Review: Dirty Little Secret by Jennifer Echols

Title: Dirty Little Secret 
Author: Jennifer Echols
Expected publication: July 16th 2013 by MTV Books
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I can’t tell you for sure what I was expecting when I opened the first page of Dirty Little Secret. I mean, sure, it’s Jennifer Echols, a good time is for granted, but since she had 3 books out this year and I’ve read all her previous ones, I was a bit overwhelmed.

Turns out my worries were unfounded because she hits it out of the park again. Not only did she reminded me what made her so good and made me fall in love with her writing in the first place, but also I found improvement and evolution. Somehow this book felt even more young adult to me than all of her previous ones, maybe because the emotions Bailey was going through were so perfectly described and perfectly fitted with my own emotions as a confused and hurt teenager that I couldn’t help but be blown away by how much I could relate to her.

Bailey’s sister Julie got a record deal and is setting off to be country’s next Taylor Swift.

 

This would all have been great if Bailey hadn’t been the other half of the guitar and fiddle duo they had all through their short lives. Bailey is hurt and feels rejected now that her parents have removed her from anything Julie is doing so she wouldn’t mess things up, and that includes staying away from music.

But Bailey breathes music, and naturally she can’t let it go. So when she meets Sam, the son of a Johnny Cash impersonator, and possibly the hottest thing that had happened in country music since ever; she has to take a chance or forever wonder what if.

You guys, Sam was amazing. I think he’s probably the most upbeat boy Jenn has ever created (and that’s saying something because he has his fair share of brooding) because he talks really fast, says everything that comes to his head and dresses funky. I loved that he was straight-forward and obsessibly driven about music, he had this energy about him that was hard to ignore.

But then Bailey was my favorite part of the book. She was, like I said, flawlessly crafted into a perfectly real teenager. I got where she was coming from, and I rooted for her all through her story. I wanted to hug her and tell her that I know how she felt because I did too, all those feelings of not belonging and not knowing what you’re supposed to do or who you’re supposed to be, I loved that her problems were over-the-top fiction yet I, a simple chick from the suburbs, could relate to.

 

And then we have the country music. Seriously, who doesn't love a good ole' bluegrass music once in a while (or most of the time, if you're me). Country music is the equivalent of breakfast for champions, and this book's got plenty. You're in for a magical tour through the enchanting streets of Nashville, with its colorful folklore and incredible nightlife, where Bailey and Sam prove to us that dreams do come true.