My Secret Boyfriend

by Lurlene McDaniel

Jordan Sterling has had a boring summer, unlike the other girls at her high school. When she hears story after story of fun summer romances, Jordan decides she has to come up with her own special boyfriend. She brags about Ryan, a gorgeous guy she met "over the summer." But Ryan is a real person―a boy she's known all her life. Luckily, he lives far away. So what is Jordan going to do when Ryan moves to her town and he has no idea he's the love of her life? Will one lie ruin a life-long friendship?

Genres: Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary, Teen, Realistic Fiction, Novels, Childrens

128 pages, Paperback

First published April 28, 1988

About the author

Lurlene McDaniel (born c. 1948) is an author who has written over 50 young adult books. She is well known for writing about characters struggling with chronic and terminal illnesses, such as cancer, diabetes, and organ failure.


Other places to find her are...
https://www.facebook.com/lurlenemcdan...
http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/aut...
http://www.youtube.com/user/LurleneMc

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the premise of this book. It was cute and just okay.

[Charlotte · Rating 1 out of 5]

romance

This book was just silly. (I mean, look at the cover—good grief.) The main character fabricates a summer romance to her friends and then the boy she used as her summer fling (the son of a family friend) ends up coming to live with her and her family. Oh, the drama! I didn't find the writing quality compelling, and the story a bit on the ridiculous side. I'd like to think that we can give our adolescents more credit when giving them something to read. Maybe some girls would like this book for its easy-to-read, just-for-fun nature, and for that, I guess it would be okay. But really, I'd rather spend my time reading something with a little more substance.

[Catastrophe Queen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is actually pretty cute. Of course, if I had it my way they'd end up together. But it was still a pretty cute kids' story; no kissing scenes or anything like that.

[Charmae · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Jordan, congratulations on being chosen for editor". "My Secret Boyfriend" is about this girl named Jordan Starling, they just got back from summer and as they got back they discuss about what interesting they did over the summer. All her friends had a boyfriend but she didn't and so her friends had been bugging her if she had one too. That day she was scared because all she did during the summer were boring and nothing interesting. She was also selected as the editor and so she had to work with her friends, she never like to share about her romance summer and so she told a lie. The next day to prove that she wasn't the only one she stole a picture of a boy she grew up with but lived miles away from her. That got her more frustrated of everything, will she ever get away with the lie about the picture she showed?



I like this book because it teaches the readers that telling lies is not the solution just to make someone jealous. It teaches the reader that you must think before you say something to your friends because you might end up becoming enemies and your friends will lose the trust in you. It's always good to be honest but sometimes not, the reason is that they may tease you for that.

I recommend this book to teenagers because they are likely to relate to this book and it talks about friendships and relationships. This book will actually make you realize that once you lie, you make more lies and people will have less trust in you. I don't recommend this to teens that are very immature because they will just think this book is not worth reading. It has a lot of dramas and it may bored mostly for guys because this book has to do with a girly kind of thing.

[Carmen Yeung · Rating 4 out of 5]

A romantic yet challenging book, Jordan struggle to fit among her friends. Over the summer, everyone was having good times with their boyfriends, but she was just having a normal yet single boring summer. So she decides to use one of her good friend as a disguise of a boyfriend. Unfoturnally, that good friend of hers named Ryan moved to her town and was in the same school as her. Everyone still thinks that they are in a relationship. Jordan didn't bother to tell Ryan and continues to act on. As time goes by, Ryan started to like another girl named Jennifer, but other people thinks he is actually cheating on Jordan. But Jordan explained and Ryan got mad then left for another town. At the end, they both apologizes and said they are still friends even though there are small imperfection of conflict. They both know nothing can beat friendship and thats what makes them stronger as friends. So i really enjoy this book, because it turned from a lie to a secret, a secret to hatre, and a hatre to forgiving. It was really all over the place, but the authoer puts it together really well. i enjoy this book really well, i can actually understand sometimes why people make up lies, because they want to fit in or be more outstanding. After all it is not good to lie, because after one lie you need to cover it with another until that lie bursts out and everyone will start to dislike you. So never start anything with a lie and never tell one single lie, it is making others lost the trust and it is really hard to gain back. Luckily, Ryan and Jordan both apologizes and they were friends again.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a pretty good book even though it is very short. It was about this girl named Jordan how she is kind of jealous of others having a summer romantic. When people asked her if she has a boyfriend, she said she does but she was lying. She was telling people about her boyfriend or a guy she met named Ryan who actually moved to her house on Thanksgiving because his parents divorced. But Ryan did not know what was going on about the story of Jordan's boyfriend. Jordan kept lying more and more to Ryan and her friends until she finally realized that she could've said something in the beginning.
I learned some life lessons from this book. I kind of learned that the more you lie about something and the more trouble you get into. If you lied the first time and realized something is going to change, you should tell the truth right away. Because in the book, Jordan could've said something when she knew Ryan more better but she did not and put herself into a very troubling situation where Ryan didn't care about her and she cries a lot.

