Apologies + The Secret Year by Jennifer Hubbard

Holy Cow! It's been a long time since I've posted! And you all deserve an explanation just as much as I deserve to have various objects thrown in my direction. This semester has been kicking my BUTT! Whew. I have a seminar that is just insane! So I'm so sorry I've been neglecting both my reading and you guys! It's been just awful.

So here's what I have been up to regarding reading (not for class!). I read Catching Fire (of COURSE, I could not let that one slip by me) and I cried at the end. I hate having to wait so long for the third book! I also read Education Esme which was pretty funny and insightful. I recommend it if you're thinking about going into education, and even if you're not. I started a bunch of books but haven't finished them yet, I guess you could say I got into a sort of funk. I couldn't find that right book to get me back into the swing of things. And then one random day (as I sat gloomily in my home thinking "Oh, I'll never post again!") I got a surprise from my mailwoman. And this just happened to be the book that got me excited about reading again. This book is The Secret Year by Jennifer Hubbard (EEK!!!). So, after a long awaited review of SOMETHING, here is a very special one:

Take Romeo and Juliet. Add The Outsiders. Mix thoroughly.

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?

Wow. At only 192 pages this novel really packs a punch. But it's so simple. This novel lets what happens to someone after they've lost a person they love take the stage. There's not a complex plot but it doesn't need that. The pain in this novel is so large that words can only do so much. But the words Hubbard did use, she used intelligently. I flew threw this novel. I could feel the numbness that came over Colt, could feel the spark he felt when Kirby came along, and feel the pain of the realization that he may never fully get over Julia's death. But, how could you? It shows how one tragedy can change your whole life and how trying to pick up the pieces isn't easy. This novel showcases how the truth can, literally, set you free. And it's the first step to living with the pain.

A great novel that I absolutely cannot get over. I recommend it x 100 to everyone. It's really, really worth it.

Rating: 5.0

Up next: The Shining by Stephen King. I know it's not YA but it's Halloween and I couldn't resist!

Happy Reading!