. A really fast and easy listen that will have you binge tuning in until the finale. #theteacherssecret #laurennorth #netgalley #audiobook #bolindaaudio

The Teacher's Secret was a fast read. As with many domestic thrillers, no one in this book is who they seem. A teacher and son disappear, and the husband notifies the authorities. The police, of course, suspect the husband of some hanky-panky. I found the book to be a bit confusing at times. There are a multitude of characters with many POV's and a boatload of secrets and alibis. The narrator did a beautiful job.

The teacher isn't the only one with a secret!

This book pulls you in from the very beginning. There are a number of red herrings throughout, making it hard to figure it all out.

I found that the middle slowed down quite a lot, and there were a number of things added that I didn't feel moved the book forward at all. It got to a point where I almost DNFed the book, thinking that it wouldn't hold my attention any longer. But then it started to pick up again and I really wanted to know if I was right or if I was way off in my predictions.

While I figured out a lot of things, there was always that piece missing and I couldn't make it all come together, making the ending very satisfying.

Overall, this was a good thriller and it is definitely worth the read.

Although the premise was really good, I found it hard to follow with way too many characters…and similar names…(Gemma and Jeanie, eg).

We start off in a small town where a teacher and her son have gone missing.
Next, we have the replacement teacher that has shown up (Lexi).
And we have the husband/father of the missing people… who happens to be the head of the school…

Additionally, we have the small, close knit school family and surrounding community.

The story is told from multiple POV’s, but it is somewhat difficult to figure out who is speaking…

The school, the town and the police are all looking for Cate and her son Archie…with no luck.

And, as time goes on, many pieces of the puzzle start to emerge…

Fast paced and enjoyable, but not my favorite book…
None of the characters were very likable ??!!??

3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #BolindaAudio for an ARC of the audiobook which was released on 2/23/24.

#TheTeachersSecret by #LaurenNorth and narrated by #EmmaWoods.

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Thanks so much for reading!📚⭐️📖

ARC audiobook provided is exchange for an honest review.

Emma Woods did a fantastic job with the narration on this book! It’s a lot of work to be the sole narrator voicing every character and she held her own. I sometimes had to pause to remember if it was a male character speaking because her voice is very feminine but it didn’t bother me much. The story had lots of unexpected twists and I’m glad I couldn’t see where the story was headed. If you like psychological thrillers and mysteries, give this book a try!