[Ashleync · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gave this book two stars, not because i liked it enough to think it was okay but, because i was not disgusted enough by sappiness to throw the book down and refuse to read it.

My secret boyfriend is about a young girl who has a boring summer is the rockies with her family and when school starts up she makes up a story about a summer boyfriend. The lies, which she could easily stop, get worse when her made up boyfriend starts to go to her school.

This book sounds like something a twelve year old would write, hence why twelve year olds probably love this book.

[Hana Bilqisthi · Rating 4 out of 5]

It start out slow but it got better and the ending made me cry :")

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jordan feels pressure to have a boyfriend like everyone else. She latches onto a picture of the only boy she knows: Ryan Elliott. She hasn’t seen him since they were toddlers, but since he lives far away, it’s safe to pretend, right? Then he moves in with them with his mother. And things fall apart.

The story isn’t bad, but it’s not fantastic. It’s very on par with what middle schoolers might do, but Jordan could have easily quashed all of these rumors before they got started if she’d said they broke up, or it was just a summer fling or something. Then at the end it says she’s always been just a step behind him. They haven’t seen each other in ages! And then it says she’s known him for 15 years, but last I checked, middle school ends at 13-14.

[Mahalley Dillman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book!

Great book! This is one of the best books that I have read. The way that this story is written, it feels like you're there alongside the characters experiencing the adventures.

[Amy Haase · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book one of my first I readqhwn it came out in 1988 & I never forgot it

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I want a summery for my secret boyfriend

[Tyne Swedish · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book as a tween

[Traceylee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why

I am not a teenager this was written for. It is gook for a teenager probably. I like this author and read all her. Books

[brianna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just another corny short-story. It's cuter for younger audiences.

[Caitlin Turner · Rating 3 out of 5]

English 425 Submitter’s name: Caitlin Turner__________
Book Bank Book Bank subject: Romance_________________

Reference information:
Title: My Secret Boyfriend
Author: Lurlene McDaniel
Publisher: Darby Creek Year: 1988
# of pages: 125 Genre: romance
Reading level: 6th-8th grade Interest level: 11 and 12 years
Potential hot lava: talk about divorce


General response/reaction: I enjoyed it. I read it all the way through before putting it down. I could definitely relate to it and generally thought that it was a good book for young adolescence (middle school)

Subjects, Themes, and Big Ideas: The book is about old friends, competing with friends, pressure from friends, making new friends, and fitting in. Everything that goes along with middle school and becoming an adolescent.

Characters: Jordan Starling, Ryan Elliot, Laurie, Carmen Rodriguez, Jamey Starling

Plot summary: When Jordan gets back from vacation she has no time before it’s the first day of 8th grade. She hadn’t seen everyone all summer and once she starts hearing about their summers, hers doesn’t seem like anything special, in fact her summer was down right boring. Everyone seemed to have met a boy and had a boyfriend now. When her friends asked her about her summer, she lied and said that she had met a boy while she was on vacation. Her friends keep asking about him so she takes a photo of a boy that she grew up with and hadn’t seen since she was a baby. After showing the picture of the boy to her friends she finds out that the boy, Ryan Elliot, and his mother are coming to stay with her family because his parents were going through a divorce. She has to pretend that he is her boyfriend without him knowing. It becomes too much for her to handle and confesses to her friends and to Ryan. Jordan and Ryan had become good friends and after telling him what had been going on, he was mad at her. Ryan and his mother moved out and Jordan hadn’t talked to Ryan since she confessed about him being her ‘Secret Boyfriend’. On a family vacation, Ryan and his mother came along and Ryan and Jordan finally talk and they decide to stay close friends.

