Author: Ginny Myers Sain
Publisher: Razorbill
Released: September 27, 2022
Received: Own
Warnings: Suicide, drowning

Eeee! It’s finally here! I fell in love with Ginny Myers Sain’s writing last year (was it only last year?) when Dark and Shallow Lies was released. Naturally, I’ve been counting down the days until the release of Secrets So Deep (unluckily for me, my book got delivered to the wrong address, so I had to wait a bit longer than I had hoped).

Whisper Cove is a small town off the coast of Connecticut, full of lore – the dark kind. They say that an entire village of women and children died here. Avril can’t attest to the truth of those claims – but she can vouch for at least one death. Her mother’s.

Now Avril is heading back to Whisper Cove, where she hopes to finally connect to her past. Perhaps by doing so, she will eventually find a way forward into her future. Or perhaps the past will claim her.

“I don’t admit I came here searching for something. For someone. Or that I’ve been here before. I don’t mean to Connecticut. I mean right here. To this exact spot. And I definitely don’t tell them that this is where I died.”

It probably goes without saying that I went into Secrets So Deep with extremely high hopes and expectations. Dark and Shallow Lies was one of my favorite reads for 2021, and I was counting on a repeat success here.

So, did I get it? I would have to say that it is a resounding yes. While I didn’t feel quite the same emotional connection this time, I was utterly captivated by Avril’s story and the tale of Whisper Cove.

Something about the setting of Whisper Cove felt familiar. Like a dream that slowly fades away upon waking – it’s still there, but just barely. It made for an excellent foundation for everything that follows.

The mystery of what happened – and is currently happening – at Whisper Cove would have been enough to keep me invested. Throw in the personal drama, the twists and turns, and the implications, and we’re talking about an entirely different beast.

In many ways, the story of Whisper Cove hits close to home. Maybe that is just the case for me, as someone who grew up surrounded by areas that could have been Whisper Cove had things not gone so well.

This is the second novel I’ve read by Ginny Myers Sain, and I am still hooked! I would kill to see an adaptation of either Dark and Shallow Lies or Secrets So Deep (or both!). And yes, I realize the irony of that statement. Even if I never get that adaptation, I’m still happily waiting for the next novel (One Last Breath) to drop.

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