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libreroaming's review against another edition
3.0
Ann Angel has assembled a collection of short stories about "secret selves" from a variety of YA authors, from established ones like Chris Lynch and Ellen Witlinger, to debut authors. Some of the secrets are obvious ones teens would face, like their sexual activities or their outsider quirks. A few of the stories have secrets that manifest in extraordinary ways, from guardian angels to secret spies.
Weakest: "We Were Together" deals with secrets and consequences in a truncated way that's pretty unsatisfying, like it was the start of a longer story that got cut short because of the length requirements. "The We-Are-Like-Everyone-Else Game" deals with toxic friendships and family secrets but the two don't coalesce as well (and maybe it's because I read a vignette about a family that deals with hoarding right before this and it pulled it off better).
Interesting: "Partial Reinforcement" and "When We Were Wild" convey the complicated nature of their main characters, and the conflicting interests of their story kind of transferred to my reading for it, but in the best ways.
Best ones: "A Thousand Words," "A Moment, Underground" and "Quick Change," I don't want to spoil anything about them, so I'll say "Quick Change" is the story I wanted more of the most. "A Moment, Underground" perfectly captured the moment of burying or keeping a secrets. And "A Thousand Words" was an amazingly constructed story of how secrets can be different things to different people.
Slightly off-tangent but worth reading: "Storm Clouds Fleeing From the Wind" is a gorgeous fairy tale set in a fantasy Japan. "Cupid's Beaux" is entertaining, but obviously scraped from the author's other series and clunky to read on its own merits because so much time is spent dumping worldbuilding exposition in it, but it's still intriguing for those who want to read more. "Little Wolf and the Iron Pin" is another fairy tale with some Bluebeard overtones, short and to the point so to speak.
Weakest: "We Were Together" deals with secrets and consequences in a truncated way that's pretty unsatisfying, like it was the start of a longer story that got cut short because of the length requirements. "The We-Are-Like-Everyone-Else Game" deals with toxic friendships and family secrets but the two don't coalesce as well (and maybe it's because I read a vignette about a family that deals with hoarding right before this and it pulled it off better).
Interesting: "Partial Reinforcement" and "When We Were Wild" convey the complicated nature of their main characters, and the conflicting interests of their story kind of transferred to my reading for it, but in the best ways.
Best ones: "A Thousand Words," "A Moment, Underground" and "Quick Change," I don't want to spoil anything about them, so I'll say "Quick Change" is the story I wanted more of the most. "A Moment, Underground" perfectly captured the moment of burying or keeping a secrets. And "A Thousand Words" was an amazingly constructed story of how secrets can be different things to different people.
Slightly off-tangent but worth reading: "Storm Clouds Fleeing From the Wind" is a gorgeous fairy tale set in a fantasy Japan. "Cupid's Beaux" is entertaining, but obviously scraped from the author's other series and clunky to read on its own merits because so much time is spent dumping worldbuilding exposition in it, but it's still intriguing for those who want to read more. "Little Wolf and the Iron Pin" is another fairy tale with some Bluebeard overtones, short and to the point so to speak.
lunabob's review against another edition
4.0
I finished Things I'll Never Say today. Or was it yesterday? Or maybe the day before?
I'm not sure when I finished it but I finished it. It took longer than necessary but I have been busy.
Now I will be honest. When I bought this book it was a random cover buy. I was just grabbing things off the shelves and I just happened to grab this one. I did not realize at the moment that it was a bunch of short stories. I loved it none the less. I love the cover so much because of the symbols put into it. I can't tell you how many times my mom or my grandmother found something out and in my moment of surprise I asked "How did you find out?" and most times they would respond "A little bird told me."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiKrclcBPXY
Thought of this song.
Back to the book! The secrets in this book were interesting and no two stories were alike. In fact, my favorite ones where "Cupid's Beaux" by Cynthia Leitich Smith, "Storm Clouds Fleeing From the Wind" by Zoë Marriott, and "Little Wolf and the Iron Pin" by Katy Moran. They were set in a fictional world (I like fantasy a lot even though I don't read a lot of it) and they were the most interesting in my opinion. I grew attached the the characters rather easily for stories that were only twenty to thirty pages long. There was maybe one story that I did not enjoy as much as the others which was "Lucky Buoy" by Chris Lynch. I just didn't find an interest in it and I had to go back and re-read a page more than once.
Some of these stories have some controversial topics to them. Like drugs and what not. So I would recommend this for an older group. Maybe 17+ unless you feel like you are mature enough to handle the topics properly. That may sound bad but I mean it in the nicest way. These stories do not censor and I would explain further but it is hard to do without including spoilers.
On that note, I may or may not do a review containing spoilers. I don't know many people that have read this but i would recommend it if you are looking for a quite and interesting read.
I feel like the fact that there are so many short stories is what really kept me interested because it wasn't the same thing over and over again from the same person. It was multiple people writing about secrets that may or may not be true stories.
I love secrets. I think secrets are interesting and I love to know them all but I'm not the type of person to open my mouth about them. I usually pretty good at keeping my mouth shut. The only time I have ever opened my mouth about something is when I felt like someone was in danger.
There's not much else to say about this book without leaving spoilers behind. If you have read this and you're interested in my opinion on individual stories then I will gladly post a review with spoilers on my blog.
https://lenalostinthebooks.wordpress.com/2015/07/13/things-ill-never-say-review/
I'm not sure when I finished it but I finished it. It took longer than necessary but I have been busy.
