Just as I'd hoped, a mostly feelgood read (the conspiracy revealed during the denouement is rather grim) with mystery, romance and, as an added bonus, a generous helping of spooky stuff. I didn't expect this to be a ghost story at all, so it was a nice surprise to find that it really is. Amy works as a nanny for a glamorous Anglo-French family, the Laurents, and lives a charmed Parisian life with them until tragedy strikes, they lose their fortune and are forced to return to Julia Laurent's chil...

I was hooked from the start and by 9% in I was creeped out! I felt the eerie atmosphere and I have to admit it was making me feel desolate . The author did a great job making you feel the isolation and dreariness of this place. I couldn’t put it down! The paranormal aspect was done well & I couldn’t wait to find out the secrets this town held.

I've not read anything by Louise Douglas before and this was not a bad read at all.Amy is a nanny working for the Laurent family in Paris. Her charge is young Viviane, a delightful little girl who takes great pleasure in the simple things in life and adores her time with Amy. Sadly tragedy strikes and the Laurents and Amy are forced to moved back to Somerset in England. To a childhood home of Julia Laurent, Amy's employer which is next to a lake. What follows is a ghostly tale of secrets, lives

4.5 StarsMaking someone keep a secret is the same as building a wall around them.I’d seen some quite mixed reviews for this book and wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Being a new Louise Douglas fan, I went with my gut and I’m glad I did. Although it starts out at a slow burn the more you read the better it gets.Whilst The Secret by the Lake is pure Louise Douglas and the Gothic genre at its finest, it’s still a love story at heart, albeit with a twist that adds to the suspense. The

There is only one way that I can sum this book up; a struggle. Dear God, the characters were annoying in this story. Unfortunately, that distracted me from any enjoyment that I may have actually got from this book despite the actual plot being pretty good. Here were my issues:1.) Amy's character was so naive I literally wanted to shake her. I would like to ask WHY she is working for this trainwreck of a family for no pay???!! I understand that she used to work for them back when they still had m...

3.5 Stars This was my first Louise Douglas book and I was plesently surprised by the read. A Family Tragedy, A Sister's Secret, a Web of Lies and A Spooky old house, all the elements of good fiction in my opinion. I really enjoyed this novel although it did take me a little while to get into it but after a few chapters it had me engrossed with it's atmospheric plot. It has that old fashioned style charm of good storytelling and surprising twists and turns that I find missing in a lot of fic

This is a ghostly story which is completely addictive, one that really grabbed my attention throughout the whole of the read. Amy has been working as a nanny to the Laurent family in France, but when tragedy strikes the family is forced to return to the UK, to the humble Somerset cottage that Julia Laurent grew up in. It is a cottage that is hiding dark family secrets from 30 years ago.The story is set on the banks of a reservoir, and the reservoir really dominates the whole read, providing a da...

Originally posted on This Chick Reads* Copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review *I can not believe I waited so long to read a Louise Douglas book! Everyone I know in the blogosphere was recommending her books! Now I see why all these people were mesmerized by Ms Douglas' writing!'The Secret by the Lake' is a beautiful, breathtaking, complex story which got me hooked from the intriguing prologue. The story spans over 30 and more years and two generations of wo...

The Secret By The Lake was absorbing, haunting and hard to put down. A thoroughly good read with an excellent plot that I finished in a day. I thought the writing was well crafted and it didn’t take me long to start to enjoy the company of the main character Amy. This is the first book I’ve read by author Louise Douglas and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it or consider another of her books to try myself.Amy is living in France and Nanny to the Laurent’s and their 10 year old daughter Viviane.

Odlično ispričana priča , prepuna misterije i zapleta . Knjiga koja se čita u jednom dahu . Uz savršeno odmjerenu dozu jeze koja vas prolazi sa svakom novom stranicom .

This haunting, dual time period, romantic mystery beguiled me throughout, it has everything ythe discerning reader could wish for in a captivating and intriguing new novel.Brimming with hidden secrets, family tension, and the overwhelming sense of something nasty lurking underneath the surface this book is narrated by Amy, with a patchy childhood herself she has always sought to belong and when she landed a job as nanny with a wealthy family in France it became not merely a job but a whole new l...

This is the first Louise Douglas that I have read and on the basis of this novel I would be more than happy to read another! It was a bit like a "lucky dip" read as I had no idea what type of book I would be reading and was pleasantly surprised by the eerie, ghostly goings on!Having worked as a nanny to Julia, Alain and Viviane while the family lived in France, Amy has gone home to visit her sick father. An awful tragedy however means that Julia and Viviane also return to the UK, to Julia's chil...

I can't express how much I was looking towards reading this book - I have heard amazing things about Louise Douglas and her books (The Secret by the Lake was my first read by this author, somehow have never managed to read other novels, even though I have them on my TBR pile, of course!), and lately heard only prizes from friends about this newest release. Also, after reading the blurb I was convinced this is for sure going to be up to my bookish street.So I started reading it and waited, and wa...

I love Louise Douglas's writing and was really excited to read her latest offering, which, after finishing it, just confirms to me what a talented writer she is.In 1960's England, Amy finds herself moving to Blackwater Lake to help out her former employer, Julia, and her young daughter Viviane who have fallen on hard times. Julia's childhood home in the village is bleak and rundown and when mysterious things begin to happen, Amy starts to uncover shocking details of a long hidden secret. I was i...