She thought she knew her best friend…She was wrong.

The weatherworn cottage Clachan has always been Jo Wilding’s sanctuary, a blissful escape from her tumultuous home life. From the first summer Rachel invited her to join the Willoughby family in the wilds of Scotland, she fell in love with the sea air, sandy beach and Tristan, Rachel’s older brother…
All these years later, Clachan is where their most important occasions and conversations take place, so when Rachel organises a weekend there, Jo never suspects that this weekend will change everything. Because it turns out Rachel has been keeping a secret, a betrayal that plunges Jo into a past she’s spent years trying to forget. Left to untangle the pieces of their past alone, Jo has to decide if there is such a thing as forgiveness when there is no one left to forgive?

Eleven year old Jo is having some difficulties at home since her mum became a born again Christian, meaning all of her time is taken up by the church learning the rules and boundaries of her new religion. For Jo this means home life has become a lot stricter and there are new rules and expectations. Her friend Rachel’s family are a huge contrast, treating her to a huge warm welcome when she spends time with them at their holiday cottage, Clachan. She spends part of her summer with them as they travel to Clachan for their holiday. The place is surrounded by coastline, beautiful sandy beaches and forests where the relaxed atmosphere lets her forget about the changes at home. It was lovely to see Jo taken under the Willoughby’s wing because she so needed it. Rachel is one of those confident girls, very outgoing and relaxed. Whereas Jo often feels insecure and when there is a bump in the road she lacks resilience. Her first crush was on Rachel’s brother Tristram but it doesn’t go well and has an effect that’s long lasting.

Anstey Harris moves between those carefree summers and the present day. Jo is now in her fifties and is recovering from divorce. She decides to let her home in London for the summer and spend some time back in Scotland. It’s where Jo finds Rachel’s body, at Clachan where they were supposed to meet for a short break. Jo is bereft. She’s also confused. Rachel had called to say she needed to talk urgently and now she wants to know what Rachel had to tell her. A further shock comes when she realises Rachel has left her the home where she spent some of her happiest times. So she stays and tries to answer some of the questions that have come up about Rachel’s death. I really empathised with Jo because I had my teenage years in a similar Christian set up and it wasn’t easy. I thought the author had captured her feelings and confusion about how different the family rules were. I also thought the highland landscape was beautifully depicted and Clachan really is a respite from the world. The coastal scenery, the deep green woodland and dark starry skies are magical and I could understand why Jo felt attached to the place, especially with all the childhood memories it holds. This had everything: a great story, characters with depth and feeling and so much atmosphere.

This was a great book! Very well defined and relatable characters. I really enjoyed it! I will be looking for more from this author.

As always, Ms Harris has delivered a deliciously well written, instantly engaging novel. Her beautiful prose is an absolute delight, as are the characters that populate this gentle, emotionally fueled storyline. Loved it.

The House of Lost Secrets
by Anstey Harris

Lifelong friends, a cottage by the sea… secrets.
Friendships can be—complicated.

This is a beautifully written, complex story that felt a bit slow at times but still evoked deep feelings in me at times. The characters could have used more depth.

Published September 1, 2024
Lake Union Publishing

#arc #netgalley
#ansteyharris #lakeunionpublishing
#scotland #friendship #secrets

Unfortunately just a “meh” read for me. This story is very introspective but, while I usually like that kind of narrative, the ruminating became a bit much at some point.

I felt like some of the others that this was just average I felt the book spent to much time ruminating and not enough actually creating plot and characters. It was just boring
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review book

This book was really confusing to me.
It wasn't a matter of "did I like it, or not?" I knew it wasn't to my liking. However, I admire the effort put into it.
First of all, the book is great if you like introspective, poignant writing and character-driven plots. The low stars were a matter of preference.
It took me by surprise to realize that the things I hated about the book were what I admired about it.
At the beginning, I was frustrated by Jo. She didn't feel like a main character at all. She rather resembled a side character trying its hardest to fit in.
It hit me suddenly that maybe that was intentional. For most of her life, Jo was living in Rachel shadow that her identify became an extension to Rachel's.
Even her most personal relationship, her marriage, was more or less defined by Rachel's reaction to everything.
It's definitely a book to make you think, but the reading experience requires a lot of commitment.
*I received an ARC of this book through netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

Betrayed: Joanna hasn't spoken to her mother, Val, since she was 18. Joanna's best friend, Rachel, and Rachel's mom have been writing letters to Val, keeping her informed about everything that her daughter has been doing.

What did Rachel want to tell Joanna when she was invited to Clachan, Rachel's family home? Now, Rachel is suddenly dead.

Being betrayed by the dead can haunt the ones left living. What secrets were meant to be shared and what was meant to stay buried?

Thank you to NetGalley, for the advance copy of this wonderful book.

Just average for me. Too much ruminating and it enough plot I never felt like I got a good sense of the Wilohbees and especially not Tristan . I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I got this as a NetGalley Arc.

It's, unfortunately, a 1 star for me. I unfortunately DNF'ed this book at 44%. I just felt like the book was too descriptive for me. It's like every page had a lot of descriptions. I'm not saying that it's a bad thing, but I didn't need to hear every little object or scene being told in excessive detail. I just felt like it was too repetitive. I didn't really like the characters either...I was kind of confused with the whole storyline.

If you like descriptive books, I recommend it, but...whatever floats your boat.

