Things I’ll Never Say

“Got a secret? Want to share? Two can keep a secret. I swear.” Ann Angel starts off this mysterious anthology with innocent childsplay. Angel brings together fifteen different authors through short stories of the main characters secrets, but never truly gathers them in the end.

It’s easy to relate to any one of the stories due to the fact that everyone is so different. At First we meet Lucy, controlled by her best friend Claire, trapped in a full house but living in an empty home. Chapter two we meet Joshua in a completely different secret, an angel, ‘slipped’ not fallen, just as he’d tell you in person.

In the middle of the book we find ourselves in a new chapter, For a Moment, Underground by Kekla Magoon. Upon meeting Sally John, a simple name with a broken backstory, she is independent and strong throughout this short story until she arrives home. Finishing her semester at a boarding school and spending a week in Florida, Sally goes home to West Harlem to visit her dad for the summer. Everything seems normal, but just like the others, Sally had a huge secret. “I read somewhere once that the perfect size for a woman is 36-24-36, but I think that’s outdated. People are skinnier than that now. And you’re supposed to be short. The best I ever got was 36-30-42.” Later on Sally continues explaining the steps of her obsession. “Popsicle sticks, because I never liked the feeling of sticking my fingers down my throat.” Weight slid off, but she’d never say. It’s a story about her secret self.

Towards the end of the book we meet Stacy. Stacy was another character I found quite interesting because she found boys quite interesting. She was lost in Alan’s set of dreamy eyes dreaming of Shawn’s dreamy eyes. Always talking to one boy while making plans with another, Stacy finds her decent amount of respect makes her so desirable. She never questions why she has such an obsession with all these ‘boyfriends’ of hers, but you can tell from the get go she blames her father. Although, she’d never tell you because it’s a secret about herself.

I found myself very lost transitioning between each story, as if I was waiting for each to finish up their cliff hangers, but they never do. With each new story I found myself intrigued as the last, deeply invested in the messes of fictional characters lives. Desperately wanting to help them or be in their situation, because we all have been in sticky situations just like these fifteen stories. Except it’s your turn to decide their fates with the lack of endings the authors provided.

Clearly, Ann Angel is very talented bring these authors together with completely different plots all through one flaw we all have in common, secrets. Things I’ll Never Say. Stories About Our Secret Selves, by Ann Angel was an interesting read that challenged the reader to discover their own identity and travel through the lost worlds of others, though these characters never do meet, they’ll forever be unforgettable.