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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
You can find this review and others on my blog SleepySamReads!
Special thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
I enjoy these type of thriller books, but they rarely take me by surprise. I almost always figure out the big twist or who the bad guy is. This book is extremely unique for me because it caught me completely off guard. I thought I was figuring everything out like always, but then the twist happened and blindsided me. I LOVED that. It doesn't happen nearly enough.
Keep This to Yourself is set in a coastal town in Oregon, which was honestly the perfect setting.
I loved the characters a lot. Mac, the main character, has lost his best friend a year before the story starts and you can still see how he's grieving and having a hard time moving on. I also like how Mac is gay, which I enjoyed because there's so few thriller books with a gay protagonist. Now if I could find one with a lesbian protagonist, we'd be set.
I thought that Mac and Quill's relationship was cute, though I wish we would have gotten to see more of it after Conner's murder was resolved. I feel like their relationship was based on their mutual interest in investigating Conner's murder and I wonder if they have anything in common other than that.
The only thing I didn't super love was the very ending. It was not believable at all and requires a suspension of disbelief that I just couldn't handle. I can do that with fantasy type novels, but with novels like this that are set in the 'actual' world, it's hard.
I really enjoyed Keep This to Yourself, even if the ending wasn't completely satisfactory.
Special thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
I enjoy these type of thriller books, but they rarely take me by surprise. I almost always figure out the big twist or who the bad guy is. This book is extremely unique for me because it caught me completely off guard. I thought I was figuring everything out like always, but then the twist happened and blindsided me. I LOVED that. It doesn't happen nearly enough.
Keep This to Yourself is set in a coastal town in Oregon, which was honestly the perfect setting.
I loved the characters a lot. Mac, the main character, has lost his best friend a year before the story starts and you can still see how he's grieving and having a hard time moving on. I also like how Mac is gay, which I enjoyed because there's so few thriller books with a gay protagonist. Now if I could find one with a lesbian protagonist, we'd be set.
I thought that Mac and Quill's relationship was cute, though I wish we would have gotten to see more of it after Conner's murder was resolved. I feel like their relationship was based on their mutual interest in investigating Conner's murder and I wonder if they have anything in common other than that.
The only thing I didn't super love was the very ending. It was not believable at all and requires a suspension of disbelief that I just couldn't handle. I can do that with fantasy type novels, but with novels like this that are set in the 'actual' world, it's hard.
I really enjoyed Keep This to Yourself, even if the ending wasn't completely satisfactory.
I was interested in this book until I felt like the twists at the end were almost too much to believe?
I don't think Connor was set up enough to be a psychopathic killer, and is it realistic that Doris and Ben kept it a secret for a year? That's insane (forgive my wording).
I almost preferred the concept that Mr. Anderson was the killer, despite that just being another red herring.
I dunno -- I liked the characters well enough, but I feel oddly let down.
I don't think Connor was set up enough to be a psychopathic killer, and is it realistic that Doris and Ben kept it a secret for a year? That's insane (forgive my wording).
I almost preferred the concept that Mr. Anderson was the killer, despite that just being another red herring.
I dunno -- I liked the characters well enough, but I feel oddly let down.
The pace of the book was really slow and there was no character that really stood out to me.
Every summer, I randomly start to crave darker or scary books--books that might be more at home being read around Halloween time. I don't know why this happens, but I usually just roll with it. This YA thriller, about a town still struggling to recover from the damage done by a serial killer one year before, seemed to fit the bill. Keep This to Yourself was exciting, fast-paced, and kept me guessing. The main character was smart and funny and I loved his budding romance with Quill (side note, this may be the first YA thriller I've read with a gay main character). As all of the threads started to come together, I couldn't put this down! I'm interested to read the rest of this author's work.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
**I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**
I don't think that this book was for me, but I DO think that others will like it. I didn't connect to any of the characters; it could have been because the main was male and usually in my YA reading the leads are female.
That is probably why I found myself wanting to know more about things from Doris' and Carrie's POV. Especially Doris, of course. Or Ben, even: would've liked to know more about his problems.
I was very surprised at the twist ending and felt satisfied with how things turned out. If it had gone the Mr. Anderson route I was prepared to be even MORE surprised but upon reflection that probably would've come out of left field.
This really has no bearing on the book itself, exactly, but I think I am sick of teen amateur investigators discovering things the cops all missed...yes, let's just forget their years of training and experience and bring in some kid who pokes around in the grass for 5 minutes and discovers a clue. COME ON. Although I did feel like the part with the watch was more realistic and I felt better about that. I read a LOT of books where the teens one up the cops and solve it all so I think I'm just over that trope. I really felt sympathy for the Detective Parnatsky. I liked her.
I feel like I would've liked the WHY to be explained a little more, but I can't be more clear than that without spoilers. But WHY? Just because of nature? The signs that were supposed to point to the character's future actions were just thrown in at the end; we hadn't really LIVED the evidence. For example:
"Oh, she liked to collect birds."
"Well that explains why the world's rarest bird went missing at the zoo."
Instead of:
"As I searched her room, I noticed pictures of birds everywhere. Magazine pages, hand-drawings, even a few from coloring books. I had never realized before that she had been interested in birds. Or maybe obsessed was more like it. Could SHE be connected to the missing bird from the zoo?"
So in my lame example, I feel like the information is just handed to us and in the second try, the character is collecting information about another character through evidence. Or maybe it only makes sense in my head. Anyway.
