I think today’s teens will find this sort of book refreshing as so much of today’s novels are either about sexual relationships or vampires. Even though this is an old series I am just now discovering, I am definitely going to read the rest of the books. Of course as it’s a series we don’t know how it ends after this book. But the emotional character development with the relationship between Penn and Joanna really kept the novel moving and kept the reader wanting to find out how it ends. It was instantly predictable and I knew from less than 100 pages in that the group had something to do with the disappearance of Laurie. I can tell from the style that this series was based off of the classic formula books of the 80’s and 90’s, but that didn’t stop it from being enjoyable.

The two are neatly kept separate as diary entries are always written in italics.

We jump back and forth between pieces of Joanna’s diary and straight narrative about the time actually occurring around that specific entry. It reminded me so much of the writing style of other “horror” books I read growing up, especially those by Christopher Pike.

Reading this book was like instant nostalgia for me. Is this what she really wanted when she said she wanted to be a part of the group? Penn finally breaks down and tells Joanna everything. Once she feels better she confronts Penn about the various odd feelings she’s had regarding the group and their friend Laurie. She returns home and falls ill and Penn arrives and takes care of her for days while her dad is gone. After they return, she can tell they are lying about where they’ve been. When they aren’t at the cabin and they don’t return to school she figures she somehow made them mad. Once day when they don’t come to school and their parents all say they are together at Penn’s cabin, Joanna snaps and goes looking for them. She attributes most of this to grief and worry about their friend Laurie who is a presumed run-away. Always feeling like she was missing on some part of the story, she longs to know if she is really accepted at part of them. Once he takes a liking to her, she is instantly on cloud nine and pushes all the strange comments by his friends aside. She’s warned to stay away from his group because they aren’t friendly, but she wants to meet this mysterious good-looking guy. Her first day at school, she notices Penn and his friends. She is now living with her father who has more of a social life than she does and is never home. Joanna recently transferred high schools in the middle of her senior year. When the new girl gets noticed by a cute guy in a tight clique she wants to do whatever she can to be accepted.

Realistic Fiction, Mystery, Romance, Crime The Secret Diaries – Volume 1: Temptation.

Twin Sisters by Janice Harrell