Book: Secrets Of Truth And Beauty by Megan Frazer
Rating: 4 Stars
Release Date: July 7
Summary: And the first runner up is…When Dara Cohen was little, she was a bright, shiny star. She was the cutest seven-year-old who ever sang Ella Fitzgerald, and it was no wonder she was crowned Little Miss Maine.
That was then. Now Dara’s seventeen and she’s not so little anymore. So not little, that when her classmates find out about her illustrious resume, their jaws drop. That’s just one of her many problems. Another is that her control-freak mom won’t get off her case about anything. Yet the one that hurts the most is the family secret: Dara has an older sister her parents tried to erase from their lives.
When a disastrously misinterpreted English project lands her in the counselor’s office–and her parents pull her out of school to save face–Dara realizes she has a decision to make. She can keep following the rules and being misunderstood, or she can finally reach out to the sister she’s never met–a sister who lives on a collective goat farm in Massachusetts. Dara chooses B. What follows is a summer of revelations, some heartbreaking, some joyous; of friendship, romance, a local beauty pageant; and choices. And as autumn approaches, Dara finds she may have to let go of everything she’s taken for granted in order to figure out who she really is, and what family really means.
Once there, Dara sees no reason why her parents would have kicked her sister out. She is the perfect host and an even better worker at the goat farm. She seems like the perfect person to Dara but old secrets are well hidden.
Then there are the other residents of the farm. Owen, a gay high schooler, whose parents couldn’t accept him, Sascha, a big lumberjack type, and Belinda, the silent owner of the farm. No matter how weird they all seem, they are the first people that seem to accept Dara for who she is and how she looks.
Is this the family that Dara has always wanted? Will Dara’s parents ever change their feelings toward Rachel and allow her back into their lives and hearts?
The story of Dara was a little bit typical but the subplots to the story help balance that out. I wasn’t expecting anything serious in Secrets of Truth and Beauty but it was a good surprise. Dara has a lot of mixed feelings towards her family and herself. They are shown throughout the book and they develop very well.
Another thing this book addressed was homosexuality. That definitely came out of nowhere for me. Owen was a great character and the topic was addressed amazingly well. It wasn’t overdone but it really felt like it was important to the story and people in today’s society. Megan Frazer both addressed how some adults react to their children coming out and how teenagers sometimes inadvertently insult homosexuals with their remarks. It was just such a great thing for her to weave into the story.
Overall, Secrets of Truth And Beauty was a great story, while a little bit predictable. This is another title that is going on my list of summer books to reread.
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