Fresh New Voice of YA- Tell Me A Secret by Holly Cupala

Tell Me A Secret by Holly Cupala
"It's tough living in the shadow of a dead girl. . . .

In the five years since her bad-girl sister Xanda's death, Miranda Mathison has wondered about the secret her sister took to the grave, and what really happened the night she died. Now, just as Miranda is on the cusp of her dreams—a best friend to unlock her sister's world, a ticket to art school, and a boyfriend to fly her away from it all—Miranda has a secret all her own.

When two lines on a pregnancy test confirm her worst fears, Miranda is stripped of her former life. She must make a choice with tremendous consequences and finally face her sister's demons and her own."- summary from Amazon

This book was hard to put down, though I totally took on Deb Caletti's dare. She said in the blurb "I dare you to set it down during its last hundred pages." AND I DID. Not because the last hundred pages are bad or anything, but mainly because I'd finished with lunch and had to walk back to the Javits. But that's beside the point. I still did it!

Anyway, the blurbs on this novel are spot-on; it's a wonderful coming of age story and is very raw and emotional. Cupala's prose flows well, and keeps the pages turning. I loved Rand's voice and it was just so honest and pure. Reading about what she was going through was heartbreaking and sometimes I had to put the book down just to let the words sink in.

But be warned, some stuff will (hopefully) cause you to become angry. Rand's mother was that character that just got me so pissed off. There were many times I just wanted to punch her, or have Rand punch her, or have the dad punch her; in other words, she needed a good punching. It's a bit rare that I get so worked up over a character, which is a good thing because it shows how well this book is written that it can affect a reader that way.

The relationships within the novel are handled so well, are written so deftly, and are so complex that it's hard to see this as a debut. I can't say enough good things about this book; it's really that good. Definitely one to check out.

FTC: Received ARC from publisher. Link above is an Amazon Associates link; any profit goes toward funding contests.

Small Bloggiesta update- Only got through #s 1,3, 6,9, and 10. #2 is being done by other people as my batteries died and I don't have enough money to buy more at the moment. So tomorrow, the lovely Vania will be reading from Sea by Heidi R. Kling. Thanks Vania!! But yeah, I didn't really work on it as much as I should have; it was a bit of a busy weekend.