This was a bit different than expected based on the blurb. When I started the book the writing style was a relief compared to my previous read, however further in I found it messy. The story itself is an interesting one with unexpected turns. For my taste, it was a bit too descriptive and long. The characters did grow, but lacked depth.
I believe this book would be a good match for other readers however.

A literary book that explores female friendship, the mother/daughter relationship, love, loyalty, and forgiveness.

This was well written with a melancholy tone, but the plot felt unremarkable to me. This is one of those books where you can’t say much without spoiling a major plot point, so I’ll leave it at I liked the book, but it very much felt like something I’ve already read in other similar books.

My thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for a complimentary copy of this eBook, out now.

The premise that we really do not know a person very well, however deep the friendship or relationship is, is epitomised in this story.

Jo thought she knew the Willoughby family very well. Rachel was her soul mate from childhood, sharing intimacies of family, loves and hates and everything in between. Turning up at Clachan to hear what Rachel specifically wanted to tell her was something Jo was looking forward to, with curiosity and trepidation. She never thought she will find Rachel dead, and her secret that she wanted to share in a series of letters to and from Jo’s mother going back years. More would be spoilers.

Dealing with the frailties of human nature is hard, but where do you start when the person is dead. The story will resonate with many. We discover information hard to digest, both good and bad after a person is gone and it is not an easy task to move on. This was the story of Jo who had to do it all alone, for the first time in her life. And she found the going tough.

Getting her act together, moving forward, coming to terms with what couldn’t be unsaid or undone, forgiven or forgotten is hard.

An excellent read. Tense and emotional.

The House of Lost Secrets was eloquently written, taking readers on an emotional journey of introspection. I loved Harris’s style and generally loved the book. It did move a bit slow at times, but it was done well. The slowness felt methodical and purposeful to the telling of the story. I would definitely recommend this book to my audience.

The novel begins "in medias res". I think that means you are thrown into someone's mind as she plans for writing the eulogy for her beloved dearest friend. If you keep at it, you will be immersed in a beautifully written tale of how friendship can both enrich and otherwise negatively affect a life.

This is also a mystery where Anstey Harris doles out clues, flashbacks and memories that explain relationships, and family secrets that would, if mentioned, be spoilers. The setting, an old house on the water in a remote corner of Scotland, The descriptions of forests, birds, flowers, food and the fairy tales of Selkies (seals who assume human form) are fascinating.

Ultimately, the revelations are not unexpected, do not truly illuminate Jo's love of her dearest friend, Rachel, and for Rachel's family So i rated the book 3 1/2 stars. Thank you to Lake Union Press and Net Galley for an early copy.

Readers follow the friendship of Rachel and Jo in a small village in Scotland, and I found myself getting attached to both characters. Years later, a tragedy brings Jo back home where she meets Meg, an interior designer who also had a link with Rachel. I definitely like the beginning of this book more than the end. Rachel and Jo were such lovely, well defined characters, and Meg came across as shallow.

An interesting book full of secrets bound up in the friendship between Rachel and Jo. Good characters and I loved the descriptions of the cottage in Scotland, definitely making me want to go there. A bit slow in places but a good storyline keeping your interest

Thank you to Netgally for the ARC.

I was not a fan of the writing. The journal esque way of telling the story continuously dragged me out of the story and I had to fight to regain interest in what was happening. The writing was overly filled with descriptions to an unnecessary degree and it felt extremely unengaging to read through. Calling it a "thriller" is a stretch and it was simply a boring read. I was not interested in the initial mystery at all unfortunately, so the book was difficult to push through.

The characters were not engaging to read about, and neither was the story. This is unfortunately a one star review.

A beautifully written story set in a family cottage (Clachan) in Scotland. That alone got me interested in this book of hidden family/friends secrets.
The reader follows the friendships of Rachel and Jo along with their families. When Jo returns to Clachan after Rachel's sudden death, she is met by Meg (an interior designer who has connections to Rachel) and a suprised discovery of letters from Rachel to Jo's mother. Weaving from past to present, the reader will be drawn into this intriguing mystery. Highly recommended!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

I am giving this 4 stars, but it's definitely 3.5 rounded up. A tenative 3.5, because I have some quibbles. Spoilers coming up - I think the book is better if you go in without any, so look away now...

Anyway...

Rachel's death hit me like a freight train. I had to read the page over a few times because I was so shocked. That was what the author was going for, I assume, and it was done really well. As someone with lifelong friends, I felt this loss so keenly. I can only imagine what it will be like when I reach that point in my life, losing people who have been there for me through it all.

I loved the mystery, grief, and atmosphere of the first part of the book. The examination of a decades-long friendship, how entwined you can become, and how you can still somehow keep secrets from each other, really carried the book for me.

However, when Meg became a viewpoint character, the book started to lose steam. She didn't add much to the book, in my opinion, and seemed more like a caricature of a young person than anything else. Her friendship with Jo seemed stilted and forced, and I wasn't sure why she was even given so much prominence. I would have liked her better if she bad been relegated to the background, and Jo's personal journey through grief and trauma given more time to shine.

I think because of the time used for Meg, we didn't get enough time with Jo, and it was to the book's detriment. Finding out about Rachel's addiction, working through trauma from her mother, and dealing with what happened with Tristan should have taken center stage. I was not super satisfied with the ending because it didn't feel earned.

Overall, it was a good read. Some tweaks and it would have been a solid 4 stars.