Friday Book Recommendation

The Secret Year by Jennifer R. Hubbard.

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?

Why I Love This Book: SO many reasons. You might remember this title as one of my recs this week in my post about boy books. (It's just come out in paperback, which is the cover I posted here.) The voice in this one is so real, the details so sensory I felt like I was there on the mountain and at the river, and the story is so emotional that even weeks later I was still thinking about it. Even if you don't normally like male narrators, you will like this book. I promise. It's moving, and involving, and there's so much more to it than just a sad love story. If you haven't read this book yet, go get it, now!