The Truth About Keeping Secrets is a poignant tale about love, grief, and the histories that haunt us. Sydney’s world falls apart when her dad unexpectedly dies, and it isn’t helping that his death is odd. Sydney can’t help herself from obsessing over the possibilities, and when she starts getting weird texts to her phone, she knows it’s no coincidence. As she grows closer to June Copeland, the homecoming queen, and an unlikely friend, secrets start to come out and her world, as she knows it, starts to unravel.

I absolutely loved this book. From the gripping reveals to the beautiful prose to the heart-wrenching descriptions of grief and coping, Brown weaves an intricate tale of loss and love. Additionally, I would highly recommend listening to the audiobook version of this, as Brown narrates it herself, and it just adds another layer of emotion to the story.

This is one of those books that’s hard to break into parts because the puzzle pieces of the story meld together. There're no seams to pick apart or any easy way to slice the story into manageable bits. It’s fitting, because the story itself isn’t necessarily an easy one to read, while also being one that’s both highly entertaining and extremely gripping and haunting at the same time. From the characters to the plot to the setting, a well-rounded story emerges, and I loved every minute of it.

I really loved Sydney as an MC. From the way she interacted with the world to how she thought about things and coped with her dad’s death, she felt like an utterly real, and tragic, person. I also loved the LGBTQ+ rep in the story, and while it isn’t all that happy of a story in that regards, I felt like it clicked in well with the rest of the novel. Her narrative voice was also absolutely amazing, especially when brought to life by Brown herself. Some moments read a lot like a stream of consciousness, and Brown constantly played with grammar and writing style in order to fully capture what Sydney was feeling at any given moment. It allowed me to get utterly lost in the story, losing the world around me in exchange for the world Sydney was in.

I also really loved the way the story moved, carried on by both an emotional storyline as well as an outer, murder mystery one. The two seemed to parallel each other amazingly well throughout the story, one coming in when the other weakened and vice versa while also supporting each other in moments of high tension. I also really loved the ending itself, and what it meant for Sydney, her grief, and her growth overall. It was what sealed the deal on me loving this book.

Overall, I absolutely recommend this story, just be prepared for its dark depths of emotion. I can’t wait to read/listen to what Brown writes next!