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Dirty Little Secrets

by C.J. Omololu (Goodreads Author)

3.72 of 5 stars 3.72 · rating details · 2,688 ratings · 636 reviews

Everyone has a secret. But Lucy's is bigger and dirtier than most. It's one she's been hiding for years-that her mom's out-of-control hoarding has turned their lives into a world of garbage and shame. Tackling an increasingly discussed topic that is both fascinating and disturbing, C. J. Omololu weaves an hour-by-hour account of Lucy's desperate attempt to save her family....more

Paperback, 224 pages

Published March 15th 2011 by Walker Childrens (first published February 2nd 2010)

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Jul 24, 2010 Kristi (The Story Siren) rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Dirty Little Secrets was such an emotional and absolutely disgusting book!

I can't describe the dismay I felt for teens that have to grow up in this type of environment. It's bad enough that people suffer from this disorder, but it's even worse that there are innocent minors that are subjected to this sickness.

My heart broke for Lucy and her ache for normalcy. I didn't really understand it at first... I was angry at Lucy for not calling the police right away, and then by the end, I had so much ad...more

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Nov 25, 2012 Jennifer Wardrip rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: trt-posted-reviews

Reviewed by Andrea for TeensReadToo.com

DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS by C. J. Omololu tells the story of sixteen-year-old Lucy's dirty secret - literally.

Lucy grew up in a house with a mother who was a hoarder. And she's had to keep it a secret because no one would understand the piles of trash in her house. She finally feels that she might have a chance at a "normal" life and even has a best friend and a boyfriend. But when something happens to threaten that, Lucy must make a decision that will change h...more

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Nov 26, 2012 Inspired Kathy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2012

Yikes. Dirty Little Secrets made me watch an episode of Hoaders just to see what a house like this might really be like. I've known "cluttery" people and my house is often messy but seeing what life for a hoarder and their children is like was eye-opening. It also motivated me to dejunk & clean my house. I may not be a hoarder but it wasn't hard to find several bags of items to giveaway.

This book is heartbreaking but was really interesting to read. Watching Lucy attempt to clean up and sort...more

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Aug 12, 2010 Elizabeth Briggs added it · review of another edition

Dirty Little Secrets by C.J. Omololu explores a subject I haven’t seen in any other YA book – hoarding. Lucy is the daughter of a hoarder, and is ashamed and embarrassed by the way she is forced to live. When her mother dies, she doesn’t know what to do – if she calls the police, her family’s secrets will be out.

Lucy believes that people will start calling her “garbage girl” if they find out – as though it is somehow her fault that she has to live this way. She worries that the camera crews will...more

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Jun 02, 2011 Megan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, not-mine-library, young-adult

C.J. Omololu had me at hoarding.

Megan glued to the television: *gasp* “Ewww!”
Hubby in the next room: “If it’s so disturbing, why are you watching it?”
Megan: “Oh my gawd! You have to come see this!”
Hubby: “I. Will. Not.”
Megan: “No, really! Yougottacomeseewhatthesepeople…”
Hubby: “It’s the same thing every week. Some fat person is too lazy to clean her house. End of story!”

But it’s not the same thing on every episode of Hoarders. Each person has a different obsession, rationale, family issue… I cou...more C.J. Omololu had me at hoarding.

Megan glued to the television: *gasp* “Ewww!”
Hubby in the next room: “If it’s so disturbing, why are you watching it?”
Megan: “Oh my gawd! You have to come see this!”
Hubby: “I. Will. Not.”
Megan: “No, really! Yougottacomeseewhatthesepeople…”
Hubby: “It’s the same thing every week. Some fat person is too lazy to clean her house. End of story!”

But it’s not the same thing on every episode of Hoarders. Each person has a different obsession, rationale, family issue… I could go on and on here. In her debut novel, C.J.Omololu tackles the oh so fascinating subject of compulsive hoarding and the toll it takes on a family. Dirty Little Secrets is the story of Lucy, a teenage girl desperately trying to cover up the fact that her mother is one of the worst sort of hoarders. Junk piled in every available space. Years of garbage in the house. Questionable plumbing. Non-functional kitchen. Busted furnace. You get the picture, right?

