Nobody's Secret

Nobody's Secret by Michaela MacColl, April 30, 2013. 241 pages. Published by Chronicle Books. Source: Publisher.

One day, fifteen-year-old Emily Dickinson meets a mysterious, handsome young man. Surprisingly, he doesn't seem to know who she or her family is. And even more surprisingly, he playfully refuses to divulge his name. Emily enjoys her secret flirtation with Mr. "Nobody" until he turns up dead in her family's pond. She's stricken with guilt. Only Emily can discover who this enigmatic stranger was before he's condemned to be buried in an anonymous grave. Her investigation takes her deep into town secrets, blossoming romance, and deadly danger. Exquisitely written and meticulously researched, this novel celebrates Emily Dickinson's intellect and spunk in a page-turner of a book that will excite fans of mystery, romance, and poetry alike.

First Sentence:

Emily lay perfectly still, hidden in the tall grass, her eyes closed tight.

Yes, I am still in the process of catching up on reviews post-move (this might take some time). *hangs head*

It seems that I have hit a block of books were I don’t like them till around the fiftieth page. While not liking a book till then can make me a little nervous, I am glad that I stuck with Nobody’s Secret because I enjoyed the mystery and seeing Emily Dickinson in a different light (not really a fan of her poetry ot poetry in general).

Alright, so the reason I almost gave up on finishing Nobody’s Secret is that it started out so slow and because it took forever to get the mysterious death of Mr. Nobody, Emily’s new friend. I know, how dreadful of me to be out off by the slow demise of the character, but the whole reason I wanted to read this one is because Emily would have to step outside of her daydreams and discover who he was and who would want him dead. As you can tell, when it comes to mysteries I hate to wait around for them to start. Even though it felt like ages (it wasn’t really) before Emily was finally confronted with the task of trying to figure out who her new friend was and the why behind his death, Nobody’s Secret turned out to be quite the interesting read.

While I may not be familiar with Emily Dickinson’s poetry or personal history, I really enjoyed the twist to her character that the author brought to the table. Even though I enjoyed the slightly more adventurous seeming Emily, what I really liked about her was how passionate she was in her quest. I really enjoyed seeing how she threw herself into the task of finding out the identity of the victim because she cared for him and wanted justice for him. It definitely made her a more likeable character, especially since she seemed kind of
well boring at first glance.

I guess what I ended up enjoying most about this one would have to be the mystery. I liked that while it seemed complicated at first, it was actually pretty straightforward and fitting to the time and circumstances of the players involved.
 
I must admit that the one thing I did not like about this book would have to be the end. While not bad in itself, I guess I would have liked to see things turn out differently for all those involved and that maybe a certain person could’ve been, I don’t know, less concerned with what people would think. I guess what I’m trying to get at is that I wish there had been a little more  

Final Verdict: Nobody's Secret- An interesting spin on the early life of Emily Dickinson with a touch of mystery.

Nobody's Secret earns 4 out of 5 pineapples.