SECRETS

Callie and her friends are trying to survive their freshman year at Harvard while juggling studies with romance and, in Callie’s case, blackmail.

This second installment in a planned four-book series stands alone well, without a reiteration of the previous plot. Callie’s major dilemma involves a sex video starring herself and taped by an old boyfriend without her knowledge that has fallen into the hands of Alexis, her manipulative boss on the campus magazine Callie tries to join. Callie also has roommate problems. Vanessa, her former BFF, flies into destructive rages at imagined slights. Meanwhile, she’s attracted to two handsome boys: Gregory, with whom she had a one-night stand but who misinterprets her welcoming message to him, and Clint, Alexis’ old boyfriend. Kunze and Onur spend some time on Callie’s studies as well as on her social difficulties, diving into literature, economics, justice theory and biochemistry. The authors leave no doubt that these students are at school to learn, a more important activity than even romance. The protagonists take their writing seriously and work overtime to win places as school journalists. Callie’s blackmail problem adds an element of suspense. The book’s hang-fire ending should prompt readers to buy the next sequel. Plenty of visits to businesses in the Harvard neighborhood add local color.