"The Secret Year"

“The Secret Year” by Jennifer R. Hubbard
Review written by Diana Iozzia


Young love lost. It’s a very important and very sad theme in many young adult fiction novels, but I think this is one of the best ways to describe a young love falling apart due to the death of one partner. In “The Secret Year”, Julia dies in a car accident, and we learn how she and Colt were in a secret relationship. You have your tropes; a beautiful blonde popular girl falls in love with the awkward yet handsome and kind boy from the wrong side of the tracks. His life is so wrong he has tires and old cars strewn across his front yard.

Julia and Colt had a lovely sugary high school relationship when they were together, often swimming together in a lake at night. Their love feels very pure, and it reminds me of many young adult novels, such as “Thirteen Reasons Why”.

I feel compassion for Julia, because she was never happy in her own shoes. She liked stepping into Colt’s and loving him, so it’s very sad when you remember that she was dead. I fully recommend this to anyone who wants a very different and sad young adult novel to sulk with. It’s not happy clappy. Boy meets girl, boy loves girl. Girl dies. Boy mourns girl.

"The Day I Killed James"

"The Day I Killed James" by Catherine Ryan Hyde
Review written by Diana Iozzia 




It must be about five or six years since I read this novel. I picked it up in the library, because a boy I was "in love with" was named James. You know how 14 to 15 year old girls are. I also wanted to read this, because it was written by the same author who wrote "Pay It Forward", another favorite of mine.

The main character in this story is named Theresa. After a party Theresa brought her boyfriend, James to, he accidentally dies in a tragic motorcycle accident. The prose is a bit difficult to read, because it is written through a young adult's perspective. Honestly, Hyde's prose is written much more believable in her other novels, because in this one, it seems she tries very hard to sound like a young adult.

This book is very sad and soaked with guilt. It's an interesting story of learning to overcome tragedy and moving on with life. I think I'd like to give this a re-read, now that I'm twenty-one, and I think I have more life experience? Also, I am engaged, so I wonder if I have a different perspective on love.