A review by abbymillott
The Secret by the Lake by Louise Douglas

3.0

There were several things I liked about this story but also a few things that didn’t work for me so I’m sitting at a 3 star rating. We follow our main character Amy who goes to live in a creepy cottage in Blackwater with her previous employer Julia and her daughter Vivienne.

I really enjoyed the cottage and Blackwater lake as a setting. The story was very well written and the descriptions made the story so atmospheric. I liked how the chapters were short and I found the book to be a quick read. The mystery of what happened to Caroline was very intriguing. I liked the paranormal element and felt it really added to my overall enjoyment of the book.

One of the main reasons I didn’t rate this book higher was I didn’t care much for the romance. Luckily it wasn’t the biggest part of the story but I still found the relationship between Amy and Daniel quite irritating to read about. It felt a little forced and I didn’t really buy into their relationship seen as they just appeared to instantly fall in love. I also saw the main twist of the book coming from very early on and felt it was really obvious which direction this book was going to take which left me feeling a little disappointed. It’s also a twist that has been used many times before so wasn’t anything unique.

Overall I enjoyed my experience reading this book and it was chilling in parts but it just hasn’t left a lasting impression and there are a few things I would change.