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It's Not Like It's a Secret

Misa Sugiura (Goodreads Author)

3.71 · Rating details · 6,509 ratings · 1,063 reviews

Sixteen-year-old Sana Kiyohara has too many secrets. Some are small, like how it bothers her when her friends don’t invite her to parties. Some are big, like that fact that her father may be having an affair. And then there’s the one that she can barely even admit to herself—the one about how she might have a crush on her best friend.

When Sana and her family move to Califo ...more

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Kindle Edition, 400 pages

Published May 9th 2017 by HarperTeen

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Lists with This Book

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1,104 books — 8,460 voters

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Apr 12, 2018 Crumb rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult

Fresh. Fantastic. Fearless.

I am not an uber-fan of YA but I will make an exception now and again. This phenomenon will happen for something special. Something perfect. What can I say? It's Not Like It's a Secret was that unicorn for me.

I mean.. what's there not to like? It had the main ingredients that I feel make a book unputdownable: relatable characters, a progressive plot-line, and of course, character development.

On the outside, this story looks like just another teen romance.. but it wasn ...more

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Feb 10, 2017 Elle (ellexamines) rated it it was ok

Shelves: what-is-this-mess, y-2017releases, lgbtq, characters-of-color, x-arcs, z-2017reads, y-notowned, contemporary, 2-star, sapphic-books-shelf

This is maybe the most disappointing book I read this year. Cute contemporary, romance between two girls, ownvoices racial rep... yeah, it sounded great to me too. But I had so many issues with this book.

THE GOOD

+ The first half is genuinely really cute! I actually loved the first half. Jamie and Sana have some great romantic buildup before they get together. There's an insta-crush, but things progress very well from there. They exchange poetry and are just generally incredibly sweet.

+ There' ...more

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Feb 01, 2017 Laura rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, own, contemporary, first-reads

I made the mistake of thinking this was just a contemporary romance between two girls, but it actually has a lot more to the story. Racism being the most common theme throughout. There is racism from one POC to another, which is not often portrayed. Because of these themes, racism is very present and can make readers uncomfortable*. However, it is often called out by another character or Sana ponders what just happened addressing the racism head on. Stereotyping is one of the main ways racism oc ...more

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Apr 03, 2017 Jasmine from How Useful It Is rated it it was amazing

Shelves: lgbt, edelweiss, contemporary, young-adult

About: It’s Not Like It’s a Secret is a fiction novel written by Misa Sugiura. It will be published on 5/9/17 by Harper Teen, 400 pages. The genres are GLBT, Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary, and Romance. This book is intended for readers ages 13 and up, grades 8 and up.

My Experience: I started reading It’s Not Like It’s a Secret on 3/31/17 and finished it on 4/3/17. This book is a great read! It’s fast paced, easy to read, and relatable. It has diversity like The Upside of Unrequited and light About: It’s Not Like It’s a Secret is a fiction novel written by Misa Sugiura. It will be published on 5/9/17 by Harper Teen, 400 pages. The genres are GLBT, Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary, and Romance. This book is intended for readers ages 13 and up, grades 8 and up.

My Experience: I started reading It’s Not Like It’s a Secret on 3/31/17 and finished it on 4/3/17. This book is a great read! It’s fast paced, easy to read, and relatable. It has diversity like The Upside of Unrequited and light hearted like To All the Boys I Have Loved Before. I like the humor & diversity in this book. This book also have the feels of Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by having foreign languages in the mix.

In this book, readers will follow Sana Kiyohara, a 16 years old Japanese American high school student from Milwaukee, Wisconsin (yay! I used to live there! And yup I know about Wisconsin Dells & Lake Michigan :-)) being the only Asian girl who couldn’t fit in to the Midwestern Famer’s Daughter. She feels secluded not only by her looks but also by her strict parents. Then her family relocated to California where everywhere she goes, majority of the people are minority (Japanese, Vietnamese, Chinese, Indian, Mexican, etc). She finally has friends who understands her because other Asian parents are strict too. Through discovering where she can fit in, she’s also discovering herself. In the meantime, she also accidentally found out a secret and hesitated whether she should come forward or keep it hidden. Her mom always taught her to “gaman” which means to endure when face with difficulties. This book also introduces stereotypes, racisms, and poetry.

