Product Description

ith a steady boyfriend, the position of Student Council President, and a chance to go to an Ivy League college, high school life is just fine for Holland Jaeger. At least it seems to be. But when Cece Goddard comes to school, everything changes. Cece and Holland have undeniable feelings for each other, but how will others react to their developing relationship? This moving love story between two girls is a worthy successor to Nancy Garden's classic young adult coming out novel, Annie on My Mind. With her characteristic humor and breezy style, Peters has captured the compelling emotions of young love.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #96463 in Books
• Published on: 2005-05-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780316009850
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From School Library Journal
Grade 9 Up-Holland Jaeger goes steady with a good-looking boy and contemplates attending an Ivy League college in the fall. Then she meets "out-and-proud" lesbian Cece Goddard, and her life changes. Within a matter of weeks, the two begin an affair that eventually leads to a committed relationship. Holland loses old friends, encounters vicious discrimination, and is thrown out of the house by her hysterical mother. She finds help at the local Gay Resource Center, however, and begins to look forward to attending a local college after high school, with Cece by her side. Peters knows how to tell an intriguing story. However, while both teens are likable, believable characters, the confidence with which Cece proudly proclaims her sexual orientation at school strains credibility. This aside, the antigay slurs, viciousness, and prejudice the girls endure certainly leave an indelible impression. Peters's message may be heavy-handed at times, but, overall, this is a well-written and thought-provoking novel.
Robert Gray, East Central Regional Library, Cambridge, MN
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Reviewed with Tea Benduhn's Gravel Queen.

Gr. 9-12. In these novels about first love, a high-school girl falls hard for another girl and faces the complicated pain of coming out to family, friends, and to one's self. In Gravel Queen, the author's debut novel, Aurin explores her first gay relationship, and finds that her best friend, a glamorous, possessive drama queen, is jealous. Benduhn focus on Aurin's self-discovery and friendships, closing the novel before Aurin tells her family what's going on. In Keeping You a Secret, model high-school senior Holland, who has a boyfriend, develops an overwhelming crush on Cece. The girls fall passionately in love and a tragic coming-out story ensues. Holland finds herself homeless and alone, except for Cece and a new gay support system.

Both novels, written in first-person, are filled with believable inner monologues and finely tuned contemporary dialogue. Benduhn includes some interesting cinematic references related to Aurin's filmmaking aspirations, but some of her descriptions are over-the-top. Peters' story and characters are more developed. Both books are romantic and layered, and many teens, particularly those with fluid sexual identities, will recognize the questions: Do you have to kiss someone to be gay? What do fantasies mean? Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author
Julie Anne Peters is the critically acclaimed author of Define "Normal,"Between Mom and Jo, Far from Xanadu, and Luna, a National Book Award Finalist.

Customer Reviews

Absolutely Amazing
This is an absolutely amazing book about teens, sexuality, and society. Peters does a wonderful job in capturing the issues surrounding coming out for young people, and deals with them courageously and realistically. She delivers a story of one girl who is supported by her parents and another who is disowned. One girl who is openly and comfortably gay, and another who is closeted and dealing with her newly-realized sexuality. These girls find comfort in each other as they deal with internal and external forces. If a book like this had been available 20 years ago, I might have made different choices in my own life. I might even have my own pre-teen daughters read it.

The book is well-written, thoughtful, and easy to read. I haven't read a story this good in a very long time.

Recommended for anyone of any age who is dealing with issues of sexuality... accompanied with a Coke and a bowl of Bing cherries...

Did I mention I really liked this book?

Keeping You A Secret
Now that her senior year has arrived, Holland Jaeger finds life is not so simple. Her mother is pressing her to go to law school. This is not Holland's dream, however her mother seems intent on living vicariously through Holland's life. She wants only the best for Holland. Therefore it is up to Holland to get the best grades, apply to the best schools, and meet everyone's expectations.

When Holland finds herself attracted to a new student, she realizes she's going to have a very serious problem with her current boyfriend; he's too needy. Since they began having [a relationship], that is all he seems to want to do. The new student, Cece, is an 'out-and-proud' lesbian, and Holland finds herself in the greatest relationship ever. What price will she pay when she decides to follow her heart?

KEEPING YOU A SECRET tackles a tough subject in a lighthearted manner. Now there is a lot in this book to which I cannot relate. My parents did not force me to follow their dreams and, as a heterosexual woman, I have no experience with the discrimination that lesbians face. I know when I was in high school there were no [guys in relationships] or lesbians that I knew of. In retrospect now that some of them have "come out", I am surprised that they did manage to keep it hidden so well, and saddened that they felt they had to hide the essence of who they were.

Those issues aside, I found myself intrigued with Julie Anne Peters writing. Her views are honest and handled well. Teen [relationships are]not ignored; instead it is handled honestly with both the pros and cons taken into consideration. Birth control is discussed without being preached. All of these were issues we hated listening to as kids, but they are important nonetheless.

I honestly cannot say this book will appeal to every teenager. But I do hope that those with an open mind will read it and take the message to heart. In the end, it's your decisions, the ones that change your life, that are the most important.

Tracy Farnsworth

Courtesy of Teens Read Too
The second book I've read by Julie Anne Peters, KEEPING YOU A SECRET is another sure-fire winner about the highs and lows of first love, the terror and joy of "coming out", and the good and the bad that is the thing called family.

Holland Jaeger is the "It" girl everyone envies--she has great friends, she's President of the Student Body, she's the girlfriend of Seth, she's the popular girl who can be counted on to always get along with everyone. That is, until Cece Goddard transfers in, and Holland's once-perfect life no longer seems so great.

The first time she sees Cece, Holland feels something that she's never felt before. Although sexually active with her boyfriend, Seth, having sex is more like a chore--she'd much rather sit around talking, the way they used to do when they were friends rather than lovers. As Cece flaunts her homosexuality, wearing shirts proclaiming herself out and proud, Holland wonders what it means when her attraction to Cece becomes almost an obsession.

College looms on the horizon and no one, especially her mother, will quit asking her where she's going. They have big plans for her, you see, both her mother, who became a single parent way too young, Seth, and the career counselor at her school. Forced into a role she doesn't want, Holland escapes into her art class, drawing away from her former friends as feelings and emotions she can't control rush to the surface.

As Holland realizes that she is, in fact, a lesbian, her perfect life is suddenly out of control. She's shunned by her former friends at school, her mother kicks her out of the house, she's forced to live in a run-down motel that's now a shelter, and she's not sure she'll be able to attend college at all.

Holland must learn what's really important in life, that it's not about being popular but about being true to yourself. As she loses old friends she gains new ones in the gay and lesbian community, and forms a bond with Cece that is beyond her wildest expectations.

KEEPING YOU A SECRET is a great, emotional read, pefect for anyone questioning their sexuality or their place in the world. A truly recommended read.