In Which I Review... Secret for a Song by S.K. Falls

Kindle Edition, 206 pages

Published May 31st 2013
ASIN: B00D4VD0MW


SYNOPSIS:

Saylor Grayson makes herself sick. Literally.

She ate her first needle when she was seven. Now, at nineteen, she’s been kicked out of college for poisoning herself with laxatives. The shrinks call it Munchausen Syndrome. All Saylor knows is that when she’s ill, her normally distant mother pays attention and the doctors and nurses make her feel special.

Then she meets Drew Dean, the leader of a local support group for those with terminal diseases. When he mistakes her for a new member, Saylor knows she should correct him. But she can’t bring herself to, not after she’s welcomed into a new circle of friends. Friends who, like Drew, all have illnesses ready to claim their independence or their lives.

For the first time, Saylor finds out what it feels like to be in love, to have friends who genuinely care about her. But secrets have a way of revealing themselves. What will happen when Saylor’s is out?

MY REVIEW:

Secret for a Song is an amazing read that's really hard to swallow. Unfortunately and coincidently enough, it is not that hard for a young Saylor, the protagonist, to swallow a needle. This happens at the BEGINNING of the novel, so all I can say is brace yourselves.

I flinched as she, with no peer pressure or stupid goading friends, took a sewing needle in hand and slid it down her throat.

This is the first of the many horrid things Saylor does to herself. Each is disgustingly horrible, some so much so that for a few minutes you might absolutely abhor her.

HOWEVER, the book is great and gets a solid five stars from me. Saylor's problem, Munchausen's disease, a disease in which one gains pleasure from physically weakening the body, is one I have never heard of before and it is a disturbingly selfish disease.

It is very easy to fall into a love-hate relationship with Saylor, and sometimes I found myself thinking, "She isn't good enough for Drew".

However, in the end, I found myself rooting for her, and her relationships with the characters from the support group.

The best thing about this book is in fact the graphic writing that turns you off. I found myself having to step away from the book several times and it took me about a whole week to finish it. It's not a bad thing. The book is a phenomenal one, and all I can think is of the amount of extensive research the author must have put in to describe Saylor's life in the manner that she did.

This book is a must read that left me with a sharp sadness and acceptance for how things turned out. For just a second, the sharp feeling in my chest as I read the last words of the novel made me feel as though I was the one who swallowed that needle, and unlike Saylor, I didn't like it.

I did however love this novel, and the topics it explores, and would recommend it to many.

We don't get a happily ever after. What we do get is real. We get real, and by the end of the novel Saylor becomes a loved, and still damaged, but completely transformed character, and that's more memorable than just another H.E.A.