Erene Gnoy

My mother is a woman of surprises. She used to strike me as being cool-headed, popular with the elderly and a good housewife. I never thought of her as being outspoken. But there have been occasions when I was surprised by her bouts of guffawing at a TV scene, or her hidden talent at imitating my father’s agitated voice and temper. That made me laugh, every time. It is also interesting to note that her English skills are something that she needs help with. Reading the newspaper is her version of getting the daily updates on the world outside. As our household has only English newspapers, and she isn’t particularly inclined to acquiring Mandarin publications daily, she acquiesces to reading it whenever she has free time. Oftentimes, she needs help understanding certain vocabulary, like pillion rider . Suffice to say, her English skills could use some polishing. I had a 180 switch of my opinion about that, one day. If it wasn’t for her, going Dutch would still be an alien phrase...

     Karen M. Mcmanus’s books were everywhere during the year 2019; it was on every booktuber/ book reviewers’ list of books to be read or reviewed. Many of the feedbacks were positive, so I felt compelled to add this to my wish-listed books. But, the thing about books waiting its turn to be read is, they wait forever. Fast forward to 2020, when time equates to boredom (since the majority of us has ample time on our hands now), one of her books - One Of Us is Lying - which is her award-winning debut novel that is in the works of being turned into a TV-series, coincidentally appeared in the recommended section of the website I scour for my next read. The name seemed familiar, and the plot synopsis was intriguing, so I wondered, Heck, why not ? Little did I know, that it took me only three days to ravish the novel. The book is good. But today is not the day I talk about that. I’m here to review her second book, Two Can Keep A Secret.   The Story:      Th...