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Title: Things I'll Never Say

Subtitle: Stories About Our Secret Selves

Author: Ann Angel - editor

Narrator: Bahni Turpin, Anne Flosnik, Amy Rubinate, Luke Daniels

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-24-15

Publisher: Candlewick on Brilliance Audio

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories & Anthologies

Publisher's Summary:

Fifteen top young-adult authors let us in on some provocative secrets in this fascinating collection of short fiction that will have listeners talking.

A baby no one knows about. A dangerous hidden identity. Hookups that are off-limits. A parent whose problems your friends won't understand. Everyone keeps secrets - from themselves, from their families, from their friends - and secrets have a habit of shaping lives around them.

Acclaimed author Ann Angel brings together some of today's most gifted YA authors as they explore unique perspectives on secrets in genres as diverse as the writers themselves: Do they make you stronger or weaker? Do they alter your world when revealed? Do they compartmentalize your life into what you're willing to share and what you aren't? The one thing these stories have in common is how they reveal the characters' secret selves buried underneath - whether they want them to be shared or not.

With stories by: Ann Angel, Kerry Cohen, Louise Hawes, Varian Johnson, Erica L. Kaufman, Ron Koertge, E. M. Kokie, Chris Lynch, Kekla Magoon, Zoë Marriott, Katy Moran, J. L. Powers, Mary Ann Rodman, Cynthia Leitich Smith, and Ellen Wittlinger.

Members Reviews:

A diverse and realistic anthology

Ann Angel's first outing editing an anthology is an impressive venture. She's gathered a wonderful mix of authors, from established award winners like Chris Lynch and Ellen Wittlinger to talented up to a debut author. The authors aren't just diverse in their name recognition either. THINGS I'LL NEVER SAY: STORIES ABOUT OUR SECRET SELVES dwells in those experiences that are hard to talk about, that people like to never think about.

It's fitting that it is a very diverse anthology, not only the authors, but also the main characters, who are black and white and Asian and gay and bisexual and transgender and suffering from mental illness. Although not all of the stories are realistic, they do strive for a realism about the teen experience, and the multiplicity of points of view represented help support that anthology-wide tone.

I'll admit that the anthology started a little slow for me. The usually reliable Ellen Wittlinger didn't knock it out of the park with "The We-Are-Like-Everybody-Else Game," the story of a girl with a mom who hoards and a friend who might not deserve the title (but one who does). "Cupid's Beaux" by Cynthia Leitich Smith is charming, and a definite delight to me as a fan of her Tantalize series. Will anthology readers who haven't read that series be a little lost?

"When We Were Wild" by Louise Hawes and "Call Me!" by Ron Koertge are both delightfully loose stories, slightly naughty and shaggy with narrators who struggle with their knowledge of their own cruelty. Of the sadder stories, I think I liked "Easter" by Mary Ann Rodman best, for the way it captured loss and teenage confusion and dashed hopes.

"Quick Change" by E.M. Kokie is a little gem about a con artist in a family of con artists, and I want an entire novel about what happens next. (Short stories have been made into novels before! I can hope!) "Storm Clouds Fleeing From the Wind" by Zo Marriott is the standout of the collection.