Recent Reads - The Secret Year

The Secret Year, Jennifer R. Hubbard

 5 of 5 Stars

Buy It:  Amazon  /  Barnes & Noble

Genre:   Young Adult, Contemporary

Pages:   192

Published:   1/7/2010, Viking Juvenile

Why I Chose It:   I loved the cover and the paperback edition of this book is super smooth. It feels like satin. I was rubbing it in the YA section of Barnes & Noble and I'm pretty sure I looked like a crazy freak. But it's just so awesome.

Synopsis (from Good Reads):   Colt and Julia were secretly together for a year, and no one ever knew, not even Julia's boyfriend. Why would they-they were from two different crowds. Julia lived in her country club world and Colt . . . didn't.

Then Julia dies in a car accident. Colt is devastated but can't mourn openly, and he's tormented that he may have played a part in her death. And when Julia's journal ends up in his hands, he is forced to relive their year together-just when he is trying to forget. The problem is, how do you get over someone who was never really yours to begin with?

My Review:  Wow. I wasn't even supposed to be reading this book yet. I certainly hadn't planned on finishing it in one day and posting this review so soon, but here I am. And the only reason I can give you is that after reading through the first few pages I couldn't stop and once I'd finished I just wanted to tell the whole world to read this book.

The story is told from Colt's point of view with snippets from Julia's journal entries. From the beginning Colt was a character I could relate to. I'd been there. Of course nothing as traumatic as the person I loved dying. But I've been unable to grieve for the end of a relationship because as far as the world was concerned, it had never existed.

It's not an easy position to be in. Pretending you don't hurt. Trying not to flinch at the mention of their name. Wondering it they ever truly loved you or just the idea of being with you and the freedom from reality which that entailed.

For Colt, Julia's death has left him broken, but not in the pitiful my-whole-life-is-over-I-can't-exist-without-you kind of way I've seen portrayed in other books (Hubbard captures the male POV perfectly). He's left with questions he thinks he'll never know the answer to, until Julia's brother gives him Julia's diary. Her words, her voice, haunt him as he tries to get over her and move on with his life.

I truly fell in love with this book. With Colt. With his struggle to understand his place with Julia and his place in a world which is divided by class. It's incredible. Raw and emotional. Heart-achingly beautiful. The kind of writing that sticks with you long after you've finished reading the final page.

Fair warning: there is sex. And swearing. And drinking. To me it was absolutely necessary to the storyline and adds to the authenticity of the characters, but if this is something you shy away from when reading YA, this book may not be for you.

Other than that there is not a single person I wouldn't recommend this book to. It is now one of my favorites. A book I will visit time and time again.


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