Tell Me A Secret by Holly Cupala

Tell Me A Secret by Holly Cupala
Release Date: June 22, 2010
Publisher: HarperTeen
Age Group: Young Adult 
Pages: 304


Summary: It's tough living in the shadow of a dead girl. . . .

In the five years since her bad-girl sister Xanda's death, Miranda Mathison has wondered about the secret her sister took to the grave, and what really happened the night she died. Now, just as Miranda is on the cusp of her dreams—a best friend to unlock her sister's world, a ticket to art school, and a boyfriend to fly her away from it all—Miranda has a secret all her own.

When two lines on a pregnancy test confirm her worst fears, Miranda is stripped of her former life. She must make a choice with tremendous consequences and finally face her sister's demons and her own.

In this powerful debut novel, stunning new talent Holly Cupala illuminates the dark struggle of a girl who must let go of her past to find a way into her own future.

My Thoughts: Holly Cupala is such an amazing writer. Everything she writes is so raw and beautiful in its own way. I fell in love with Don't Breathe A Word, I enjoyed Tell Me A Secret. Both were so enjoyable I feel like I lived inside both of the characters heads in both novels. 

In Tell Me A Secret, we are introduced to Miranda aka Rand who has just spent 3 months away at a camp. She comes home to find out that her best friend Delaney isn't who she thought she was and her boyfriend Kamran has changed so much he's barely recognizable.  Rand has already had a stressful time dealing with her sister's death and the way her parents act towards her. Rand has to be perfect in their eyes so she doesn't turn into her sister Xanda. In their eyes, Xanda was perfect  until one day she wasn't. She became wild and out of control. 

Rand comes home already worried, because she thinks she might be pregnant. She made a choice before camp thinking her boyfriend would be waiting for her when she got home. She loved him so how could he possibly want anything other than her?

Rand has a lot of tough decisions to make, keep the baby, not keep the baby, pursue her dream of art school, or give up and get a job? 

I honestly didn't like Kamran from the beginning. Maybe that was the point, we aren't supposed to really like him? He never really seemed to treat Rand all that good, even in flashbacks. Or at least I didn't think so. 

I did like Andre; Xanda's boyfriend when she was alive. I felt like Andre was an overall good guy. He felt horrible about what happened to Xanda and didn't just forget her and move on right away.  I knew that there had to be more to that story than what we were led to believe in the beginning. 

I liked Rand's personality. I liked how she stuck up for herself and believed in herself even when nobody else did. 

Tell Me A Secret was an amazing debut by Cupala. 

Overall: Really enjoyed this one. It was also a very fast read for me. Once I got sucked in the story I didn't stop until I finished. I stayed up way past my bedtime on a Sunday night reading until I was done! Tell Me A Secret was very intense. A great look at how scared a teenage girl can really be when she sees those two pink lines that have the possibility to change her life forever. 

Cover: The cover is very realistic. The way it looks like she is breathing on the other's shoulders makes it look kind of artistic. 

What I'd Give It: