[.ca] Keeping You a Secret (ISBN 0316009857)

a significant book for teens:
Again, I am amazed by Julie Anne Peters and her ability to create the voice and dynamic personality of a teenager. This book is about comfort zones and how comfort zones can and will change in a teen's turbulent years. Holland, the main character who tells her story, is a great student, a good person, a great daughter and friend. As many teens experience, Holland's mother wants the very best for her, the opportunities she herself did not have as a young mother cast out onto the street by her parents. But Holland is in the process of finding herself, and actually has lost sight of finding herself truly in the business of high school friends, a job, school work, a boyfriend, and applying to colleges. But one day, she meets the "Out and proud" Cece, a new girl at the high school, and in Cece, she finds both herself, and a love she has never before experienced. When Holland comes out, she ponders hwo to tell her mother, but her mother finds out through the grapevine and throws her on the street (ironic, huh?). This book is so significant for teens, teaching the importance of self-respect and acceptance. It is also a book anyone who works with teens, or is a parent to a teen should absolutely read.

Totally Awesome.:
I thought that this book was just, so awesome. I read it in two nights. It was so good that I couldn't put the book down. I think it's a great read for teens who are struggling with these kinds of issues. This is the first book I've ever read from Julie Anne Peters and I already consider her a great author. I really did love reading this book and was so sad when I finished because I needed more.

Simply a Great Read:
So this book wasn't the most literary or most unpredictable lesbian read...So what if it was a 'high school' novel? It was fabulous nonetheless. For everyone who's ever come out, every LGBTQ person who knows what it means to have the support of their family and what they are without it, every woman who's ever had a crush on a girl, everyone who's ever fallen in love, questioned their future, or questioned who they really are...this book is well worth a weekend spent curled up with a cup of coffee, a donut, and the Dixie Chicks on the radio. And careful girls...you might just find yourself falling in love with Cece Goddard.

I LOVED this book and highly recommend it.:
"Keeping You A Secret" by Julie Anne Peters is a really great book. A friend of mine I recently met online suggested me the book after she learned I liked to read. She pretty much said "Oh you HAVE to read this!!" lol I bought it, and I started to read it.... could NOT put it down! I read it all in one day. Great story about Holland and Cece..... I saw me and a lot of people I knew in many of the characters. This book shows how hard it is to come out at times... but I have always believed when it comes to telling who your REAL friends are.... coming out of the closet is a great way to tell. Very good book especially if you tend to perfer "attention keeper" kind of books... One warning tho.... don't read it if you need to go somewhere shortly... you will NOT want to put it down and trust me "one more chapter" doesn't work.

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, perfect for anyone questioning their sexuality or their place in the world. A truly recommended read. Reviewed by: Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"