Review: Dirty Little Secret by Jennifer Echols

Jennifer Echols is back with her newest novel, Dirty Little Secret, which centers on Bailey Mayfield, who loves playing the fiddle on stage while her sister, Julie, plays the guitar and sings. Her hopes and dreams of becoming a country singing sister duo came crashing down when music execs signed Julie to a solo career. Her parents commands Bailey to stay out of sight until her sister’s music career launches. 

Feeling angry at her family, Bailey becomes rebellious, which leads to her being shipped off to her granddad's house in Nashville for the summer. For a teenage girl, spending an entire summer with your grandfather is the worst punishment one could give her.

To deal with her mix feelings of being betrayed by her sister and parents, Bailey picks up her fiddle again, but only this time she goes to the local mall to play her music with washed-up tribute groups. Then she meets Sam, a guitarist, who persuades Bailey to join his band. The only problem is Bailey doesn't want to get her heart broken again.

I'm not the biggest fan of country music, but I do watch the television series called Nashville, so I eagerly agree to review Dirty Little Secret, which I received from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. I'm not very familiar with the young adult romance novels, but I have heard of the author Jennifer Echols. Maybe it is because I'm a male, but it took me over five chapters to really get interested in it. I can see young readers easily connecting to the main character, Bailey, who is struggling with so much in her life. Overall, Dirty Little Secret is a well-written, sweet romantic novel for young adults or adults.

About the Author:

Jennifer Echols was born in Atlanta and grew up in a small town on a beautiful lake in Alabama—a setting that has inspired many of her books. Her nine romantic novels for young adults have been published in seven languages and have won the National Readers’ Choice Award, the Aspen Gold Readers’ Choice Award, the Write Touch Readers’ Award, the Beacon, and the Booksellers’ Best Award. Her novel Going Too Far was a finalist in the RITA and was nominated by the American Library Association as a Best Book for Young Adults. Simon & Schuster debuted her adult and new adult romance novels in 2013, with many more of her teen novels scheduled for the next few years. She lives in Birmingham with her husband and her son. Visit her on the web at Jennifer-Echols.com.