Book Review! Keeping You a Secret by Julie Anne Peters

I like to read and I like to bore people to death by passionately analyzing what I'm reading.
Bitches, I have a blog. I can bore the empty nothingness and there ain't nuthin it can do about it. (And for the one person who read this far, hello!) In keeping with the theme of said blog, I'm going to review/analyze/whatever about LGBT books. Or books that are interesting and possibly can be related to gayness.

Today's book is Keeping You a Secret by Julie Anne Peters, who has written several other books, including Define "Normal". I include that one because I seem to know a lot of girls who say that book ended up meaning a lot to them (myself included). The story is about two girls, one who is very openly gay named Cece and the other who's so in the closet she hasn't even admitted it to herself yet, Holland.

I so didn't want to read this, but my girl wanted me to. Puppy eyes and everything. I didn't want to because I hate tragic lesbian love stories. The title has the word "secret" so I knew there would be lots of sad moments, and there was. Still, I kinda love the book.
The story gets angsty at times, but that makes sense. Teenage girls are made mostly of angst, and our protagonist- viewpoint, no less- is seventeen, eighteen. (Honestly, I'm pretty angsty so I can't bitch.) I love that it showed her crushing in a normal way, and that all the characters were realistically portrayed. The parents covered a broad range of reactions- and then the way the adults handled the shock (initial reaction, recovery) was so real that I cried. Basically, everyone is confused, and isn't it so? I also liked the sensuality of the kissing scenes- not many authors can sprinkle in romance without getting all skanky. Those not interested in lesbian sex won't be icked out at all. Unless they don't like kisses, in which case, why are you reading a lesbo blog?

I'm not a huge fan of sudden intense love in teen books, because I sometimes fear that girls will take it a little too seriously and not try to develop relationships unless the other person can only breathe for them. Or maybe its just that it reminds me a little of Twilight.

I both like and dislike how edumacation was done- We have a classic cabbage head (Holland) who is satisfied to have everything about lingo, protecting yourself from hate, how to come out and where to go for help explained to her and the audience by the knowledgeable pro (Cece) . I like that there's that information- in some ways I wish I could have found that before I came out, and it has some of the most important things to know, like always being the first person to tell your parents. Unfortunately, that couple of chapters is a little preachy. Ideally, I wish those pieces could be put on a page all together so when you Google "coming out tips" it would come up- that would have been wonderful for me, because I ended up just winging it. (Worked for me, though.)

It's predictable, heartbreaking, but Secret is also well-written and hits waaay closer to home than maybe I would have liked. Read if you feel like you might need a good cry, and probably don't read it in the space of six hours (like I did). If you like it, read her other work, if you don't like it. . . Welp, oops.

Keeping You a Secret, Julie Anne Peters