Review: Secret for A Song by Adriana Ryan

Author: Adriana Ryan
Title: Secret For A Song
Publication: June 2013
Source: Author via Blog Tour


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?

Saylor is in love with sickness. She craves the high it gives her to come up with a way make it appear natural. Her parents seem to have adjusted to the fact that she does this to herself. They each manage the chaos in their own way. Her father is always away on business and her mother barely talks to her. Now, home from college, Saylor convinces her therapist to allow her to volunteer at a local hospital and she eventually hopes to get into restricted areas to get more stuff to aid in making herself sick. What she doesn't expect is to befriend a group of people with terminal illness and to fall for one of them. Buried deep in lies and deceit, Saylor must figure out how to come clean or lose the one person that makes her feel different. 

Saylor initially made me uncomfortable. I couldn't wrap my mind around what she does to her body and I hate needles. Gradually, she begins to change as she sees sickness through the eyes of Dean and the rest of the support group. Her parents aren't exactly supportive; they are just going with motions each time they need to take her to the hospital. It's like if they don't talk about her illness, it doesn't exist. Her mother struggles with her own internal battle that Saylor isn't aware of but it's easy to see that she just wants her mom's attention and I think that need is what contributes to her behavior. Overall, the writing is good and the characters will touch your heart. I haven't actually heard of Munchausen Syndrome before and this book gives good insight into the thought process of someone with this illness. 

Author Bio
A huge fan of spooky stuff and shoes, Adriana Ryan enjoys alternately hitting up the outlet malls and historic graveyards in Charleston, SC where she lives and imbibes coffee. Her husband and two small children seem not to mind when she hastily scribbles novel lines on stray limbs in the absence of notepads.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads