ARE YOU LISTENING? DAY: A SECRET KEPT AUDIO BOOK: REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

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BOOKIN' WITH BINGO'S

"ARE YOU LISTENING? DAY"

I AM EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE THIS FRIDAY'S

"ARE YOU LISTENING? DAY"
AUDIO BOOK CHOICE IS.....GIVEAWAY ENDED
A SECRET KEPT

BY TATIANA DeROSNAY
READ BY SIMON VANCE

ABOUT THE AUDIO BOOK:

This stunning new novel from Tatiana de Rosnay, author of the acclaimedNew York Times bestseller Sarah’s Key, plumbs the depths of complex family relationships and the power of a past secret to change everything in the present.

It all began with a simple seaside vacation, a brother and sister recapturing their childhood. Antoine Rey thought he had the perfect surprise for his sister Mélanie’s birthday: a weekend by the sea at Noirmoutier Island, where the pair spent many happy childhood summers playing on the beach. It had been too long, Antoine thought, since they’d returned to the island—over thirty years, since their mother died and the family holidays ceased. But the island’s haunting beauty triggers more than happy memories; it reminds Mélanie of something unexpected and deeply disturbing about their last island summer. When, on the drive home to Paris, she finally summons the courage to reveal what she knows to Antoine, her emotions overcome her and she loses control of the car.

Recovering from the accident in a nearby hospital, Mélanie tries to recall what caused her to crash. Antoine encounters an unexpected ally: sexy, streetwise Angèle, a mortician who will teach him new meanings for the words life, love and death. Suddenly, however, the past comes swinging back at both siblings, burdened with a dark truth about their mother, Clarisse.

Trapped in the wake of a shocking family secret shrouded by taboo, Antoine must confront his past and also his troubled relationships with his own children. How well does he really know his mother, his children, even himself? Suddenly fragile on all fronts as a son, a husband, a brother and a father, Antoine Rey will learn the truth about his family and himself the hard way. By turns thrilling, seductive and destructive, with a lingering effect that is bittersweet and redeeming, A Secret Kept is the story of a modern family, the invisible ties that hold it together, and the impact it has throughout life.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Tatiana de Rosnay is the author of ten novels, including the New York Times bestselling novel Sarah’s Key, an international bestselling sensation with over two million copies sold in thirty-five countries worldwide. Together with Dan Brown, Stephenie Meyer, and Stieg Larsson, she was named one of the top ten fiction writers in Europe in 2009. Tatiana lives with her husband and two children in Paris, where she is at work on her next novel. Visit her online at www.tatianaderosnay.com.

ABOUT THE READER:

Simon Vance is the critically acclaimed narrator of approximately 400 audiobooks, winner of twenty-seven AudioFile Earphones Awards, and a twelve-time Audie nominee (including three nominations for the 2007 multi-cast recording of Dune). He won an Audie in 2006 in the category of Science Fiction and was named the 2009 Best Voice in Fiction & Classics and the 2008 Best Voice in Mystery & Suspense by AudioFile magazine.

Simon has been a narrator for the past twenty-five years, and he also worked for many years as a BBC Radio presenter and newsreader in London. Some of his best-selling and most critically acclaimed performances include Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale, Mark Haddon’s A Spot of Bother, Patrick O’Brian’s Master and Commander series (all 21 titles), the new productions of Frank Herbert’s original Dune series, Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and Rob Gifford’s China Road (an AudioFile 2007 Book of the Year). Simon lives near San Francisco with his wife and two sons.

MY REVIEW:

Secrets are secret for a reason. In Tatiana de Rosnay’s latest book, A SECRET KEPT, what the story’s real secret is can only be interpreted, I believe, by the reader. Rather than revealing something that may disrupt the already complicated interactions within a family, perhaps it is better off left tucked away where it belongs.

A trouble-free holiday by the sea is all Antoine Rey wanted in order to celebrate his younger sister‘s 40th birthday. He surprised Melanie and took her to Noirmourtier, the place where they had vacationed as children until the death of their mother. While they are there, they talk about the past as well as what is going on in their lives at that time.

It is here that memories of their mother come flooding back and in fact, as the story starts, it is a hospital, not a resort, that we find them both in. It seems that while driving home from this weekend retreat, Antoine‘s sister, Melanie, the birthday girl, becomes upset after remembering something from their last summer spent at the shore and loses control of the car. The accident is one in which she alone is hurt, ruining her brother‘s surprise weekend celebration for her, at least as far as he can see it.

The story, and the siblings, move on as we find that Melanie is going to be fine, and they are able to return back home to Paris, where the story mostly concentrates on lonely, somewhat self-absorbed Antoine. He is really having a very difficult time getting used to being divorced and having to learn to deal with the teen angst of two of his three children when he has them with him. During the time Melanie was recuperating, Antoine felt an uncontrollable need to find out more about his mother and how she died. She seems to haunt him and she was never discussed within the family after she died. It’s almost as if she never existed, as least in Antoine’s memory. He finally finds out the truth about his beloved mother who he knew had died too soon.

While de Rosnay is a master at these character studies, and wrote Antoine as one deserving of the reader’s sympathy, I personally found him to be somewhat irritating. It seemed like he was just so depressed about his life and yet, didn’t really do anything positive to change it. Even when Angele, a young mortician who is seductive, shrewd, and exciting comes into the story, and shows Antoine a whole other side to life as well as death he still dwells on what haunts him concerning his mother. Both siblings seem preoccupied in different ways by the memory of their beloved mother Clarisse, but I believe Antoine is more than haunted and instead at the point of obsession. I found the interjected reading of Clarisse’s mysterious and somewhat intimate love letters throughout was a clever way to reveal what you figure out rather quickly once the story moves to that part.

Simon Vance narrates the story and his voice seems perfect as he reads what at times I found to be some rather slow-moving parts of the story but were vital in order to develop de Rosnay’s splendid character studies. In a book, I probably would have skimmed to get through some of this but with the audio book, I heard it all and it did help to develop especially Antoine in my mind and Vance’s tone and accent gave the story the right feel. His narration of the female voices added a certain enjoyable quality for your listening pleasure. I was happy he was reading the French words as I knew I would have never been able to pronounce them if I were reading it myself. Tatiana de Rosnay shows her exceptional gift in A SECRET KEPT and readers will surely rush for their copy of her newest work because her talent is certainly not a secret and her fans know that only too well.

GIVEAWAY
THANKS TO STEPHANIE AND THE GOOD

FOLKS AT MACMILLAN AUDIO BOOKS,
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