Eve seems to live an ideal life with her teenage son and loving husband in her dream home. Her best friend lives across the street and her daughter is best friends with Eve's son. After Eve's son's birthday party goes terribly wrong, her friend's daughter's life hangs in the balance. As Eve is determined to find who is responsible, she realizes that everyone she loves holds secrets.

This was my first time reading a book by A.J. McDine and I thought it was fine; I didn't enjoy it as much as other readers seemed to. I guessed the ending from the get-go and while the plot contains a scenario that would be a worst nightmare for any parent, I didn't particularly find this book to keep me glued to my earbuds (I listened to the audio format).

Thank you to NetGalley and A.J. McDine for an advanced audio copy!

Eve has everything she’s ever wanted. She adores her husband Noah, her son Joe, their beautiful home and her best friend/neighbour Lisa.
When Joe asks if he can have a few friends over for his 16th birthday his parents allow it but Eve can’t help but have a bad feeling about it.
Lisa’s daughter Annie has grown up with Joe and also attends the party.
After Eve receives a frantic call from her son to rush home because Annie had collapsed everything just continues to go horribly wrong.
As the story unravels, I felt it was less thriller and more family drama.
I did enjoy it but found it a bit depressing. I didn’t see the twist coming at the end. Would recommend but not as a thriller.
Loved the narrator 💕

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was very well written with characters that had their own unique personalities. Annie was the only character I liked. The story was interesting. The audiobook narrator did a fantastic job at bringing this story to life. I liked Eves character growth at the end. The ending was unexpected and shocked me.

Minus 2 stars because I didn’t like most of the characters. The story got a bit repetitive.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3 stars.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

When I come across an audiobook by an author Im not well familiar with, Im often swayed by the familiarity/ likability of the narrator - that was absolutely there case with 'Everyone Has Secrets', narrated by the very fabulous Tamsin Kennard, I was not disappointed, author, AJ McDine has created a superb novel that will appeal to readers of general fiction. and thrillers / psychological thrillers alike.

The story starts with ever parents worst nightmare - enjoying a glass of wine with best friend when teenage son calls to advise of an emergency situation - a girl at his 16th birthday party has collapsed, the girl happens to be best friends daughter - and things are not looking good for her. The book really looks to uncover the events, motivations and circumstances that have lead to this tragedy, and of course the fallout of said events. It is gripping, original and just the right amount of twisty! 100% recommend!

My thanks to NetGalley, author and publisher for the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an advance copy.

The narrator did an amazing job at keeping me om the edge of my seat, just the right amount if emotion without going overboard

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This book was full of so many twists and turns. I really enjoyed how layered this story was and how all the secrets made more twists and turns. This was a great thriller and was so gripping.

Eve’s 16 year old son is having a small party for his birthday at their house while Eve and her husband visit a friend nearby. She soon gets a panicked call from her son that his friend is unconscious on the floor. The whole neighbourhood turns on the family and Eve finds out that both her son and husband are keeping a lot of secrets.

It’s a very past paced but rather generic thriller. I was keen to keep listening and see how the story will conclude. The narrator did a great job but I was not very satisfied with the end of the book which took a star from my rating.

Have you read/listened to thrillers where the end just did not work for you?
Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for the eARC.

#bookstagram #booknerd #thrillerbooks #bookish #bookishlife #bookrecommendations #bookrecommendation #bookreview #readmorebooks #NetGalley #everyonehassecrets

Everyone Has Secrets👀
By A.J. McDine👤

Review👄

This was a fun read that started out calmly and then became really wild. Following a traumatic tragedy in her home, the main character loses control. While digging for the truth, she discovers far more than she anticipated. I wasn't expecting anything else to happen, and I thought I had everything figured out. I usually appreciate it when a twist surprises me, and this book accomplished exactly that. It was an enjoyable read!

Thriller🔪
Mystery⁉️
Secrets🤫
Plot twists🌀

4 stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

*The audio book was great and I enjoyed the narration.

The story got me hooked right away and kept me entertained the whole book! I love the way this story was written and the audiobook narrator was also really good.
This is your typical mystery book that keeps you guessing the entire time!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
Wow. This was a good listen. The book itself was great. A lot of surprises and psychological twists. A real story inside of the entire mystery of what happened at the party. I was pretty surprised about the ending even though there were some hints towards it.
Great book and narration.

Thank you to AJ McDine and Bookouture for the ARC and ALC!

How well do you really know the people you love? When Eve is called home to a party her teenage son is having, to find her best friend’s daughter unconscious, everything she thought she knew comes into question. And the entire neighborhood is looking to her family for answers. Just what happened at that party? Who is responsible for what happened to that young girl, and is someone in her family hiding the truth?

I was drawn into this story immediately - as a boy mom myself, I could relate to Eve as she tried to give her son space, and to make the right decisions. And then when the unthinkable happened, I knew I would have the same protective response as Eve - after all, hell hath no fury like a mama bear who thinks her cub is in danger. But as Eve dug deeper to get to the truth, I really didn’t know what to think. The unexpected twists had me on the edge of my seat and I was hoping I was wrong at one of my predictions. The final twist got me good!

AJ McDine never disappoints with her domestic suspense novels! Thank you for allowing me to read this one!

