Secrets Found (Secrets Found Trilogy Book 1)

The Secret Country

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He also wrote the notebook that Cass and Max-Ernest found, telling them about how close was he and Luciano and how they joined the circus. He had a twin brother, named Luciano who also has synesthesia , who was kidnapped by Ms. Mauvais, and is now her partner, under the alias Dr. Although the narrator often refers to him as "dead," Cass and Max-Ernest receive a note from him in code which they decipher.

Pietro's initials are used at the end of the note. He won a prize for an art show, since he has synesthesia , or the confusion of the senses, and paints in an attractive yet unique way.

Halfway through the book, he was kidnapped by Dr. Mauvais, as they thought his brain would help them find out information about the Secret. He reappears later in This Isn't What It Looks Like , and goes through an immense change in character as he attended a private school run by the Midnight Sun. He looks pale, and he mumbles when he talks. They are not her biological grandfathers, but love Cass just the same, as her real grandparents are "not around. Grandpa Larry and Grandpa Wayne also own a shop established in an old, abandoned fire station that Gloria Fortune visits to drop off junk from Pietro's house, including the Symphony of Smells.

When they first meet, he has a strong stutter and appears to be very shy but friendly. Cass and Max-Ernest soon discover that Owen is actually a spy of sorts. Owen's most notable characteristic is that he imitates other accents, instead of speaking normally. In the first book, Owen speaks with a slight stutter, a nautical surfers' accent and an Irish brogue. Like other staff of the Mindnight Sun, he looks handsome with tanned skin and some freckles, but he does not have the wrinkled arms and hands because he really is young.

He doesn't wear gloves like the others and Owen was introduced as a butler of Cass by Dr L. He is an intelligent person too. She is obsessed with two heiresses called the Skelton sisters, thus she uses their company's lip balm called "Smoochies. Cass often receives one of her Smoochies, but she assumes it's only because she feels sorry for her.

Amber has a friend named Veronica, who is the second prettiest, but not very nice she doesn't stand in forth or fifth nicest too! Cass and Max-Ernest enters their house by mistake and find Dr. She loves to gossip, and was a guest at the Midnight Sun and identifies Cass although this time,she was nice with her. Then after the whole incident,she no longer remembers it and thinks it was a dream. A real-estate agent for the deceased, named Gloria, finds a mysterious box called, "The Symphony of Smells," in a dead magician's house which she drops off at Cass' grandfathers' junk store.

Cass takes the Symphony of Smells to school with her the next day. That day, while she investigates the reason for a rat dying in her school yard, she meets Max-Ernest, who talks too much, loves jokes and has divorced parents. Max-Ernest tries out one of his jokes on Cass, who tells him that his joke doesn't make sense, thus fostering a conversation between the two. Cass shows Max-Ernest the Symphony of Smells, and they decode a message for help hidden inside it.

Cass and Max-Ernest come to the decision to visit the dead magician's house to find out why he needed help. Now collaborators, Cass and Max-Ernest go to investigate the dead magician's house and find the magician's mysterious journal hidden in his secret study. However, Gloria comes in with a young couple looking for a house - Ms.

This couple is looking for the magician's journal and when they see the kids leaving with the journal, they follow Cass and Max-Ernest for hours, uttering threats. However, the kids manage to escape. After reaching home, the kids find a riddle written on the first page of the journal, but the rest of it is empty.

Rachel's Secret (The Rachel Trilogy #1) by Shelly Sanders

Cass solves the riddle on the way to school the next day, discovering that the magician's story is written underneath the double-layered pages of the journal. She and Max-Ernest read the story and discover that the magician's, Pietro Bergamo, brother, Luciano, was stolen by a beautiful blonde woman with a voice like ice when they were children. Pietro and Luciano were synesthetic circus performers, meaning that they had a rare condition in which two or more senses intertwined.

Pietro believed that the Golden Lady, as he called the beautiful blonde woman, was kidnapping synesthetic children, for some reason, discovering that a young Chinese violinist with the condition was kidnapped years later by the same woman. After reading, Cass believes that the Golden Lady is Ms. Mauvais, but Max-Ernest points out that this is impossible, as the story took place decades ago when she could not even have been born.

