Saturday, August 27, 2011

The Secret Year by Jennifer R. Hubbard

The Secret Year by Jennifer R. Hubbard

Release Date: January 7th 2010
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Page Count: Hardcover, 192 pages
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Good Reads: Link
 
Colt and Julia were secretly together for an entire year, and no one - not even Julia's boyfriend - knew. They had nothing in common, with Julia in her country club world on Black Mountain and Colt from down on the flats, but it never mattered. Until Julia dies in a car accident, and Colt learns the price of secrecy. He can't mourn Julia openly, and he's tormented that he might have played a part in her death. When Julia's journal ends up in his hands, Colt relives their year together at the same time that he's desperately trying to forget her. But how do you get over someone who was never yours in the first place? - Good Reads


I saw a review for this book recently on Caught in the Pages and knew I had to read it. The cover is gorgeous and the summary seems like it would be right up my alley. Forbidden love? Yes, please. And I thought it would be interesting to read a story about a boy. I'm always reading about girls and I'm girl and that makes sense, but I thought it'd be different to "get into the mind of a boy" It also promised to be an emotional read. 


Well... I liked it alright, but it seemed as if went all over the place. It started out with a clear path and then sort of just bounced around and I never felt as if things were settled enough for my liking. At first the book is about Colt dealing with the death of his secret girlfriend Julia and then he's leading his best friend, who is a girl, on and then he realizes he likes his secret girlfriends Julia's brothers girlfriend and then his brother announces he's gay and his secret girlfriends brother's girlfriend and him hook up, but she gets pissed because he still has the diary that belonged to his dead secret girlfriend and she feels she has to compete with a ghost. Whaaaat, you say? That's kind of how I felt towards the end. This book would have been much better had it been longer. 

There is also a lot of sex mentioned in this book. And it's seems rather casual. So, heads up!


I'd definitely recommend borrowing this book before you buy it. It's good, but it could have been better.



5 comments

  1. Liza, I'm confused already! Just goes to show that jacket covers don't always tell you much about the books themselves. I would have been interested in this one as well based on the goodreads summary but your review tells me so much more. Thanks!

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  2. The summary makes it seem amazing, but they really can be deceiving sometimes! And wowie zowie, that sounds so confusing!

    Thanks so much for the warning! I feel like many YA books now are getting really steamy, and some should at least have a "mature content" sticker or something to warn off younger readers. x)

    Awesome review, Liza! :)

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  3. "...then he realizes he likes his secret girlfriends Julia's brothers girlfriend and then his brother announces he's gay and his secret girlfriends brother's girlfriend and him hook up, but she gets pissed because he still has the diary that belonged to his dead secret girlfriend and she feels she has to compete with a ghost."

    I just choked on my coke & rum. Too funny! I can completely feel your frustration with the meandering plot.

    Probably not one I would have read anyway; I love forbidden love, but I can't stand a story with cheating. Good review!

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  4. @Mimi I agree with you on the mature content stickers. I'm not against sex discussed in YA books, but I do feel there should be a warning label!

    @BJ Ahaha! :) Yes, cheating isn't something I'm usually fond of either. I felt annoyed in a way that Colt kept putting up with Julia, because she kept promising to dump her boyfriend who she was with for mostly superficial reasons. She never did end up dumping him. She kept Colt a secret mostly because she was ashamed. Self Esteem by Offspring comes to mind! I think that might have been Cole's theme song.

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  5. I've been really excited to read this one -- I'm sorry you didn't love it! The plot you described definitely sounds confusing O_O

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