Teenage girls read very stupid books, and apparently so do I. And I enjoy them greatly.

Backstory: My wife decided to revisit some of her childhood years by picking up some old teenage angsty trash novels. You know the kind I am talking about, like sweet valley high but lacking the SVH vague long term character arc; the long winded modern fables dragged out over several books; where you are shackled with a moral passed to you on a platter by heavy hands. This one has the moral but comes at it like a teenager, quick with minimal forethought and absolutely no staying power. No sequel was ever expected.Jenn, my wife, decided to tackle a sad little book titled 'My Secret Love'. This two hundred and nineteen page treasure is part of the Sweet Dreams "Special" series. As she consumed it, she kept pulling me away from important tasks like dishes or toilet scrubbing, in order to read me important passages. When she forced me into the inside cover page excerpt is where I got sucked in. It was harvested from near the end at the highest peak of teenage girl hormone explosion as she was in a fight with her father over a boy.

The geeky little rich rich girl who never fits in since her move to Texas, living in a planned golf club neighborhood who falls in love with the bad boy on the other side of town. The bad boy being misunderstood and invisible. This book captures the ridiculous thought processes of idiot tee wagers. All the highs and lows, the stuttered logic that drove all of us to many cringe worthy decisions and quotes. Things we hope to forget but friends and family continue to remind us of.

The strangest part if this is that the main character reminds me of someone I know. Protagonist Lara Mitchell, is weird but nice, strong willed but world wary. Lara is obsessed with a fictional world, 'Starbright'. Dragons, armies, love interest, deceit. She writes short stories set in this world, and is so involved that her parents believe at one point that one of the fictional men a real live boy she sneaks out to meet.

Alt notes, the cover is cheesy. I feel bad for the cover model forever associated with this book.

The book series the protagonist enjoys is about StarBright, the publisher of this novel was Starfire... Was this a contracted novel?

---

Reblurb: I am not even going to attempt this. I have a hard enough time publicly admitting that I read this ;) I carried it openly on public transit.. I read it coming in the door to work..

I suppose I would avoid the word 'Forbidden' in any summary text as this is such a vanilla story it seems too descriptive and is a bit misleading. The title 'My Secret Love' combined with forbidden? Yeah.. Misleading. But that's not enough to warrant a blurb.

Publisher summary:

Ever since her family moved to Johnson's Crossing, Lara Mitchell has felt terribly alone. She doesn't fit in at school, her mother spends more time playing golf at her exclusive country club than she does with Lara, and her father cares only about his important new banking position. The one source of happiness in Lara's life is Starbright, a series of books set in a magical, faraway place.

Lara's life changes when she falls in love with Billy Jo Kane. Billy Jo is a loner, too, and he and Lara like many of the same things. He even loves Starbright. But Billy Jo's family comes from the poor side of town, and his brothers are known as troublemakers around Johnson's Crossing. Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell assume that Billy Jo is just like his borthers, so Lara must keep their relationship secret or risk being forbidden from seeing him anymore.

Then one day something happens that forces Lara to bring her love for Billy jo into the open. Can she find the strength to stand up to her parents and prove the depth of her feelings for Billy Jo?
( )