WHERE SECRETS STAY Book Review

Where Secrets Stay¹ (book 1 in The Secrets Trilogy) by CherAnn Wright, audiobook, 9h 45m

Synopsis from Audible: Betrayal. Murder. Justice. A grandmother's death unlocks secrets three generations kept buried in the Georgia soil. Secrets that whisper through prophetic dreams and abandoned houses where the dead refuse to stay silent.

Kevan Renee Copeland has built walls around her heart, using her camera to capture the beauty of decay while keeping everyone at arm's length. When her beloved Gammie Frances dies, Kevan discovers hidden property deeds, cryptic journals, and a key that unlocks more than doors. As she explores the abandoned farmhouse haunting her dreams, she encounters Nathan Hill, a stranger searching for answers about his sister's disappearance decades ago. Their investigations collide at the same decaying property, where supernatural encounters blur the line between past and present.

Kevan must confront not only her grandmother's dark secrets and her own brutal childhood, but also the prophetic gifts she's spent years denying. As she reads Frances's journals, a chilling pattern emerges: women in her family have always protected their own, no matter the cost. When the connection between Nathan's missing sister and her grandmother's past becomes undeniable, Kevan faces an impossible question: If the truth destroys everything you thought you knew about the people you loved, is it still worth finding?

BOOK REVIEW: The synopsis does not do this story justice. The author writes psychological and southern gothic thrillers and those categories fit this to a T. I love that this takes place in the south because this story wouldn't work anywhere else. In an odd way, this book felt comforting to me. I can't explain it but it did. For the most part we're reading this book from Kevan's POV. There are a few chapters from Nathan's and then more from Kevan's Gammie. I did have to go back and listen to the Prologue because I couldn't remember who started the story but that was all on me.

I listened to the audiobook for this one but I also read a long with the eBook a few times. I can't remember if the author did a give away of the audiobook or if she was looking for listeners but either way I filled out the form and I got a copy! The narrators did a good job. I did have to bump up the speed to 1.2x speed because I really noticed in one of the Nathan chapters that he was narrating too slow and leaving way too long of pauses between sentences. I've met a lot of people from the south and it was very rare to hear someone speak real slow. Most of em speak fast and almost too fast. The first guy I remember meeting from Georgia talked so fast and in a mumble he sounded like Boomhauer from King of the Hill.

I can't think of a favorite part without giving anything away. Maybe the flashbacks to Gammie and her best friend. Those chapters give a lot of insight into the present without giving too much away and making the story predictable. The book is less than 10 hours and at 1.2x speed it's just over 8 hours so this is definitely a book that can be binged in a day but I was only able to listen a little at a time.

This is a 5 star. There are twists and turns that I never saw coming and a couple that I anticipated. I really enjoy the way this author writes. The narrators chosen for the audiobook did a wonderful job. Neither tried too hard to raise or deepen their voices for characters of the opposite sex and I will definitely be reading the next book! The final book in the series is set to come out in February and I hope I can be an ARC reader for her again like I was for I Saw You (It's not part of this series so I won't link it but you can find it if you scroll through the reviews for this year 2026). This book is part of the KU member library if you want to read it and is available in all formats! I would love to know if you read this one!

5/5 Stars

2026 Reading Challenge: 41/55 complete

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