Meanwhile, an emergency is taking place at the school - Benjamin Blake has disappeared. Cass believes it was Dr. Mauvais who took the boy, having seem them inquiring about Benjamin's art earlier at her school and having seen them jet off in a limousine printed with the words, "Midnight Sun Sensorium and Spa". However, Cass and Max-Ernest get into a fight, thus being unable to work together to find Benjamin. But Cass believes it's her responsibility to save Benjamin. After looking through some spa brochures collected by her mother, Cass decides to pose as one of the Skelton Sisters, socialites and heiresses, and calls The Midnight Sun spa to pick her up in a limousine.

She is picked up by Daisy and is greeted by Dr. L when she arrives.

Cass then meets Owen, a stuttering young man who is to be her butler during her stay. After being subject to several spa treatments, Cass goes looking for Benjamin Blake, only to end up in Ms. Mauvais' office, where Ms. Mauvais tells her that there will be a surprise guest coming for dinner. The surprise guest is none other than Max-Ernest, who came to save Cass. Mauvais demands to be given the magician's journal and in the commotion that takes place after she discovers several pages are missing they were missing for Cass and Max-Ernest, as well , her glove slips off, revealing the hand of a woman older than the kids have ever seen before.

Cass and Max-Ernest realize that all of the Midnight Sun members are extremely old, as they are alchemists on a search for the Secret, which they believe will give them immortality. Apr 02, Julie Davis rated it it was amazing. I discovered this trilogy in the best way - at the book store long ago when the first book had just come out.

So as the story unfolded I was left on tenterhooks until each book came out. Frequent rereading has done nothing to dim my enjoyment. Here's the brief summary. For the past nine years, cousins Patrick, Ruth, Ellen, Ted, and Laura have played at "The Secret"-a game full of witches, unicorns, a magic ring and court intrigue.

In The Secret, they can imagine anything into reality, and shape d I discovered this trilogy in the best way - at the book store long ago when the first book had just come out. In The Secret, they can imagine anything into reality, and shape destiny. They have arrived at the start of their game, with the Country on the edge of war. What was once exciting and wonderful now looms threateningly before them, and no one is sure how to stop it. I particularly enjoy the fact that when they arrive in the Secret Country much of what they imagined doesn't match the Secret Country's "reality.

That makes it all the more disconcerting when it is exactly right. Great fun, an imaginative "country" and I highly recommend it. Mar 10, Kiri rated it it was amazing. I'm rereading this after many years needed a dose of fantasy , and all I can say is that it is every bit as good as I remembered. Dean gives these kids such powerful identities, and she presents them so deftly, through word and action and the observation of the other kids, that I'm hardly aware of how I got to know them so well. And oh, the language. Oh Pamela, how I wish you were more prolific, for I would devour anything that came from your pen or computer.

Mar 30, Holly rated it did not like it. I just couldn't get into this book. Jun 05, Anne rated it it was amazing. I tried to read this book a year or so ago but couldn't get into it. Then I picked it up this year and loved it! It's really good, and totally worth it! Oct 25, Shawn Thrasher rated it it was amazing. Children discovering a fantasy world in the wardrobe or down the rabbit hole is, well, as old as Alice. Pamela Dean does take this trope and turn it on its head like some of Neil Gaiman's work but rather makes it into something more adult.

Her Secret Country trilogy, taken as a whole, veers into literary fiction-land without ever properly leaving fantasy; it's like a magical blurring of the lines betweent the worlds. Unlike Lewis or Carroll but like the more modern Gaiman , Dean's dense prose Children discovering a fantasy world in the wardrobe or down the rabbit hole is, well, as old as Alice. Unlike Lewis or Carroll but like the more modern Gaiman , Dean's dense prose, her careful, elegant use of language, and most of all her exploration of characters emotionally stability is what sets her work apart from those that came before, and makes it much more adult like The Magicians but without the sex and drugs.

But Claudia, the White Witch of this book, fucks with the their heads too; emotionally stable before, the secret country is a worrisome, adult place that turns them into something else. That is what makes this book such a delight to read; it's contains deeper literary magic. It's not an Oprah book though, not all dark corners and abused children. I don't think you can write a book about a magical world just around the corner from ours without having some shades of C.

Lewis; but there's more than a bit of Nesbit at work here too. There are five children, and the It is The Secret Country, as helpful and occasional spiteful as any psammead. Jo Walton suggests on Tor. Aug 02, Elizabeth K. But this year, I couldn't find my copy of Tam Lin , I'm sure I have it somewhere, but it hasn't resurfaced since we moved last spring. I'm sure it will eventually. Fortuitously, I was able to read The Secret Country instead.

