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Reviewed by Heather Osborne for Readers' Favorite
Everyone Has Their Little Secrets by Michael Louthan is a young adult novel written in the form of diary entries found by her mother after her tragic death. Zoe Lynskey is a typical preteen. She has her friends, a loving family, and a bully. As much as she tries to avoid Kirk Crawford, it becomes unavoidable when a tragic accident rips her family to shreds. Zoe enters a downward spiral, turning to drugs and alcohol to numb the pain and never-ending nightmares. After a party, Zoe finds her life changed forever. Can her mother shed light on the painful events of Zoe’s past through her personal experiences?
Mr. Louthan presents a clever storytelling method in Everyone Has Their Little Secrets. I was drawn in by the style and interested to watch Zoe grow. I did find some of the basic factual information inaccurate. For example, being a mother myself, I felt it was very unlikely a three-month-old baby would be crawling or that some of the language would be accurate for a young toddler. Also, I found some of the diary entries to be written in a way that did not suggest a seventh grader’s mindset. I was left speculating at the end as to what really happened to Zoe. Aside from that, I found the novel, Everyone Has Their Little Secrets, well-written and an acceptable read for a young adult. Focusing on the dangers of drug and alcohol use is a very important topic to discuss with teenagers.
