Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen McManus-- Blog Tour Review & Giveaway

Two Can Keep a Secret

by Karen McManus
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Release Date: January 8, 2019

Synopsis:

Echo Ridge is small-town America. Ellery's never been there, but she's heard all about it. Her aunt went missing there at age seventeen. And only five years ago, a homecoming queen put the town on the map when she was killed. Now Ellery has to move there to live with a grandmother she barely knows.


The town is picture-perfect, but it's hiding secrets. And before school even begins for Ellery, someone's declared open season on homecoming, promising to make it as dangerous as it was five years ago. Then, almost as if to prove it, another girl goes missing.


Ellery knows all about secrets. Her mother has them; her grandmother does too. And the longer she's in Echo Ridge, the clearer it becomes that everyone there is hiding something. The thing is, secrets are dangerous--and most people aren't good at keeping them. Which is why in Echo Ridge, it's safest to keep your secrets to yourself.

Find it: Goodreads | Amazon | Audible | B&N | iBooks | TBD

After being really impressed by this author's debut (One of Us is Lying), I've been eagerly awaiting TWO CAN KEEP A SECRET.  YA Mystery/Thriller is probably my favorite type of book to read.  There's something about following along on a high stakes mystery and trying to unravel all the clues that makes reading fun for me.  I'm just really happy to have a new author come along and write YA Mysteries that weave a web like these ones have.

The story: When their mother goes to rehab, twins, Ellery & Ezra, return to the town she grew up in (and ran away from).  Echo Ridge is a small town with a tragic history-- a tragic history that just happened to touch the twins' family.  When their mother was a teen (right after she was crowned homecoming queen), her twin sister went missing and was never found.  5 years ago, the homecoming queen was killed.  Now, another girl (one nominated for homecoming queen) is missing.

This book started out not that fun for me.  There are a lot of characters and suspects that span 3 eras and I was having a hard time remembering who was who and sorting out if any of them were important.  I guess having a large cast probably makes it harder to figure out the mystery in the long run, but there is definitely a thing as too many names being thrown at you.

Once I sorted out who exactly all these people were and what they meant to the story, the book got good.  Ellery wasn't my favorite main character, but she was the Nancy Drew of this story, so I was interested in how she was going to work the whole thing out.  I liked her relationship with her brother and the friends she made when she moves into town.

My fave part: the homecoming aspect!!  It was straight out of a teen slasher movie, and I was there for it.

I definitely thought this was a stronger book than One of Us is Lying.  It was a lot more complex, and the mystery was even tougher to figure out.  This met my expectations (which were pretty large), therefore I will be recommending this book-- and reading all of McManus's books from here on out!!

OVERALL:  A complex mystery in a genre that desperately needs them!!  Once I sorted out who allllll the different people in this book were, it got addicting and TENSE.  I loved the town of Echo Ridge and the homecoming queen angle.  This book is just begging to be made into the next big teen slasher movie.

My Rating: 4/5 

As a kid I used to write books when I was supposed to be playing outside, and not much has changed. I'm a marketing and communications professional who also writes Young Adult contemporary and fantasy fiction in Cambridge, MA.

When not writing or working I love to travel, and along with my nine-year old son I've ridden horses in Colombia and bicycles through Paris. A member of SCBWI, I hold a bachelor’s degree in English from the College of the Holy Cross and a master’s degree in Journalism from Northeastern University. Which I have never, ever used professionally.

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Week One:

1/1/2019- Lifestyle of Me- Review

1/2/2019- Paper Reader- Review

1/3/2019- Adventures Thru Wonderland- Review

1/4/2019- Here's to Happy Endings- Review

Week Two:

1/7/2019- Pink Polka Dot Books- Review

1/8/2019- Do You Dog-ear?- Review

1/9/2019- Adventures and Reading- Review

1/10/2019- The Phantom Paragrapher- Review

1/11/2019- Book Dragon Lair- Review

Week Three:

1/14/2019- A Gingerly Review- Review

1/15/2019- Confessions of a YA Reader- Review

1/16/2019- Sweet Southern Home- Review

1/17/2019- Simply Daniel Radcliffe- Review

1/18/2019- The Hermit Librarian- Review

Week Four:

1/21/2019- Smada's Book Smack- Review

1/22/2019- Owl always Be Reading- Review

1/23/2019- BookHounds YA- Review

1/24/2019- Popthebutterfly Reads- Review

1/25/2019- Eli to the nth- Review

Week Five:

1/28/2019- The Clever Reader- Review

1/29/2019- All the Ups and Downs- Review

1/30/2019- Two Points of Interest- Review

1/31/2019- EatingbetweenthelinesINC- Review

• 3 winners will receive a finished copy of TWO CAN KEEP A SECRET
• US Only

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