This book is very relatable to many Asian readers but also a good reminders to the general population. The stereotypes labels about people are ongoing and this book just brought it out in the open for discussions. I like learning about Japanese cultures in this book and how alike they are to other Asians. This book is packed with a lot of happenings. There is no dull moment. I’m not good with poetry and the poems in this book are explained and I like that. I like Sana and all that she’s exposed to. I highly recommend the read to everyone!

Pro: friendship, humor, diversity, acceptance, stereotypes, fast paced, page turner, poetry, relatable

Con: none

I rate it 5 stars!

***Disclaimer: Many thanks to the author Misa Sugiura, publisher Harper Teen, and Edelweiss for the opportunity to read and review. Please assured that my opinions are honest.

xoxo,
Jasmine at www.howusefulitis.wordpress.com ...more

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Oct 14, 2017 Aine rated it it was ok

This is one of those books that I go into so excited and then come out of feeling kind of betrayed. It feels like it should have been an amazing book, but there were problems. So. Many. Problems.

The Good:

-I mean, it's a a gay romance (yay!) with two non-white characters (YAY!), with actual supportive female friendships (YAY!!!).

-And Sana was pretty cute.

-But that's about the extend of the likes. For one, I didn't really feel anything about Sana. She was cute. But I didn't have any emotional at This is one of those books that I go into so excited and then come out of feeling kind of betrayed. It feels like it should have been an amazing book, but there were problems. So. Many. Problems.

The Good:

-I mean, it's a a gay romance (yay!) with two non-white characters (YAY!), with actual supportive female friendships (YAY!!!).

-And Sana was pretty cute.

-But that's about the extend of the likes. For one, I didn't really feel anything about Sana. She was cute. But I didn't have any emotional attachment with her. She was cute. And...I mean, that's the extend of my feeling about her.

-Honestly, all the characters felt kind of flat to to me. There wasn't really any depth to them, which was disappointing.

-And it feels like all of Sana and Jaimie's big relationship happenings happened during time jumps. I WANTED TO SEE IT GROW, not suddenly have them speed ahead a couple of weeks were everything had happened behind the scenes, so to speak, which was sad.

-And I feel like Sana had some pretty problematic/racist opinions that weren't really addressed. I mean, I get what the author was trying to do, but still.

-And at times, the writing felt kind of...young. Overly simple.

And, the big thing. The thing that really pissed me off.

(view spoiler)

Rant over, and my review of this can be summed up as "no." ...more

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Nov 16, 2020 tappkalina rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 3-star, lgbt-read

There are those books you instantly forget about after you finished it.
I still think about this one a week later.

I felt all the cuteness and got my yearly dose of disgust at the same time. Almost dnf'ed it with a fucking big 1 star 72% in. I had to stop to get rid of my disgust because I just couldn't read more about this level of cheating.
Relationships are based on trust. If you cheat, how could the other person trust you?
And she cheated bacause she didn't trust her girlfriend in the first pl ...more

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Apr 16, 2017 Sarah Elizabeth rated it liked it

Shelves: contemporary, young-adult, love-triangle, glbt, netgalley-edelweiss, read-2017, romance, r2r-complete

(I received an advance copy of this book for free. Thanks to HarperCollins and Edelweiss.)

“Endure. Bear it without complaining Her life’s motto and my life’s bane.”

This was a YA contemporary romance story about a gay Japanese-American girl.

I liked Sana in this although she did show poor judgement at times. I did like how loyal she was to her mother though.

The storyline in this was about Sana moving with her family to California as her father had a new job. She then fell for a girl ca ...more

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Aug 31, 2017 CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian rated it it was amazing

Shelves: american, lesbian, young-adult, fiction, east-asian, queer, reading-in-colour, 5-stars

This was AWESOME. It's one of those YA books clearly written by an adult who actually spends time with teens. The characters were messy and made LOTS of mistakes, perhaps most of all the main character Sana. I LOVED the queer girls of colour romance and I really appreciated the book's complex look at racism, stereotyping, relationships, and culture. And Sana's journey to learn to stop lying and hiding from the problems in her life was too real. I saw a lot of my younger (and sometimes current) s ...more

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Dec 23, 2016 Christina rated it it was amazing

Loved this one. Sugiura gracefully tackled so many difficult and sometimes sensitive topics, while also creating fully-fleshed, relatable characters. Sana's voice is spot on. I can't wait to have this gorgeous book on my shelf to share with my students. ...more

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Aug 13, 2019 Enne rated it it was ok

Shelves: z-2019-reads, rep-lgbtqiap, own-voices, rep-bipoc, genre-contemporary, rep-lgbtqiap-main, pov-1st, reviewed, dissapointed, pov-female

“We are who we are, and we shouldn't have to suffer for it, or prove anything to anyone.”