Now I will be honest. When I bought this book it was a random cover buy. I was just grabbing things off the shelves and I just happened to grab this one. I did not realize at the moment that it was a bunch of short stories. I loved it none the less. I love the cover so much because of the symbols put into it. I can't tell you how many times my mom or my grandmother found something out and in my moment of surprise I asked "How did you find out?" and most times they would respond "A little bird told me."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiKrclcBPXY
Thought of this song.
Back to the book! The secrets in this book were interesting and no two stories were alike. In fact, my favorite ones where "Cupid's Beaux" by Cynthia Leitich Smith, "Storm Clouds Fleeing From the Wind" by Zoë Marriott, and "Little Wolf and the Iron Pin" by Katy Moran. They were set in a fictional world (I like fantasy a lot even though I don't read a lot of it) and they were the most interesting in my opinion. I grew attached the the characters rather easily for stories that were only twenty to thirty pages long. There was maybe one story that I did not enjoy as much as the others which was "Lucky Buoy" by Chris Lynch. I just didn't find an interest in it and I had to go back and re-read a page more than once.
Some of these stories have some controversial topics to them. Like drugs and what not. So I would recommend this for an older group. Maybe 17+ unless you feel like you are mature enough to handle the topics properly. That may sound bad but I mean it in the nicest way. These stories do not censor and I would explain further but it is hard to do without including spoilers.
On that note, I may or may not do a review containing spoilers. I don't know many people that have read this but i would recommend it if you are looking for a quite and interesting read.
I feel like the fact that there are so many short stories is what really kept me interested because it wasn't the same thing over and over again from the same person. It was multiple people writing about secrets that may or may not be true stories.
I love secrets. I think secrets are interesting and I love to know them all but I'm not the type of person to open my mouth about them. I usually pretty good at keeping my mouth shut. The only time I have ever opened my mouth about something is when I felt like someone was in danger.
There's not much else to say about this book without leaving spoilers behind. If you have read this and you're interested in my opinion on individual stories then I will gladly post a review with spoilers on my blog.
https://lenalostinthebooks.wordpress.com/2015/07/13/things-ill-never-say-review/
brandinh's review
3.0
As with any anthology there were stories I liked and stories I didn’t care for. Unfortunately, there weren’t any real stand-outs here, and far too many left me feeling meh.
The we-are-like-everybody-else-game by Ellen Wittlinger 3 stars
Cupid’s Beaux by Cynthia Leitich Smith 3.5 stars
Partial Reinforcement by Kerry Cohen 2 stars
When we were wild by Louise Hawes 3 stars
Lucky Buoy by Chris Lynch 3.5 stars
For a Moment, Underground by Kekla Magoon 4 stars
Storm Clouds Fleeing From the Wind by Zoe Marriott 4 stars
Choices by Mary Ann Rodman 4 stars
Quick Change by E.M. Kokie 3 stars
Call Me! by Ron Koertge 3 stars
A Crossroads by J.L. Powers 3.25 stars
Little Wolf and the Iron Pin by Katy Moran 4 stars
Three-Four Time by Erica L. Kaufman 3.5 stars
We Were Together by Ann Angel 3 stars
A Thousand Words by Varian Johnson 3.5 stars
The we-are-like-everybody-else-game by Ellen Wittlinger 3 stars
Cupid’s Beaux by Cynthia Leitich Smith 3.5 stars
Partial Reinforcement by Kerry Cohen 2 stars
When we were wild by Louise Hawes 3 stars
Lucky Buoy by Chris Lynch 3.5 stars
For a Moment, Underground by Kekla Magoon 4 stars
Storm Clouds Fleeing From the Wind by Zoe Marriott 4 stars
Choices by Mary Ann Rodman 4 stars
Quick Change by E.M. Kokie 3 stars
Call Me! by Ron Koertge 3 stars
A Crossroads by J.L. Powers 3.25 stars
Little Wolf and the Iron Pin by Katy Moran 4 stars
Three-Four Time by Erica L. Kaufman 3.5 stars
We Were Together by Ann Angel 3 stars
A Thousand Words by Varian Johnson 3.5 stars
simsbrarian's review
4.0
The Good: Most of the stories in this compilation touching on the good and bad of keeping secrets are clever, touching, or nicely dark and thoughtful. The writing is great in some, good in others. The stories are a decent mix of genres and there's some really nice diversity of race, gender identity and sexualities across the collection.
The Less Good: There were two stories which didn't strike a chord for me so clearly it's a mixed lot which means some stories may not work for each reader. Still; they are SHORT stories so it's easy to skip any that don't snag your interest.
To whom would you recommend this book? Readers of Ellen Hopkins might be drawn to some of the darker stories as well as the short nature of them. There are a fantasy tale or two but the majority will appeal to realistic fiction.
FTC Disclosure: The Publisher provided me with a copy of this book to provide an honest review. No goody bags, sponsorship, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
The Less Good: There were two stories which didn't strike a chord for me so clearly it's a mixed lot which means some stories may not work for each reader. Still; they are SHORT stories so it's easy to skip any that don't snag your interest.
To whom would you recommend this book? Readers of Ellen Hopkins might be drawn to some of the darker stories as well as the short nature of them. There are a fantasy tale or two but the majority will appeal to realistic fiction.
FTC Disclosure: The Publisher provided me with a copy of this book to provide an honest review. No goody bags, sponsorship, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
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