It's Not Like It's a Secret

De: Misa Sugiura

Narrado por: Emily Woo Zeller

"Well-paced, brimming with drama, and utterly vital." —Kirkus (starred review)

This charming and bittersweet coming-of-age story featuring two girls of color falling in love is part To All the Boys I've Loved Before and part Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. Winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature!

Sixteen-year-old Sana Kiyohara has too many secrets. Some are small, like how it bothers her when her friends don’t invite her to parties. Some are big, like the fact that her father may be having an affair. And then there’s the one that she can barely even admit to herself—the one about how she might have a crush on her best friend.

When Sana and her family move to California, she begins to wonder if it’s finally time for some honesty, especially after she meets Jamie Ramirez. Jamie is beautiful and smart and unlike anyone Sana’s ever known. There are just a few problems: Sana's new friends don't trust Jamie's crowd; Jamie's friends clearly don't want her around anyway; and a sweet guy named Caleb seems to have more-than-friendly feelings for her. Meanwhile, her dad’s affair is becoming too obvious to ignore.

Sana always figured that the hardest thing would be to tell people that she wants to date a girl, but as she quickly learns, telling the truth is easy…what comes after it, though, is a whole lot more complicated.

©2017 Misa Sugiura (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers

Beautiful story

The performance of the reader was absolutely magnificent! She manage to perfectly represent each character uniquely

A Little boring

This book started very well however it just went on for to Long
And i personally didn’t really like the narraters voice

Excellent performance and interesting story

The performance and 90% of the story are near flawless but some bumps in the writing prevent me from giving it a perfect review. The story feels slow at times and rushed at others, especially towards the end. I would have liked to have seen more of Jamie and Sana rekindling, and perhaps more of Jamie's friends.

The supporting cast is extremely strong, and performed expertly by Emily Woo Zeller. It's rare that one can read/listen to a book one time and remember ever secondary and supporting character, even those only mentioned two or three times.

The cultural aspect really elevates this story above others in its respective genre, and the race dynamic between Jamie and Sana is far more nuanced than I expected going in.

To summarize, "It's Not Like It's A Secret" is a YA novel done right with rarely a dull moment, even in the parts where the story slows down. A must read for anyone interested in LGBT representation, asian culture, race dynamics, or just good reads.
8/10.

sensationally amazing

couldn't stop listening to it.

lots of tough but important issues that teens, and everyone really, were brought to life beautifully and with a realness that is greatly appreciated. a realness that is rarely seen in the YA genre.

ok

got bored and annoyed half way through but stuck it put. it gets better near the end.

Better than I expected

Strong start and in the end I really enjoyed this, but there were a few moments when I just had to take out my buds from irritation. The story suffers from some irritating tropes. I get that drama needs conflict, in this genre its usually either the parents or homophobes but one of my least favorite tropes is the protagonist unwittingly weaving an ever-more-complicated web of unnecessary lies. It isn't quite that bad but it almost gets there.
However I'm glad I stuck with it because it makes up for everything in the end and I forgave the story for what it did to me.

YA contemporary that focused on an important topic

What did you love best about It's Not Like It's a Secret?

Wooooo....wow this book was a lot to unpack. Lots of conversations that need to be had but have never been approached like this before. I think a lot of books about prejudice and ignorance tend to focus on a very black and white lens but this one centered on prejudice in Mexican and Asian communities, which is very unique to California being that both racial groups are the largest minorities. I think the pros of this story was that it made me feel something, and it wasn't always cotton candy and comfort.

What scared me the most about this story is that it reflected my own childhood and teenage years. Sana, the main character's mother, i'm ashamed to admit that she's actually like my grandmother. She's ignorant. She says hateful things about pretty much every ethnic group she doesn't fall under and she doesn't think of anything she says as wrong. She's scared of what she considers different, and unfortunately I found myself relating to Sana for not doing the right thing and challenging her on her ignorance. It's hard to challenge people you love and raised you and make them see your point when they in their heads, feel as though they've never been wrong. I constantly ask myself, why don't people call their families out on their racist thoughts? And then I think back to every situation that's happened and has yet to happen, where I don't correct my family members for saying hurtful things. Sometimes it's just not worth it and you always feel as though you're never going to change their minds.

While I didn't think Sana was a traditionally likable heroine, I did however relate to her. I think what would have made this book a five is if it would have centered more on the f/f relationship and not so much the drama her parents were going through. It was so distracting and all I wanted was a love story. I also needed Sana to own up to her privilege and admit that all the hurtful things she said about Latinos were wrong and that she needed to learn more about things she wasn't knowledgeable enough about before she spoke. Overall, we need more ff books with no white gaze and this was a step forward in that direction.

REALLY RECOMMEND

I, as a 14 year old mixed, lesbian, fulllly recommend this book! It tackles lots of real life problems and the way that people overlook and stereotype each race. Not only that but, it shows the emotions of loving the same gender, and learning to be okay with that. Plus the narrator was amazing and conveyed so much emotion that helped tie the whole book together. I love this book, and it’s definitely one of my favorites now.

the best ymi book I've read

the narration was amazing. the story was complex. I read reviews about the middle being slow and I disagree. they touch on really complex topics I'm guessing people may want to tune out and get back to the main plot

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Loved it! moving and heartfelt. it reminded me of high school-- and also being from Wisconsin, really hit home for me .