Did you find that there were secrets that should have been revealed earlier in the story or were kept for selfless or selfish reasons? Have you ever kept any important secrets?

Each sibling (as well as a few other characters, like Vinnie) keeps secrets — not just from one another, but from the important people in their lives — their partners, their children, their parents, their friends. Did you find that there were secrets that should have been revealed earlier in the story? Did you find that more secrets were kept for selfless or selfish reasons? Have you ever kept any important secrets? Would you do so again?

The biggest secret was that Leo had money put away. I guess in his marriage situation that was a good idea. However, taking the NEST money from his siblings was very selfish and really showed how he was so self centered and didn't care about them. Some secrets protect the ones we love from hurt, but others are just to protect ourselves from something we've done wrong. Those are harmful. Like the mortgage on the cottage and not saying how badly the antique business was doing.

Money being borrowed without the other spouse or significant other knowing is just wrong. So, I'd say Jack and Melody. Secrets like Vinnie's or Melody's daughter revealing her sexual preference are secrets that are so personal, they can only be shared if the person feels they can share. I think everyone has secrets, to some degree. Hopefully, those you share your life with know them, but not necessarily your siblings. While close with my family, I do not know their financial situations nor do they know mine. I could see how you could be blindsided to know that a family member was not in a situation you had assumed.

Leo's stash of funds was, of course, his big secret, but had he revealed that, the novel would not exist as it does. I think I was surprised that married partners kept the secrets they did from one another. I could not relate to that. The secrets the teens had from their parents, and the secret that Stephanie's renter had - even his keeping that secret from his daughter - seemed realistic to me. But married partners placing their mates and families in such jeopardy by withholding truths was unbelievable to be - I could not do that - and each sibling's doing so seemed very selfish to me. This was, of course, a necessary part of the development of the character, plot, and theme of this novel - what makes it universal and relatable.

Of course a secret means that information is meant to be unknown. Therefore, not telling each and every thing isn't always a bad thing. Not everyone is able to live being pure.

The premise of this story was completely based on secrets and would not have been written if secrets were not kept by the characters.

One of my family secretly borrowed a great amount of money and lost it due to bad decisions; his wife then divorced him. He gambled that the return on his investments would override the secret of where and how he obtained that money. Some of the Plumb family members' decisions regarding money certainly rang a bell. But in Leo's opinion, he came out smelling like a rose. And eventually he may have gotten his comeuppance.

I'm not sure they should have been revealed earlier in the story. It's hard to admit you're doing something that could ruin all - if looked at that way. Life is about adapting and working things through, good and bad. The tipping point when you don't want to cope any more is different for everyone. What if things had turned out all right? Would it have then been OK? Did those with nothing to anchor them pull out and the others grow and adapt?

Maybe the secret keeping is the reason why I didn't love this book. I tend to stay away from books with secrets or I end up not liking them. I think it's because my whole life has been a family secret. I believe that my parents will take their secrets to their grave and I will never learn the truth. So I hate secret keeping. I think people keep secrets out of fear, fear they will lose someone they love, fear they will be chastised or the fear of admitting the truth about themselves. Secrets are so damaging.