Review: The Secret History of Us

The Secret History of Us by Jessi Kirby

To be published on August 1, 2017 by Harper

Source: eARC from publisher for possible review

Synopsis adapted from Goodreads: When Olivia awakens in the hospital following a car accident, she figures the brain fog is just a symptom of being in a week-long coma, but as time goes on, she realizes she’s lost more than just the last several days of her life—she’s lost her memory of the last four years.

Gone is any recollection of starting or graduating high school; the prom; or her steady boyfriend Matt. Trying to figure out who she is feels impossible when everyone keeps telling her who she was. As Liv tries to block out what her family and friends say about who she used to be, the one person she hasn’t heard enough from is Walker, the guy who saved her the night her car was knocked off that bridge into the bay below.

Walker is the hardened boy who’s been keeping his distance—and the only person Olivia inexplicably feels herself with. With her feelings growing for Walker, tensions rising with Matt, and secrets she can’t help but feel are being kept from her, Olivia must find her place in a life she doesn’t remember living.

My Review of The Secret History of Us by Jessi Kirby:

I’ve read most if not all of Jessi Kirby’s books and was excited to read this one …. until I started it and found out that it was about a character with amnesia.

In the past few weeks, I’ve read (or started to read) four YA books about main characters who’ve been in car accidents, three of whom had amnesia.

If there was such a thing as book-amnesia that could make me forget that I’d read those others, I’d be fine.

That said, I actually liked the amnesia element of this one. Liv wakes up in a hospital and is told she’s been in an accident. Good news: she’s going to be fine. Bad news: she can’t remember much about the past few years, including anything about her boyfriend, Matt, or about the accident itself.

As I read, I could definitely figure out exactly where this story was headed. I think anyone who has every read YA and reads the synopsis and title of this book can probably figure out where the story is headed. But predictability in a book is not necessarily a bad thing. I didn’t mind watching Liv and waiting for her to put the pieces together. And I loved Liv’s relationship with her parents and her brother.

Overall I enjoyed The Secret History of Us and recommend it to those who like YA contemporaries. The only drawback of this book for me was that the ending felt rushed, which I thought made the romantic element of the story not terribly satisfying. I often complain about overly long YA contemporaries, but at a slim 288 pages, I think this book could have benefited from a few more chapters to wrap things up.

Have you read this or any other Jessi Kirby book? Are you up for another amnesia story?