Secret Lies

by Amy Dunne

Overview

Would you face your biggest fear, to save the one you love?


Nicola Jackson escapes from her abuser, only to realize she has no one to turn to and nowhere to go. In a twist of fate, she accidentally bumps into Jenny O’Connor, the most popular girl at school. They strike up an unlikely friendship. As their trust in each other develops, they share their darkest secrets, and their relationship blossoms into a secret romance.


Jenny loves Nicola, but she is fearful that if their secret relationship is discovered, she might lose her family, friends, and her seemingly perfect life.
Nicola confronts her abuser and blackmails him to leave for good, but things go terrifyingly wrong. Jenny is left with a life-changing dilemma: should she face her fear and accept who she is, or let Nicola take the blame and pretend their relationship never happened?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781602829701
Publisher:	Bold Strokes Books
Publication date:	12/10/2013
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.80(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	13 - 18 Years

About the Author

Amy was raised in Derbyshire, England. She attended Keele University and graduated in 2007 with a BSc in philosophy and psychology. After graduating, she worked for a while with vulnerable young people until she moved on to delivering adult training courses. She is currently in the process of setting up her own business, which is an exciting prospect. She is engaged to her lovely partner, Lou, who is also a massive fan of Dolly Parton. They have two gorgeous cats and a very naughty puppy.

Editorial Reviews

2013-11-13
Defying parents, religion, friends and tragic circumstances, two teenage girls manage to nurture their growing relationship and find safety in each other's arms. To all outward appearances, Jenny O'Connor has it all: popularity, a loving home and plenty of confidence. Nicola Jackson seems to be her polar opposite: socially awkward and forced to hide painful secrets about her home life. When the two of them collide in the street, it seems unlikely that their friendship will last beyond the day, but they discover they are stronger and happier as a couple. Even as their friends and families strive to break their alliance, they fall deeper and deeper into love. Debut novelist Dunne offers a quick-moving but predictable plot populated by characters who seem blatantly determined to school readers on the evils of prejudice. The heavy-handedness of the lesson overshadows nearly every interaction, and the histrionics assigned to certain scenes make them better suited to an earlier setting. One 16-year-old attacks with "People like you and her should be locked up to protect the rest of us." This protest feels out of place in a contemporary teenager's world of instant access to the latest celebrity same-sex couples. A soap-operatic treatment of an issue that would unfold better with a more nuanced approach. (Fiction. 15 & up)

Kirkus Reviews