This is a quick read, and although it only covers a day or so in Lucy’s life, we learn so much about her, her mother and her siblings through memories and reflections. When things go wrong, Lucy makes some questionable decisions. Had her story been one told through the media or an episode of Hoarding: Buried Alive it would be so easy to judge and condemn her. Omololu manages to make us sympathize with and understand the choices Lucy makes, even though her actions may be drastic and not the most well formed plan.

Once again, this is one of those novels that I am finding it difficult to write a review for without giving away spoilers. However, I did love the writing and the characters. Lucy is not a YA heroine to look up to. She is a teenager who has had a fucked up life and copes the best she can. Somehow, in her rash and poor decision making, she comes across as more realistic than many YA protagonists.

This is a book that I definitely recommend for just about anyone. It’s fast paced, disturbing, intense and about hoarders. Need I say more? =)
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Apr 13, 2010 Lawral marked it as read-but-unowned · review of another edition

Shelves: ya

From the outside, Lucy's life looks pretty normal. She's a junior; she babysits the neighborhood kids; she spends a lot of time at her best friend's house; she has a crush on a guy who plays in a band. What Lucy knows, and tries to hide, is a lot less normal. She could never date Josh Lee, his hotness unattainable; she loves her best friend, but she also stays at her house so much because it has a working shower; she needs to make and hide her own money, because her mom never has any money left...more From the outside, Lucy's life looks pretty normal. She's a junior; she babysits the neighborhood kids; she spends a lot of time at her best friend's house; she has a crush on a guy who plays in a band. What Lucy knows, and tries to hide, is a lot less normal. She could never date Josh Lee, his hotness unattainable; she loves her best friend, but she also stays at her house so much because it has a working shower; she needs to make and hide her own money, because her mom never has any money left after buying all her "collectibles." And the worst truth of all, Lucy has two years left before she can move out and start a new life away from her mother's hoarding.

When Lucy's mother dies under a stack of National Geographic's that she was saving "to go through later," Lucy, rather than being sad, sees a chance at salvation, but is she a horrible person if she takes it?

It is so easy to say, "If I found my mother, dead, I would call an ambulance." Clearly, right? Opening all the windows to let in the winter air and postpone decomp is not everyone's immediate response. It's not Lucy's either. She almost dials 9-1-1. When she doesn't, it's really easy to be shocked at Lucy's callousness towards her mother. What Omololu does marvelously is to take us from this extreme opening moment and then work backwards to slowly introduce us to Lucy's life. She makes Lucy's decision make sense.

Because this story, most of which spans 21 very tense hours, is told by Lucy, things that she takes for granted, like the lack of hot water or heat in her house are treated as blasé. She is nervous, beyond belief scared, that people will find out about her home life; she knows it's not normal. At the same time, it is normal for her and treated as such. Her interactions with her surroundings, as well as with her older siblings, one of whom has hoarding tendencies herself and the other who resents their mother for the breakdown of the family, reflect that. It is the honest of Lucy's reactions and reality that make this such an engaging book.

From the beginning you'll want Lucy to have a chance at a normal life, and by the end I think you'll agree with the lengths that she must go to in order to get one.

Book source: Philly Free Library (less)

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May 18, 2013 Michael rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The novel "Dirty Little Secret" by C.J. Omololu, is a story where we follow Lucy, a young teenage girl, as she lives out her life hiding a tragic secret. Her mother is a hoarder who has been collecting trash for years now. The story plot is about how Lucy handles life while also hiding this secret from her best friend, crush, and pretty much everybody else as she believes that if they were to find out her secret, they would reject her. Now that the plot is stated, I believe that the plot is in s...more The novel "Dirty Little Secret" by C.J. Omololu, is a story where we follow Lucy, a young teenage girl, as she lives out her life hiding a tragic secret. Her mother is a hoarder who has been collecting trash for years now. The story plot is about how Lucy handles life while also hiding this secret from her best friend, crush, and pretty much everybody else as she believes that if they were to find out her secret, they would reject her. Now that the plot is stated, I believe that the plot is in specifics, original, but in general, it's been done over and over again. As a young reader, I found the story very contradictory in the sense that, the events that occur are very coincidental and aren't exactly believable. The way that the characters react are very unbelievable. The characters themselves are both really well constructed as one ideal, but yet that becomes a negative point for the story. Lucy is just a selfish jerk that doesn't seem to care about what's going along as long as nobody finds out about it. The mother always seems like a bitch and Lucy's sister seems to only want Lucy to suffer with their mother. In general, Lucy's whole family seem to be jerks. The author does seem to give time to build up the characters personalities, which is good, but as I stated before, the characters themselves don't seem to be much different from each other. I am a boy reading this book that most will probably describe as a girls book, so I've taken the opinion of one of my friends, right now just known as "A.C." She believes and I quote, " this book was very different then the other ones i read. I thought it was pretty weird the way she acted. So i was very disappointed because I thought it would be more interesting but the plot was very repetitive." So in summary, this was a very boring read for me as a boy, and to others as a girl. I really can't find much good in this book except for the irrationality that was the end of the story, but to find out what that is you'd have to read the book, but I'm sure most readers won't make it there.(less)