2 stars
TW: cheating, under-age drinking, racism (at times not explicitly challenged in text)
Rep: Japanese-American lesbian MC, Hispanic sapphic LI, multiple East-Asian-American SCs

The Writing
The writing was the most mediocre shit that I have ever read in my life. The sentence structure was incredibly repetitive, as was the writing itself. The main character going on about how she was in love with t ...more

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Feb 06, 2018 alexandra rated it did not like it

Shelves: dnf, release-2017, diverse, read-2018, lgbtqia

DNF at 30% // i was really excited to read this – a f/f contemporary ft a Japanese MC with a Mexican love interest?! yes pls. but.... i couldn't even get halfway. here are some thoughts:

(1) this main character is so. annoying. she's extremely stubborn and close-minded and refuses to see things around her. Sana is constantly arguing with her mother and it feels like she refuses to see things from her perspective. of course, her mom is very traditional Japanese and didn't grow up in America, so OB DNF at 30% // i was really excited to read this – a f/f contemporary ft a Japanese MC with a Mexican love interest?! yes pls. but.... i couldn't even get halfway. here are some thoughts:

(1) this main character is so. annoying. she's extremely stubborn and close-minded and refuses to see things around her. Sana is constantly arguing with her mother and it feels like she refuses to see things from her perspective. of course, her mom is very traditional Japanese and didn't grow up in America, so OBVIOUSLY, they won't agree on everything. but Sana seems shocked and annoyed that her mom isn't like "other moms" aka white moms. it's frustrating and heartbreaking. i feel like the same goes for her relationships with her friends.

(2) all the characters were cardboard cutouts of every stereotype ever – except Jamie, the love interest, who's "different." at Sana's new school she immediately becomes friends with a group of Asian girls who look down on the other cliques: the goths (which are over exaggerated), the Mexicans (she actually groups them like that), the cheerleaders, and so on. the school setting felt like exactly High School Musical. everyone around the two leads are telling them to "stick to the status quo," but it's SO unrealistic.

(3) the somewhat rascist remarks are really offensive. i think they're meant to be; they're rascist. but the way it was portrayed just made it seem artificial. i know people always make rascist comments and assumptions (i'm a POC myself), but this was a little too painful to watch. i think the author was trying to make a point on the rascism POC face, but instead it just made is feel clique-y and stereotypical. however painful, i think it was really necessary. i didn't enjoy hearing it but it needed to be said. (it's just the way it was shown... ugh i dunno)

(4) the romance itself is so cringey. i was excited when i heard this was going to be a f/f novel, but it's mostly Sana being extremely stalkerish and awkward. she immediately falls in love on first sight and tries to impress her in painful ways. Jame (the love interest), on the hand, seems unreadable. i can never tell if she actually likes Sana – as a friend or something more.

i wanted to enjoy It's Not Like It's a Secret, but it really really fell short. i can't tell if it's because i listened to the audiobook and i was trying out audiobooks or of it's actually disappointing. either way, i don't think i'll be continuing. ...more

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Nov 20, 2016 Ilana rated it it was amazing

Misa Sugiura is a beautiful writer, and this book is wondrous, engaging, important, and will be beloved by many.

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Jun 09, 2017 Brooke rated it it was ok

Shelves: not-my-cup-of-tea, lady-lovin, lgbtq, 2017, tlb, ya

A few months back, I became aware that SECRET had cheating as one of its largest themes. Admittedly this discouraged me a bit, but I was still intrigued to read it as it was on my TBR for almost a year.

Surprisingly the cheating characters wasn't my biggest gripe (although it really ruined my experience)- it was the instalove between the two MCs, Sana & Jaime. Except physical appeal, I had no clue why these two were attracted to each other. This led me to not believe their relationship as it evo A few months back, I became aware that SECRET had cheating as one of its largest themes. Admittedly this discouraged me a bit, but I was still intrigued to read it as it was on my TBR for almost a year.

