Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

I finished listening to Rob Buyea’s The Perfect Secret today, and I actually liked it even better than its predecessor (that would be The Perfect Score). It had me pretty much from the get-go, and its plot progression was nicely balanced; I enjoyed each part of it instead of wishing some parts away to get to others, which doesn’t always happen. So good! It has its flaws, certainly–Trevor’s transformation is somewhat incredible, and the relationship between Randi and Jane seems also a bit too suddenly changed–but they’re feel-good flaws, and at least there are difficulties to balance them out. Think of Gary D. Schmidt’s Okay for Now—The Perfect Secret isn’t quite as good, because NOBODY’S quite as good at what he does as Gary D. Schmidt, but it’s quite good and it’s something of the same vibe. Add to that the rotating narrators–which make it more of a gender neutral read than many–and middle grade kids really shouldn’t miss this one.