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Apr 24, 2013 Rachel Martinez rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Dirty Little Secrets was a very heartbreaking and tragic book. I would definetly recommend this book to others. This book describes the life of a high schooler named Lucy. She lives a difficult life at home. Its up to Lucy to help her mom. Lucy's mom has a mental illness, hoarding. No one has been inside their house ever since this problem occured. After Lucy's mom and dad got divorsed, her mom changed, everything changed to a whole new perspective. One night after arguing with her mom and goes...more

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Feb 18, 2013 MaryAnn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I found this to be thought provoking and entertaining. In fact it is among those books that remind of why a lot of people read. You recognize in the telling something of yourself or your own experience or something about other people or the world.

The topics of hoarding might put you off because extreme hoarding on its face is pretty off putting. The extremes of filth and obsession are disgusting and very hard to fathom. I find the TV shows like the accident phenomena; awful, but you keep staring...more

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Jan 31, 2013 Jezza rated it 4 of 5 stars

Some characters really frustrated me. Like Lucy's mom and Sarah. I liked the idea of the story and the ending was average, not really as exciting as I'd hoped. I expected her secret to be revealed to the public at some point in the story, instead of what actually occurred. After reading this, I have a sudden motivation to clean my room and take out the trash.

I think there's a reason why people throw things away, even if they're valuable (to the person and to others). There are some things that a...more

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Jan 06, 2013 Amanda rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Lucy just like everyone else has a secret. Although Lucy has a bigger secret than most people, her mother is a hoarder and there house is filled to the ceilings with stuff her mom cannot bare to part with. Lucy is embarrassed of her own mother and now that her brother and sister do not live at the house anymore she has to take care of her mother by herself. Lucy doesn’t bring friends home and has managed to keep it a secret from everyone because she knows they will think of her differently if th...more

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Oct 31, 2012 Shania Aiello rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Life and Secrets as we live and learn from them.

I have recently read the book “Dirty little secrets” by C.J. Omololu. I decided to read the book because my friend told me it was a good book to grab an audience’s attention. I never read any books by this author. Dirty little secrets is both drama and mystery genre because of the suspense and problems brought out in this book. The picture on the cover tells you it will involve a teenager, but it looks like she has something to hide. The title tell...more
Life and Secrets as we live and learn from them.

I have recently read the book “Dirty little secrets” by C.J. Omololu. I decided to read the book because my friend told me it was a good book to grab an audience’s attention. I never read any books by this author. Dirty little secrets is both drama and mystery genre because of the suspense and problems brought out in this book. The picture on the cover tells you it will involve a teenager, but it looks like she has something to hide. The title tells you that a lot of secrets will be spoken of and brought about during the story, and that the person isn’t proud of their secrets.
The story takes place in a small town that had a mall were most kids would go and a neighborhood filled with houses and big yards so people have some privacy. Lucy is one off the main characters because she speaks out in the story a lot. Phil and Sara have a role play too being Lucy’s siblings. Lucy is always in constant fear of her reputation being ruined and going back to garbage girl, because her mom is a pack rat and has to save everything. Lucy’s older siblings Phil and Sara escaped the dump their mom has created once they turned 18, leaving Lucy behind to struggle with all the secrets. Lucy is always trying to hide her secrets and keep her friends by being careful to not let anyone to close to her home. Lucy often stays at Kylie’s house to forget the dump she has to call home. Kylie is Lucy’s best friend, but yet barely knows the truth about Lucy, because Lucy is mysterious. Later on in the book Lucy opens up to Kylie telling her some of the problems she has to deal with at home. Lucy and her mom’s relationship have gotten worse as she gets older because her mom tends to blame everything on Lucy. On top of her many secrets Lucy has a chance with her crush Josh Lee making the stressful secrets taunt her.
Altogether, Lucy lives with her mom in a nice neighborhood even though the inside of their home looks like a dump. Lucy feels that the secrets will soon get out again about her home and how her mom is a constant pack rat. All the secrets from the past keeps Lucy from having many friends, her main friend is Kylie and often stays with her to escape her house. One day Lucy comes home to find her mom dead under one of the various stacks of newspapers she saved over the years. Even though this life shocking thing has occurred Lucy keeps the death hidden for a few days and can only think about her friends and Josh Lee. That night she decides to go to a party where her crush is playing in a band, since he invited her. They end up making that night a wonderful memory, but soon enough Lucy has to come home to her mom and the problems she tries to ignore. Lucy finally decided what she has to do… quickly rushing home to start her new plan to just bury all the secrets. Lucy used a heater to slowly start a fire to burn down their home. Later on Lucy feels a bit of relief to bury the problems in the fire and save her future.
This book was a great attention grabber because it draws the reader in. You will definitely stay interested by trying to discover the secrets Lucy has to hide. This book touches emotional standards to by all the stories and memories told. I would suggest this book to anyone because it is unique.
I learned that many people hide secrets even if you think that they don’t, but you shouldn’t judge a person by their home because they can’t change that. The moral to me seems that you should try to stay positive even if your past has problems.

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Oct 31, 2012 Alicia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

SPOILER ALERT!!

This book is about the daughter of a hoarder. I don't think that is TOO much of a surprise based on the title, but in the description it seems they want to keep Lucy's "secret" until you read it for itself. This book was good in the fact that it was clean and decent, but I don't know how true it was to what a hoarder's kid really goes through. I mean, I am related to SEVERAL hoarders, but that is different when it is your actual home. And I felt like the book skimmed over a few th...more

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Oct 28, 2012 Melissa Foley rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: foleydigitalbookshelf

"Dirty Little Secrets" is about Lucy, a junior in high school. Lucy's mom is a hoarder, and Lucy is so embarrassed she never tells anyone, much less invites people over. Her house is filled to the brim with stacks of books, newspapers, boxes, and not to mention a smell that permeates the whole house. One day Lucy comes home only to make a gruesome discovery. It is a discovery that changes Lucy's life forever and she must make a difficult decision.

Ages 12 and up.

This book appeals to readers becau...more

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Sep 27, 2012 Danya rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: psychology, psychtember, read-but-not-owned

Most of my Psychtember reviews will be formatted differently than my standard reviews, to reflect the mental health theme. I've structured things as though the book is the patient and I'm giving it an assessment. Each axis is an aspect of the book that I'll give my thoughts on (characters, plot, etc.), and the validity score refers to how psychologically accurate I think the book is. Then I may list some other books that this one "shares symptoms with" (i.e. novels dealing with similar topics) a...more

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Sep 16, 2012 Sue rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is a YA book that is currently in my library at school. I knew it had to do with hoarding but that was about all I knew. Lucy is a junior in high school at Winter Break. She is the youngest of 3, but her older brother is away at college and her older sister lives on her own. Lucy's mom is a nurse who seems to be very good at her job, but she is definitely not doing so well in the parenting department. Sometime after her husband left her, she became a full blown hoarder and makes Lucy's life...more

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Sep 09, 2012 Lisa rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I enjoyed the first 85% of this book. Sure there were a few places where I had to shake my head just a little, because the plot was unrelaistic. These were very minor details and I could accept them and move on. And I was enjoying the plot. The teen romance was very well done - in many ways. The author portrayed the characters with real emotions, but she also took care to have them make responsible decisions. I appreciated this. However, for me, the book fell apart in the last 30-40 pages. The a...more

