Secret Lives

Gabriella Poole’s Secret Lives works the secret-supernatural-identity angle with a teenage protagonist who slowly realizes that one of the trusted adults in her life is not what they seem. The discovery sets off the rest of the book, with consequences that escalate as the narrator gets pulled deeper into the world she didn’t know existed.

Poole writes the teen protagonist in a believable voice. The friend group around her gets enough attention to feel real rather than backdrop. The romance element is restrained.

The pacing builds steadily through the first two thirds, then accelerates into the climax. The ending leaves room for sequels without ending on a frustrating cliffhanger.

For YA readers who liked Maggie Stiefvater’s earlier work or Jenna Black’s Faeriewalker series, this is in similar territory. Worth picking up for fans of the contemporary supernatural YA subgenre. Not the most original entry but solidly executed within its conventions.