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Love Stories For Young Adults #26
Our Secret Love
Dana Lipton has totally fallen for Chris Geller. Who wouldn't? He's sexy, funny, and smart--and he's just as crazy about Dana as she is about him. But there's one Chris is her older brother Brian's best friend, and he's supposed to be off-limits.
Dana and Chris can't hide their feelings for each other anymore. And when Brian finds out, it causes a major blowup. Brian refuses to talk to either of them until they break it off. Dana knows her brother's just being stubborn and overprotective. She's sure he'll come around...but Brian's angry words have given Chris second thoughts. Is their relationship strong enough to last?
Dana and Chris can't hide their feelings for each other anymore. And when Brian finds out, it causes a major blowup. Brian refuses to talk to either of them until they break it off. Dana knows her brother's just being stubborn and overprotective. She's sure he'll come around...but Brian's angry words have given Chris second thoughts. Is their relationship strong enough to last?
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 9, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
February 19, 2025
This book is one of the first books I ever read and until today remains one of my all time favourites!
Oh how I thank my sister's friend for lending me this book...
What a cute, romantic love story between a girl and her brother's best friend. The secret meet-ups, the hiding behind her brothers back, the ever-cute guy who drops hints every time he see's her.
Too cute to not read. Especially with a surprise twist at the climax and a rather unexpected ending..
Definitely a must read if you're into the romance stuff.
2024 Update: Reread this as a 30 year old - still love it. Its simplicity, and authenticity in love is something so beautiful and so lost in todays love writing. Loved this book as a 14 year old, and love it still now.
Oh how I thank my sister's friend for lending me this book...
What a cute, romantic love story between a girl and her brother's best friend. The secret meet-ups, the hiding behind her brothers back, the ever-cute guy who drops hints every time he see's her.
Too cute to not read. Especially with a surprise twist at the climax and a rather unexpected ending..
Definitely a must read if you're into the romance stuff.
2024 Update: Reread this as a 30 year old - still love it. Its simplicity, and authenticity in love is something so beautiful and so lost in todays love writing. Loved this book as a 14 year old, and love it still now.
October 9, 2013
Honestly, as a teen lost in the clouds of romance this was one of my favourite books! Every now and then I give it a quick read. It takes me back to where I was at the time. Just a little 14-year-old hoping to fall in love.
February 20, 2023
I recently found this book at a used book store and remember reading it as a young teenager and loving it. Definitely didn’t enjoy it near as much now as an adult, but it was fun actually remember parts of it as i read a long.
April 16, 2013
This book started out all kinds of boring, mostly for the Wasted Potential inherent to the premise (the premise: they've basically been friends for years and years, potential: years and years of being secretly attracted to each other yet never knowing it O M G, wasted: we don't get to see ANY of that like wow, WOW, what am I even DOING here then). BUT THEN: Harry manages to pull it out of the fire just short of the halfway point with that most devastating of combos, Emotional Honesty + Respect + People Actually Talking About Stuff. Like, what! Frick! I had a totally way awesome snarky review all written up in my head, like, BAM, two stars to Our Secret Love and one of those stars is a pity star, but no, this dang thing earned all three stars once Dana and Chris started discussing their individual Histories and Things and the Central Conflict (Dana's big bro, Brian, is all like DANA U CAN'T DATE ANY OF MY FRIENDS BCS ONE OF THEM WAS A MEGA-CREEP (spoiler alert: the mega-creep never shows up in the book again. Oh, Love Stories! You and your characters who are really just cunningly disguised plot devices! You got me again!)). Ugh. Hate it when I like things.