Surprisingly the cheating characters wasn't my biggest gripe (although it really ruined my experience)- it was the instalove between the two MCs, Sana & Jaime. Except physical appeal, I had no clue why these two were attracted to each other. This led me to not believe their relationship as it evolved, nor care about the outcome. I've been turning away from YA romances recently but anything that's F/F you can pretty much bet I have on my TBR so naturally I was rooting for their relationship. However, it quickly fizzled out considering that Sana & Jaime really had nothing in common & it was more of an opportunistic occurrence out of convenience rather than a genuine romance.

Add onto this & the fact that the MCs basically cheat on each other- it's more complex than that, but no spoilers 🚫. Their lack of communication really turned me off- I know this is a realistic aspect of many teen relationships, but I already wasn't feeling it, so. 👻 Sana also discovers that her father is seeing another woman, which brings some interesting conversations about Asian culture & her mother's opinion on it.

There were a few pros to this book, so it wasn't a complete wash. The racism between minorities & prejudices of Asian & Mexican cultures raises necessary & uncomfortable discussions & tackles stereotypes. While I can't say it was all tackled with finesse & gentleness, I am glad that Sugiura included them. I'm not surprised by Sana's mother's reaction to Sana's coming out, but I did appreciate the role her parents had in her life.

I was really hoping IT'S NOT LIKE IT'S A SECRET to be heavy on the romance & less on cheating/instalove/shitty stereotypes, but I'm satisfied that I at least know I didn't miss out on anything. The pacing is fine, the prose could have been stronger (as well as the poem concept!), & the ending is too tidy, but overall a halfway decent read on a day off. ...more

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Feb 23, 2017 Sonia rated it it was amazing

This book was different than many other YA I've read in its honest and complex portrayal of race, all within the context of a burgeoning lesbian romance. Sana is a believable and relatable protagonist, caught between trying to satisfy her strict parents and also feel like part of her peer group. I loved the tie-ins with poetry and the way Sana was able to find herself in the words of others. ...more

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Oct 26, 2017 sally♡ rated it it was amazing

Shelves: loved, cover-love, praise-for-diversity, contemporary, favorite-reviews, lgbtqia

I? Loved? this? Book???

Ive seen some less positive reviews on It's Not Like It's a Secret and I totally! disagree!!!

I jumped into this book with the expectation of some adorable f/f romance and just relatable teenager characters. Instead, I got some adorable f/f romance and just relatable teenager characters PLUS a lot of racist/stereotype confrontations, making the reader step back and think about how our society truly works.

⚡️ Some fabulous things ⚡️

* Character development and adorable teen g ...more

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Sep 09, 2017 CW (The Quiet Pond) ✨ rated it really liked it

Shelves: coming-of-age, audiobook, realistic-fiction, 2017, 2017-favourites, romance, young-adult, diverse-shelf, has-poc-rep, has-lgbtqa-rep

Wow. I am blown away. This was a challenging book to read, but the realistic and frank discussions about racism and prejudice were refreshing, difficult, but necessary.

- To address the elephant in the room: yes, this book does has several instances of racism towards Mexican individuals and there are some parts that are certainly difficult to read. However, I felt like the racism was either challenged or addressed, either in-text, through internal monologue, or clearly through subtext.
- Sana wa ...more

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Jun 03, 2020 belle ☆ﾐ (thisbellereadstoo) rated it it was ok

Shelves: read-2020, standalone, diverse, asian-rep-or-author, ebook, contemporary, lgbtaq

other than sana's personal problems, i appreciated that the book focused highly on racism. for this book, the dialogue remains mainly between the asian and mexican community. about the unwarranted accusations they faced because of how they dress, the overly perpetuated stereotypes based on their race, and the unsaid expectations because of the colour of their skin. even between the two minority groups, there’s discrimination based on bias and preconceived notions.

sadly, the execution was a littl ...more

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May 12, 2017 Lauren Stoolfire rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: romance, realistic-fiction, young-adult, lgbtq