Strengths (including reviews and awards): It is a book that may help young adults with divorce in their family or get some advice to tell a friend who may be going through it.

Drawbacks or other cautions: Some parents or house holds tend to not talk about divorce, other than that I don’t see anything wrong with this book

Teaching ideas: Jordan is involved in the newspaper at her school. You could have the class write articles about different love stories or drama, lies, rumors, etc.
Or,
Have the class publish a newspaper about things that are happening in the school and have it just be a class newspaper that they could copy and everyone who get one.

[Becca Hay · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ah, what do you say about a romance book which is the teenage equivalent of a "adult paperback novel" (we all know what that means)? Did I like it? No. I found the plot WAY over dramatized, the dialogue shallow to say the least, and the characters so fickle I couldn't see how anyone could stand to talk to such a person let along willingly read the mindless dialogue. Unless you enjoy teenage drama and the "intricate" workings of high school relationships, don't waste your time. The plot centers around Jordan, who has just come back from summer vacation in the mountains where she spent the last month looking at rocks and being terrorized by her 10 year old brother. As she returns to school, she discovers her best friend, Laurie, along with what she perceives as the entire student body, has a new boyfriend and she's the only single girl in the school. When questioned about her summer by Jeniffer, her arch nemesis, Jordan quickly "makes up" a hot summer fling with a boy Ryan, who is her mother's best friend's son. When Ryan and his mother come to live with Jordan's family and Ryan is suddenly in her school life, Jordan must keep the gossipers quiet and eventually face Ryan, telling him the truth of her lie. Is there any critical twist? No, the story simply plays out as predictably seen and really has no life lesson other than, don't lie. This book, while maybe attracting a young girl audience, I really wouldn't recommend to anyone as a book worth their time.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dear me, to be in middle school again. While My Secret Boyfriend was fun and easy to read, I was amazed at how such a trivial plot could extend for the full length of a book. Not wanting to disappoint her friends and their new boyfriends, Jordan Starling makes up a summer romance with a boy across the country who she hasn't seen since she was a baby. Imagine her shock when the boy comes to live with her family following his parents' divorce. I suppose the theme of the book was about lies and trust, and healing after trust has been broken. Ryan must forgive his father, and later Jordan when he discovers her lie. I wasn't sold on it, but then, I'm not a middle-school-aged student. I would recommend this book for tweens excited about dating and boys or maybe grades 6-7, but the theme of divorce is held at the end of a long stick and there's enough fluff in this book to pad it that it's really nothing heavy. I wasn't quite enchanted with the stock characters or canned teen drama dating plot. Maybe a (much) younger audience would be.

[Ammica · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you're in middle school, then you'll probably love this. The story follows eighth grader, Jordan Starling, as she makes up a tale of how she had a summer romance with Ryan Elliot, who is actually her mother's friend's son. Jordan does this only because all her friends had come back with great summer stories while she had nothing exciting to tell. Ryan and his mother end up moving into Jordan's home and Ryan ends up going to the same school as Jordan who she hasn't seen since they were babies. From there, Jordan makes up lies after lies to keep her secret through out the school year. Also, Ryan knows nothing about it.


I wanted an easy to read and quick book, which this was. But personally, this book was not for me. It was a bit ridiculous and I didn't love it. This would probably be more suitable for young girls in middle school. It was less romantic and more relating to friendship. Nonetheless, I still love the author. This book was just not one of my favorites.