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Jul 25, 2012 Carrie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Lucy is a normal teenager trying to live a normal life. However, her huge, embarrassing family secret is making that tough. What’s the secret? Lucy’s mom is a hoarder. Not just a “I love to collect ceramic cats” hoarder, but an all-out, stacked to the ceiling, if it’s got any possible use then keep it hoarder. Lucy’s older sister, Sara, and her older brother, Phil, have escaped – grown up and moved out. Now, it’s just Lucy and her mom and two years before Lucy, too, is free. But, Lucy’s secret i...more Lucy is a normal teenager trying to live a normal life. However, her huge, embarrassing family secret is making that tough. What’s the secret? Lucy’s mom is a hoarder. Not just a “I love to collect ceramic cats” hoarder, but an all-out, stacked to the ceiling, if it’s got any possible use then keep it hoarder. Lucy’s older sister, Sara, and her older brother, Phil, have escaped – grown up and moved out. Now, it’s just Lucy and her mom and two years before Lucy, too, is free. But, Lucy’s secret is jeopardized the day she comes home and finds her mom laying, dead, underneath a stack of bright yellow National Geographic magazines. All of a sudden, Lucy is envisioning paramedics and policemen swarming her house, neighbors peering curiously in windows and doors, news crews filming the scene, saying “And this is where a local woman died under a stack of filth. Shocking! Story at 11:00.” And kids at school laughing at her and calling her Garbage Girl.” No, Lucy can’t let that happen. She has to keep this secret buried… keep it out of the public eye. But how? How can she keep her mom’s death a secret and clean the whole house before anyone finds out?

I was really disappointed in this book. I guess it is mostly because the plot just seemed very implausible. I DO believe that Lucy and her family would be able to keep their completely hoarded house a secret; I mean, we see it all the time on those TV shows. But, (view spoiler)

I won’t give away the ending, but it seemed too easy and too improbable. Sorry. However, the fact that this was a unique topic for a book and a relatively quick read kept me going to the end. At least that’s something.

Worth reading? Would I recommend it? Well, there is almost always some redeeming quality, some particular student that makes a book recommendable. I think, as I said above, the “now-ness” of the topic, the relevance to TV shows of today, makes this book one worth recommending. There would certainly be some junior high or high school girls who would find the realistic fiction element and female lead character compelling. But, will it become one of my “go-to” books… nope. Probably not.(less)

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Jul 19, 2012 Stephanie A. rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: girl-protagonists, contemporary-ya

This is a rare topic in YA, so I was really excited when it came up in the library catalog. Featuring the child of a recently deceased hoarder, I LOVED the 75% of it that was just her trying to clean out the house, hour by hour. The writing was fascinating, especially with the occasional memories and flashbacks objects would bring up. The book could have gone on for an extra 150 pages just describing that. But then it was like an editor cracked a whip or the author just ran out of ideas or got b...more

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May 15, 2012 Kelley Smith rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Title: Dirty Little Secrets
Author: C. J. Omololu
Publication Date: Feb. 2, 2010
Publisher: Walker Childrens
Source: Library

Genre: Issue driven, daughter of a hoarder, contemporary YA

Cover: A little haunting, fitting for the macabre, tragic, yet realistic subject matter

Plot: So real. It moved. You felt for her, and my biggest test for if a plot worked is seeing whether or not I want to hold someone’s ear hostage and tell them every single detail about what happened. That is what happened with this b...more

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May 01, 2012 Monica! rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2012, you-go-girl, reasonably-realistic, your-reality-alarms-me, what-is-this-feeling, this-must-be-what-pain-feels-like, now-youve-read-the-book

This book had a serious upside I hadn’t really been expecting—namely, that much like its similarly-named TV companion show Hoarders, it caused me to clean like a crazy person.