When Sana Kiyohara and her family move to California from Wisconsin, she decides it's time to be honest with herself. She has a crush on her best friend, Jamie Ramirez. She's smart, beautiful, and different from anyone Sana's known before. There are a few problems with this - Sana's new friends don't trust Jamie's, Jamie's friends don't seem to want Sana around, and a classmate named Caleb appears to have more than friendly feelings for Sana. Plus, Sana doesn't know how well her strict Japanese When Sana Kiyohara and her family move to California from Wisconsin, she decides it's time to be honest with herself. She has a crush on her best friend, Jamie Ramirez. She's smart, beautiful, and different from anyone Sana's known before. There are a few problems with this - Sana's new friends don't trust Jamie's, Jamie's friends don't seem to want Sana around, and a classmate named Caleb appears to have more than friendly feelings for Sana. Plus, Sana doesn't know how well her strict Japanese parents will react to Jamie as a friend, let alone as a girlfriend. Not to mention, her father's affair is becoming to obvious for her to just ignore. Sana always thought that the hardest thing would be telling people that she wants to date a girl (and revealing that the truth about her father's affair), but it turns out that it's the stuff that comes afterward is what's really difficult and complicated.

I really lucked out with It's Not Like It's A Secret by Misa Sugiura. I won an ARC of this YA debut via Epic Reads (it's always exciting to receive unexpected bookmail!) and so far it easily ranks as one of my favorite reads of 2017. I'd even go so far as to say that this is going to be one of my all time favorite YA Contemporaries. YA Contemporary isn't normally one of my go-to genres, but this debut immediately caught my attention as a diverse LGBTQIA contemporary romance with a Japanese-American and Mexican-American at the center. Sana is a great leading character and she feels incredibly real and relatable. She's flawed, makes mistakes, and is kind of selfish; she feels like she could walk out right out of the pages of the novel. Sana also really grows into herself and that's wonderful to see over the course of the story. I can also say the same about Jamie - it was wonderful to get to know her too. I also want to mention that I was also intrigued by reading more featuring Japanese-American culture in YA. I started studying Japanese in college and I'll have to admit that I was pleased to recognize and/ or remember the Romaji that appears (this book uses a different system than the one I've primarily been studying). On top of everything, the author gracefully discusses difficult topics with great skill and sensitivity.

Overall, It's Not Like It's A Secret by Misa Sugiura is the best YA Contemporary I've read this year and is one of the best YA debuts of the year at that. This coming-of-age novel is an absolute must-read. If you like Becky Albertalli, David Leviathan, and Rainbow Rowell, you will definitely like Misa Sugiura. I'm looking forward to her next project!

...more

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Oct 31, 2017 Meags marked it as dnf

DNF @ chapter 8

I was looking forward to this one, but the prominent themes of racial stereotyping and the way it was (mis)handled irritated the hell out of me. In the few chapters I slugged through I was constantly facing one unlikeable character after another which is not the way to endear me to a book. (view spoiler). I'm out. ...more

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May 26, 2019 lov2laf added it · review of another edition

Shelves: borrowed-scribd, young-adult, closeted-character, ethnic-diversity, audiobook, library-book-available, did-not-finish, library-book-linkplus

This is available as an audiobook on Scribd. I think it has a lot of relevant observations when it comes to being the child of immigrants and I'm happy to see more representation of diversity in lesfic.

That said, I became bored. The story takes on a lot and, upon hearing that cheating is ahead, I don't care to finish.

No rating. ...more

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Jul 18, 2020 Claude's Bookzone rated it liked it

3.5 Stars

CW: Racism and stereotyping, (view spoiler)

The wonderful thing about being part of the Goodreads community is reading reviews from people whose world views, life experiences and personal truths are different from my own. Through my lense and with my YA librarian glasses on this book is a cutely awkward high school love story. I enjoyed the dynamics between some of the ch ...more

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Sep 16, 2017 Rana rated it liked it

It's gotta mean something when I'm as frustrated by actual teenagers as I am with teenaged characters. I guess it means the author is writing her characters accurately. Because damned, this was frustrating. Teenagers are stupid in love. Well, everybody is, but teenagers are really stupid in love. ...more

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Apr 13, 2018 PinkAmy loves books, cats and naps rated it liked it

As a white, middle-aged American woman, reviewing IT’S NOT LIKE IT’S A SECRET is difficult. I grew up in a small town and could count the number of nonwhite students on one hand. Having never attended a large, multiracial school, I don’t know if students sticking to their race groups is common, or whether the rampant subtle and not so subtle bias and racism between cultures.

