Our Little Secret

February 1, 2018

When this first novel opens, narrator Angela is being questioned in a police interrogation room by a detective about the whereabouts of the missing wife of her ex-boyfriend. She recalls her move in high school to a Vermont small town where she befriends HP, a popular athlete. Friendship turns to romance, but a chance to attend a year of school in England forces Angela to put their budding relationship on hold. HP's surprise trip to visit Angela in England results in fateful encounter with an attractive student named Saskia. The love triangle that develops follows the trio back to Vermont. Relationships evolve and true feelings reveal themselves, demonstrating that those who we think we know are not always who they seem to be. VERDICT Fans of Paula Hawkins and Ruth Ware will devour this twisty psychological thriller; Nay has expertly crafted a narrative that has the potential to veer in several directions, keeping readers enthralled and guessing until the end.--David Miller, Farmville P.L., NC

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2018
First love goes bad in Nay's mesmerizing debut.Cove, Vermont, is a tidy town, and 15-year-old Angela Petitjean felt very out of place when she moved there 11 years ago with her well-meaning but cloying parents. Then she met Hamish "HP" Parker. HP looked like a young Harrison Ford and lit up every room he walked into, whereas Angela was quiet and thoughtful. They became the best of friends and stayed that way until a graduation trip to the lake, when they realized they were in love. When an unwilling Angela's parents make her go abroad for freshman year at Oxford, HP goes over to visit her, but Angela becomes incensed when she spots him flirting at a ball with Saskia, a very petite, very Australian blonde. After Angela gets caught in a bit of revenge canoodling with her hapless, and smitten, friend Freddy Montgomery, HP goes back to the U.S. in a snit with Saskia in tow and, to Angela's horror, eventually marries her. Angela puts on a brave face and even says yes when asked to be godmother to their new baby. After Angela's parents get divorced, HP invites Angela to move in with them instead of living with her mother--an ill-advised arrangement, to be sure. Things inevitably come to a head (boy do they!), and Angela moves out. Now, Saskia is missing. Homicide Detective J. Novak is convinced Saskia is dead and that Angela is responsible, but they don't have a body. Is Angela a murderer or just a woman with a broken heart who never quite picked up the pieces? Angela's voice is wry and compelling, revealing a girl who never quite lived up to her parents' expectations and a young woman who felt incomplete without HP and has never quite been able to let go.Nay expertly spins an insidious, clever web, perfectly capturing the soaring heights and crushing lows of first love and how the loss of that love can make even the sanest people a little crazy. Carve out some time for this riveting, one-sitting read.

COPYRIGHT(2018) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

February 19, 2018
How does Angela Petitjean, the narrator of Nay’s captivating if contrived debut, go from being the pride of Cove, Vt., with a place waiting at Oxford University, to just eight years later a person of interest being grilled by police in her hometown about the disappearance of Saskia Parker, a vivacious young wife and mother? That’s the twisty tale that emerges, gradually, over the course of Angela’s marathon interrogation. Warming despite herself to the undivided attention of Det. J. Novak, the normally private Angela slowly embraces the opportunity to open up about her one great love—with high school golden boy and, as she sees it, soulmate, Hamish Parker, before a brash Australian force of nature named Saskia entered the picture. Though Nay’s inexperience shows in the stagy set-up, which amounts to almost an extended monologue, and a couple of key players who don’t rise above caricature—like Freddy Montgomery, the hopeless smitten and conveniently rich Oxford swain—it’s an arresting, perhaps unbelievable story that Angela spins. Nay is a writer to watch. Agent: Carolyn Forde, Westwood Creative Artists.

Starred review from February 15, 2018
Angela Petitjean realizes that she's a suspect in the disappearance of her first love's wife, Saskia Parker, during a prolonged interrogation by Detective J. Novak. In response to Novak's prods, Angela agrees to tell him everything she knows about both the victim, HP, and his wife, but only on her own terms. Taking the story back 15 years, Angela slowly reveals her romance with HP, which began during their senior year of high school; the betrayals that tore her and HP apart; and the recent months during which she had lived with HP and Saskia in the couple's lakeside cottage. Saskia, Angela asserts, is a cunning liar and manipulator who's probably left HP behind without a backward glance. But Novak isn't buying Angela's story, challenging her version of events until THE narrative evolves into a clever psychological duel. Is Angela a calculating killer or a pitiable woman scorned who is being framed by her rival? A sneaky-smart, charismatic debut that will win fans among those who enjoy the kind of duplicitous and deliciously complex psychological suspense written by Ruth Ware, Sophie Hannah, and Erin Kelly.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)