I’d be contentedly reading along and I’d hit a description like, “Opened Diet Pepsi cans that were full of something that was probably liquid once but had through the wonders of science turned solid? In the bag. A shoebox full of bottle caps? In the bag. A plastic grocery bag full of some gelatinous brown goo that was proba...more

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Apr 30, 2012 Rebecca Ann rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: teen-contemporary, mental-health, tweens-6-8

The cover was probably my favorite part of this book, I'm sorry to say. Hoarding is a popular issue of mental health right now, and I've been known to catch an episode or two of Buried Alive myself. I also know someone who is a hoarder. Although I appreciate that the author did her research and tried to portray what it's like to be a child of a hoarder, I felt like she didn't really go far enough into the complex emotions involved and the reasoning behind it. We never really learn what flipped t...more

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Mar 30, 2012 Johanna rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Dirty Little Secrets
by C. J. Omololu

Genre: Contemporary Fiction / Young Adult

Everyone has secrets. Some are just bigger and dirtier than others. For sixteen years, Lucy has kept her mother's hoarding a secret. She's had to—nobody would understand the stacks of newspapers and mounds of garbage so high they touch the ceiling and the rotting smell that she's always worried would follow her out the house. After years of keeping people at a distance, she finally has a best friend and maybe even a bo...more Dirty Little Secrets
by C. J. Omololu

Genre: Contemporary Fiction / Young Adult

Everyone has secrets. Some are just bigger and dirtier than others. For sixteen years, Lucy has kept her mother's hoarding a secret. She's had to—nobody would understand the stacks of newspapers and mounds of garbage so high they touch the ceiling and the rotting smell that she's always worried would follow her out the house. After years of keeping people at a distance, she finally has a best friend and maybe even a boyfriend if she can play it right. As long as she can make them think she's normal. When Lucy arrives home from a sleepover to find her mother dead under a stack of National Geographics, she starts to dial 911 in a panic, but pauses before she can connect. She barely notices the filth and trash anymore, but she knows the paramedics will. First the fire trucks, and then news cameras that will surely follow. No longer will they be remembered as the nice oncology nurse with the lovely children—they'll turn into that garbage-hoarding freak family on Collier Avenue. With a normal life finally within reach, Lucy has only minutes to make a critical decision. How far will she go to keep the family secrets safe?

Everyone has a secret. But Lucy’s has one she’s been hiding for years—that her mom’s out-of-control hoarding has turned their lives into a world of garbage and shame. She’s managed to keep her home life hidden from her best friend and her crush, knowing they’d be disgusted by the truth. So, when her mom dies suddenly in their home, Lucy hesitates to call 911 because revealing their way of life would make her future unbearable—and she begins her two-day plan to set her life right.

I finished this book in one night. Though I was fascinated with the overall plot of 'hoarders' in the story, I felt it ended too quickly. There was so much more that I felt needed to be told, but at least you get to enjoy a short interesting story of Lucy's finial decisions of her families "truths". It's a quick read, but you do get some unknown insight into a world many never see.

Likes: All the childhood objects Lucy discovered that triggered memories while cleaning.

Dislikes: Lucy was quite unemotional throughout the story, so I'm assuming it was shock.(less)

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Feb 21, 2012 Agatha rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. WARNING: SPOILER ALERT.

Young adult fiction about a girl whose mother is such an extreme hoarder, that she cannot ever invite any of her friends over. Just picture that tv show, “Hoarders,” and that is how this girl’s mother is! I wouldn’t recommend this book, however, to either young adults or not-so-young adults b/c there were some pretty immature decisions made, in my opinion, which just left me scratching my head that anyone would create this scenario for young adults to read and absorb! Basi...more

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Jan 26, 2012 Jodi Papazian rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ya-reads

This book was completely captivating and is such a quick read that it only took a few hours to read through.
Lucy can't wait til she graduates from high school. She counts the days til she can escape from the shameful secret that waits for her everyday at home - her mom is a hoarder. Not only is her mom a hoarder, but she blames Lucy for the state of the house which is beyond anyone's control. It takes all of Lucy's time and energy to keep her secret from the kids at school lest they start call...more

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Jan 22, 2012 Aim For rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I recently read this book and was not able to put it down. I've never really been interested in stories about hoarding but was willing to give this a try. The suspense of not knowing what will happen next and the realistic plot kept me reading until I was finished.
Lucy, a sixteen-year-old girl who is seemingly normal, has been keeping a dark secret for years. Her mother hoards almost everything she can find, and even digs in other people's garbage. As a result, their house is in utter squalor....more

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Jan 01, 2012 Erin rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012

Dirty Little Secrets by C.J.Omolou

If your looking for a book with a main character that you will love but also question her motives then this is the book for you. This book makes you think and the author does not sugar coat Hoarding she explains about the bad and ugly instead if hiding it and just explaining it as piles.

