Brendan Madden is in the midst of his senior year of high school and couldn’t be happier. He has a great group of friends, his pick of colleges, and he has recently come to terms with his sexuality. One night, he meets Mark Galovic, a gorgeous, younger classmate of his. In a matter of minutes, Brendan is hooked. As the friendship between them grows, Brendan reaches his breaking point when he spontaneously confesses his feelings to him. Brendan is shocked and elated to find out that Mark feels the same way about him. The two begin to date, but because Mark is not out, it must remain a secret. As their friends and family become suspicious, openly gay Brendan becomes increasingly frustrated with their discreet relationship, while Mark becomes more and more paranoid that they’re going to be found out.
A free copy was provided to me through Netgalley in exchange for a review.
Alright so this review is going to start with a story. When I was in college, the popular thing was to post your writing to FictionPress. It was a sometimes simple display site that separated your work by genre. I posted slash, otherwise known as gay romance. Make no mistake, I read it as well, and I was friends with plenty of other people who posted their own.
At least from what I saw, it was most common to have the main characters either high school or college age, making things roughly YA. This was 2008 through 2010 that I was really active on this site, so a few years ago (five years is a long time in internet time). Why am I mentioning this?
Because Bottled-Up Secret honestly reads like something I would have read on Fictionpress. A main character who isn’t stated to be upper class but spends money like he is, main character and friends who think they’re so OMG RANDOM AND WEIRD, a parent who is hardly characterized beyond their irrational disapproval of their child’s sexuality, love at first sight, tons of tell-not-show, manufactured drama, guy who went out with girls and the MC is the first guy he’s ever had feelings for, keeping their relationship a secret for no real reason, biphobia and no real climax. In fact, if I’d made a Cliché Slash Story Bingo Card, the only thing missing would’ve been strange names.
FictionPress was a dark time for me now that I look back on it, to be honest.
Given all this, I have to say I have no idea how this book got published. It really does read exactly like something from back then. It could’ve been an okay if mindless romance story, but it’s marred by uncreativity and a horrible need for some actual editing. I didn’t connect with any characters and didn’t really see what the big deal is with any of their problems.
In other words, I would definitely give this one a pass.
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