Dirty Little Secrets by C. J. Omololu

Dirty Little Secrets by C. J. Omololu is about sixteen year old Lucy and the secret her family is desperate to keep. Lucy's the youngest of three siblings. Her older sister and brother have already moved out of the house, and their father left a long time ago. Lucy is along with her mother, who is an obsessive hoarder. The only tidy place in the entire house is Lucy's room. The rest of the house is a maze of pathways in the stacks of newspapers, magazines, trash, random items, and even garbage. Any time anyone touches or moves anything from its place, Lucy's mother becomes extremely angry. Lucy has learned to keep to herself, but has just developed a friendship in Kaylie and may even be close to dating the boy of her dreams, Josh. Lucy knows the closer she gets to people outside of her family, the more likely it is their secret will get out - it's happened before. Lucy's former best friend caused such a swarm of bullying after finding out about Lucy's house, she eventually had to switch schools! Just when Lucy thinks she's got everything under control with her relationships with Kaylie and Josh, the unthinkable happens. She returns home one evening to find her mother dead under a pile of garbage. Lucy knows she should call 9-1-1, but she's too embarrassed to have medical workers enter her house to retrieve her mother. She's certain news crews will be soon to follow and then her secret will be exposed. So, Lucy develops a plan to clean up the house before reporting her mother's death. Unfortunately, many unforeseen obstacles present themselves, including nosy neighbors, the unexpected arrival of her bossy sister, her mother's boss's phone calls, and, of course, Josh's invitation to a party she'd really like to attend. Lucy has to make some drastic changes to her plan before everything works out for her.

This was a really good book. I've seen the TV show "Hoarders" once or twice, so I understand a little about the compulsion people who hoard feel. It never occurred to me to think about the families of these people, however. Teenagers face so many of their own issues just growing up, without having to keep a secret like this. Dirty Little Secrets gives an eye-opening and realistic view of a teen living with a secret that is nearly unthinkable.