I don't really have strong feelings about this one, ALTHOUGH THE REMAINDER OF THIS PARAGRAPH WILL SUGGEST OTHERWISE!!! Lot of wasted potential, for sure, and I'm still mad about that; there are a ton of scenes in the first half of the book that have Chris and Dana all touching up on each other (erotic basketball, erotic wrestling, the least erotic back rub in the history of back rubs, it goes on) which would be fine IF while they were doing this stuff they were only just beginning to realize they are being purposefully erotic/bad at back rubs at each other so that we, the audience, are shown their friendship instead of simply being told HEY, THEY'RE FRIENDS, BUT NOW THEY WANT TO DO EACH OTHER! like ugh, don't put oblivious friends w/ sexxxy feelz in my face and then slap my face, that shit is RUDE. But Our Secret Love does a lot of things right or at least OK-ish, and honestly OK-ish is more than I expected based off the first seventy pages, and the emphasis placed on honesty and responsibility and apologizing when you mess up was v appreciated especially when Dana's like UM, YO, DUDE, I'M NOT JUST GONNA KISS U AFTER THAT JUNK U PULLED, and Chris is like, that's fair, I'm going to accept culpability for my actions and apologize sincerely to you for them, like DAMMMMMN. That is some good stuff. I appreciate that. Thank you.
Verdict: cute, but forgettable.
I don't really have strong feelings about this one, ALTHOUGH THE REMAINDER OF THIS PARAGRAPH WILL SUGGEST OTHERWISE!!! Lot of wasted potential, for sure, and I'm still mad about that; there are a ton of scenes in the first half of the book that have Chris and Dana all touching up on each other (erotic basketball, erotic wrestling, the least erotic back rub in the history of back rubs, it goes on) which would be fine IF while they were doing this stuff they were only just beginning to realize they are being purposefully erotic/bad at back rubs at each other so that we, the audience, are shown their friendship instead of simply being told HEY, THEY'RE FRIENDS, BUT NOW THEY WANT TO DO EACH OTHER! like ugh, don't put oblivious friends w/ sexxxy feelz in my face and then slap my face, that shit is RUDE. But Our Secret Love does a lot of things right or at least OK-ish, and honestly OK-ish is more than I expected based off the first seventy pages, and the emphasis placed on honesty and responsibility and apologizing when you mess up was v appreciated especially when Dana's like UM, YO, DUDE, I'M NOT JUST GONNA KISS U AFTER THAT JUNK U PULLED, and Chris is like, that's fair, I'm going to accept culpability for my actions and apologize sincerely to you for them, like DAMMMMMN. That is some good stuff. I appreciate that. Thank you.
Verdict: cute, but forgettable.
August 23, 2019
Mom's need not worry at all! Amazing for tweens & teens, no sex, no talk of sex. Not even sexual innuendos, (Despite the cover and title) just kissing! First kiss/first love, romantic, creative, clever, funny! I would highly recommend these "love stories" books written by different authors. They're what I started out on, as an adolescent in the 90s, daydreaming about my future first love, 😻 and I sometimes still pull them out and read them as an adult! And, most all of the main characters, a girl looking for love, have a best friend/gal pal like most of us do/did to rely on, and to chat with! My mom loved these for me, as did I!
This book was so amazing! One of my favorites in the series! I have 2 older brothers, and their friends were always hanging out at our house! And, of course, I had a crush on some of them, but never had the guys to do anything about it! LOL
But, what if that fantasy came to life? This book brings it to reality! So adorable!
This book was so amazing! One of my favorites in the series! I have 2 older brothers, and their friends were always hanging out at our house! And, of course, I had a crush on some of them, but never had the guys to do anything about it! LOL
But, what if that fantasy came to life? This book brings it to reality! So adorable!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 1, 2015
Read the full review on Bookabulary.
It's stories like this that make me wish for and at the same time, not wish for a brother. I just think that it would actually be kinda cool if someone would be as overprotective of me as Dana's brother was of her in this book. But at the same time, it would definitely get stifling and restrictive, and life would be more difficult.
It's stories like this that make me wish for and at the same time, not wish for a brother. I just think that it would actually be kinda cool if someone would be as overprotective of me as Dana's brother was of her in this book. But at the same time, it would definitely get stifling and restrictive, and life would be more difficult.
December 13, 2009
Love it! I always wanted a brother who actually cared about me like Brian!
Read
August 4, 2013asd
August 28, 2014
I loved and re-read this book when I was fifteen! lol
I still have it.
I still have it.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews