It's Not Like It's A Secret

(Hardback)

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Winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Young Adult Literature * 2018 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults * 2018 Rainbow Book List * A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2017

"Well-paced, brimming with drama, and utterly vital."Kirkus (starred review)

This charming and bittersweet coming-of-age story featuring two girls of color falling in love is part To All the Boys I've Loved Before and part Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda.

Sixteen-year-old Sana Kiyohara has too many secrets. Some are small, like how it bothers her when her friends dont invite her to parties. Some are big, like the fact thather father may be having an affair. And then theres the one that she can barely even admit toherselftheone about how she might have a crush on her best friend.

When Sana and her family move to California, she begins to wonder if its finally time forsome honesty, especially after she meets Jamie Ramirez. Jamie is beautiful and smart and unlike anyone Sanas ever known.

There are just a few problems: Sana's newfriends don't trust Jamie's crowd; Jamie's friends clearly don't want her around anyway; and a sweet guy named Caleb seems to have more-than-friendly feelings for her. Meanwhile, her dads affair is becoming too obvious to ignore.

Sana always figured that the hardest thing would be to tell people that she wants to date a girl, but as she quickly learns, telling the truth is easy...what comes after it, though, is a whole lot more complicated.

Reviews

"Sugiura thoughtfully explores intersecting issues of race, immigrant-family relationships, queer romance, and, less explicitly, class dynamics without implying the significance of one over the others. Well-paced, brimming with drama, and utterly vital." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"A queer coming-of-age story that also tackles big topics like adultery, racism, and the cultural conflicts of immigrant families." -- Brightly

"An essential and delightful choice that realistically celebrates a teen's discovery of trust in herself and in others." -- School Library Journal

Author Bio

Misa Sugiura's ancestors include a poet, a priestess, a samurai, and a stowaway. She grew up in Northfield, Illinois (which is less rural than it sounds), and went to college on the East Coast. She lived in Japan for three years before moving to Silicon Valley and becoming a high school English teacher. She is also the author of It's Not Like It's a Secret. Misa lives under a giant oak tree with her husband, two sons, two cats, and a gray-banded king snake.