Experience the secret life of Aaron who suffers malicious hands of his stepfather and deals with disguising the abuse from his friends. Appreciate Aaron’s highs and lows, along with his undiagnosed bipolar disorder and abusive home life, culminating in a journey of self-discovery. The Secret Life: The Bond transports you into the world full of fraught, happiness, love, hate, vengeance, hope, and … and compassion. Follow a retired military man who receives journals from his deceased friend, Aaron, to read and understand his wonderful yet complicated life. William reads the journals which takes you on a tour of the 1970s, the decade of love and disco. Through the creative storytelling of Aaron, William lives through the past of his deceased battle buddy while Shay Mills keeps you grounded in the present. The present weaves into the past as it takes you back in time to experience a bond between three friends, spanning seven years, from the ages of five to thirteen. Follow the misadventures, love, and love lost, the woes of virginity, and engaging characters as they create mischief and at times mayhem in a small town in the Pacific Northwest.
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5 Stars
The Secret Life: The Bond Is the first instalment of The Secret Life series by Shay Mills. This is an emotive, heart-wrenching coming of age story that is mainly set the 1970’s and early 1980’s- but transitions from past to present and back again multiple times over the course of the story.
Mr. Mills sets a more serious tone here than in the other books of his that I have read. The friendships, bonds, and camaraderie of the characters felt like a cross between “Stand By Me” and “The Outsiders”- which gave it an added emotional factor.
We begin the story with an unexpected call that William (our narrator) receives about the death of his close friend, army buddy Aaron. The loss hits him hard, especially when he takes delivery of all Aarons personal journals- a lifetime of memories and life events- full of the secrets Aaron hid from the world. The journals are sent to help William better understand Aaron and aid him in composing a eulogy for his friend. But those books contain more than William expected- and so he soon finds himself thrust into a story of poverty, dysfunctional family dynamics, accidents, abuse (physical, emotional, and sexual), harrowing adventures, mischief, first love, puberty, jealousy, revenge, loss, grief, tough lessons, and so much more.
As William works his way through the journals he is struck by the misery, horror, rage, fear, loss, longing, and hopelessness woven through the books. But at the same time there is happiness to be found amongst the sadness and strife. Through William and Aaron, I got to be part of it all- seeing life through the eyes of Aaron from age 5 through to 13- following every stage of his younger years, and I came out the other side a little traumatised by what he went through- but also admiring the strength of character it took to endure! It isn’t over though- as Aaron’s story is set to continue in the next book- and I will be anxiously awaiting to find out what happens next.
There are a LOT of characters (65+) to keep track of- who either play a role in the story or who are mentioned in passing. There is also a lot of dialogue happening through the story which does slow down the flow of the storyline in places. The story was a little slow to get going while the groundwork was being laid out. But as the pace picked up, the story flowed more easily. In mentioning these things though, I also need to stress that these issues didn’t detract from my overall enjoyment of the story- only to encourage you to give this book the chance it deserves.
The story is mainly from William and Aaron’s point of view- but we do get several other perspectives that help to build depth, giving a bigger picture of the events.
If you are worried about graphic sexual abuse scenes- I can assure you that while we are left with a strong, heart-wrenching impressions of what happened, Mr. Mills doesn’t go into graphic imagery of the events- giving just enough detail and information to understand what Aaron goes through, while saving the reader from more horrifically disturbing images. There is violence, injury, and accidents depicted through the story- in the form of abuse and/or bullying- or as the result of sheer clumsiness, or down to daredevil antics gone wrong.
A word of warning though- have a box of tissues close at hand, because you are going to need them!
An emotive coming of age story about overcoming overwhelming odds!
Well done!
Thank you, Shay Mills!
This book made my heart hurt. It’s like the universe has conspired against this boy from the age of 2 to make him walk through help to live any semblance of a life.
Aaron has passed away. He chronicled his life in many journals and made arrangements to have them sent them to his good friend William at his passing. William is to give the eulogy at the the funeral and wants read about his life before the services. As William gets into Aaron’s journals he finds the important parts are in red and focuses on those. He also learns so much more about his friend than he ever knew. Aaron was an undiagnosed bi-polar child, who was also neglected and abused, so this story is pretty dark in places and will make your heartache. It also tells of 3 friends who form a bond as close, if not closer than brothers. These boys along with their on again, off again buddy Eddy, get into some interesting fixes. The author has the reader going from Aaron’s past of the 1970’s to Williams present with his family. These journals are having an effect on William, he feels like Aaron is trying to tell him something, he just doesn’t know what yet. I think this author has a wonderful ability to tell a story that could be reality. He is very descriptive in describing being bi-polar. I think this book is very well written and needs to be read.
I did NOT like the cliffhanger ending though…who would?