The Secrets We Keep

February 16, 2015
Although the idea of twins masquerading as each other isn’t new, Leaver (co-author of Creed, written with Lindsay Currie) gives the premise a twist by having a twin step into her dead sister’s shoes. High school seniors Ella and Maddy Lawton might share the same genes, but their lives have been drifting in different directions. Studious, quiet, and quirky Ella is headed for art school while popular and gregarious Maddy is in line for an athletic scholarship. After a car accident leads to Maddy’s death, Ella decides to impersonate her sister—forever. Leaver illustrates just how complicated a decision that turns out to be, weaving together a jumbled web of secrets and lies that make Ella’s deception that much harder. Readers will be caught up in the very real grief that Ella feels at losing her sister, as well as her desperation to keep her secret. The final pages are not terribly surprising, but watching Ella grapple with questions about life, death, and love makes for rewarding reading. Ages 12–up. Agent: Kevan Lyon, Marsal Lyon Literary Agency.

February 15, 2015
A fatal accident leaves one twin sister dead and the other trying to figure out her identity.Ella has always been smart, quiet and artistic, while her identical twin sister, Maddy, became part of the social elite once they reached high school. Ella has also become accustomed to bailing Maddy out, so it's no surprise when Maddy needs Ella to pick her up from a party. As the two argue over their growing separation, Ella crashes the car, killing Maddy instantly. In an implausible story straight out of Hollywood, Ella, not certain who she is when she wakes up after the accident, assumes she is Maddy, especially when Maddy's boyfriend, Alex, is at her side. Although she quickly realizes the truth about Maddy, Ella pretends to be her twin sister in an effort to trade her own life for the life Maddy should have had. She seems to fool her family and friends, but can she convince herself to be Maddy? The effort, described in hyperbolic prose that seems determined to tell instead of show, becomes more difficult when Alex begins pressuring her to resume Maddy's physical relationship, and Ella's best friend, Josh, proclaims his love for the Ella he presumes dead. The discovery of Maddy's secret involvement in a school scandal weaves a mild thriller plot into the building romance. For lovers of melodrama only. (Fiction. 13-18)

October 1, 2015

Gr 7 Up-Ella Lawton is a senior in high school and a talented artist about to be accepted into a prestigious art design school. While Ella has flown under the radar in high school, her identical twin sister, Maddy, is incredibly popular and dating the sought-after Alex Furey. Ella is content with her friends and her art, while Maddy seems to have a drama-filled social circle that perplexes Ella. One night, Maddy calls her sister and asks her to come pick her up from a party. When Ella arrives, she sees that her twin is visibly upset, and the two leave, with Ella at the wheel. On the drive home, the teens are involved in a tragic accident, leaving Maddy dead. When Ella wakes up, she realizes that everyone, her parents, Alex, and a big group of friends are all waiting for her to regain consciousness at the hospital. Everyone thinks she is Maddy. Ella makes a split-second decision to take on her sister's life. The siblings have switched places before, for tests and schoolwork. Little does Ella realize the difficulties that lie ahead in trying to navigate Maddy's life, and what price she will have to pay to give up her own dreams. The book is well written, but Ella's interior monologue drags at times. There are some mysteries about Maddy's life that do get resolved, but they take a backseat to Ella's deception. VERDICT Well written with excellent character development, this work falters in its pacing and focus. A general purchase for most YA collections.-Nancy Jo Lambert, Reedy High School, Frisco, TX

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2015
Grades 9-12 The accident was horrible: one twin dead, and her sisterthe driverwith a terrific blow to the head. Only gradually does Ella realize who she isthe person who has killed her sister and taken Miss Popularity from the high school and the favored daughter from her parents. Since no one seems to be able to tell the difference, Ella decides to become Maddy, the daughter, friend, and girlfriend that she believes everyone wanted to live. Yet the more Ella becomes Maddy, the more she misses herself, realizing that Maddy's life wasn't the idyllic one she had envisioned. Leaver makes this rather dubious premise plausible. Ella and Maddy are identical, albeit the antithesis of each other throughout high school. Her characters are real: the girls' parents' grief and confusion are palpable, and the high school mean girls are definitely mean. While readers must suspend disbelief in order for this story to work, Leaver does a credible, if didactic, job of illustrating the reality that people love us for who we are, not who we might think they want us to be.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)