Race and bias permeates every aspect of IT’S NOT LIKE IT’S A SECRET. I suppose my white privilege doesn’t see race as much ...more

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May 14, 2017 Janine Andersen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: have-read, favorites

I appreciated hearing Sana's voice in this story. Her relationship with her culture and her mother are complicated. She is a 16 year old girl struggling to find her niche in high school. She would like to have a tribe of friends that understand her, someone to love her and to make real connections to the people in her lives. I see Sana as someone who is brave. She makes mistakes, has flaws, and misperceptions about her peers, her parents and her love interest. I see that she does grow. She chall ...more

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Oct 26, 2016 Sue (Hollywood News Source) marked it as to-read

Shelves: authors-of-color, girls-like-girls, lgbtqiap, diverse-books, characters-of-color

I am very excited for this book. We need more WLW books in YA especially ones that are written by authors of color.

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Aug 23, 2018 Kara Babcock rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2018-read, young-adult, own, romance

My friend Rebecca gave this to me as a birthday gift last year. This was a really tough week for me, so I finally picked it up off the shelf because I knew she had inscribed it (as I do with my book gifts!), and I wanted to reread the lovely, lengthy message from her and then dive into a YA book. Whether it’s fluffier or heavier, there is something about YA I find very reassuring when I’m down. Something about the way that authors have to consider carefully how they engage with and portray these ...more

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May 28, 2017 Shenwei rated it really liked it

Shelves: queer-reads, asian-reads, by-and-about-poc

Closer to 4.5 stars? Would be 5 if there weren't some small things that bugged me.
I ugly cried in the bookstore while reading this oops.
In this book you will find: cute gay moments, teen angst, complicated family issues, uncomfortable but honest conversations about race, utterly realistic human messiness, and more. Full review to come.

I went into this with my guard up because I'd heard it had issues wrt to the Mexican/Latinx rep, and while I was hoping that the issues had been fixed post-sensiti Closer to 4.5 stars? Would be 5 if there weren't some small things that bugged me.
I ugly cried in the bookstore while reading this oops.
In this book you will find: cute gay moments, teen angst, complicated family issues, uncomfortable but honest conversations about race, utterly realistic human messiness, and more. Full review to come.

I went into this with my guard up because I'd heard it had issues wrt to the Mexican/Latinx rep, and while I was hoping that the issues had been fixed post-sensitivity reads, there are no guarantees. As excited as I was about the Asian and queer rep (btw, the author is straight as far as I know, so the queer rep is non-#ownvoices), I wanted to approach it critically.
Now that I've read it, I'll share my thoughts and observations. Obviously, because I'm not Mexican/Latinx, I won't be as sensitive to issues for those groups, so it's possible I missed things, and my opinion should be taken with a grain of salt.

Overall, I feel like the narrative did a decent job handling the racial rep and tensions between Asian and Latinx people. Sana's mother, her Asian friends, and Sana herself have and express certain internalized biases/stereotypes regarding Mexican/Latinx people, but these issues were pretty consistently addressed on the page through various means, whether it was Sana calling someone out, Sana getting called out by others, or the narration from Sana's POV expressing discomfort with what was going on and/or recognizing that what was happening was wrong. Sana explicitly admits/owns her bias/racism and unpacks it and works to make amends with the people she hurts with her insensitivity. The framing of racism didn't dig into its systemic roots, but it at least tackled implicit bias and racial profiling. It was honest but self-critical about internalized bias.

Just to be safe, here's the page numbers for the scenes where the anti-Mexican racism comes up:
27, 41, 74, 84, 90, 163, 229, 231, 234.

Based on my intermediate knowledge of Spanish, the Spanish used in the book was okay as far as grammar goes (can't speak to nuances since I'm not a native speaker and didn't learn as much of the casual usage). There were a few places that were missing accent marks. Not sure if that was a copyediting issue or what since the author stated in her acknowledgements that she had native speakers help her with the language.

If anyone knows of any Mexican readers who have reviewed the book for the rep, please let me know so I can link to their reviews! ...more

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Mar 15, 2019 Flora⁷ ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ rated it it was ok

Shelves: read-in-2019

me: hoe don't do it
sana: *cheats*
me: oh my god

by the end of the book my respect for sana yeeted itself out of the window

the first 300 pages deserve 4 or 5 stars, but then The Thing happend .... and yEET. Big fucking Nope. ...more

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Dec 25, 2020 Sylvs (NOVELty Reads) rated it it was ok

Recommends it for: slow story lovers and poetry readers

TRIGGER WARNING: Racism, racial stereotyping, homophobia, cheating (in a relationship)

Scroll past if you liked this book because I'm going to be brutal in this review.

