Blog Tour Review: This Is What I Want To Tell You

Title: This Is What I Want To Tell You
Author: Heather Duffy Stone
Publication date: March 1st, 2009

Summary:
Nadio and his twin sister, Noelle, always had a unique bond. And somehow, Keeley Shipley fit perfectly into their world. But when Keeley spends the summer in England, she comes home changed, haunted by a dark memory. As she and Nadio fall in love, they try to hide it from Noelle, who's jealously guarding a secret of her own. Slowly, a life-long friendship begins to crack under the crushing weight of past trauma, guarded secrets, jealousy, obsession... and an unexpected love that could destroy them.

Review:
This was a great debut novel, and even just a great novel. It started off kind of slow, but as secrets began to either form or be revealed, I was drawn in. Both Nadio and Noelle tell their stories from their own viewpoints; which I think was exactly how it needed to be told. The writing is simple and almost poetic, and does a great job of telling the story, but the lack of quotation marks was somewhat frustrating. I felt sympathy and strong connections toward each of the characters, and enjoyed seeing them evolve throughout the book. This Is What I Want To Tell You is a powerful book about falling in love and having secrets.

Reviewed as part of Traveling to Teens.

Characters: 8/10
Plot: 7/10
Originality: 7/10
Writing: 6/10
Overall grade: C