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It's the first book in a trilogy about five cousins who play an on-going pretend game about a fantasy kingdom, and it becomes real and the kids are shocked and surprised and there they are. Because it's based on their own game, they have a general sense of how the "plot" is supposed to go, but things don't always work out the way they expect. The kids are fantastic characters, I love how they alternate between being thrilled to be in a magic adventure, and then indignant when they realize there isn't any normal breakfast food. It did remind me of a funny thing about Pamela Dean books -- that they are filled with things that go completely over my head, but seem like the kind of things that will make sense if you read the book again knowing how things turn out Like Tam Lin is full of Nick and Robin doing things like exchanging meaningful glances, and I know how the book ends and I still have no idea what they were supposed to be so glanciful about.

And Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary I have no idea what's going on most of the time. Usually I would be annoyed by this, but in the case of Pamela Dean, it makes me feel confident that she's brighter than I am. So it's good that she's in charge of the story. Solid A, although I will have to read the entire trilogy to be sure. Very thoughtful, thorough YA fantasy, and it's serious but not so serious that you wish you were reading a book about grim totalitarian societies.

Jan 15, Juushika rated it really liked it Shelves: Each summer, five cousins have created the Secret--a fantasy world whose story and magic they've built in bits and pieces over the years. But one year, they find themselves in the Secret Country itself, a real place whose magic and politics are much more complex from within. Dean pens some beautiful lines and the Secret's unicorns are superb, but the world and magic of the Secret Country aren't particularly unique; what's compelling, instead, is the nature of its creation.

The children may have Each summer, five cousins have created the Secret--a fantasy world whose story and magic they've built in bits and pieces over the years.

The children may have built this world, but they're no longer its architects: But for better or worse, The Secret Country is a children's book; it holds up to an adult reader, but the cast is distinctly young and the book has a lightness of tone which, while not frothy or twee, didn't work for me, and which sometimes slows the pacing by quelling any sense of risk. It's also only half of a story The Hidden Land is the other half , for all it lacks a glaring cliffhanger.

I enjoyed The Secret Country , but had hoped to like it more; still, I recommend it. While imperfect, it's frequently clever and delightful. Oct 01, Annie rated it it was amazing Shelves: I remembered reading these and liking them when I was younger so I decided to revisit. So much better than I remembered. She assumes her readers are well-read critical thinkers with an excellent vocabulary. Many great turns of phrase, witty rejoinders, and subtleties she leaves for you to catch. There I remembered reading these and liking them when I was younger so I decided to revisit.

Jul 13, Megan rated it liked it Shelves: Every summer, cousins Ted, Ruth, Patrick, Ellen, and Laura play a game of magic, adventure, intrigue, and romance in their Secret Country. Then one summer, when they are kept apart, they find themselves IN the Secret Country, only nothing is quite right. Things aren't quite how they'd imagined them, characters have taken on a life of their own, new elements kept cropping up, and the plot's gone awry. Tonally, this book is pitch-perfect.

I was immediately transported back to my childhood with the Every summer, cousins Ted, Ruth, Patrick, Ellen, and Laura play a game of magic, adventure, intrigue, and romance in their Secret Country. I was immediately transported back to my childhood with the warm, vivid descriptions of the fantasy world that evoked The Chronicles of Narnia, E.

The passage where the children complain about their Secret Country being no good because the time stays the same made me laugh at loud. All of the cousins feel like real kids, and they react to the Secret Country in all the myriad and contradictory ways I would expect a real bunch of kids to - sometimes in wonder and excitement, sometimes trying to pick apart the logic and rules, sometimes desperately wanting to just go home, and sometimes worried that if they leave they'll never be able to come back. Meanwhile, the Secret Country characters also feel real, so real that you can understand the kids' confusion over what actually IS real and what is make-believe.

I thought perhaps the plot would get confusing, but the beginning does such a good job of establishing the basics of the made-up Secret Country lore, and the primary and competing goals for the children are so clear: For such a glowing review, why only three stars? Simply put, the ending, or rather the lack of ending. Seriously, this book doesn't end in the slightest. None of the major plot threads are resolved and the ending doesn't feel any more climactic than the ending of any other chapters and less than some.

There is something of a change in the status quo, but not as big as some of the other shifts throughout the story at least it doesn't feel so. You turn the page, expecting the children to go on experimenting and trying to figure things out as they've been doing the whole book, only there's nothing but a blank back cover.

