Julie Anne Peters

National Book Award finalist Julie Anne Peters delivers a moving, classic love story with a coming out theme and a modern twist. With a steady boyfriend, the position of Student Council President, and a chance to go to an Ivy League college, high school life is just fine for Holland Jaeger. At least, it seems to be. But when Cece Goddard comes to school, everything changes. Cece and Holland have undeniable feelings for each other, but how will others react to their developing relationship? This moving love story between two girls is for fans of Nancy Garden's classic young adult coming out novel, Annie on My Mind. With her characteristic humor and breezy style, Peters has captured the compelling emotions of young love.

Keeping You a Secret

Sarah Sammis

Keeping You a Secret by Julie Anne Peters is a lesbian coming of age romance. Holland lives with her mother, stepfather and much younger half brother whom she is helping to raise. Her life is turned upside down by two young women: Faith, her stepfather's Goth daughter and CeCe, an out and outgoing girl, who transfers to her high school.

Most of Holland's troubles come from her manipulative, erratic and slap deserving mother. The mother, fearing her daughter will make the same mistakes she did (get pregnant in high school). But the same mother, feeling like her life ended when she got pregnant is trying to live vicariously through Holland by orchestrating every minute of her life.

What isn't on mother dear's agenda is her daughter falling in love with CeCe. Peters shows how quickly things can spiral out of control when a parents' bigotry gets in the way of anything else. Like nearly one in four out gay teens in America, Holland quickly finds herself homeless — with even the locks on the door changed to prevent her from getting her things!

My only quibble with the book is my standard one, the set up. With most of the LGBT YA books I've read, the main character is so often shown as having a long, steady relationship with a popular teen of the opposite sex before BAM! the new kid who is of the same sex comes and is too alluring to resist. I don't know if it's to cover the bases by hinting the main character is bisexual without actually having to write about bisexuality or if it's to show that even popular kids can be members of the LGBT community. Whatever the reasons, it's a trope that is rapidly becoming cliché.

Four stars

Sarah S

I managed to get through 14% of the book and then I couldn't read any more. Bye.

jess

[review written 2011]

I finished Keeping You A Secret last night. It was a really good book, since it happened to be one of the few romance novels that hooked me and kept me reading until 1:00 in the morning. The only one, actually. I loved Cece and Holland’s relationship; it was really sweet, and the way Holland’s mother reacted when she found out her daughter had a girlfriend was extreme and made me really feel for Holland. 

The one thing I didn’t like so much is that Cece seemed to advertise the fact she was gay more than anyone I’ve ever seen in any book, movie, or TV show, along with the fact that she was in a mostly homophobic school, but once she started dating Holland, she seemed to retract into herself. It seemed like a jerk move to me.

Katie Kite

We love a novel centered around gay panic, lovely so sweet, stressful in a wonderful way

 Bruna Acioly Leão

You can also view the review here: http://brunawrites.tumblr.com/post/11...

Holland’s life seems perfectly put together at first glance. However, looking deeper, we see the Holland is hiding from herself, struggling with her life choices. Meeting Cece seems to be a turning point for her - she finally has to deal and accept who she really is, if she wants true happiness.

This book was so enjoyable! I listened to it on audiobook and it has kept me company on late nights when I was too tired to really read on a bright white page, but not tired enough to sleep. Also, I haven’t read much experience with audiobooks, but this was the first one that I truly enjoyed. It was a lot easier to focus on than the previous audiobooks that I’ve read, which could be because I’m better at focusing on them but it probably is because it’s a contemporary. The writing style feels more conversational, like Holland is just your friend telling you her story, which a type of style that I enjoy because I can fly through easily and it keeps me entertained and happy.

The ending was open, leaving room for possibilities in the character’s life, which I enjoyed, but I wished we got a little bit more closure on what was going to happen to her in the future.

There were many things I liked about this book, and only a few minor reservations. Here are my pointers:

Good Things:

I related to the main character so much. Holland is going through more than just coming out and accepting that she is a lesbian. The way she feels about planning for her future, the pressure from her mum and her teachers, her opinion on other people’s behaviors - I really related to that. When I was a teen, I completely had some of the reactions that she has to things, and even now as I face some difficult “planning for the future” times this struggle resonated with me. I don’t always have to identify with a character to enjoy them or a book, but what I’m trying to say is that Holland felt especially real to me because of all that.

This book is so important for LGBTQ teenagers, but also enjoyable if you’re not. I’m guilty of not reading a lot of books with gay main characters, but I wonder why not. A lot of the same subjects of romance, personal life struggles, finding love and acceptance - anyone can relate to that. I have to say, though, for someone struggling to come out, this book would be specially important. Coming out is a tough choice and a tough journey for most people, and it is so for Holland. I think someone could identify with this and thus find the strength to face their own struggle. This branch of literature needs to exist so that gay teens are able to see themselves, realize that they are okay, that there’s nothing wrong with them, that other people are experiencing this same thing. It is also important for heterosexuals, so they can see that being gay isn’t so completely off the norm.

Some things hurt. There were some tough parts in this book, some bad things that happened with our main character that really made me physically hurt and rage. I consider this a good point in favor of the book, because it was capable of making me feel strong emotions.

Not So Good Things:

Relating to the audiobook: Some of the narrators acting choices just felt a little off for me. Yes, this was the audiobook I’ve enjoyed the most so far, but I have to mention this. Some of the voices she used for the secondary characters were just so weird. It really annoyed me. The story was enjoyable enough that I could get past it though.

Insta love. Yes, the romance is sweet, but I just couldn’t help but feel it was rushed. Holland and Cece have literally just met, and they go from being weird acquaintances to friends, but not really friends to “oh, my god you are completely the love of my life” in a spam of what feels like days. I might be wrong with the timeline, because I’m not sure how much time has actually passed from when they met to when they get together, but to me it felt rushed. Sometimes they would gush about how much they loved each other and I would roll my eyes. I just feel like their relationship could have taken more time to develop, that’s all.

Who is Cece? I don’t feel like we really got to truly know aspects of her life other than being a lesbian and dealing and being proud. I wished we could have seen more about her - which also would have helped with the rushed aspect of the romance. I understand why the author made these choices though. This book wasn’t about the romance, it was about coming out and discovering yourself. Cede and the romantic aspects worked as a vehicle for this story to work.

To Sum Up:

I really liked this book, I was entertained all the way through and I enjoyed and related to the main character. It was an important book to read, it had a strong message and it made me feel things. It wasn’t an all time favorite or a perfect book, but it was really well worth the read.

Sophie Shrimpton

The first time I read this book was in 2013 when I was 15. I didn't realise it was a lesbian love story when I checked it out, or when I started reading. Somehow I missed that Holland was a girl.

As soon as I realised, I panicked. Being queer was something I had denied since I'd become infatuated with my best friend when I was 12 (and honestly, probably much longer than that). I became paranoid about my (homophobic) parents coming across it and disowning me. I read it in secret at night, hiding it during the day.

This book was the catalyst of my acceptance of myself. I fell in love with Cece alongside Holland, and wished desperately for my own confident, out and proud friend/girlfriend. I vividly remember finishing the book and thinking 'Shit, I'm gay.' 

There a few books that you read at just the right moment, the right time in your life to change everything - or perhaps just maybe make you realise things that were always there, hidden beneath the surface. This book was that for me.

Now I'm the out and proud one. Openly working on an award-winning project to support the queer community, openly with my beautiful girlfriend and openly loving myself, and the rest of the queer community. 

Thank you Julie Anne Peters. Thank you Holland & Cece.

Keeping You a Secret

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