I wish I didn't have to be brutal here but I genuinely couldn't overlook the blatantly racist nature of the characters and the overall boredom I experienced during my read. It's Not Like It's A Secret wasn't even that long but it felt like I was reading it forever. Nothing really happened, there was no climax or anything that red TRIGGER WARNING: Racism, racial stereotyping, homophobia, cheating (in a relationship)

Scroll past if you liked this book because I'm going to be brutal in this review.

I wish I didn't have to be brutal here but I genuinely couldn't overlook the blatantly racist nature of the characters and the overall boredom I experienced during my read. It's Not Like It's A Secret wasn't even that long but it felt like I was reading it forever. Nothing really happened, there was no climax or anything that redeemed this book enough for me to rate it even three stars.

From the blurb we are told that this book would be a sapphic YA romance about a Japanese-American girl who discovers that her dad is cheating on her mother with another woman. I did like that aspect of the book, however, it felt really downplayed. There was never any dramatic event or a real exploration of the main character, Sana's feelings towards it apart from what was mentioned pretty briefly. I tried finding elements of intrigue that would make me love this story but I found that everything just went way too slowly for my liking.

It would've been much more bearable if I enjoyed the characters too especially since as a writer and a reader, I'm very character focused. Characters come before anything else including plot. I can excuse you for a poorly executed plot or story only if you have characters that are *chef's kiss* well-written. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case for me. To me, Sana was such a bland character to read about. There was nothing that attracted me to her character or made me want to read about her. At first, she felt like a walking, talking stereotype but as the book progressed, I found her to be incredibly selfish, assumption-making and overall judgemental. If you read the book, you'll know exactly why I say that. There was one scene in particular where she said extremely racist things towards her Mexican crush and her friends (who were also Mexicans). When confronted about the things she said, she just said "I just wish I could explain that I didn't mean what I said in a racist way" which honestly made me spiral in a fitful of absolute rage. I was so close to DNF'ing this book just due to that conversation exchange alone. Say all you want about how in the end, Sana did learn a lesson that she shouldn't make assumptions and that this scene was necessary for her character development, but the way in which this was executed just felt so wrong and I felt so uncomfortable reading about it.

To make things even worse, when worried about her and Jamie's relationship diminishing, instead of trusting Jamie or communicating about their feelings about one another, Sana used another character and lead them on which was so not okay. The worst part was that instead of telling this character straight away that she didn't like them in any way, she kept playing around with their feelings which turned into an ugly mess that was so inexcusable that if I were one of her friends, I'd run for the hills. There was no excuse for what she did and even though I'm glad she learnt her lesson for her racist comments and for her manipulation and lies, it did not in any way excuse her appalling behaviour.

I honestly have no clue how she redeemed herself after all that or how she still had friends. With almost zero trust in their relationship, I'm surprised that even Jamie wanted to stick around with Sana even though she showed a lot of disrespect towards her race. I would've broken up on the spot if I was her. By the end of the book, I was so done with her and I was extremely close to losing it and taking it out on my poor wall.

I think I need a very long break from YA romance for a while to get over this book. If there was any sign the universe is trying to make me read more fantasy or other genres, this was it.

ACTUAL RATING: 1.8 STARS

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Mar 11, 2018 Emily (Obsessed Reader) rated it it was amazing

I’m actually giving this 4.5 stars, but since Goodreads doesn’t do half stars (I still don’t understand this) I went with 5, because I really liked it, and I want to encourage more people to read this. This books is BEAUTIFULLY DIVERSE. These are the kinds of books we need that include LGBTQ+ narratives and that discusses important topics like racism and equality. It’s a really great YA contemporary, and I truly believe it needs more readers and attention. Also, I loved all the characters and I ...more

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YA LGBT Books: * February 2019 BotM - It's Not Like It's a Secret - (poss spoilers)	14	96	May 07, 2019 07:22AM
Ferial Pearson Mu...: Powers - It's Not Like It's a Secret - Japanese-American/LGBT/Racism/Class	1	7	Jun 14, 2018 02:51PM
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“And I remember that hiding the truth doesn’t stop things from being true. Not talking about things doesn’t stop them from happening. Pretending that a thing is something else doesn’t change its true nature.” — 10 likes

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