Secrets Untold is the 4th volume of Shelia M. Goss’ young adult series, The Lip Gloss Chronicles. Porsha Swint is your average teenager and attends Plano High School in Plano, Texas. Porsha is your ideal teenager. She gets good grades, she is independent and she knows how to put little boys in their places.

In addition to having the best BFFs a girl could ask for, she also has the greatest parents and it doesn’t hurt that her father is Trey Swint, a well-known former sports figure. Porsha’s world comes tumbling down when she over hears her mother and father deep in a private conversation. For Porsha’s entire life, her parents had kept the devastating secret of her paternity.

She soon finds that her real father is a well-known former athlete and the father of her high school nemesis, Jasmine McNeil. Spoiled and snobbish Jasmine doesn’t take the news too well, but then again neither does Porsha.

Secrets Untold is a great tale of issues that children face as they become of age and find their identities. Bestselling author Shelia M. Goss doesn’t disappoint in this young adult title of sibling rivalry and karma. ~ Reviewed by Yolanda M. Johnson-Bryant– Literary Wonders!

Secrets Untold by Shelia M. Goss
Reviewed by Angelia Vernon Menchan
Five *****Rating

Secrets Untold by Shelia M. Goss is exactly what young adult fiction should be. The story is filled with fun, teen antics and drama and more drama. More importantly, it speaks to the matters of family, faith and love.

Porsha is a young, beautiful girl who is going to be sweet sixteen soon and all she is concerned about is her party and being fly. However, Porsha’s life is about to be turned upside down in a way she could never imagine. She has spent her life as her mother and father’s princess with all her heart could desire. Her biggest concerns are keeping a 4.0 GPA and staying away from her annoying, younger brothers. But, an evening spent eavesdropping changes her life and what she thought she knew forever. She is stunned to learn that her father is not really her father and she is even more shocked to find out who her real father is.

Immediately, Porsha and her family are caught up in the drama of what this new information means and Porsha’s relationship with her mother, Angela, could be ruined forever. Not only that but there are more players involved than the young teen could have imagined and they are not all on her side. Ms. Goss does a wonderful job of bringing the drama in this fast-moving, entertaining story. But, she also manages to balance the story with the antics of teen relationships , budding love affairs and how secrets impact the lives of everyone involved.

I read the entire book in three hours and was transfixed from beginning to end. I was a bit surprised by the ending, but it added a poignant, timely component. I recommend Secrets Untold to all young adult readers and to those who are young at heart and simply love great story-telling. Secrets Untold and all the books in the Lip-Gloss Chronicles are winners.

Teens Read Too gives Paper Thin - A Lip Gloss Chronicles Novel  4 Stars.

I was actually anticipating this third volume of THE LIP GLOSS CHRONICLES.  In the past, readers got to see inside Jasmine and Britney’s minds.  Now, Sierra finally gets her turn.

Sierra’s step-mom, Maria, has always been on her for her weight.  Over the summer, Maria makes Sierra attend various retreats to work on her weight issues.  So, it’s with a new body and tamed hair that she returns
to Plano High as a sophomore.  Sierra was always second best when it came to guys, but now she’s getting
noticed.

Her BFF, Jasmine, is just a little bit jealous of the newfound attention Sierra is getting.  Britney, as always, is stuck in the middle of the bickering.  The only thing Jasmine doesn’t seem to be upset about is Sierra and Cecil (Jasmine’s tutor, who suddenly got hot over the summer) hanging out.

To read the entire review, go to: http://www.teensreadtoo.com/PaperThinLGC.html

To learn more about the books in the Lip Gloss Chronicles series, be sure to visit: http://www.thelipglosschronicles.com

1. If You Were My Man, by Francis Ray

2. The Lip Gloss Chronicles: Paper Thin, by Shelia M. Goss

3. The Reason Why, by Vickie M. Stringer

4. Beater, by Brian W. Smith

5. Goodness and Mercy, by Vanessa Davis Griggs

Teens Read Too gives The Ultimate Test and Splitsville both 4 Stars. Below is a copy of the Splitsville Review.

Check it out:

SPLITSVILLE is Volume 2 in THE LIP GLOSS CHRONICLES. In the first book, the reader gets a glimpse
inside the life of Britney. For SPLITSVILLE, the reader now gets to know more about Jasmine, Britney’s friend
from THE ULTIMATE TEST, and the girl who DJ Johnson was bothering.

Jasmine’s life is out of control these days. She’s practically failing geometry, so she engages Cecil as her tutor. DJ
is still on her case at school. She interacted with TallandFly on the Internet and now he won’t stop texting and
calling her. And last, but certainly not least, her parents are constantly fighting and it looks like they’re headed for
divorce.

