Swallowed By A Secret by Risa Nyman – Review by Roxsanne Lesieur.

Swallowed by a Secret by Risa Nyman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Rocky is your typical twelve year old kid, but he has had a string of unfortunate life changes recently, his dad died and he and his mum have moved away from his childhood home in Whitman, to live with his grandpa in Tucker. They moved straight after the funeral, away from everything that he knew, where all his memories were made and he couldn’t understand why and whenever he asked about it, instead of answering him, his mum would just shut down and ignore the question.

As if it isn’t bad enough that Rocky is trying to come to terms with his dads death, he also has to start a new school mid way through the school year and so has to go and meet with the new school counsellor, but he doesn’t engage as much as she wants him to, his mind is too filled of memories to concentrate, especially a specific memory where he overheard his and his best friend’s mum talking about what to tell him about the way he passed away which makes Rocky determined to find out what that secret is. However, his day doesn’t go smoothly when he suddenly hears a vey familiar voice as he is walking to his first class of the day, it is his dad’s voice, he runs into the nearest bathroom to try and calm his racing heart and has a conversation with the voice in his head, but should he be doing that and is it even possible?

He eventually gets to his class and after finding out how behind he is in this subject, he is paired up with a girl called Olive to help him catch up, she is a force of nature and completely steamrolls with a confidence Rocky wishes he had and he agrees to swap numbers and meet with her later. At lunch he comes across a kid who is rude and leaves him alone at his table before finding another and is joined by Olive, as they get to know each other and agree to meet up after school, they develop a study plan, but when they start really talking, Rocky opens up about the mystery he is trying to solve and Olive is more than happy to help him along the way. Will Rocky and Olive be able to reveal the secret haunting his past, or will they be stumped at every turn and how does his dad’s disembodied voice come into it, will it be a help, or a hindrance? This is a cozy mystery for all ages which deals with a lot of themes in an easy to read way which keeps you entertained while engaged throughout in this fantastic story of a young boys life changing after a very sad event.

Reviewed by @roxsannel

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