Maybe I missed the reason why the victims had to die, as well. Sorry it's so vague I'm trying to go without spoilers.
Maybe it was just me, but I didn't like the romance - it was too instantaneous for it to be believable. Again, I do read a lot of YA where this happens but I don't always buy it.
I did think that Mac was a well-fleshed-out character. He had issues, he had backstory (his parents showed up like, what, one time in the book? Meh), and he had complicated relationships.
The beginning of this book read like The Sacrifice Box but it definitely is not. All in all, I don't feel like I wasted my time reading this (the ending really made it worthwhile) but it just wasn't for me. I'm pretty sure I would pick up another book of Tom Ryan's.
PS: This is also not really a reflection of the book, but it cracks me up sometimes when I see libraries depicted in books. Volunteers never put books back on the shelves (paid employees do) and few libraries have a bookmobile (I only know of one, personally, 3 hours away from me) and a librarian drives it, not volunteers. In my library, we don't have volunteers except during summer and they can't just walk in, either, they need fingerprints and a TB test, etc. They mostly clean. Of course, I only have experience with big, city/county libraries and not small-town ones so the rules could be different. And not everyone who works in a library is an actual librarian, because you need a Masters degree for that.
I don't think that this book was for me, but I DO think that others will like it. I didn't connect to any of the characters; it could have been because the main was male and usually in my YA reading the leads are female.
That is probably why I found myself wanting to know more about things from Doris' and Carrie's POV. Especially Doris, of course. Or Ben, even: would've liked to know more about his problems.
I was very surprised at the twist ending and felt satisfied with how things turned out. If it had gone the Mr. Anderson route I was prepared to be even MORE surprised but upon reflection that probably would've come out of left field.
This really has no bearing on the book itself, exactly, but I think I am sick of teen amateur investigators discovering things the cops all missed...yes, let's just forget their years of training and experience and bring in some kid who pokes around in the grass for 5 minutes and discovers a clue. COME ON. Although I did feel like the part with the watch was more realistic and I felt better about that. I read a LOT of books where the teens one up the cops and solve it all so I think I'm just over that trope. I really felt sympathy for the Detective Parnatsky. I liked her.
I feel like I would've liked the WHY to be explained a little more, but I can't be more clear than that without spoilers. But WHY? Just because of nature? The signs that were supposed to point to the character's future actions were just thrown in at the end; we hadn't really LIVED the evidence. For example:
"Oh, she liked to collect birds."
"Well that explains why the world's rarest bird went missing at the zoo."
Instead of:
"As I searched her room, I noticed pictures of birds everywhere. Magazine pages, hand-drawings, even a few from coloring books. I had never realized before that she had been interested in birds. Or maybe obsessed was more like it. Could SHE be connected to the missing bird from the zoo?"
So in my lame example, I feel like the information is just handed to us and in the second try, the character is collecting information about another character through evidence. Or maybe it only makes sense in my head. Anyway.
Maybe I missed the reason why the victims had to die, as well. Sorry it's so vague I'm trying to go without spoilers.
Maybe it was just me, but I didn't like the romance - it was too instantaneous for it to be believable. Again, I do read a lot of YA where this happens but I don't always buy it.
I did think that Mac was a well-fleshed-out character. He had issues, he had backstory (his parents showed up like, what, one time in the book? Meh), and he had complicated relationships.
The beginning of this book read like The Sacrifice Box but it definitely is not. All in all, I don't feel like I wasted my time reading this (the ending really made it worthwhile) but it just wasn't for me. I'm pretty sure I would pick up another book of Tom Ryan's.
PS: This is also not really a reflection of the book, but it cracks me up sometimes when I see libraries depicted in books. Volunteers never put books back on the shelves (paid employees do) and few libraries have a bookmobile (I only know of one, personally, 3 hours away from me) and a librarian drives it, not volunteers. In my library, we don't have volunteers except during summer and they can't just walk in, either, they need fingerprints and a TB test, etc. They mostly clean. Of course, I only have experience with big, city/county libraries and not small-town ones so the rules could be different. And not everyone who works in a library is an actual librarian, because you need a Masters degree for that.
This was an enjoyable, albeit cliche story, although it is very difficult to do anything new with classic murder mysteries. And why would you want to? They're fantastic for a bit of escapism, and this book certainly delivers. It was easy to read and kept me engaged the entire time.
The only complaint I have is that the romance between Quill and Mac was not totally believable because there simply wasn't enough time devoted to develop it. I think if Ryan had stretched it out just a bit longer and let them better get to know each other as people before their first kiss, I would have bought it.
Other than that, if you're looking for a nice, easy bit of escapism you'll get it with this book.
The only complaint I have is that the romance between Quill and Mac was not totally believable because there simply wasn't enough time devoted to develop it. I think if Ryan had stretched it out just a bit longer and let them better get to know each other as people before their first kiss, I would have bought it.
Other than that, if you're looking for a nice, easy bit of escapism you'll get it with this book.
Keep This To Yourself is a surprising YA murder mystery about a young man who is determined to figure out who killed his friend the previous summer. This novel had some twists that I need not expect! Great character work and a clear sense of place. I recommend this for YA fans! Michael Crouch narrated the audiobook and did a stellar job as always. He is one of my favorite narrators and need to listen to one of his titles.