Thankfully, Jasmine has her friends. They insist on accompanying her to the mall to meet the boy from the Internet.
They stand by her side when DJ gets in her face again. They tell her she’s being too tough on Cecil, her tutor, who
obviously has a crush on her. And they help her out when she gets her parents to agree to go on a new reality show
that offers marriage counseling, Situation Number Nine.

As the reader can imagine, with all of these things going on, something is bound to happen. But I’m not one to give
away such exciting plot twists. You’ll just have to pick up SPLITSVILLE for yourself and find out what happens to
Jasmine!

This second installment of the series continues the story of Jasmine, Britney, and Sierra nicely. It’s easy to pick up
from where the first novel left off. And if you’re discovering THE LIP GLOSS CHRONICLES for the first time,
you’ll easily figure out all of the characters. It was also nice to see a different point of view in this novel as
compared to THE ULTIMATE TEST.

To read the review for The Ultimate Test, go to: http://www.teensreadtoo.com/UltimateTestLGC.html

SORMAG is celebrating an anniversary and has put Paper Thin in the spotlight: http://sormag.blogspot.com/2010/01/spotlight-on-paper-thin-lip-gloss.html

Thanks LaShaunda for all of your support throughout my entire writing career.

Many on the threads complain about teens reading adult books, well there are options and The Lip Gloss Chronicles has enough drama to capture teens attention, yet they are clean reads with lessons in between the pages.

Teens Read Too has highlighted me on their book club website to help celebrate Paper Thin’s release day. Check out the interview when you get a chance at: http://trtbookclub.blogspot.com/2010/01/visit-with-shelia-m-goss.html

Review of Paper Thin:

Ms. Goss does a wonderful job with this book of showing young women as they really are. She allows them to be selfish and loving, impatient and supportive and mostly, realistic. The reader is allowed to see how young people act when their lives change and how they deal with the economic struggles that hit their families. One of the more poignant messages deals with weight and self-esteem issues. We also get to see the young ladies deal with the timely and disturbing problem of violence among girlfriends and boyfriends. Paper Thin is an entertaining and enlightening book geared towards young people, but I recommend it to all readers. It made this reader, who has lived a long time, think, feel and relate. ~Angelia Vernon Menchan, APOOO BookClub To read the entire review go to: http://www.apooobooks.com/paper-thin-shelia-goss/

The Lip Gloss Chronicles made one of the top 25 YA Power Reads of the Decade.

Thank you EDC Creations and Black Pearls Magazine.

25 Young Reader Power Reads of the Decade: 2000-2009

Ella Curry and EDC Creations is proud to announce the Children and Young Reader Best Books of the Decade 2000-2009. Each book created an impact for readers and the Sankofa Literary Society network. Our literary hallmarks indicate excellence in writing. These are the books we want to showcase to the world.

01. Love, Ocean by Celia Anderson
02. A Song for Harlem by Patricia C. McKissack
03. Divine Confidential by Jacquelin Thomas
04. The First Part Last by Angela Johnson
05. Aaliyah by Victoria Christopher Murray
06. The Secret to Teen Power by Paul Harrington
07. Catwalk by Deborah Gregory
08. Cheetah Girls by Deborah Gregory
09. The Lip Gloss Chronicles by Shelia Goss
10. Believing in Hope by Stephanie Perry Moore

Paper Thin – The Lip Gloss Chronicles Vol. 3

Coming January 26, 2010

APOOO Rating: 5 stars
Amazon Rating: 5 stars

In Paper Thin by Shelia M. Goss, Sierra, Britney and Jasmine are back. They are now sophomores and ready for new experiences. Especially Sierra, the narrator, as she has lost 25 pounds and is convinced that her new size will change things. Of course, she is right but not in the way she thinks. These 15-year olds are going to grow up in ways they never thought.

Ms. Goss does a wonderful job with this book of showing young women as they really are. She allows them to be selfish and loving, impatient and supportive and mostly, realistic. The reader is allowed to see how young people act when their lives change and how they deal with the economic struggles that hit their families. One of the more poignant messages deals with weight and self-esteem issues. We also get to see the young ladies deal with the timely and disturbing problem of violence among girlfriends and boyfriends. Paper Thin is an entertaining and enlightening book geared towards young people, but I recommend it to all readers. It made this reader, who has lived a long time, think, feel and relate.

Angelia Vernon Menchan
APOOO BookClub

I was recently interviewed for the Teen Urban Fiction website.

What are a few “adult” urban fiction books that you would suggest for teens to read?

Due to the fact that there are now many teen urban fiction books available, I would suggest that teens read teen fiction instead of books meant for adults.

To read the entire interview, click here. ]]> http://sheliagoss.com/2009/10/30/tune-in-teen-urban-fiction-interview/feed/ 3