Every character in this book was different and the way that the Author had everyone in Lucy's family react to the Hoarding and its impacts on thier lives was nice and refreshing...more

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Dec 01, 2011 Shari Larsen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

16 year old Lucy has been hiding a big secret for years; her mother is a compulsive hoarder. Her older brother and sister have long since moved out, leaving Lucy to deal with her mother alone. Lucy struggles with the shame, and with trying to manage to keep her home life a secret from her best friend and the boy she has a crush on. When her mother dies suddenly in her home, Lucy hesitates to call 911, knowing it would reveal the way the really live. Instead, she sets a 2 day plan into motion in...more

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Nov 28, 2011 Sonia Santibanez rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

lucy has commited a big mistake and hides a one huge secret the victim is her mother it is sad how her mom has to go thriogh this lucy has a big crush on this guy named josh and wich lucy does not know if he likes her back because josh is with some other girl and had been dating for so much.
lucy has been hiding many of her secrets wich are bundled in her home will she speak up and tell or will she keep her secrets forever? who knows what lucy will end up doing will her plans be ruined by her sis...more

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Nov 23, 2011 Campbell rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Eh. Teenage girls.

Recommended to Campbell by: Book Club.

Shelves: cute, interesting, romance, sad, book-club

I was expecting something childish.
I was wrong.

At first, I had no clue what the book was about, and in order to surprise myself, I refused to read the back to get the general idea. And so I immediately thought, common-teenage-girl-with-boy-problems. I was not expecting much.
However.
My interpretation of the title was horrendously inaccurate.

Lucy Tompkins is a teenage girl trying to get through life like all the others. She has the friend, she has the crush, she has the entire outside world fooled...more I was expecting something childish.
I was wrong.

At first, I had no clue what the book was about, and in order to surprise myself, I refused to read the back to get the general idea. And so I immediately thought, common-teenage-girl-with-boy-problems. I was not expecting much.
However.
My interpretation of the title was horrendously inaccurate.

Lucy Tompkins is a teenage girl trying to get through life like all the others. She has the friend, she has the crush, she has the entire outside world fooled. But in reality, as soon as she steps through the doors of her own home, her life is anything but ordinary.
Her mother, secretly a hoarder, is close on abusive. No warm water, no real food supply, not a single clean surface. Forced to live with all of this, you would expect Lucy's home life to be the big secret she has to fight to keep.
But it's not the only one.
Coming home from a long while out, Lucy discovers something else lying among the piles of useless items and garbage.
Someone.
Dead. Crushed from a pile of fallen magazines, hand unable to reach an inhaler.
Knowing that this would be publicized for the condition her house is in, Lucy rushes to hide the body and straighten up the house, at least enough to make it look 'messy' rather than 'unlivable'. And as she hurries to clean everything out, she is met with memory after memory, and setback after setback.
Can she hide her Dirty Little Secrets?

The book's main idea was very creative, and the way our author set it up was quite original as well. Working through a long, painful process in the present, as thoughts wandered back into the past as long lost treasures were found among rubble. A horrible secret that could do more than just ruin her social life. A predictable (but quietly arranged) romance. Insecurity. Fear. Risk.

I still have to criticize the book, though, sadly-
It seemed maybe a bit unrealistic that she would hide a dead body merely to save her social life. And I know for a fact that if my friend's mother was a hoarder, I wouldn't give a crap besides to try to make it easier for her! Maybe I'm different, but I'm pretty sure people would understand that she has no say in the matter. Other than that, I thought it was a bit far fetched that the romance progressed so quickly. Again, I may be different, but if I had barely known the guy personally, I would at least wait a day before making out with him.
Just saying.

Otherwise, fantastic book. Made me smile.(less)

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About C.J. Omololu

I write as C.J., but you can call me Cynthia. My YA novel DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS came out in early 2010. My next book TRANSCENDENCE came out in June of 2012, followed by the sequel INTUITION in June of 2013.

You might notice that I only give 4 or 5 star reviews. That isn't because I love everything, it's because I only review things I really love. As a writer, I know all that goes into making a book...more

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