REVIEW: Secrets by Lauren Kunze and Rina Onur

Title: Secrets (Ivy, #2)
Author: Lauren Kunze and Rina Onur
Format: ARC, 316 pages
Genre: Young Adult
Source: review copy from publisher
Published: June 1, 2011 by Greenwillow Books

Reputation, Reputation, Reputation.

You're a student at the most prestigious university in the country, and you've been tapped for the most elite social club. You've made it!

Now Don't Blow It!

Callie Andrews triumphed during her first semester at Harvard: she made incomparable friends, found the perfect boyfriend, and received invitations to the most exclusive secret societies. But she may have ruined every-thing with one ill-fated night. Now she's keeping secrets from everyone, including—

Clint the upperclassman who's too good to be true

Vanessa the best friend turned backstabber

Gregory the guy who's a total(ly hot) mistake

and Lexi the social queen who wants to bring Callie down.

But Callie didn't get into Harvard by giving up, and she isn't about to now. Besides, she's not the only one with something to hide. . . .

Why I Read this Book: The previous book, The Ivy (my review), left off with quite the scandal. I’ve been waiting to read Secrets for almost a year now!

What I Liked: Confession: I was in a bit of a panic when I was about to start reading Secrets because while I could remember some of what happened in The Ivy, there were certain details that I couldn’t remember – like the how things went down. Lucky for me, the authors did a great job of recapping most of the I had questions right in the beginning of Secrets. There was one thing (regarding Callie’s secret) that wasn’t recapped on until late in the book.

Secrets was even more scandalous and delicious than its predecessor. You like drama? Well, you’ll get drama in Secrets. Alexis, head chick for Fifteen Minutes magazine Callie is COMPing (trying out) for, totally makes Callie’s life miserable. And even though I’m on Callie’s side, it’s kind of fun to watch her squirm a bit. There’s more drama, more romances. And the authors keep things interesting with there being more than one romantic interest for Callie. Ah, the possibilities…

There are a couple of Harvard-related websites mentioned in the book (nonofficial sites) that are real sites! And yes, I checked them out and they are funny!

One of my favorite scenes in the book was The Hasty Pudding Social Club Limerick party. Each attendee picked a name out of a hat and had to write a limerick about that person. All the Limericks mentioned in the book were very entertaining! Including the one Clint wrote just for Callie’s to read.

And with all the drama going on in Secrets, there were plenty of laughs.

“Ohmygosh, look at that guy,” she cried, pointing at a boy wearing only a tube sock – and not on either of his feet.*

What I Didn’t Like: Poor Callie, she just can’t seem to get a break! Just when things look to be going her way – WHAM! – there’s a problem. But then it wouldn’t have been as to fun if everything went her way. So many mishaps; things getting into the wrong hands seems to be the reoccurring theme in this series.

Overall Impression: Secrets was pure entertainment. Great fun afternoon read or beach read. With the helluva cliffhanger at the end of Secrets, I can’t wait to read the next book in this 4-book series!

 

The Book Vixen’s Rating:

*Quote checked against bound finished copy of this book.