A review by fela_feli
House of Secrets by Ned Vizzini, Chris Columbus

adventurous emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I LOVE THIS BOOK SM. I read it when I was like 11 and it was my favorite childhood book ever. and now i'm rereading it when i'm 17 and i still love it just as much. if not more. honestly, idk for sure if this book is actually good or if childhood me just loved it sm i don't really have the capacity to hate it. i mean, i think it is, without a doubt, a good book. but it's just greater to me because it's more dear to my heart. i think the plot is pretty interesting! for a kid's book anyway. and i actually love how realistic brendon, cordelia and eleanor are. and my favoritest ever is will ofc. has always been! my first book bf. he's so so dear to me. i love that he's british so he's all "what in the bloody blazes" and "crikey"

it threw me off that he was kinda sexist. i forgot about that but like given he's from the 1900s it makes sense, sort of. that his view on women are stuck in the 1900s. i didn't really like penelope hope appearing because like 11 year old me wanted cordelia and will to end up together so bad and penelope got in the way. she wasn't bad but like girl existed for 3.5 seconds so uh.. yeah. but cordelia and will seemed like a one-sided crush thing so, that was awkward. the kiss still made me giggle but it wasn't really much. i felt bad for will when penelope died, though. but he was kinda an ass when he was captain draper, but like he apologized so everything is all good because will is perfect. oh and i felt so bad for him because he's just a character and doesn't even have parents and when he died omg i was about to cry. the fact he thought his death wouldn't matter to anyone because nothing he knew was real but then he realizes brendan, eleanor and especially cordelia would care ☹ made me so emotional.

in the ending it seemed like everything got resolved kinda.. just like that. not much of a struggle there but it was relieving anyway. i actually really love how adventurous this book is, too! like it's one of my favorite things ever. and it's also pretty funny! and it keeps me from being bored and i can't wait to read the next book!!!