No One Needs to Know, Amanda Grace

Pages: 242

Publisher: Flux

Release Date: 1^st September 2014

Edition: e-proof, NetGalley review copy

Other Titles by this Author: But I Love Him, In Too Deep, The Truth About You & Me

Olivia Reynolds and her twin brother Liam have been best friends their whole lives. But ever since he started dating, Liam has barely had time for Olivia, making her feel powerless and alone. Blaming his string of girlfriends, Olivia does whatever she can to drive them away.

Until she meets Zoey, Liam’s latest fling. A call-it-like-she-sees-it kind of girl, Zoey sees right through Olivia’s tricks. What starts as verbal sparring turns into surprising intimacy, and them something different builds between them. Something that feels a lot like love.

But when Liam confesses he’s falling for Zoey, that she’s more than just a fling, Olivia has to decide who deserves happiness more: her brother or herself.

The first Amanda Grace novel that I read, The Truth About You & Me, was one of my favourite books of last year so I was incredibly excited to get my hands on No One Needs to Know, but I was slightly disappointed.

Within a few pages I already knew that I wasn’t going to enjoy this novel as much as I had Grace’s previous one. The characters veered between irritating and bland and I felt no connection to them whatsoever. Olivia was irritating and cold for a large proportion of the novel and even though I knew there would be more behind her facade, I wasn’t really all that bothered about what she was hiding or who she really was. And Liam was just plain bland. Nothing really bothered him and his easy disregard of his twin sister was so effortlessly done, and then when he found out about Olivia and Zoey’s relationship at the end he barely reacted! It was like he had no personality and no emotions! Zoey was the only one with a personality. She had spark and a past and depth that the other two didn’t.

Part of what made Zoey interesting was how different how her life is to Olivia and Liam’s. They are rich and spoiled, Zoey works her butt off to help her mum who works all the hours possible. A mistake in the beginning of her time at a rich school put her in the girls’ bad books and besmirched her name from then on. The social divide was explored in No One Needs to Know and served as more of an obstacle in Olivia and Zoey’s relationship than their sexuality which was refreshing.

Though I didn’t enjoy No One Needs to Know nearly as much as I had expecting to, my love for her previous novel is enough to keep me reading Grace’s novels.

Thanks to NetGalley and Flux for the review copy.

Sophie