Book Review of The Secrets We Keep by Trisha Leaver

As a writer, reader, and lover of YA, I heard about The Secrets We Keep by Trisha Leaver almost a year before its release, and I was so excited that I actually marked the date in my planner in addition to immediately adding it to my book wishlist. I entered a contest to win an ARC, but didn't get one, so you can bet I had this title on preorder. All that to say: there was a lot of anticipation about this book for me, and I certainly wasn't disappointed! Merely reading the premise: that identical twin sisters are in a car accident, one survives, the other doesn't, and the surviving twin assumes the identity of the deceased twin was enough to get me interested, and the more I found out about the book, the more I knew it would be a must-read. But, in an epic book blogger fail, I forgot to post my review of this gem, and it has been sitting around in draft form ever since. As I went to post my review of I See Reality, a YA short story anthology with a short story by Trisha Leaver included, I wanted to refer back to this post, and that's when I realized my mistake. I love the cover design so much that, until my bookshelf got too crowded--what a good problem to have--it had actually earned a face-out.

For those of you who are dubious that a mix-up like that could happen, I point you to this story: which actually took place at the college I attended for undergrad while I was a student there, in which two completely unrelated girls were involved in a van crash and were misidentified as each other. They didn't even look like they could be sisters! ...so, one could see how this is certainly possible with identical twins. Also, because of this issue, I kept noticing that Leaver set up lots of circumstances to explain the questions of any potential doubters (Maddie was wearing Ella's clothing, when asked her name by first responders right after the accident, Ella was struggling to utter Maddie's name in a feeble attempt to ask about Maddie's condition, and Ella was driving Maddie's car at the time of the accident).

As the story continued past the car accident, what I found most powerful and compelling about The Secrets We Keep was that Ella, the quiet, studious, independent sister seemed 100% sure that her identity was devoid of value--that nobody would miss her. That misconception, combined with the crowds of people vociferously showing their support for "Maddie" right after the accident caused Ella to confuse popularity with personal value. ...not to say that Maddie didn't have value as a person, but just to say that she wasn't a better or more worthwhile person simply because she was more popular than Ella was. It took actually stepping into Maddie's (highly uncomfortable) shoes and pretending to be her sister for several weeks to realize that, while Maddie might have had many supporters and admirers, Ella was the beneficiary of unconditional love. Though not a "people person," her strong and meaningful relationships with her best friend (and potential boyfriend), her parents, and her art make the choice of which twin to be, which seems like a no-brainer to her at first blush, a truly difficult decision as time passes.

The Secrets We Keep deals genuinely and movingly with many serious issues: self-value and awareness, the true meaning and cost of popularity, personal ethics, the lesson that what we do can have a sometimes life-altering impact on others, substance use and abuse/underage drinking and drug use, grief, and unconditional love. If you enjoyed If I Stay and Where She Went by Gayle Forman, you may just like this book even more. This is one of the most powerful pieces of YA I've read in a long time. Highly recommended.