No One Needs to Know

by Amanda Grace

[Angie]

I received an ARC through NetGalley.

I was beyond excited to read No One Needs to Know! But my feelings upon finishing it are quite split. Olivia and Zoey are not friends. In fact, they kind of hate each other, so there's a lot of tension when they're partnered for a class project. Things start off rough between them, but Olivia and Zoey are forced to spend more time together, not only because of the assignment, but because Zoey is kind of dating Olivia's brother. The two grow closer, and soon enough their feelings are more than just friendly.

The first third, or so, of No One Needs to Know annoyed me. Olivia is super rich and the stereotypical mean girl, at least on the surface. Zoey is super poor and is the school slut, at least on the surface. Zoey hates Olivia, because her best friend was the one to start the rumors and Olivia went along with it. Olivia hates Zoey because...well, because. But Olivia has problems! Poor little rich girl, what does she know about misery? Her only other friend is her twin brother, her parents are always gone, she's not smart, and she's losing her edge in gymnastics. Oh, and she has anxiety which she's on Xanax for. So many problems! I know that rich people still have personal problems, but this was way too much of an effort to make Olivia sympathetic. I think her story would have been much stronger if it were more focused on her struggles at gymnastics, rather than all of the other stuff.

Towards the end, it was clear that part of the plot was to have Olivia grow as a person and find her own way. Her brother is pulling away from her, not because he doesn't want to be with her, but because he wants her to be her own person. She needs to open herself up to others and stop striving for perfection all of the time. This also becomes a problem in her relationship with Zoey, since she doesn't want her to break up with her brother in fear of him blaming her. At no point is their relationships established as exclusive or even serious, and her brother never gave any indication of making it so. Of course, if they had been honest in the beginning, there wouldn't be that "forbidden" romance feel.

I did love the second two thirds of No One Needs to Know! Zoey and Olivia are really cute together! Their relationship did come about really fast, especially since neither were even into girls. It just kind of happened, which is fine, but it was really fast. My favorite scene is where Olivia comes up with this awesome plan for coming up with the most awesome date. It was super duper adorable and sweet! I do recommend this one, if you think you can get past all of the rich girl/poor girl, mean girl/bullied girl cliches at the beginning.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.