Title:  Just Don’t Mention It
Author:  Estelle Maskame
Genre:  YA
Rating:  4 out of 5

Tyler Bruce has it all:  a hot girlfriend, a fancy car, and no party is complete without him. Tyler has the attitude to go with his reputation and he doesn’t care what people say about him. But the attitude—and the walls he puts up—are all a façade, covering the hurt he’s lived with for years…since his father started physically abusing him years before. His dad is in prison now, but Tyler still has to live with the scars every day. And he doesn’t want anyone to know.

Until his stepsister Eden comes to stay for the summer and Tyler realizes she sees the real him, not the façade. His walls won’t work with Eden, but Tyler’s not sure he wants to give them up. There’s a vast difference between the Tyler Bruce everyone thinks he is and who he really is—but there’s no way for Tyler and Eden to be together.

I read the DMILY trilogy and enjoyed them, although the world of wealth they’re set in isn’t something I’m familiar with. Seeing the first of the story from Tyler’s eyes was interesting. He was largely unlikable here—although I do realize he had reasons for being how he was. But…just because someone hurt you, even horrifically, doesn’t give you permission to mistreat everyone around you. Sorry, but it doesn’t. And Tyler’s mom lets him get away with everything, which is incomprehensible to me, even though I’m sure her guilt was the reason why. I did enjoy reading this, and I know Tyler’s story throughout the original trilogy saw him become a likable person, but he just wasn’t that likeable here.

Estelle Maskame is a bestselling author who has been writing since she was thirteen. Just Don’t Mention It is a re-telling of the first book in her series Did I Mention I Love You from Tyler’s point-of-view.

(Galley courtesy of Black & White Publishing in exchange for an honest review.)

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