Secret Love review:
‘Why I seemed to enjoy this destructive need, this obsession, I didn’t know. Maybe we all had it inside of us…’ – Line from ‘Secret Love’
Two words caught my attention when this book was described to me: ‘dark’, and ‘poetic’.
‘Secret Love’ could be described as a ‘taboo’ story, and in some sense I suppose it is. It’s the story of a female teacher who falls hard for a male student. I liked that the author was very careful to make no moral commentary whatsoever upon her character’s actions. Right, wrong, or otherwise, this story is happening… and yes, this kinda stuff does actually happen.
I loved the moral ambiguity of the tale. Was it wrong for Francesca to fall for Ritchie? At the end of the day, this story just is what it is. I recommend simply reading it as such, and leaving it at that.
I loved that Francesca was lovely in her own way (as romance novel heroines generally are), but she does describe some self-perceived ‘flaws’ in her appearance, which makes her very relatable. The first-person narrative tense makes the story even more intimate. I loved that Ritchie only weighs in on his own tale at the very end, giving the story a very, very powerful next-to-last chapter.
Excellent use of first-person narrative, edgy subject matter, and rock-solid storytelling… ‘Secret Love’ is a must-read!
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