Yes, I knew this was the first book in a trilogy, but it still has to be a complete book! May 06, William Leight rated it really liked it. The titular country is the imaginary location of an extremely sophisticated game — part play, part world-building extravaganza — that the protagonists, a group of five cousins, have constructed, updating and adding to it every summer when one family spends some vacation time with the other. This was the least believable part of th [Really more like 3.

This was the least believable part of the story, in a way, since it requires an amazing degree of coordination and continuity in a group of kids who are widely separated by age and gender. So when they end up through a mysterious process involving magical swords in the Secret Country, taken by its inhabitants for the real equivalents of the roles they created for themselves in the game, it seems like a great opportunity to play the game, only for real.

But as events start to diverge from the expectations the children have, in ways both good and bad, it becomes apparent that the Secret Country has a reality of its own. Even the rather way clever ways in which she manages to finagle the fact that nobody, including friends and relatives who have known the people that the children are supposed to be all their lives, sees anything different about them once they are replaced by the protagonists, end up raising more questions than they answer. I would only unequivocally recommend it if you can immediately start reading the sequel, though.

Nov 15, Valerie rated it liked it. After that, it gets to be pretty good. Ends in what I think was kind of an awkward spot- there was no real climax and resolution. But there are 3 books in the series, so Jul 10, Caroline rated it liked it. I reread this for the popsugar reading challenge category "Book you loved as a child". It wasn't as I recalled, but loyalty to my memory of it keeps me from a frank review. If you yearn for a little magical escape, and you are about 12ish, this is charming.

Nov 26, Richoblivion rated it really liked it. Is a excellent book. Mar 14, Mashael rated it liked it. Interesting and intriguing read! May 27, AFMasten rated it really liked it. Enjoyed the kids' various personalities. Aug 04, Orchid rated it it was amazing Shelves: The first time I read it, about five years ago, I just fell in love with the world and couldn't sleep after finishing the first book, so I begged yep, I was that desperate my mom to get my the next two books so I could know how it would end.

I really like how the book starts out with the main characters, Ted, Laura, and their cousins Patrick, Ruth and Ellen, playing what they Review taken from my blog, The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia The Secret Country and I have a few years worth of history. I really like how the book starts out with the main characters, Ted, Laura, and their cousins Patrick, Ruth and Ellen, playing what they refer to as the Secret. A game that they created to play each summer when they visited each other, I thought it was interesting to see how involved the world of their game was trust me they had lots of different plots woven into their game.

It also gives you a glance into what will happen later on in the book and it tells you a little bit about each of the characters, yet it doesn't give you the full scope of the various plot lines that run through the book. What makes The Secret Country so good is Ms Dean's ability to weave an engrossing fantasy tale similar to that of The Chronicles of Narnia, which just might explain why I love it as much as I do.

Being the first book in the series it was at times a little slow, but not so slow that you'd get bored out of your skull waiting for something to happen. In short, The Secret Country is a slight introduce you to the word and characters type book; although a lot more entertaining this most books that I give that label to. One of my favorite things about this book would have to be how Laura, Ted, and the others now how things are supposed to go, yet are trying to change the outcome of some things because they'd rather not do what would be required of them as befits the roles they are now filling in the Secret Country.

SECRETS OF THE GHOSTS: THE SLEEPER BOOK ONE

Plus I absolutely loved the court mystery and intrigue that they found themselves in, so good especially since there is so much more to be figured out in the next book. I for the characters, the book mainly follows Laura and Ted in this installment.

With little doses of Ellen, Patrick, and Ruth thrown in so that you don't forget about them I'm pretty sure they have bigger roles in the next two books. While each of the characters are vastly different from one another I really enjoyed how each one of them reacted when they crossed over from our world to that of the one they'd often played at. Hmm, it is definitely hard to pin-point why exactly I loved The Secret Country so much, but one of the biggest reasons would have to be Ms. In my opinion, she is one phenomenal writer, and no matter how many times I read The Secret Country trilogy I just love it even more.

Other than a couple of typos, I don't have any real complaints about The Secret Country, well that I can think of at least. The Secret Country a beautifully written fantasy adventure. The Secret Country earns 5 out of 5 pineapples. This book pleasantly surprised me. Most of this book reads like you're watching children playing a game. I know that that's exactly what this book is. But hear me out. There are several parts of the story that get bogged down because the characters know the how the game works, and they know what's happening, but they never stop to explain what's going on to the audience.