[Sierra · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was shockingly bad. It tells the story of an unmemorable narrator who makes up a boyfriend because she does not want to tell people about her uneventful summer. Perhaps it was a terrible introduction to Lurlene McDaniel but I don't think I have disliked a book with such passion since Notes From the Underground, and at least that one had literary merit. This book focused on such a trivial, meaningless subject. It gave absolutely no credit to adolescents or adolescent readers. The writing was appallingly simplistic and an insult to teenage intelligence. The climax was silly and the denoument too convenient. The story was too easily resolved, and reminded me of a bad episode of Keenan and Kel. I would not recommend this book to anyone, not even a seventh grader, who I think can handle more mature subject material than this wasteful read.

[Charla Aranda · Rating 1 out of 5]

To say the least...this book was ridiculous. Plot summary: silly high school girl lies about a summer romance to impress her friends. However, her lie comes full swing to haunt her as the guys she supposedly had dated that summer comes to live with her and her family. And... that's about all you need to know to know that this book is not worth a read.

I feel that this book and literature like insult our young readers. I'm glad there are other higher quality authors out there to supply our teens with books that have SOMETHING literary to offer.

[Alma E Marquez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is the 1st book I feel in love with. I can't remember any of the books I read, that weren't required for school, before "Where the Wild Things Are" (which was the 1st book I owned besides Dr. Seuss books). This book, My Secret Boyfriend, I read when I was in 6th grade. I fell in love with this book! I couldn't stop reading it. I still own my 1988 copy, actually. It's somewhere in storage(I should probably dig it out and re-read). It's a great book for teens full of love and the obstacles of peer pressure and discovering the good qualities in others.

[Sydney White · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you are a middle school girl, this book is just for you. Jordan comes back from summer vacation and nothing exciting had really happened. All her friends have new boyfriends and so she makes up a new love who is a distant family friend. When unfortunate circumstances occur, Ryan (her pretend boyfriend) has to come live with her family.

The story is about her friendship with Ryan and facing the lie she has told her friends and the whole school. Themes include friendship, loss, girlfriend relations and middle school life.

[Alycia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is set in 8th grade and I'm glad I was never like this in 8th grade. The only thing that made this book okay was the fact that the it's not really a romance. This book is about friendship, which I thought was better than romantic relationships which is what you would think from the title. However I think we can relate with the main character about how one little lie ends up growing into a whole web that we end up caught in. While I didn't enjoy this book, I was grateful that it wasn't about cancer.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Lurlene McDaniel has her stuff, boy can she write. This and the Dawn Rochelle series are the only examples of that, because they are funny and sort of realistic. This is about a girl who is upset because her friends all had great summers. So she makes up a story about a "boyfriend" (who is really her mom's best friend's son), and then, the fake boyfriend and his mom come to live with the girl's family. What wil she do?

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a short quick read. My teenage daughter loves Lurlene McDaniel's and I was interested in reading some of her books because it reminded me of my love of Judy Blume when I was growing up. Also, my daughter wanted the opportunity to share her books like I share mine. Cute story & I see why my daughter loves this author. I've only read one other book by this author because I have enough books of my own to read.

[Sydney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was excited to read this book, it is nostalgic in a way, reminding me of books I read growing up that were written in the 80s and 90s. Really, the purest form of stories without tech drama getting in the way.
The book didn't how I thought it would, Jordan is able to keep people off the trail and the ending is unexpected and not how I originally wanted, but it's a good ending and I'm really glad I read the book.

Check it out yourself. :)

[Samantha · Rating 1 out of 5]

Romance/Young Adult Girls/Relationships
Lurlene McDaniel, Romance*

This book is completely and totally ridiculous. Throughout the extremely short novel, I found myself wishing that I could be doing anything else. The book tracks a young girl as she gets caught in a web of lies about her secret boyfriend who ends up moving in with her.

[Melanie Douglas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a really quick read for me as a 16 year old, but I would definitely recommend it for any girls between the ages of 10 or 11 and 14! The main character is in 8th grade, so it was a little juvenile for me, but I read it in less than 24 hours and I did enjoy it. It carries a very strong message throughout, and I look forward to sharing this book with preteen girls I know!

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Usually

Oh Lurlene, how I usually love your stories, but this one didn't really hit me like the rest. Sure it was good and I felt horrible for Jordan and Ryan... I don't really know what else to say.