The Secret History of Us

July 1, 2017

Gr 9 Up-The survivor of a near-fatal car crash, Liv Jordan is a miracle. After awakening from a medically induced coma, Liv is diagnosed with "posttraumatic retrograde amnesia." Although the bruises and physical pain serve as an unpleasant consequence of her past and present, Liv finds her inability to remember even harder to deal with. Reliant on her family, best friend Paige, and boyfriend Matt to "fill in the gaps," Liv isn't sure who she really is. Forced to piece together memories from her photography, the reactions of others, and a bystander video of her presumed death and resurrection, Liv slowly realizes that she was on the precipice of change long before the accident that robbed her of her memory. When Liv attempts to locate her rescuer, a former classmate with a traumatic past, she is unexpectedly drawn to him. This is a coming-of-age story wrapped in mystery with a hint of romance. Liv's circumstances and her search for self are allegorical and parallel many young adults' experiences. First loves, breakups, dissolution of friendships, and the pursuit of passions are explored. Liv's journey toward self-realization unfolds authentically and in a way that will resonate with teens. VERDICT Recommended for most young adult realistic fiction shelves.-Tamela Chambers, Chicago Public Schools, IL

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2017
Given a second chance at life, Liv must unravel the mysteries occluded by her memory loss. When Liv's car is hit by a truck, she and her boyfriend, Matt, plunge into the bay along with the car. Matt is able to swim to the surface, but 18-year-old Liv is trapped. When town introvert Walker finally pulls Liv out of the water, she is already dead. Walker breaks her ribs giving her resuscitation, but her life is saved. When she awakens in the hospital several days later, it comes to everyone's slow realization that Liv has lost several years of memories, specifically all of high school, in a syndrome called post-traumatic retrograde amnesia. She doesn't know Matt or how to drive. She doesn't even know that she's a vegetarian now. As Liv tries to piece her life back together, there is something a little off about the information her family and friends, mostly white, are supplying...as though they want to re-create her in their own best image. Schadenfreude will stir in readers as Liv obsessively watches the video of her death online, but the rest of the tale is humdrum. Written in Liv's tentative, first-person voice, the big reveal is incredibly predictable, but there are a couple of sweet surprises at story's end. A weightless romance meant to elucidate that one's true self is unsinkable. (Fiction. 13-17)

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June 1, 2017
Grades 8-11 When Liv wakes up in the hospital, her doctors tell her that she has been in a coma for eight days following a car accident. But she has lost more than those eight days. Four years of her lifeher entire high-school experiencehave been wiped from her memory. Her long-term boyfriend, Matt, is now a stranger, and her close friend, Jules, is no longer so close. It is up to Liv to rediscover who she is. In so doing, however, she starts to unravel the illusion she herself created to keep her world together. Kirby's book fits into a sizable set of YA novels about amnesia. What makes it notable is its hyperfocus on Liv's existential crisis rather than romantic plot threads. The reader follows Liv as she integrates herself back into her own life, discovering how her loved ones deceive her for her own good, and how she lived a secret life masked by her image as the perfect daughter and girlfriend. The book is ultimately about Liv finding her inner strength to live the life she wants to live instead of the life everyone expects.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2018
After surviving a horrific (and widely televised) car accident and eight comatose days in the hospital, Liv wakes up with no memory of the last four years. In the weeks that follow, Liv feels pressured to slip back into a life she doesn't recognize. While Liv's unusual identity struggle is sensitively and thoughtfully portrayed, a too-brief timeline leaves this realistic novel feeling insubstantial.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)