The Secret to Belonging / Megan E. Freeman / Book Review

THE SECRET TO BELONGING

You have always been invisible in your own family. Quieter, milder, and more level-headed than your drug addict brother. Your parents have never had to worry about you, so they haven't.

They haven't worried about your struggles. Your hopes and dreams. Your plans for the future. Anything for your brother, and you are nothing but an afterthought (if even that).

When your parents spend the college fund your grandfather left you on more drug rehab and legal bills for your brother, you decide you have to get out, whatever way possible. And if that means a scholarship for exchange students to a remote part of Norway, so be it. Even life in a frozen land above the Artic Circle, where you don't speak the language or know the customs, will be better than this. Anything will be better than being nothing.

THOUGHTS

This book is hard. It hurts. It doesn't have a clean and happy ending. But that's life. Growing up and growing apart can be difficult but necessary. Sometimes you need to let go to really get the chance to live your own life. Sometimes the people who are supposed to love you just don't love you like they should.

PROS

Second Person	Reading any piece in second person is rare, even a short story or poem. Reading an entire novel-in-verse written in second person (and really well-done second person) is just a treat that my multiple degrees in literature absolutely cherished. I don't know that I want to see more books like this, because I don't trust they'd be done well. But Megan E. Freeman's second-person narration is done so, so well. The reader is dragged right into that space, that body, that existence. You're embodied and embedded in the narrative, and you get to feel the righteous anger (and the pain of cutting yourself off from those who should have been your support network) like you're right there yourself, living and breathing it.
Letting Go	Family is family, and you can't choose family. But you can choose to let them go, to leave them behind you. That's a hard decision to make, and it isn't a decision to make lightly. But sometimes the world that your family inhabits is a mire that will drag you down, suck you in, and not let you breathe. And when that happens, moving on means letting go. That means leaving people behind who would never consider running after you.
Older Audience	There are a lot of books out there that push the boundary of "YA," and this book... isn't one of them. It's solidly YA, in its themes and its characters and its plot beats. It's not meant for the younger side of the YA market, but that older crowd looking for their next coming-of-age novel will be pleased. It deals with heavy, almost-adult topics in a way that's digestible and relatable. There are few books  for the older YA audience that are still YA "safe" given the current publishing trends to push the boundaries of what teen books should be. And so finding this book, that treats older teens like people right on the cusp of adulthood who maybe aren't quite ready to jump off the deep-end into the unrestricted world of adult books, is a really nice find.

CONS

This book is short. It's concise. It says all it needs to say, precisely and clearly. But it isn't a book you can linger on, even if you take an adequate amount of time to digest the poetic form. It's just short.	Short
I loved it. But second person can be a real deal breaker for the unadventurous.	Second Person
This book deals with some heavy topics, and it doesn't have a neat, clean, or happy ending. And that's just reflective of life. But I know a lot of people read to escape life, and especially after reading such a heavy book, they might want a touch more levity in the conclusion. It's not a sad ending by any means, but it is bittersweet. And that bitter might be too much for some. It's really just a matter of taste.	Messy Endings

Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
10/10

Those who liked Ellen Hopkins's Crank will like this new novel-in-verse about addiction, family, and preserving yourself. Those who loved the themes of growing up, growing apart, and learning to stand on your own (through travel) in Abigail Hing Wen's Loveboat, Taipei will like this new Bildungsroman set far, far away from home.

Details Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers Date: September 15, 2026 Series: N/A Add to Goodreads Buy it HERE

Note: I was provided with an ARC by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here are my own.