”Everyone Has Secrets” releases October 22, 2024. This review will be shared to my instagram blog (@books_by_the_bottle) shortly :)

I received this ARC in audiobook format from Netgalley in return for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. I hadn't heard of the author but I'm new to the world of thrillers so I don't know many to begin with.

"How well do you really know the people you love the most?

The leafy village of South Langley is the sort of place where someone might kill to live. The Griffiths family has the best home of all – the climbing ivy framing their double bay windows. You can always spot Eve laughing with her husband and their sixteen-year-old-son. And Eve’s best friend Lisa and her teenage daughter Annie live in a charming cottage right across the street. Everything is perfect… Until one night something unthinkable turns the peaceful neighbourhood upside down.

Annie is found on the tiled floor of Eve’s kitchen struggling to breathe. As the blue flashing lights of police cars shatter the quiet streets, everyone is looking at the Griffiths family for answers.

With Annie’s life hanging in the balance, Eve is determined to find out what happened. But as she gets closer to the truth, she begins to question who she can really trust. Because someone is lying to her – is it her best friend, her husband or her son?

After all, we all have secrets. But how many of us would kill to keep them?"

This was a tense novel told mainly from Eve's point of view while she is trying to work out exactly what happened in her house that fateful night. Along the way she finds that everyone (not just her family) has secrets that they are keeping which makes everything much more difficult to put together. Obviously her son is innocent... Isn't he? But she has to find out what happened and who was responsible.

The audiobook itself was narrated really well and definitely helped built the tension and the urgency of what was going on.

There were twists I didn't see coming and the odd part I figured out but the book did keep me on my toes the whole way through and so I am now keen to read more by A.J. McDine.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to listen to this book

Thank you Netgalley for my copy.

I enjoyed this book. It was quite a run of the mill thriller of the genre and the twist(s) were predictable but it was well written and the characters well construed. The only thing that always annoys me about these thrillers is how magnanimous and forgiving the people who're wronged in these things. That never rings true for me and that was the case here.

However, I have enjoyed McDine's works (including this one) for a while and look forward reading more from them.

When a girl ODs at a birthday party, shit hits the fan in a small town. Everyone Has Secrets is an atmospheric thriller where a mother struggles to figure out what happened in her own house, while her life begins to fall apart. Losing her friends, job, and possibly even her husband.

Yes, everyone in this story has secrets, but it was all fairly anticlimactic. Nothing was shocking, but I did find myself wondering what was going to happen next. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting with the epilogue… but it wasn’t that! 😬 it salvaged the book from a hard 3 to a decent 3.5 star read!

Firstly the narrator, Tamsin Kennard, did an amazing job at this book. I love listening to books she narrates. I discovered this author earlier in the year thanks to netgalley and i really enjoy her books they are full of the usual twists and turns but some surprises too. I would class this as more of a domestic thriller and would highly recommend this book. I find the authors books very easy to get into and this one is no different.
Thanks to the publisher, author and netgalley for this audio arc.

So many secrets!!! This book is chocked full of them. You see the devastating impact certain decisions and keeping secrets can have. I was on the edge of my seat and finished the book in 1 days because I couldn’t put it down.

This is my first book by AJ McDine and I’ve already downloaded her other books. Tamsin Kennard did an excellent job with the narration.

Thank you to NetGalley & Bookouture Audio for letting me read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The novel delves into the enigma surrounding an overdose at the protagonist’s home, unfolding through a series of twists and turns. While the plot is relatively straightforward, the themes of friendship, family, and the lengths one might go to protect loved ones are deeply explored. Although I enjoyed the book, I felt that it sometimes missed opportunities to fully engage and captivate, lacking a bit of emotional depth at crucial moments.

n the picturesque village of South Langley, the Griffiths family (Eve, Noah and Joe) appear to lead an idyllic life. Despite her reservations, Eve allows her son Joe to host a small gathering for his sixteenth birthday. Her husband, Noah, thinks she’s too protective and insists they leave for a bit. While they’re just across the street at her friend Lisa's, Eve can’t shake her unease. They return home to find Lisa’s daughter Annie unresponsive on the floor, apparently from ecstasy. With Annie in the ICU and rumors about her son’s involvement, Eve is determined to find out who brought the drugs into their home. Everyone Has Secrets is a captivating and intense psychological thriller filled with nail-biting suspense. I devoured it in a single day.

Thank you to A J McDine, Bookouture Audio, and NetGalley for providing advance access to the audiobook, Everyone Has Secrets in exchange for my honest review.

The narrator, Tamsin Kennard, did an outstanding job.

Publication date- October 21 2024
#EveryoneHasSecrets #NetGalley

I read this as an ebook and I liked it enough but I loved it as an audiobook. I love this narrator! This book has so many twists and sad moments. It really is a domestic thriller or maybe just a women's fiction. I do find the protagonist to be awful but it fits the story.

The story got me hooked from the beginning. It’s written from a mothers, Eve’s pov. On her sons 16th birthday something happenes, and all their lives change. Eve wants to know exactly what happened, it’s not an easy job. As she digs deeper and deeper she finds out some very disturbing things.
This book was so so easy to read.