Locket Full of Secrets

By: Dana Burkey

Narrated by: Madeline Mrozek

After over four years, Olena comes rocketing back into Claire's life, changing everything for the worse. Picking up the shattered pieces, Claire is not sure who to believe. Is Olena who she says she is, or is she a killer to stay away from? Leaning on her new boyfriend, Steven, for support, Claire is faced with the choice on who to trust: a friend she barley knows or a history lesson she barely remembers. Together, the three will begin a journey that will take Claire from the safety of her home to the last place she thought she would ever be: The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. With the wreckage of rector four looming behind her, Claire will have to see Olena's plan through until the end if she wants any chance of making it out alive.

©2015 Dana Burkey (P)2016 Dana Burkey

Beauriful story, filled with suspense!

I loved the story! The performance was beautiful, with accents just right! It was scary, suspenseful, sweet, and everything I like in a book. I will definitely be looking for more books by Dana Burkey.

Great adventure!

This was a thoroughly captivating adventure with a great pace with a main character who had a great personality and lots of little quirks and details to relate to. The performer has some wonderful affects and voices that bring the characters to life.

Romance, Suspense, Mystery

Any additional comments?

Romance, suspense, twists, murder, and a whole lot of European history mixed all together to make this book a great YA story. I am reviewing the audiobook. I really enjoyed this narrator and found that she made the story flow nicely without sounding like she was reading the book. The author keeps the story moving at a steady pace, with twists and turns off events that I wasn't expecting.

Poor Claire, she is has had a rough time through this story, meeting a great best friend in Olena, only to have Olena leave without giving her any reasons. Years later Olena is back with a ton of trouble trailing her. Pulling Claire into a whirlwind of trouble, on the run from murder and mystery men after them, they end up in Russia. Claire has a little romance thrown into this story but don't get to happy because the author throws in some twists but I did enjoy how it ended.

The characters are all in college and I found Claire to be very naive, who would just up and take off to Russia with a crazy friend who is being followed by dangerous men? The history part of this story was really interesting as I didn't know anything about this event that happen in Russia.

Overall I give this book a 3.5 stars out of 5. I found the narrator did a great job on the audiobook and I was engaged in the whole story.

I received a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

An Exciting Listen

What made the experience of listening to Locket Full of Secrets the most enjoyable?

The suspense and build up set throughout the story was what made it most enjoyable, both with the writing itself and the narration. I'll admit, it took me a few chapters to get used to Madeline's voice at first but once I did... it was great. The audiobook made the characters really come alive for me.

Which character – as performed by Madeline Mrozek – was your favorite?

Olena was my favorite character. She’s strong, smart, brave, and keeps you guessing. Hearing Madeline Mrozek give her life with the character's native accent made the story a lot more real to me. I admired her character and how much she wanted to protect everyone no matter what the cost, even though that meant not telling her best friend what all was going on in her life.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

This young adult mystery novel is an intriguing read to say the least. There’s a point in the book, I won’t mention where, that I just couldn’t stop after I got there. I had to keep reading. The characters kept me interested, and as a person who enjoys trying to predict the ending, I just had to know that I was right about everything. This one kept me guessing, and I enjoy that Burkey stumped me on figuring out the ending.

Easier to believe in zombies

The events the main character goes through are just ridiculous. A friend she only knew for a short while over a year ago, reappears, kills someone, gives her a passport she just happened to have made surreptitiously she me tome ago and our heroine agrees without argument to follow the friend to Chernobyl to recover photos embarrassing to the government. Sure! Why not? Doesn’t everyone just leave the country of false papers to carry out amateur espionage? And in the end, she added no value to the trip! If the story was told from the friends point if view and the prom queen left home it might have been just barely believable enough, but as is, it stinks.

Great weekend listen!

Any additional comments?

Okay, first of all, this book had a very satisfactory ending. The story resolved itself well and the narrator NAILED the Ukrainian accent at the end!! The story is a bit Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys-ish so it may not be for everyone. Still, it moves well, is a very pleasant listen and well worth a Sunday afternoon.

Fast pace and amazing

What did you love best about Locket Full of Secrets?

I loved the elements about Chernobyl that were in the story. Really fun to mix fiction and history in the same place.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Claire was great. I liked that she was never the one to make the first move, but rather was kind of dragged along for a lot of things. She was even "weak" at times, and I found that more relatable than books where all the female leads are mega strong all the time.

Which character – as performed by Madeline Mrozek – was your favorite?

Her voice for Olena was amazing! I don't know how the same person did all of the voices in this book!

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

First of all, that movie would be AMAZING!!!!! Second of all, I think maybe "This piece of history is too important to stay hidden in the past."

Any additional comments?

This book was a rollercoaster ride for anyone listening to or reading it. The ending was shocking and exciting and just intense! There were so many twists and turns in this book that it was a joy ride from start to finish!

Secrets and more Sectets....

Loved it. Liked how the writer tied up the end of the story as I was very curious. Narrator, Madeline was clear and easy to understand, did not have to pause and go back to.

How much do you know about Chernobyl disaster?

Not a typical anything. There is mystery, suspense, history, angst. The plot is solid and moves swiftly, characters are well developed and believable. And it has some very interesting twists. Refer to publisher's blurb for plot clues, no spoilers here.
Madeline gave and excellent audio performance that was exceptionally easy to listen to.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review courtesy of LibraryThing.

Locket Full of secrets

I listened to the audio book. Claire, the main character, has not had it easy in this book. Her best friend, Olena, appears and disappears in Claire's life. I enjoyed the narrator in this audiobook. It, for me, made the book come to life more in my mind. The book had some interesting twists and turns and the plot was fun to read. I had a good adventure in this book with the characters. * I received this book from the author---this is my honest review*