For instance, there's no explanation given for the whole Nightmare Grass scene until after the event, where the characters j This book pleasantly surprised me. For instance, there's no explanation given for the whole Nightmare Grass scene until after the event, where the characters just kind of go, "Oh yeah.

I was impressed that the book managed to keep from breaking the fourth wall. Each explanation about a part of the world or story is due to the fact that the characters have been writing this world for nine years, and nobody's around for everything. Or, a character will have an idea about something, and not share it with the others. It makes sense that, with such a long story told over several summers, things are bound to be forgotten.

It would have been nice to have the world explained more before everything starts going insane, though. The last quarter of the book was, to me, where the story really started to shine. Events start to diverge more and more from the original story, and instead of worrying about the characters not bothering to explain something that to them, would be obvious , the book puts both the reader and the characters on the same level. Personal hang-ups with the narrative aside, the lore is what makes this such an enjoyable read for me.

The story within the story is so much fun. The world is a combination of Shakespeare, Narnia, general mythology, and whatever the children happened to think was cool at the time. The scenes with the unicorns were just amazing. It's also a lot of fun to watch the main characters realize just how little thought they put into the smaller details of the world itself - they'd create huge, elaborate feasts and holidays, but never thought to make breakfast more than plain oatmeal and pork chops.

As an aside that has nothing to do with the story, but everything to do with my copies of the books - I'd been putting off buying this series because there weren't any digital copies, and I wanted to be sure that I got all three at the same time. So, there was a few months' gap between when I started scouting the series, and when I went to buy them. When I finally get around to putting in an order for a paperback set, what do I see? They've all been digitally released. The paperbacks were still cheaper than the digital copies, so I went with them anyway. Sep 01, Donna rated it liked it Shelves: I used to think I was quite a prolific reader as a child, but now, looking back, I realize that I spent a great deal of time rereading books.

Even with the wealth of my local library at my fingertips, I would often check out the same books over and over again. I think this may have had to do with the fact that my family could not afford to buy me all the books I wanted, so I had no way of revisiting my favorites. The point of this is, I do think I missed out on a quite a few treasures in favor o I used to think I was quite a prolific reader as a child, but now, looking back, I realize that I spent a great deal of time rereading books.

The point of this is, I do think I missed out on a quite a few treasures in favor of searching out familiarity. I'm fairly certain I would have loved this book as a kid. The main characters are four children who have been separated by a move to Australia. They have such a strong bond though, through their game of inventing a "secret country" that they somehow bring themselves into it, and begin experiencing the stories they have been creating for their entire lives. A twist in this book that sets it apart from other "children falling into magical worlds" stories is that these kids mostly know exactly what is going to happen.

But then, their presence in the secret country begins to alter and muddle events. As an adult, I found it rather dissatisfying to read about kids who already knew everything about where they were going. I didn't feel like there was a great sense of magic or mystery. In addition, the flow of the plotline didn't really appeal to me; too little happened within the space of the pages to keep me interested. Dean does manage some interesting concepts, like nightmare grass, in a chilling sequence.

Rachel's Secret

But those moments are few and fleeting. I actually only picked up this novel because of its involvement in the Cassandra Claire Plagiarism Debacle , in which it was revealed that now famous author Cassandra Clare included large portions of Dean's writing in her fan fiction. Having read this book, it's easy to see why Clare might have wanted to steal Dean's words.

Dean writes with a clear and eloquent voice. It is obvious that she deliberately chose each word, and chose them well. I think it's unfair and unethical that Clare has achieved fame and fortune on the back of plagiarism, but am glad that her actions have led to me discovering this author. I plan to read Dean's other works, including the highly-acclaimed Tam Lin. Jun 11, MJ rated it really liked it Shelves: When I first read this book a few years ago, I had to put it aside almost immediately because it seemed hard to read.

I picked it up again, however, a few months later and tried again, to see if it really was me, or if it was the book. Sadly, it was the book. Confusing and poorly written at times, The Secret Country is an awesome story and great plot, but in serious need of help. As I said, when I first read it, I was so thoroughly confused and put off by the writing style that I just had to put When I first read this book a few years ago, I had to put it aside almost immediately because it seemed hard to read. As I said, when I first read it, I was so thoroughly confused and put off by the writing style that I just had to put the book down, even though it seemed like a very interesting read.

And a story has to be good when, even with all its faults, I still want to re-read it all again, pain in the neck it might be. As a fan of books about falling into another world, or even between worlds, I found the plot of this series very interesting.

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Especially since they thought this world was only imaginary and something they had made up.

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